Carla Cassidy - Home on the Ranch - Oklahoma - Defending the Rancher's Daughter / The Rancher Bodyguard

George and Zack showered after the other two had left, then ate a quiet meal. After cleaning up, George settled in one of the chairs in front of the television and promptly fell asleep and began to snore.

Zack eased down into one of the other chairs, his mind sorting through his impressions of the men he had met so far. It didn’t take him long to become bored with his thoughts and slightly irritated by the blare of the television.

He got up and drifted outside. Dusk had fallen and night shadows crept across the ground. He leaned against the building and looked toward the main house. The porch light was on and he thought he saw a figure seated in one of the two chairs on the front porch.

Katie. He wondered how many nights in the past year she and Gray had sat side by side, just like he and Gray had years ago. It somehow didn’t seem right for her to be sitting there all alone.

As he walked toward the house he told himself he was only going to ask her about the list of employees he’d requested from her. It had nothing to do with the fact that she looked so lonesome in the encroaching darkness.

She stood as he approached and once again he was struck by her physical presence. She was a good four or five inches shorter than his own six feet, but she gave the impression of being taller.

She’d obviously showered and changed since he’d seen her earlier in the day. She was clad in a blue sundress that bared her tanned arms and did amazing things to her eyes in the illumination from the porch light overhead. The scooped neckline revealed just a hit of cleavage and a new tension settled into Zack’s gut.

“Evening, Zack.” She sank onto the chair.

“Katie.” He swept his hat from his head. “I was wondering if you’d had a chance to get together that list of employees for me.”

“I’ve got it inside.” She seemed disinclined to get up again. “Why don’t you sit for just a few minutes?”

He hesitated. He’d told himself he’d walked up here to get the list, then go back to the bunkhouse, but there was a wistfulness in her voice, a softness he’d never heard before. It intrigued him. He sank into the chair next to hers, once again feeling unbalanced by her.

The anger she’d displayed at the hospital when she’d told him to get out of her sight had been pure Katie, so familiar it was almost comfortable.

This softer, almost vulnerable Katie disconcerted him. He wasn’t at all sure he trusted it. “Friday night and you don’t have a hot date?” he asked.

“I haven’t had a hot date since I left college behind,” she replied. “What about you? No town hottie waiting for your company?”

He grinned. “I’ve been gone for so long I don’t think I know any of the town hotties anymore.” Zack would never admit to her just how long it had been since he’d been out with a woman. For the past year work had consumed him, leaving no time for personal relationships of any kind.

For a few minutes they were silent. It wasn’t a restful, peaceful kind of silence. Zack had learned long ago that there was little restful or peaceful about Katie Sampson.

“This is the time of the evening I miss him most,” she said, her voice soft and low. “In the hours just after supper and right before bedtime. I never knew a house could be so quiet.”

He set his hat on the porch next to his chair. “As I recall, you never seemed particularly fond of silence,” he said dryly. He tensed, knowing she might see his words as bait.

He saw the flash of her white teeth as she smiled at him. He’d noticed that smile earlier in the day when it had been directed at Jake. It was a beautiful smile and completely unexpected.

“I suppose that’s your way of telling me I was always making noise when I was younger.” She leaned deeper into the chair. “I suppose I’m willing to admit that I was a bit of a handful when I was younger if you’re willing to admit that you were an arrogant, egotistical, overbearing pain in the neck.”

He bristled at her characterization of him. “I’ll admit half of that is true.”

“Gee, let me guess which half you’ll admit to,” she replied. She released an audible sigh, one that spoke of weariness.

For a long moment neither of them spoke. Zack was normally quite comfortable with silence, but this one felt thick and charged with an energy he couldn’t define.

“Did you find out anything this afternoon?” She broke the silence.

He leaned back and directed his gaze toward the bunkhouse in the distance. “Not really. George and Mike seem like decent men. Brett doesn’t seem like a decent man and Jake seems to be developing a major crush on you.” He turned to catch her surprised expression.

She laughed, a deep, sexy sound that shocked him. He realized it was the very first time he’d heard her laugh. Odd, that in all the years he’d hung out here, he’d never heard her laughter before. And never would he have expected it to be such a pleasant sound.

“Now you’re going to have me questioning your investigative skills,” she said. “Jake has certainly been a godsend since Dad’s death. He helped me take care of the arrangements for the funeral and has been a comfort, but there’s certainly no romance there. He’s just a good employee.”

Maybe she didn’t see any romance on her end, but Zack knew with a man’s instinct that Jake’s interest in Katie had nothing to do with him being her employee.

“What are you going to do with the list of names I’m giving you?” she asked.

“I’ll give them to Dalton. He’ll do a complete background check on each of them.” He relaxed as the conversation turned to his work, the reason he was here. “Within a couple of days, a week at the most, I should know everything there is to know about the men on your list.”

“But you won’t know which one of them killed my father. You won’t know which one of them stampeded my herd.”

“Probably not,” he agreed. “At least not from looking at their backgrounds, although that information might give me a clue as to who is capable of such a crime.”

“You really don’t believe me about the stampede, do you?”

Zack felt the dangerous ground beneath him. So far she’d shown him a calm, rational nature that he’d never seen before. But he suspected she was on her best behavior because she needed him.

There seemed to be a tenuous peace between them, but he was certain it was a peace easily shattered. Still, he wasn’t going to lie. “I don’t know what I believe,” he finally replied.

“I’ll go get the list for you.” She stood abruptly and he got a whiff of her fragrance. The pleasant scent did nothing to diffuse the sudden tension that crackled in the air.

“Katie, if you wanted a yes man to help you out with this, then you’ve hired the wrong man. I wasn’t there in the pasture yesterday. I didn’t see what happened, so I can’t make a judgment call.”

“By not believing what I’ve told you happened, you’ve made a judgment call about me,” she replied. Without waiting for an answer she went into the house, allowing the screen door to slam shut behind her.

* * *

Kate didn’t know why it was so important to her that he believe her, but it was, and the fact that she knew he didn’t frustrated her. And if she were to look deep inside she’d know what she’d find there was fear.

Somebody had killed her father. That was a fact. Somebody had intentionally spooked her herd and nearly caused her to be trampled to death.

If her death had been the intent, then the attempt had been unsuccessful, which meant there might be another attempt. She didn’t want her death to be what made a believer out of Zack.

Still, her desire for him to believe her went beyond the fear for her personal safety. She frowned, not wanting to take the time to examine her feelings where Zack West was concerned.