by AC Arthur
It was her traitorous body and warring thoughts that had Gabriella tense and distracted. That was why she’d decided to stop putting off the morning ride with Tyler. She was hoping this would give her some quiet time and that the fresh morning air would provide some sort of balance to the upheaval her life had been for far too long.
And that was partly Tyler’s fault. He was riding the horse she’d seen him with the first day they’d met, named GG.
“I thought we’d just ride along the line of the property today,” Tyler was saying.
Gabriella tightened her thighs against Brown Eyes and guided the horse to fall in step beside Tyler and GG.
“That’s fine,” she said keeping her gaze straight ahead.
Tyler looked great sitting astride a horse. As if he didn’t look great doing everything else. But this morning particularly she’d already noted he was the sexiest cowboy she’d ever seen. His brown boots were scuffed, jeans faded, light blue t-shirt snug against his chest, and dark brown hat, pulled low on his head so that he’d need to tip the brim back to look at her directly. He’d done that the moment she’d walked into the equestrian center and Gabriella had all but lifted a hand to fan herself. This intense attraction had only been magnified by the explicit dreams she continued to have that featured him. Every night since that first one, with them in different scenarios, but pleasure being their foremost objective. And yes, the dream ended with pain, terror, screaming and most often crying. Just as all the others had. That was the part she hated. That she could not separate the before from the now. Because she knew it was unfair to herself and to Tyler.
“You seem a little distant. Is everything okay?”
She’d been looking ahead at the line in the horizon where treetops gave way to the sky with seamless perfection. Clouds that looked like cotton were already floating above, while the sun’s bright gold rays had just begun to reach down and land in dramatic slashes along the ground.
“Ah, yeah. Everything’s going according to schedule. The crew has already done some demolition and most of the staff have been relocated to the resort for now. Later today, Naomi and I are going to look at some fabric swatches for the upholstery in the den. She has great ideas and Dessie really has a feel for the house since she was so close to your mother.”
Gabriella felt like she was talking too much, so she stopped. She noted Tyler nodding his head as she stole a quick glance at him. He was looking to his right, which was a stretch of land leading to the steel gate of one of the cattle corrals on the property.
“I meant, is everything okay with you?”
“Sure. I’m fine. Why would you ask?”
Because she didn’t sound fine. Gabriella almost cursed her own foolishness. One of the keys to actually making someone believe a person was doing just fine, was for that person not to say they were “fine”.
“No reason,” he said.
Of course there was a reason, but Gabriella wasn’t about to press the issue. If he was going to let it go then so was she.
They rode a little further in silence. “You ever think about owning a horse?”
“No,” she replied. “I live in a condo in Greenwich. There’s a rooftop deck offered to residents for parties and lower level garage parking. But nothing to accommodate a horse.”
“Your parents have land. You could build your own paddock. Or there are farms in the area that would board for a fee. I was just thinking that if you enjoy riding and being with horses so much, that you should have one when you go home.”
Gabriella hadn’t thought about going home. At least, she’d tried her best not to think about it.
“Trying to get rid of me already, Mr. West?” she asked with a chuckle.
His initial response was a smile that packed the punch of a lightning bolt searing straight to her chest. Dammit, she shouldn’t have been staring at him. She quickly looked away.
“Just want you to have something that makes you happy.”
“What makes you think I’m not already happy?”
“You make me think that,” he said solemnly.
Gabriella’s fingers clenched on the reins and she looked over to him slowly.
“I never said I wasn’t happy.”
“Happy people normally talk about their home life at least a little when they’re on a work assignment. I know this because my manager and my assistant are always talking about their kids, their dogs, the cleaning service being subpar and a host of other things whenever we’re on the road.”
“Is that so?” she asked as they came to a small rise and the horses slowed their steps. “What do you talk about when you’re on the road?”
He shrugged. “Work.”
“But you’re working when you’re away.”
“Seems like I’m always working.”
“Not now,” she said.
“Yeah. You’re right. Now, I’m—”
Gabriella never heard what Tyler said next because gunshots rang loud and clear, crackling in the air and frightening her horse.
Brown Eyes took off, galloping in a different direction, rattling Gabriella until she thought she heard her teeth chatter. She tried to hold on, to keep a grip on the reins, but they were slipping through her fingers. Probably her fear response because her heart was hammering in her chest the faster the horse moved. More shots rang out and Brown Eyes went up on her back legs. Gabriella screamed. She was falling. She knew it because she remembered that feeling all too well. There would be pain. It was coming soon. And there would be…no, there wouldn’t be blood. Not this time.
She hoped.
* * *
Tyler had waited for the Jeep. He hadn’t wanted to. He’d wanted to pick Gabriella up off the ground and put her on his horse to race her back to the house. But he’d thought better of that idea. She was unconscious and therefore he had no idea how extensive her injuries were. Moving her could make them worse.
He had tried to get to Brown Eyes when he saw the horse rearing off. Things had happened pretty quickly. GG hadn’t taken kindly to the gunshots either, but Tyler had been able to rein her in. He’d tried to get to Brown Eyes, to help Gabriella take control of him, when the horse went up on its hind legs. He knew then what was going to happen and he’d cursed. Jumping off GG he’d run to where she’d fallen to the ground. She was lying on her stomach, half her face on the grass, arms and legs spread.
“Gabriella!”
Tyler had called out to her he didn’t know how many times, but she hadn’t responded. He’d touched her face, pushed her hair back and felt along her neck for a pulse. It was there.
Thank God.
That’s when he’d yanked his phone from his back pocket and called the house. Stephen was on his way.
There were gunshots. Six of them. Tyler cursed and looked around. Nothing. About twenty feet to the west there was a copse of trees. Easy enough for someone to lay in wait. But nobody knew that he and Gabriella were riding this morning. There was no one on the ranch except staff and the new security system had been installed a few days ago. Yet, someone had been out there, shooting at them.
The Jeep’s tires screeched across the grass as Stephen arrived. The ranch manager was out of the truck and running over to them in seconds.
“What the hell happened? You said someone was shooting?” Stephen asked.
Tyler nodded. “Yeah. We need to get her back to the house and call a doctor.”
“Dessie was dropping off some curtains when you called, so she was on the phone with paramedics as I headed out.”
“I want to get her off this ground,” Tyler said.
Stephen touched a hand lightly to his shoulder. “We should wait.”
The ranch manager had come down on his knees too and was looking down at Gabriella until now, when he looked up at Tyler.
“It’s safer to let the paramedics do it. They’ll be here in a few minutes.”
A hawk screeched and circled above them. Tyler and Stephen looked up. But Stephen reached
behind his back and pulled out a gun.
“You think they’re still out here?” Stephen asked Tyler.
Tyler looked around, going back to that copse of trees and narrowing his eyes. “I didn’t see anybody running away.”
Then again, he hadn’t really looked. He’d been much more concerned with watching Gabriella fall off that horse. In those moments time seemed to stand still, something clenching in his chest and constricting his breathing until the moment he’d felt her pulse.
“I’m gonna go and have a look,” Stephen said. “You stay with her.”
Tyler wanted to find who had done this. He wanted to go back to the ranch, grab his father’s gun from the safe and get out on the land just like Stephen, to find the bastard. But he wouldn’t leave Gabriella.
Moments later an ambulance drove over the grass, stopping with its flashing lights and blaring siren about ten feet from where Tyler still knelt beside Gabriella. He was quickly shuffled out of the way by a woman and a man who moved efficiently and had Gabriella’s neck in a brace in seconds. They moved her gingerly, getting her onto a stretcher just moments before her eyes fluttered open.
Tyler immediately went to the side of the stretcher, taking her hand in his.
Her fingers didn’t move and she didn’t try to find him with her gaze. She simply stared up to the sky and whispered, “Austin.”
* * *
“She’s staying here tonight,” Dessie said matter-of-factly.
They’d just returned from the hospital with Gabriella. She was walking on her own and looking much better than Tyler recalled seeing her six hours ago. That’s how long they’d been at the hospital while Gabriella underwent blood tests, head and body scans and exams by a general physician as well as a neurologist. It had seemed like so much for a fall, but they’d needed to be sure. Tyler had to be sure. Whoever was shooting was doing so because of him. His ranch. His problem. With Jagger gone, it was all on him.
“Nonsense. The doctors said I’m physically fine, just a little traumatized which is why I lost conciseness for a few minutes. But there’s no reason why I can’t go back to the resort,” Gabriella argued. “It’s probably best if I don’t drive myself, but if Stephen or one of the other ranch hands can give me a quick lift, I’ll just go and get out of everybody’s hair. I’ve already taken up your whole day.”
“Now, that’s the nonsense,” Dessie continued. She moved closer to Tyler and slapped him on the shoulder. “Help her upstairs. Put her in the guest bedroom and I’ll be up in a few minutes to run her a nice warm bath.”
“I’m standing right here, Dessie,” Gabriella said.
“You are but you’re recovering from a fall, so you’re not talking sensible right now. Tyler do what I said,” Dessie snapped before leaving them standing in the foyer.
Gabriella rolled her eyes at Dessie’s retreating back.
“She’s bossy,” she said with a frown.
Tyler chuckled. “You don’t know the half of it. You should see her when she’s trying to get you to take some godawful medicine.”
He shook his head. “It’s not a pretty sight.”
She cracked a small smile and replied, “I’ll bet it’s not.”
They were only a couple feet away from each other but it seemed like miles. Tyler hadn’t touched her since she’d whispered another man’s name. It was probably his fault. When he’d asked her about being happy this morning, he should have just come right out and asked if she were seeing someone else. But during her first tour of the ranch when they were at the equestrian center, she’d told him she wasn’t interested in getting involved with any man. He’d taken that to mean she was single. If that were the case, then who the hell was Austin?
“Well, I’d better get you upstairs,” he said and moved toward her.
She moved back. “I can manage. Really, Tyler, I’m sure you have things you need to get done around here.”
“Nothing more important than making sure you’re okay,” he said truthfully. “Once you’re settled I promise I’ll leave you alone.”
For a moment he thought he saw sadness flicker across her face. But he was wrong, he was certain of that. He went to stand beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist and said, “Let’s go, Ms. Bennett. You’re officially a patient at the Westwind Rehabilitation Center.”
When she looked up at him and smiled, Tyler felt that constriction in his chest again. He also felt like punching anyone named Austin.
Chapter 9
Tyler stood at the window, staring out into the darkness and lifting a glass to his lips. This was his glass of whiskey for the day. It had been added to his daily routine since returning to Hobbs Creek. In return, he ran an extra mile each morning. Except this morning. He’d been doing something else this morning.
“Who knew you and Ms. Bennett were going out for a ride?” Sheriff Alvarez asked.
“No one,” Tyler replied without turning around.
He knew everyone closed in the office with him tonight. The sheriff, Stephen and Clyde—people whom Tyler assumed he could trust.
“Who got the horses ready for the ride?”
Tyler didn’t want to answer any more questions. The answers weren’t getting them anywhere. But the sheriff had a job to do and Tyler could respect that.
“I did,” he said solemnly. “I went down to the equestrian center at four. Gabriella arrived at a little after five. We set out around five-thirty and were only going to ride around the line of the property. We were going at a steady pace, out for no more than forty-five minutes before the shots came.”
“From which direction?”
“I don’t know.”
“Found some shell casings behind those trees,” Stephen said.
Tyler turned then. He hadn’t seen Stephen since the man had walked off when they were down in the field. By the time they’d returned from the hospital, Stephen was out taking care of more ranch business. Dessie had taken Gabriella dinner in her room and Tyler had closed himself down here in his father’s old office.
“So that’s where he stood waiting?” Tyler asked, his fingers tightening on the glass.
The sheriff had taken off his hat. Tyler saw it sitting on the edge of the desk. His hair was still mostly black, with the tufts of gray staying cooperative at his ears. He scratched his head and raised a brow as he stared at Tyler.
“Why do you think it’s a man?”
Tyler shrugged. “I don’t know if it’s a man or a woman. I don’t know who it is, sheriff. That’s the problem. Somebody killed my parents. Then somebody vandalized my property. Then somebody took shots at me and my…a guest on this ranch. Male or female, something is definitely going on here.”
“He’s got a point,” Stephen added with a nod. “We’ve never had problems like this here at Westwind. After the vandalism we tightened security around here. Added the electronic gate with the call-box entrance and attached security monitors at measured intervals along the perimeter. Nobody gets onto this property without going through security.”
“So this shooter has to be someone you know personally, or someone who has the credentials to get onto this property,” the sheriff stated evenly.
“There’s fifteen year around staff here—ranch hands, wranglers and such,” Stephen stated. “And ten summer interns. They come on board early April and stay on until October. They all passed background checks.”
Alvarez was scribbling as Stephen talked.
“They all stay on property in the employee residences,” Tyler added. He’d made it a point to meet with Stephen for at least an hour each day to learn more about the ranch and the business that went on here. It hadn’t been as foreign as he’d first thought it would be, with so many things, memories—good and bad—rushing back into his mind.
“Anybody have security clearance that doesn’t stay on the property?” Alvarez asked without looking up from his notepad.
“Everybody’s got a security badge now,” Stephen spoke.
He was sitting in one of the guest chairs, elbows resting on his knees.
“The vet has one and his assistant. The project manager at the construction company Gabriella hired. That’s all. Everybody else has to be buzzed in. Suppliers didn’t like that change, but they’re getting used to it.”
“What about at the resort?”
Alvarez looked from Tyler to Stephen for the answer to that question.
“You can access the resort from the roads winding east behind the ranch. Could be someone staying at the resort, drives right over to the ranch and doesn’t have to go through the security gate,” he continued.
Tyler shook his head.
“We thought about that when we had the security specialists out here right after the vandalism. We drove the entire property looking for weak spots. There’s a new security gate at the road a couple miles out after the resort. We thought about making the resort room keys able to access it, in case guests were just out to see the views, but we decided that would cast too wide a net of unknown people on the property,” Tyler told him.
“So only the executive level employees at the resort have security passes to access that gate,” Clyde added.
He’d been sitting on the couch near the fireplace, staring down into the untouched gin on the rocks he’d asked Tyler to fix for him.
“Dessie and Audrey are the only ones from the resort that have passes,” Clyde finished. “I have a pass because Tyler kept me on as attorney for Westwind. Nobody else has access to the ranch.”
“What about your brother?” Alvarez asked.
Tyler frowned. “Jagger left three weeks ago. He’s probably enjoying his Jacuzzi in his Manhattan penthouse.”
Tyler hadn’t liked parting ways with his brother on such a sour note, but, in addition to the tension surrounding the ranch, Jagger hadn’t been open to Tyler’s suspicions about Brooke. Of course, telling his brother that he thought his fiancé was a manipulating gold digger might have come across better before he’d given Jagger a black eye and a busted lip. But there wasn’t much Tyler could have done about that at the time. Jagger always did run his mouth too much.