She raced across the room and checked the screen—it wasn’t Grant or John.
With a shaking hand she tapped the surveillance camera app and ran outside. “Grant!”
“It’s okay,” he yelled as he jogged across the yard. “Do you remember what I showed you yesterday?”
“I think so.” She tapped on the small, flashing, image.
He stood beside her, watching what she was doing. “That’s great. What do you see?”
“It’s your neighbor, Susan.” Mallory’s legs felt like jello. The surge of adrenaline that had shot through her was replaced with relief.
She held her hand over her heart. “I thought someone was coming after us.”
Grant wrapped his arm around her waist and gave her a quick hug. “I checked my phone, too. It’s okay.” He cleared his throat and took a step away from her. “Tell me which motion sensor Susan triggered.”
Mallory’s hand shook as she opened the drop down menu and chose the map option. “She’s on the track that runs between your properties.”
Grant pointed to the screen. “Did you notice that the camera icon has changed?”
Mallory focused on the map. “It’s a different color.”
“When it goes from blue to red it means the camera was triggered more than once. If you go back to the video image you should be able to see what set it off the second time.”
She found the video images and showed Grant. “It was Patch and Gypsy.”
He smiled and a different type of adrenaline left her breathless.
Grant cleared his throat. “There’s something I need to tell you. John called. He’s sending a team from Fletcher Security to the cabin. They’ll be here in a few hours.”
“Why is he doing that?”
“He’s worried about us.”
Mallory frowned. “But no one knows we’re here.”
“He doesn’t want to take any chances.”
“Where will they sleep?”
“There’s plenty of room in the bunker or they might prefer to stay outside. We can sort that out when they get here. Do you want a cup of coffee?”
She nodded. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
He started walking toward the cabin. “Nope. How is your quilt coming along?”
“It’s easier than I thought.” When they arrived at the cabin she showed him the squares she’d stitched together. “I’m following a beginner’s pattern. What do you think?”
“Nice. Is there enough fabric?”
“More than enough. Your mom must have known that anyone staying in the bunker would need something to keep them busy. There’s enough thread and fabric to make a dozen quilts. I’m making a baby’s quilt.”
Surprise flickered in Grant’s eyes.
“Not for me,” she spluttered. “John and Rachel are trying for a baby. Knowing them, it won’t take long to get pregnant.” She slapped her hand over her mouth. “Oops. I shouldn’t have said that.”
Instead of smiling, Grant’s intense stare made her toes curl. He started to say something, then changed his mind. “They’re still in the honeymoon phase.”
“Do you think attraction fizzles out over time?”
“I…well, I don’t know. I suppose it does.” He turned on the coffeepot and opened the pantry doors.
“I hope it doesn’t.”
Something crashed against the floor and Grant cursed.
“Are you okay?”
“I dropped a cup. I’ll be back in a minute with the broom.”
By the time Grant returned, she’d thrown the biggest pieces away. “It was your favorite cup.”
“It doesn’t matter.” He swept the rest of the mess into a pile and added it to the bag she held open.
Over the last two days, Grant had spent most of his time in the barn, working on his project for Bella. She’d tried to give him the space he obviously needed, but it wasn’t easy when she had to stay close to him.
Her self-defense lessons had been terrible. Grant had shown her what to do if someone attacked her. They could have been great lessons—if he’d actually touched her.
It would have been funny if she weren’t the person a deranged Mexican businessman was after. When she told Grant he was going to have to hold her, he’d finished their lesson early.
Even with his sudden touching phobia, she liked him more than anyone she’d ever met. He was funny and charming, kind and thoughtful. There was an intensity to his personality that she admired. And he loved Bella.
None of that was helping with the decision she had to make. Los Angeles was a long way from Bozeman. Once she left, she wouldn’t come back for a long time.
“What are we going to do, Grant?”
He stopped moving around the kitchen. “What do you mean?”
Mallory took a deep breath. “Apart from Juan Garcia, I know you’re upset about the coaching job. It’s okay if you don’t want to stay here. If John is sending a team, you could go back to Bozeman. You must be worried about your ranch.”
“Is that what you think?”
“I don’t know what to think. You won’t talk to me about how you’re feeling. I’ve only seen you at meal times and when you show me how to do something.”
He looked through the kitchen window. “I need to distance myself from you—from us.”
“Why?”
Grant turned to her and sighed. “Because I love you.”
“But that doesn’t make sense. If you love me, then maybe we could—”
“I don’t want how I feel to influence your decision about Los Angeles.”
“You’re the reason I haven’t already applied for the job.”
He ran his hands through his hair. “I can’t be the reason you don’t apply. You said yourself that coaching jobs of that caliber don’t come along very often. If you don’t make the most of the opportunity you could regret it.”
“You don’t think I’d regret leaving you?”
“I live on a cattle ranch in the middle of nowhere. I don’t have anything to offer you.”
A loud bark filled the yard.
Grant opened the front door. “Patch and Gypsy are here. Susan won’t be far away. Can we talk about this later?”
Mallory nodded. Talking was better than nothing, but it wasn’t going to make her decision any easier.
Because whether Grant knew it or not, she loved him, too.
***
Susan walked toward them with a smile on her face and a basket in her hands. “Hi. I hope you don’t mind some visitors?”
Grant took the basket she held out. “Of course we don’t. It’s good to see you.”
“David says hello. I made some fresh bread this morning and thought you might like a loaf.”
Mallory smiled. “We haven’t eaten any bread for two days.”
“You’ll enjoy this loaf, then. It’s made with nine different grains and lots of wholemeal flour.”
Grant held open the front door. “Come inside. We’ve made coffee.”
Mallory scratched behind one of the dogs’ ears. It leaned against her, sighing in bliss.
Susan laughed. “If you haven’t already noticed, Gypsy loves her ears being scratched. Patch is more of a belly kind of dog.”
“They’re both beautiful.”
“They have their moments,” Susan said. “Are you enjoying your time in Saddle Butte?”
She kept rubbing Gypsy’s ears. “It’s been great.”
“Mallory hasn’t lived off-grid before so I thought I’d show her what it’s like.”
Susan smiled. “Is it what you expected, Mallory?”
She sat at the dining table while Grant poured their coffee. “I thought we wouldn’t have any electricity at all. When I saw the refrigerator and the light switches I was surprised.”
“It’s just a different way of living. Do you live in Bozeman with Grant?”
“We live in Bozeman, but not together. Grant is my friend.”
Susan seemed
surprised. “I thought…well, it doesn’t matter what I thought. Grant is a good friend to have. I don’t know what I would have done if he hadn’t been here last summer. My husband had a heart attack. Grant did CPR while we waited for the rescue helicopter to arrive.”
“Is your husband okay now?”
“Much better. He needed a double bypass operation, but once that was done there was no stopping him.”
Grant slid two cups of coffee onto the table. “He’s not still chopping his own wood, is he?”
“Not since the last time you saw him. One of our other neighbors dropped off a truckload of wood after Christmas. The closest David gets to the logs is when he puts them in the stove.” She took a sip of coffee and sighed. “You’ll have to bring Mallory over to our home. We’re set up differently. It would give her another perspective on living off-grid.”
“How long have you lived in Saddle Butte?” Mallory asked.
“About ten years. David used to be the chief executive of a large pharmaceutical company and I was a research assistant at the University of Minnesota. We worked long hours in stressful jobs. We wanted a change, but didn’t expect it would happen quite so quickly. The day after we saw our block of land advertised, we bought it and and moved here four months later.”
“That was brave of you.”
Susan laughed. “You’re very sweet, Mallory. The word I would have used is stupid. We were idealists who didn’t have a clue about what we were doing. But we survived and here I am.”
Grant passed Susan a plate of cookies. “Has anything happened since I was last here?”
“Let’s see. Mrs. Cavanagh’s daughter had another baby, the Fraser’s house was broken into, but nothing was stolen, and little Theo Atkinson broke his arm.”
“Did the police find the people who broke into the Fraser’s home?”
“You know what Deidre and Burt are like. They didn’t call the police. Nothing was taken so they weren’t worried.”
Mallory looked at Grant over the rim of her cup.
“Did you install the security system you chose?” he asked Susan.
“Yes and David didn’t do a thing. If you and Mallory are still here next Saturday, you should come to Deidre and Burt’s for our next potluck dinner. You might have more luck convincing them they need a security system than we did.”
Susan turned to Mallory. “Every four months or so all the neighbors get together for dinner. We live so far apart that it’s nice to see each other.”
“I don’t know if we’ll be here,” Mallory said carefully.
“That’s okay. Grant knows where the Frasers live. If you’re here and don’t have anything planned, you’re welcome to join us.”
Susan spent the next half hour with them, finding out what Grant had been doing and telling them about a new solar powered hydroponic garden she was planning.
By the time she left, Mallory was impressed. “Wow. Susan’s amazing.”
Grant smiled. “You should see their home. I learn something new each time I visit. How about I finish off what I was doing in the barn, then help you make lunch. We can talk after that.”
“Okay.”
Mallory touched Grant’s arm before he left. “I need to tell you something.”
Grant’s blue eyes collided with hers.
She leaned forward and kissed him softly on his lips. “I love you, too.”
***
While Mallory waited for Grant to finish in the barn, she folded their washing and brought more firewood into the cabin. She added another piece of wood to the pile beside the stove and thought about Grant.
She had no idea what she’d say to him or what he was going to say to her. The only thing she knew was that he’d looked shocked when she’d told him she loved him.
The satellite phone beeped and vibrated. This time, she didn’t panic. It would be Susan, walking home the same way she’d arrived.
Sure enough, when she checked the phone, Grant’s neighbor was following Patch and Gypsy along the firebreak.
Mallory slid the phone into her pocket and went outside. It was such a beautiful day. The air was crisp and fresh. Clear blue skies stretched across the horizon and the trees surrounding the property were fast losing their winter coat of snow.
She was beginning to understand why Grant enjoyed coming here. There was a peacefulness about the land. It soothed your soul and cleared your mind. All she had to do was harness that tranquility and decide what she was going to do about Los Angeles.
A squirrel dashed across the yard. She smiled as he stopped in front of the woodshed, turned his head left and right, then carried on, disappearing into a hole in the wall.
She kept walking across the yard, wondering if there were other squirrels inside the logs, making a home for their spring babies.
The only other job she needed to do was in the generator shed. Grant had shown her how to add distilled water to the heavy-duty batteries to keep them working efficiently. Today she needed to check all the batteries and refill the ones that needed more water.
Before she’d come here, she had no idea what generators, inverters, and breaker boxes were. She felt like Robinson Crusoe, discovering a whole new world and learning how to survive. But instead of being stranded on a desert island, she was surviving off-grid in rural Montana.
A bright shaft of light flashed in the pine trees.
Mallory frowned. Grant was still in the barn and it wouldn’t be Susan—she was nowhere near that side of the property.
Her heart skipped a beat. If someone was here she needed to get inside. The cabin was too far away, so she ran toward the generator shed.
A burning sensation hit her arm. Before she’d taken another step a shot rang out and she fell to the ground, scrambling as fast as she could toward the nearest wall.
Blood soaked through her sweatshirt. She’d been shot. Panic squeezed all the oxygen out of her lungs. She held onto her injured arm, pushing hard on the wound, sobbing through the pain.
Someone wanted to kill her. If she stayed here she was going to die. She needed help, she needed…
Grant. He was in the barn.
With shaking hands she pulled her satellite phone out of her pocket and called him.
The phone kept ringing.
Come on, Grant. Answer your phone.
The call went to voice mail.
Another shot echoed around the yard.
This was bad. Really bad. She didn’t have time to think about why he hadn’t answered. They needed help.
She called John’s number.
“Hi, Mallory.” His calm voice drifted down the phone.
“I’ve been shot. Grant’s not answering his phone.”
“Are you safe?”
“No. I’m beside the generator shed. I saw a light in the trees. I don’t know how many people are here.”
“Stay on the line. I’ll get help.”
She tucked the phone against her shoulder and held her hand against her bleeding arm. The pressure brought more tears to her eyes, but she needed to stop the bleeding.
“Are you there, Mallory?”
“I’m here.”
“The police are on their way and my team will be there soon. Can you get to the bunker?”
“Grant could be hurt. I need to go to the barn.”
“Grant knows how to take care of himself.”
“But what if he didn’t hear the gun?” she sobbed. “He didn’t answer his phone.”
“Grant will be okay. Where have you been shot?”
“In my arm. At the top. There’s blood everywhere, but I don’t think it’s enough to have hit an artery.”
“Listen to me, Mallory. You need to get to the bunker. There’s a first aid kit inside. Use a pressure bandage to stop the bleeding. Before you go, I need to know about the shooter. Was he at the front or back of the cabin?”
“Front.”
“How far away?”
“I didn’t see him, just a reflection of somethi
ng in the trees.”
“That’s good. It will give us more time. Are you still outside the shed?”
“Yes.”
“I want you to move to the back wall. Look carefully in the trees for anyone on that side of the property. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” She moved the phone to her other hand and groaned. Using her good arm, she shuffled along the ground, keeping close to the wall. After taking a deep breath, she peered around the corner of the shed, hunting for any movement, anything that shouldn’t be there.
“Mallory?”
“I can’t see anyone,” she whispered. “The back door of the cabin isn’t far away.”
“Is there anything you could use as cover?”
Mallory looked around her. “No. There’s nothing.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“What if they try and shoot me again?”
“Whoever shot you could be getting closer. You need to get to the bunker.”
She leaned her head against the shed wall and closed her eyes. If she was going to be shot, she would sooner it happened while she was trying to get away. “Will you keep calling Grant?”
“We’re doing that now. When you’re ready, run as fast as you can to the cabin. Lock both doors into the bunker and hide in the safe room. Do you understand?”
“Lock both doors and hide in the safe room.”
“That’s it. My team will be there soon.”
“I’m scared, John.”
“It’s going to be all right. I’ll stay on the line with you, but once you’re underground, the satellite phone won’t work.”
“Okay. I need to go.” She jammed the phone in her pocket and peered around the edge of the shed.
Her eyes scanned the trees. It was the same view she’d seen a few minutes ago—except this time she’d be risking her life if she missed something. Rising into a crouching position, she took a deep breath and sprinted across the open space.
Her heart pounded as she flung open the cabin’s back door and rushed inside.
With trembling hands she grabbed the hidden handle in the closet and pulled on the hatch. Her arm screamed in protest as she closed it behind her and rushed down the stairs. Even with the generator working, there was barely enough light to see where she was going.
Always (The Protectors Book 3) Page 18