Cowboy Sanctuary. Elle James
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I have a room over Mrs. Green’s garage in Dry Wash.”
Cameron nodded, suspicious of any stranger, but not yet alarmed. “Nice to meet you.”
“If you’ll pardon me. I have a fence to mend out on the south border.” He glanced at the sun angling toward the horizon. “I’d better get going if I want to get back before dark.” Brad swung up into the saddle, tipped his cowboy hat at Molly and touched his heels to the horse’s flanks.
“What happened to Ty?” Cameron and Ty Masters had played football at the same high school and dated some of the same girls. When Cameron left to join the army, his father had hired Ty to shoulder the workload Cameron’s departure left.
“He was thrown by his horse and broke his leg pretty bad. Pretty freak accident. Said his horse stumbled coming down a hill he’d ridden more times that he can remember and never had a problem with before. If Mom hadn’t been out riding, he’d have been there awhile. He’s been laid up for three weeks and has another three to go before he gets out of the cast. Dad thinks it’ll take him another month or so before he’s up to riding. Maybe longer. That’s why he hired Brad.”
Cameron’s brows dipped. “How come I haven’t heard about Ty?”
“Must have slipped my mind during all my finals at school.” She swatted at his arm. “If you’d wanted to know, you could have called Mom for your personal news service. I’m only here on vacation now.”
“I keep forgetting you’re a college student. I still think of you as that gawky girl with the ponytail always following me around.”
“I haven’t been that for a while now.”
“I noticed.” Cameron stared out at the pastures and surrounding hills, speckled with evergreens and aspens. The clean, fresh air lightly scented with the distinctive aroma of spruce filled his lungs. Topped with sparkling blue skies, the scenery tugged at his heart. He’d always loved the ranch, loved working with the animals and probably would have stayed on the way his brother Logan did, had he not fallen in love with the neighbor girl and stirred up a hornets’ nest of hatred.
“So, how’s Jennie?” Molly might as well have been reading his mind.
Her question jolted him back to the present and his purpose for being there. “She’s good.” Beautiful as ever and just as stubborn as he remembered. If not for the dark smudges beneath her eyes, he’d say she hadn’t changed a bit.
Molly hooked her thumbs in her belt loops as she walked. “She’s had a tough time of it.”
“How so?”
“Stuck out on that ranch, not dating. I hope she wises up and gets a life before she’s too old to enjoy it.”
“It’s her choice.”
“Maybe so.” Molly ambled toward the barn, kicking at the gravel with her dingo boots. “From what I understand, she’s pretty bitter about marriage and men in general.”
Despite his resolve to stay out of Jennie’s business, he couldn’t help asking, “Why?”
Molly glanced up at him, her eyes wide. “You don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Gosh, that’s such old news I thought for sure you’d have heard it long before I did. I was only eleven at the time.”
Cameron stopped outside the barn door and grasped Molly’s arms, his patience for guessing at an end. “What are you talking about? Why is Jennie down on men and marriage?”
“Her ex-husband. I thought you knew.”
Cameron knew Jennie had married shortly after he left. Hurt by how quickly she’d got over him, he’d cut ties and moved on with his life in the military.
Molly shook off her brother’s hands. “He abused her. Slapped her around mentally and physically. That’s why she filed for divorce.” Molly’s lips twisted. “The bastard really messed her up. He deserved to die.”
“What do you mean?”
“Vance Franklin died in a car wreck after Jennie filed for divorce.”
Cameron withheld comment, holding back the string of curses he wanted to let loose. How could any man be cruel enough to hit a woman? And to hit Jennie, that was unconscionable. If Vance were still alive, he’d take the man out. He agreed with his sister, the man deserved to die.
Had he only known Jennie was in trouble back then…
He knew she was in trouble now and he’d do everything in his power to keep her safe.
MEN DIDN’T MAKE good patients—especially hardworking ranch owners who didn’t know the meaning of downtime. For most of the afternoon, Jennie helped Ms. Blainey fetch and carry for her cranky father. Unused to being trapped indoors, Hank groused and hollered over every little thing.
By dusk, Jennie was fit to be tied. If she didn’t get out of the house soon, she’d go nuts. The horses needed feed and Lady needed her dressing changed.
Cameron had told her to stay inside until he returned, but the sun tipped toward the horizon and he still wasn’t back. Unwilling to stay indoors a moment longer, she took a deep breath, opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. A quick glance around had her laughing at herself. What did she expect? The bogeyman?
Shaking her shoulders loose of the tension building there all day, Jennie strode toward the barn, a trip she’d made a million times since the day she was born. Why should today be any different?
Because someone had taken a potshot at her father? Or because Cameron Morgan might show up at any time? What was she more frightened of? The unknown threat or the known?
Ten years had passed since she’d seen Cameron. The years had hardened him into a man, not the teenager she’d fallen in love with. Had she made a mistake taking him on as a bodyguard? Did she still harbor feelings toward this man?
Jennie jerked open the barn door and entered its dark interior. Stan, Doug and Rudy were out working the fences. They would be back at dark, hungry and tired—too tired to deal with the stabled horses. All the more reason for her to feed, water and apply first aid where needed. When Jennie flipped the light switch, nothing happened.
At first, Jennie thought nothing of it. The wiring was old and occasionally a breaker tripped. The near dark didn’t bother her. She knew the barn like the back of her hand and her eyes were beginning to adjust to the dim interior.
Lady whinnied from her corner stall, the sound high-pitched and accompanied by a hoof slammed against the wooden sides of her stall.
“What’s wrong, girl? Didn’t I get out here soon enough for your liking?” As Jennie made her way through the shadowy barn, she talked to the horse in a soft, reassuring voice. When she reached out to open the large trash can housing the grain she fed the horses, she waited a moment before sticking her hand inside, remembering the surprise snake her father had found a few days prior. Just as she reached for the feed bucket, something moved at the corner of her peripheral vision, and it wasn’t a horse.
Before she could shout or even turn, something hard hit the back of her head.
Pain knifed through her, she crumpled to her knees, and her world went fuzzy around the edges.
Jennie fell to the ground, her brain working, albeit not well. If the attacker thought she was unconscious, perhaps he’d leave her alone. She lay still, her head pounding, fighting back the inky blackness threatening to engulf her.
Footsteps sounded on the hard-packed earth, headed for the front entrance to the barn.
Crawling low behind the feed bin, Jennie pulled herself to her knees and waited for her attacker’s return. She heard the sound of the large wooden door closing with a click. Had he gone? Was it safe to come out?
Then