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CHAPTER FIVE
JULIE WAS STARING at him. Aaron could feel her gaze beating down on him. She wasn’t happy. With him, or with her current situation. And he didn’t blame her.
He continued talking to Steve, forcefully pulling his concentration away from the woman seated beside him and putting it squarely on the two people on the other side of the table. He’d had reluctant clients before, and he would handle Julie the same way he’d handled the others. With calm, common sense, and strict professionalism. Never get attached to a client. It was an edict everyone in his line of work should follow. Some agents he knew let that line blur, but not him. He always kept that border between agent and client solid and steadfast.
“I’d like to take a look around the lodge, if you don’t mind?” Aaron directed his question to Steve.
“Unfortunately, I’m busy taking the guests out horseback riding this afternoon,” Steve replied. “Julie was supposed to accompany me, but I’m making sure she stays inside, just in case. She can show you around the lodge, instead.”
“What?” Julie hadn’t said a word for nearly ten minutes, but Steve’s comment seemed to pull her out of whatever dark thoughts she’d been mulling over. “No. I’m not taking him anywhere.” Aaron didn’t need to turn around to know those beautiful blue eyes had turned arctic again.
“Julie,” her father admonished quietly.
She blew out a breath and sat back in her chair. “Do I get any say in this?” she asked. “I told you I didn’t think this situation warranted a bodyguard…” She stared at Aaron, daring him to correct her. He wisely kept his mouth shut, and she continued. “Yet less than twenty-four hours later, here we are. I think you’re blowing this out of proportion. This stalker has never once given me—us—any solid reason to think he’s actually going to come after me. His threats are…” She seemed to struggle to find the correct word. “Well, they’re childish and laughable.”
Aaron knew better. This guy might look as if he posed no threat to Julie, but the seemingly harmless ones were often the worst offenders. He hadn’t said too much at the time, but the fact that her stalker had potentially broken into her house was highly disturbing. It showed intelligence, not leaving any trace of a break-in, as well as subtle intent. The other extremely worrying factor was the stalker hadn’t given up when she’d moved away. That showed patience and premeditation; this guy had been able to sustain his obsession for over a year and a half. Julie should be concerned. But he also knew pushing reluctant clients only made them believe their own version of the story even more. He glanced across the table, ready to intervene if they didn’t say something soon.
Steve held up his hand as Daniella also drew breath to argue. “I don’t agree,” he said evenly. “But I know how stubborn you are when you don’t get your way.”
“I wonder where I get that from?” Julie quipped, but Aaron could hear the softening in her tone. Steve smiled back at her; a special smile Aaron felt he kept only for his daughter. Julie and her dad had a distinctive bond, it seemed. It was nice to see that Julie respected and liked her father. Nice to see a healthy father/daughter relationship. He’d grown up without a father in his life, with no other men he could’ve used as a father figure, either. Would things have turned out differently if he’d had a male role model in his life? Aaron didn’t like to dwell on thoughts of his father; they always ended up with him spiraling down into a dark place. His mother had kept his father’s identity a secret from him, and had chosen to parent him on her own. But when he’d finally confronted her—wanting to know who his real father was—she’d revealed the reason for her choices, and it’d shocked him to his core.
“Why don’t we agree on a compromise, for now?” Steve said. “How about we let Aaron take a few days to look around and come up with a plan for a new security system for this place? Because God knows we need one.”
“Mmm,” she replied, noncommittally.
“At the same time, he and his team can assess the threat this stalker poses. Aaron can stay on in a consultant capacity.” Steve glanced at Aaron to see if that was the correct term, and Aaron gave a solemn nod. “So, you won’t have a bodyguard, as such. He won’t be following you around the property, or be by your side all the time, interfering in your life. What do you think?”
Julie’s face brightened considerably at his suggestion, and Aaron was hit with a memory of how her eyes used to sparkle with mischief when she’d whisper something sweet into his ear if she thought no one was looking.
“That’s good. I’d feel safer if we had someone who knows what they’re doing on site, just in case,” Daniella added.
It was a good compromise, and it also gave Aaron some leeway, as well. Not that he’d mention it right now. It meant he could talk to Jake and hopefully get someone to come and take his place, if they decided to go down the path of a full-time personal protection agent for Julie. For both their sakes, it was better if that person wasn’t him.
“Right.” Steve stood, and Daniella followed suit. “Let’s meet back here before dinner and compare notes.”
Aaron snagged his backpack from beneath the table and he and Julie stood at the same time. Steve was already distracted, as if his mind was back on his lame horse and no longer here in the meeting room.
Daniella said, “You can leave your bag in here, for now. It’ll be perfectly safe; we keep this door locked when the room isn’t in use.”
“Thank you.” Aaron placed the bag on the chair he’d just vacated. It was his go bag. His whole life was in here. It always sat in his cupboard, packed and ready to go at a moment’s notice. It contained everything from a couple of changes of clothes, to a Taser, flashlights, spare burner phones, cash, a first aid kit, extra batteries, a compass, a lighter, his laptop, various weapons, a spare coms unit, and many other useful items he might need in an emergency. He rummaged around and pulled out a black case. “Do you have a gun safe?” He held up the case for Daniella’s inspection. When she frowned, he added, “Don’t worry, I can always wear them, instead.” There was no way he was leaving his handguns unattended, even if it was in a supposedly locked room. His weapon of choice was a SIG-Sauer 9mm, which he wore in a shoulder holster beneath his sport coat, while he kept a smaller SIG as a second weapon that could be more easily concealed, or worn in an ankle holster.
“I have a safe in the office. Will that do?” she asked. The look on her face was one of restrained horror, that he might actually wear a weapon around the station. She probably didn’t want to scare the guests. But he had a job to do, and if it meant disturbing a few of her rich clients, he wasn’t going to let that bother him. He was more than used to wealthy clients and their insane requests.
He nodded. “It’ll do.” A gun safe was probably something else he needed to put on the list for Steve to think about. In his experience, most farms and stations had at least one or two weapons hanging around, either to shoot vermin, or put down an injured animal. Too many graziers and landowners were blasé about their guns.
“I’ll leave you in the ladies’ capable hands, then,” Steve said, extending his hand for a quick shake before he strode out of the room.
Julie hung back, twirling her sunglasses.
“Follow me,” Daniella said, crooking her little finger. She led him out of the meeting room, and watched impatiently while Julie trailed after them, then true to her word, locked the door behind them. Daniella swept down the hallway and turned into another door on the right, then beckoned him around the large desk covered in piles of paperwork and pointed to a safe tucked beneath the table. “It’s secured to the floor,” she volunteered, as he stared at it.
“Good,” was all he said. Crude, but effective, he guessed.
Daniella took the case from him, and placed it in the safe, making a big show of locking it securely.
“Okay, Julie, he’s all yours.” Daniella clasped her hands and looked at her stepdaughter in anticipation. Aaron got the distinct impression they were being dismissed. It seemed work came first with Daniella.
“Sure. This way.” Julie gestured. She led him down the long hallway toward the main living area, still twirling her sunglasses. He’d come in this way, but there’d been no one to meet him at the reception desk in the big main foyer, so he’d decided to find the meeting room for himself.
