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“Julie.” Aaron waited until he had her undivided attention. “I’d like to remove you from the station. Take you somewhere safe until we can thoroughly assess the threat.”
It took a few seconds for Aaron’s words to sink in. “Absolutely not,” she declared. “I’m not going to let this asshole frighten me out of my home. I’m not leaving.” Julie got to her feet. The fact that the stalker might be on the station had rattled her, but she wasn’t going to let him run her life.
“This changes everything,” Aaron said loudly, breaking through Julie’s protestations. “He made his threat very obvious in that phone conversation. The danger from this man has now escalated.” His multicolored eyes flashed, snaring her focus with their burning intensity. It was almost as if he cared about her welfare. But that was ridiculous.
“I agree with Julie,” Daniella came to stand beside Julie, surprising her. “Steve and I both want Julie here, where we know she’s safe. After what we went through with Skylar…Well, I know it wasn’t Nash’s fault that she was kidnapped by the hitman, but Steve and I always wondered if perhaps she would’ve been safer if she’s stayed at Stormcloud. The gunman wouldn’t have found it so easy to abduct her, then.”
Julie’s breath caught in her throat. She’d never realized Steve and Daniella had felt this way. Skylar had agreed to stay at Nash’s house, use it as a sort of safe house, rather than come back to Stormcloud. But the gunman had tracked her and Nash down and abducted them at gunpoint. Thank God they’d both come out of it alive. It was serendipitous that Skylar’s bad luck might well be her good luck, because Daniella was now on her side.
“And isn’t that the whole reason we hired you?” Daniella demanded. “So you could keep her safe if there was any danger. That’s your job, isn’t it?”
“I thought you’d say as much,” Aaron sighed. “But I had to try.” Julie got the impression by the small shake of his head that he was used to having to accommodate clients doing crazy things. “Technically, my job is to keep Julie safe, yes. But I could do my job better if I had more control over her surroundings.” Aaron held up his hand to forestall any more arguments. He was conceding defeat. For now.
Aaron began to pace across the rug in front of the couch, and both Daniella and Julie sat down again, Daniella catching Julie’s eyes quickly, as if to say, we won that one.
“If you’re staying here, I’d like to organize a locksmith to come out and fit extra security to the doors and windows,” Aaron said. “Today, please.”
Daniella snorted. “I’ll see what I can organize. But it’ll be at least tomorrow before anyone can come out. We don’t have a local locksmith in Dimbulah, so they’ll need to come from Cairns, which, as you know, is a two-hour drive.”
Aaron looked up sharply and mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, “bloody little hick towns.”
Julie raised a smile. Her first since the phone call. He sounded like a grumpy old man when he said that. She was used to city-folk saying such ignorant things, but he should know better.
“You know we live in the middle of far North Queensland, don’t you?” She went up and stood in front of Aaron so that he had to stop pacing across the floor. “Have you lived in the city so long you’ve forgotten what it’s like not to have everything at your fingertips? What it’s like to live in a hick town?”
He glanced up, but his gaze slid right past her. He was still agitated, and she could see the self-reproach hidden in the depths of his eyes, the fear that he’d missed something important, and it was all his fault. To gain his attention, she lay a hand on his forearm. The heat of him surged into her palm through the fabric of his shirt. She almost withdrew her hand, but managed to steel herself to the riot of emotions that single touch engendered.
“It’s okay, Aaron. You couldn’t know.”
“What?” He rubbed the back of his neck and stared at her hand on his arm and then lifted his multicolored gaze to her face, zeroing in on her eyes. At last, she had his full focus.
“It’s not your fault. None of us took this stalker guy seriously. I certainly didn’t. Who was to know he might actually appear on the station?” A small shudder ran through her at the thought. “So, stop beating yourself up about it.” She patted his arm and shot him a grin, hoping to lighten his mood. But his body heat still burned through his shirt, and an answering heat built inside her stomach.
Aaron’s face didn’t clear, as she’d hoped it would. Instead, he raised a single eyebrow, the one bisected by the scar, his gaze growing speculative. Uh oh. The last thing she needed was for him to think she still had any feelings for him. Because she didn’t. Not a single one. Removing her hand, she carefully walked back over to the couch and sat down. She didn’t have to turn around to know that Aaron’s gaze followed her every move.
Once she was seated, Aaron finally directed his focus back to Daniella. “Would you have anything I could use to secure the outer door in the meantime? Any bolts or a padlock and a latch I could use?”
“Possibly,” Daniella replied. “If we wait, Steve will know where—”
“I’d like to do this as soon as possible,” Aaron interrupted her. “If we have at least one room that’s completely secure, I’ll feel much better. And I’m pretty handy. I’m sure I can manage to fit a few bolts,” he said, looking her directly in the eye and squaring his shoulders ever so slightly.
Julie was going to remind Daniella about Aaron’s time spent working on the farm, but after she caught the cold look her stepmother shot at Aaron’s back, she decided not to. Daniella didn’t like to have her authority questioned, but she also knew Aaron was right. It’d do her stepmother good to listen to someone else for a while.
“Right, let me go and check in the machinery shed. I’m sure Steve has got all sorts of stuff out there.” Daniella’s tone was icy. It wouldn’t do if Aaron put Daniella off-side. But he was clearly used to calling the shots when it came to his job, and wasn’t about to let anyone get in his way. She liked the idea that Daniella didn’t scare him.
“I’ll be back soon,” Daniella said.
“Perhaps we should set up a policy of knocking before entering a room,” Aaron said, right before she left the room.
“Good idea.” Daniella gave him a tight smile, and her gaze hovered for a spilt second on the weapon half-hidden beneath Aaron’s jacket. “I’ll pass that detail around.”
“Can you give me a quick tour of the rest of the family suites?” Aaron asked as soon as Daniella disappeared. “I’d like to know what else I’m dealing with.”
“Okay. As long as you’re sure it’s safe.” She didn’t want to admit how much that phone call had freaked her out. But she’d been beginning to feel sheltered in this familiar room. Out of sight and out of mind. A sudden tremor ran through her at the thought of leaving this protective haven.
“You’ll be safe with me, Julie,” Aaron assured her, his voice deep and calming.
She wasn’t going to let some idiot who thought he could intimidate her frighten her out of her own home. Straightening her shoulders, she said, “Follow me.”
