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She wasn’t so sure. “And in the meantime, I have to stay cooped up inside. Is that right?”
Aaron pursed his lips, the scruff of his short stubble highlighting the line of his firm mouth. “I’m sorry, I know you hate it.”
“What about the muster? Have you thought any more about that? It starts in two days.” Julie wasn’t going to give up hope that she could go. A chance to spend a week out in the Queensland outback would be good for her soul. She’d been looking forward to it for months. Some of the ringers were due to arrive tomorrow. The rest would rendezvous with them out at the campsite.
“I’m still not keen on you going.”
At least he understood not to tell her no outright. Because she might have a melt-down.
“Surely, it’s safer out there. Away from the guests and the delivery men, and the staff who you don’t trust?” Julie still couldn’t believe that Aaron didn’t even trust the Stormcloud staff. People she’d known and worked with—some of them for years, now. It obviously came with the territory when you were a bodyguard, not trusting anyone. But Julie would be dammed if she’d go down that path.
“You keep saying your trust your staff implicitly, but you seem to have forgotten that one of them embezzled money from Stormcloud and murdered a fellow teammate.” He stared at her and for a moment she was lost for words, squirming uncomfortably. He was right. But that was in the past. She was sure no one who now worked at Stormcloud could be doing this. “And there’s also a whole other raft of other people who we’d need to clear,” he added into the silence.
“What? The ringers? They’re all old hands at this. They keep coming back year after year. Do you honestly think this stalker guy has any hope of masquerading as a battle-scarred, work-roughened, hard-bitten, bronco-riding stock hand?” The idea was completely laughable. The safest place for her right now would be on that muster. But how did she convince Aaron of that?
There was a knock at the door, then Dale entered. “The locksmith is here. I’ll stay with Julie, if you want to show him what you need.” Dale looked between the two of them, then the smile dropped from his face when it became obvious he’d just interrupted something.
“Thank you.” Aaron grabbed his sports jacket from the back of a chair, slinging it on over his gun holster and said nothing more as he exited the door.
“Great, just what I need. A babysitter.” Julie plonked herself down onto the sofa and crossed her arms. This whole hiding away was wearing very thin, very quickly. The stalker’s phone call had scared her. But it’d also made her mad. And the more she thought about it, the more the anger rose to the surface, overpowering her fear. She needed to go on that muster. Would she get away with defying Aaron? Technically, she was his client, and he had to do what she wanted. Didn’t he?
Dale sat on the other end of the sofa and regarded her. “You need to stop blaming Aaron for all of this. He’s just trying to keep you safe. You’re treating him as if he’s punishing you by making you stay inside. This is the stalker’s fault, not Aaron’s.”
Dale made sense, but Julie found it hard to wipe the glower off her face. It was easy to blame Aaron for her predicament, but Dale was right, he was merely doing his job the best way he knew how. Deep down, Julie understood that she was probably transferring some of her anger at him, surrounding her current situation. He’d broken her heart when he left, and she couldn’t forgive him for that.
* * *
Julie stretched and yawned, but didn’t open her eyes. She knew it was daylight because the increasing high-pitched hum of cicadas permeated even through the thick, wooden walls of the lodge and her closed window. The window she usually left open at night, so she could hear the peaceful night sounds that lulled her to sleep. But last night she hadn’t heard a thing. Although something had disturbed her sleep at one stage. She remembered rolling over and vaguely wondering what that light, fluttering sound was. But it’d stopped, and she dropped back asleep.
Sitting up in bed, she blinked a few times and ran a hand through her hair. It was later than she normally woke, she could tell by the strong light filtering in around the bottom of her curtains. But what was there to get up for? She wasn’t allowed outside, was hardly allowed to do any work at all. Usually, by this time of the morning, she’d be helping Skylar prepare breakfast, or be out with her father, feeding the horses.
Would Aaron still be asleep? Somehow, she doubted it. He was like a robot these days. So serious and straight-faced. All work and no play. Part of the reason she’d found it hard to fall asleep last night was knowing he was sleeping right across the hall. Images of Aaron lying stretched out on the mattress assaulted her mind. Did he sleep in his underwear? Or naked, even? Back when they were together, he’d always slept with a pair of underwear on, nothing more. How different would he look in a pair of those tight black boxer briefs today? Back then, she’d loved the long, lithe lines of him, toned stomach showing off a fit set of abs. But now, he was much more heavily muscled. Those abs would still be there, she had no doubt about that, she’d felt them beneath his T-shirt yesterday as they kissed. But they were way more defined, more pronounced, the muscles more substantial and solid. He’d definitely filled out and grown into his height. Her mind flittered back to the kiss they’d shared yesterday. It’d been so hot; she’d thought her panties might melt. Nothing had changed; they still had amazing chemistry. Aaron was capable of setting her insides aflame with just one touch of his lips.
Jeezes. Where had that thought come from?
Running a hand across her eyes to rid her brain of the unwanted images, she kicked off the sheet and swung her feet over the side of the bed. Padding on bare feet over to her large dresser drawer, she stood staring at the large wooden piece of furniture, but not really seeing it. What should she wear today? It’d been a nice change to get out of her jeans and shirt yesterday. Should she wear the capris again? Why not? She wasn’t going to be allowed out of her cage, luxurious as it might be. Aaron had seemed to like the capris, if the flash of desire she’d seen in his eyes was anything to go by. He’d smothered it quickly enough, but he forgot, she’d seen that desire before, recognized it, even from twelve years ago.
A slight sound caught her attention.
It took her a few seconds to pinpoint where it was coming from. Outside her window. The same fluttering sound she’d heard last night. It was odd, like something was tapping on the glass pane.
Aaron had told her that under no circumstances was she to open her window, or the curtains. But surely a little peek wouldn’t hurt.
Sneaking over to her window—although why she was creeping on silent feet, she had no idea, Aaron wouldn’t know what she was up to—she took the edge of the curtain in between her finger and thumb and gently lifted it away so she could peer outside. Something was stuck to the outside of her window. It was a piece of paper, one corner flapping idly in the light breeze. Why was there paper stuck to her window? Julie drew the curtain open wider to get a better view and let out a scream before she covered her mouth and stared at the image someone had drawn on the paper.
Oh, God.The top half of the page contained a hand-drawn image of a fetus, an enlarged head and enormous eyes staring at her. A knife had been stabbed through the baby’s heart and blood dripped from the gaping wound. Below the dead baby was an image of a large, wooden crucifix, with a woman stretched out, hands and feet nailed to the cross. The message was clear.
There was a knock at the door. “Julie, are you okay? I heard something.” Without waiting for an invitation, Aaron barged into her bedroom, his large frame filling the room with its comforting presence. His gaze sought her out, checking to make sure she really was unhurt, before he scrutinized the rest of the room, searching for any perceived threat. It’d only taken Aaron a few seconds to get there. He must’ve rushed across the hall as soon as he heard her scream.
“Look at this,” she said in a small voice, beckoning him over.
Aaron walked over and studied the image quickly. “Holy shit,” he mumbled quietly. Without asking her permission, he gathered her in with one arm and briskly flicked the curtains closed with the other. He led her over to sit on the edge of her bed, kneeling on the ground before her, so he could look up into her face.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said gently.
“How did it get there?” But she didn’t really need to ask, she knew. “More to the point, how did he know which window belonged to my bedroom?” Her mouth suddenly felt dry, and she licked her lips, but to no avail.
Aaron said nothing, merely looked serious. Oh, God, the stalker knew where she slept. Thankfully, he hadn’t tried to break into her room. But leaving that horrifying message was bad enough.
