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“We’re not going to kick her off the ranch, Sean. You already said you’d let her stay.”
“Will you chill out? I didn’t say that. All I’m suggesting is that we need a plan. There’s no doubt those men will keep looking for her. They found her apartment. It’s only a matter of time before they find out where she’s hiding.”
Silence filled the cab. Jessica kept her eyes shut, her heart racing with the words being flung through the air. Sean was unhappy. Well, all of them were on edge. But it sounded like Sean was worried the most about her staying on the ranch. Maybe she should contact the sheriff and request some kind of protection for the information she had.
“As long as you understand that Jessica is staying right where she is, I’m game for anything.”
“Remember when we had that problem with the pack of wolves that came off the mountain? They slaughtered half of our goats before we were able to bring some kind of control to the situation,” Brock said.
Ian shifted beside her. “I remember. What about it?”
“We set up a system to alert us when anything crossed the perimeter of our property. Do you think we could do that again?”
“I don’t see why not,” Sean’s voice broke into the conversation. “It would have to be a bit more sophisticated, but we could put something together over the next few days and have it ready before the weekend.”
“I think it would be smart for one of us to keep watch too,” Brock suggested.
“Do you really think that’s necessary? With a security system in place, we’d be alerted before they made it halfway to the house.” Ian gently settled against the back of his seat as if he was worried he’d disturb her slumber. Well, too late for that. Though she wanted to fall back asleep, her mind was racing too much with all that had happened.
“What if we slip through the alert? It needs to be something subtle enough they’re not aware of it, but we still have to know what’s happening.”
“I suppose you’re right. We’ll talk to Mom later tonight. She’ll want to know just what we’re getting into.”
Jessica’s mouth went dry. She’d hoped she could brush off the deep sense of dread that had manifested itself since the moment she’d seen her door hanging open. Though Ian had done a good job keeping the anxiety at bay, it was coming back with a vengeance. She should have known better than to look at this with any degree of optimism.
Someone turned up the radio, the conversation officially settled. Jessica’s whole body ached, tension stringing its spindly vines along every muscle and tendon. As she sat there resting her tired eyes, she decided she’d better come up with her own plan. If theirs fell through, she’d need some form of backup to get out of there. Maybe she’d be able to figure out a way to draw the attacker’s attention and pull them away from the amazing family she’d just met. She could never forgive herself if something happened to any of them on her account.
At some point she must have fallen asleep again because the next thing she knew, Ian was gently rubbing her arm.
“Hey there,” he murmured. “We’re home.”
She blinked a few times and eased into a sitting position. Twisting her waist, she lifted her arms above her head and yawned.
Ian gave her a cute little smile. “Sorry, I had to wake you. Sean needs his truck for an errand. He has to go to town for a few things.”
Their earlier conversation came to mind, and she suppressed a shudder. If she had to be holed up with some cowboys, she could have been stuck with worse ones. Jessica slid across the upholstered seat and hopped out of the truck. Ian retrieved her duffle and backpack from the truck bed, and they headed for the big ranch house.
Ian’s arm slipped around her waist like it was the most natural thing in the world. It was hard to believe just twenty-four hours ago they’d practically been strangers, and now it felt like they’d known each other for ages.
Jessica leaned into him, allowing his warmth to seep into her body, warming the cold she couldn’t seem to shake even though it was a generally warm day. Jessica allowed a smile to cross her face. When this whole fiasco was over, it would be nice to justbewith Ian. He didn’t seem to notice the differences between them. Even when he walked through the doorway to her small one-bedroom apartment, he didn’t seem to dwell on the fact that all of her furniture looked like someone had left it on the side of the road. He hadn’t seemed to pay attention to the fact that she could almost fit her entire wardrobe in the duffle that he carried.
Maybe she’d been wrong. Ian didn’t care about the things that made them different. There might be some adjustments needed when it came to how they saw the world, but for now she could imagine a future with him. It might be a little hazy, but it was there. Ian was someone she could fall in love with. Maybe even have a family with. They just had a few hurdles to leap over before they’d have time to explore this budding relationship between them.
