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Chapter Two
Ginger Talbot knew her stance and her cold question made her seem like the Ice Queen. Perhaps she was. When it came to men like Nathaniel Mulbury, she had to be. She’d worked with several of them over the years.
Because Hope Eternal Ranch was a completely female-run operation, she would only take prisoners in the RRC program that hadn’t been convicted of sex offenses.
The man currently bent over in front of her, gasping for air, was a white-collar criminal. She read every case and every conviction before agreeing to house the prisoner on her ranch. Nathaniel had been caught up in investment fraud in the firm where he’d worked for three years before the ceiling had fallen on everyone, from the CEO on the top floor to the secretary just inside the door, at Isotope Investments.
Her heart pounded in her chest at the sight of him still struggling to breathe. She’d been told not to touch him, but her kind, compassionate side urged Ginger to take the few steps toward him. She let her hands drop to her side, then she lifted one and placed it on Nathaniel’s shoulder at the same time the only other woman in the room said, “Nate, we’ve got a drink for you.”
She took the plastic bottle of water from the man who’d gone to retrieve it, and she too joined Ginger at Nate’s side. She put her hand on his other bicep, the two women flanking him.
“Come on now,” she said quietly. “You’re okay. You’ve been in here for fifteen hundred and eighty-one days.”
Nate started to straighten, turning toward the other woman and not Ginger. She could see him in a cowboy hat, a pair of dark jeans, with cowboy boots on his feet. And he’d be even more handsome than he was now.
Ginger strengthened the walls around her heart and mind. She let her hand drop from his shoulder, the absence of heat from his body instant and causing some sort of regret to pull through her. She frowned at herself and fell back a couple of steps.
“Thank you, Ellen,” Nate said, his voice soft and quiet, yet possessing a power Ginger couldn’t name. “But it’s eighty-twodays,” Nate said, taking the bottle. “Fifteen-eighty-two.”
A ghost of a smile crossed the other woman’s face, and she too moved back.
“Ginger,” Lawrence said, and she retreated all the way to his side. She knew him, because she’d been working with him for the past two days following the death of Ward Mulbury. She knew the Warden too, but he hadn’t moved from behind his desk yet.
James Dickerson wasn’t a small man, nor one to keep silent. But he still hadn’t spoken. Ginger watched him, and it was clear the man was struggling with his own emotions. She looked at Nate again as he drank, and the picture before her cleared. These men and women here at the River Bay Federal Correctional InstitutionlikedNathaniel Mulbury.
Nate’s gaze moved to hers, and the air in her lungs froze instantly. Several long seconds passed before the man who’d helped Nate stand stepped between them. “We’ll make sure he’s ready on Saturday, Miss Talbot.” He gestured for her to leave the room, because she still had plenty to talk about with his Unit Manager.
Ginger held Nate’s gaze for another moment, a flash of a heartbeat, and then she stepped out the door Lawrence held for her. Down the hall in another room, she paced to the window and turned to face the two of them as they came inside behind her.
“Ginger, this is Gregory Fellows. He’s Nate’s Unit Manager.” Lawrence indicated the other man, who wore a uniform suggesting his status inside the correctional facility.
“Greg,” the man said, reaching to shake her hand. She gave one pump and looked back at Lawrence.
“So?” the lawyer asked. “He’s acceptable for your program?”
“Yes.” Ginger lifted her chin, wondering if anyone else that partnered with the BOP had such strict rules for who they’d take in. She told herself not to back down. She had to protect her friends and colleagues, as well as all the visitors that came to Hope Eternal.
And yourself, she thought, hating that door that opened in her memory bank so easily. Ginger wasn’t the type of woman to make the same mistake twice, and just because Nate was good-looking and grateful for a bottle of water didn’t mean she’d allow herself to be anything but his parole officer for the next six months.
She wouldn’t even have to do that. The Bureau of Prisons would send someone out every couple of weeks, and she could call at any time and have them come and get Nate if things simply didn’t work out.
The image of the blond-haired boy paraded through her mind. Nate’s situation certainly was complex, and he’d been hit with three very large items in the space of five minutes. All at once, Ginger was glad she’d let her compassionate side step over to him and offer him a brief touch of comfort.
She couldn’t even imagine how she’d react to one of her siblings passing away, and her heart leapt into the back of her throat.
“I believe you wanted some insight to Nate,” Greg said, adjusting one of the chairs by the door. He sank into the hard-backed seat, a long sigh coming from his mouth. “He’s the best one in the wing—in the whole Unit. Probably out of any Unit here.”
“Why isn’t he in the satellite camp then?” Lawrence asked. “That has even looser security than here.”
Greg glanced at Lawrence and then Ginger. He swiped one hand through his nearly black hair, and all the exhaustion he felt showed plainly on his face. “He was in the satellite camp for a while. Nine months, maybe? Ten. But it’s crowded there, just like it is here, and we needed him to teach our business and finance classes.” He issued a long sigh. “So we asked him if he’d come back over to River Bay Low, and he agreed. He’s done two jobs here—he’s my office assistant, and he works part-time with our suicide watch team as well.”
Surprise moved through Ginger. This Nathaniel Mulbury really was the best of the best. She’d never heard of an inmate working in the Unit office with the team.
“With his good behavior,” Lawrence said, tapping on his phone. “We have him getting released in five months and twenty-two days.”
“Probably earlier even,” Greg said. “He gets more days for every month of good behavior. He’s never been in trouble in all the time he’s been here. He has the least number of tickets out of any inmate currently in River Bay, through all security levels, and the ones he does have are for little things like not being in line on time, or dropping his shower shoes on the floor too loudly.” He looked back and forth between Lawrence and Ginger.
“If he’s so great,” Ginger started. “Why couldn’t you get him out, Lawrence? Why does he have to finish the five months and twenty-two days at all?”
