another year.
In the posed shot, her boss, Dexter, was on her right. Tall, blond and toned, he looked as if he’d be more at home on a California beach than a research lab. He was sporting a thousand-watt smile—smiles like that had probably gone a long way to helping him with the ladies.
Lucky also knew something else about that photo: Dexter had his arm slung a little too intimately over Kinley’s shoulder.
On Kinley’s left was a woman with light brown hair. Brenna Martel, Dexter’s former lover and other lab assistant. And then there was Grady Duran, standing just off from the others. Wide shoulders, imposing dark stare, he wasn’t looking like a man in a festive mood.
Odd, since of the four he was the only one who wasn’t missing or dead.
“I remember her,” Helen tapped Brenna’s image. “Dexter brought her here a time or two. She’s dead.”
“Looks that way. Either that or she disappeared from the face of the earth. No one’s touched her bank accounts or her other personal assets since the night of the explosion at the research facility. What about the other guy, Grady Duran? Ever seen him?”
“He wasn’t at the ranch,” Helen concluded. “But I’m pretty sure I saw him in town. He was in the parking lot of Doc Sullivan’s office when I came out from having my blood pressure checked. That was Monday. I noticed because we don’t get many strangers in Willow Ridge, especially this time of year.”
Helen turned back to Lucky. “Is it a bad thing that this man’s in town?”
“A suspicious thing,” Lucky supplied. He didn’t like the timing of Duran’s reappearance. Monday was the day before the train explosion. “Did he say anything to you?”
“Not a word. In fact, he looked away and turned his head when I spotted him.”
Lucky didn’t care for that, either. Except that it could mean that Duran was here because he knew Dexter was nearby. That was both good and bad.
He looked at Noah, who had hardly been out of his arms for two days. Two days wasn’t that long. But it was more than long enough. Lucky loved Noah. He couldn’t have loved him more if he were his own son. With Dexter’s possible return, that meant Lucky would have the additional challenge of protecting Noah in case something went wrong.
“You need to tell the sheriff that you saw this man,” Lucky instructed Helen. “And while you’re doing that, I’ll ask him to keep a watch out for Duran in case he makes a return visit. I don’t want him anywhere near here.”
Helen’s forehead bunched up. “You think there could be trouble?”
“Maybe.”
But the truth was trouble was already on the way.
Chapter Seven
Frustrated, Marin shut the dresser drawer with far more force than necessary. “Where is it?” she mumbled.
She’d looked at every inch of the furniture and still hadn’t found an eavesdropping device. She glanced at Lucky, who was still examining her closet, but he didn’t seem to be having any better luck than she was.
With Noah now asleep in his crib in the sitting room, Marin walked toward the closet. “Maybe Grandma was wrong about the bug,” she whispered.
Lucky, too, was obviously frustrated, and he stopped his search to stare at her. “We could be going about this the wrong way,” he said under his breath. “Maybe we should just blow off this bug and concentrate on making sure this place is as secure as it can be.”
“You’ve already done that,” she pointed out.
The sheriff, Jack Whitley, had already been alerted about Grady Duran possibly being in town, and he’d agreed to send out a deputy to patrol the ranch. The ranch hands had been instructed to keep an eye out for Grady, as well. And her parents had agreed to turn on the security system that they’d had installed but almost never used.
“I could arrange to have surveillance cameras brought in,” Lucky explained, his voice not so soft now. “Then, I could monitor the perimeter of the ranch.”
“The ranch is
In the posed shot, her boss, Dexter, was on her right. Tall, blond and toned, he looked as if he’d be more at home on a California beach than a research lab. He was sporting a thousand-watt smile—smiles like that had probably gone a long way to helping him with the ladies.
Lucky also knew something else about that photo: Dexter had his arm slung a little too intimately over Kinley’s shoulder.
On Kinley’s left was a woman with light brown hair. Brenna Martel, Dexter’s former lover and other lab assistant. And then there was Grady Duran, standing just off from the others. Wide shoulders, imposing dark stare, he wasn’t looking like a man in a festive mood.
Odd, since of the four he was the only one who wasn’t missing or dead.
“I remember her,” Helen tapped Brenna’s image. “Dexter brought her here a time or two. She’s dead.”
“Looks that way. Either that or she disappeared from the face of the earth. No one’s touched her bank accounts or her other personal assets since the night of the explosion at the research facility. What about the other guy, Grady Duran? Ever seen him?”
“He wasn’t at the ranch,” Helen concluded. “But I’m pretty sure I saw him in town. He was in the parking lot of Doc Sullivan’s office when I came out from having my blood pressure checked. That was Monday. I noticed because we don’t get many strangers in Willow Ridge, especially this time of year.”
Helen turned back to Lucky. “Is it a bad thing that this man’s in town?”
“A suspicious thing,” Lucky supplied. He didn’t like the timing of Duran’s reappearance. Monday was the day before the train explosion. “Did he say anything to you?”
“Not a word. In fact, he looked away and turned his head when I spotted him.”
Lucky didn’t care for that, either. Except that it could mean that Duran was here because he knew Dexter was nearby. That was both good and bad.
He looked at Noah, who had hardly been out of his arms for two days. Two days wasn’t that long. But it was more than long enough. Lucky loved Noah. He couldn’t have loved him more if he were his own son. With Dexter’s possible return, that meant Lucky would have the additional challenge of protecting Noah in case something went wrong.
“You need to tell the sheriff that you saw this man,” Lucky instructed Helen. “And while you’re doing that, I’ll ask him to keep a watch out for Duran in case he makes a return visit. I don’t want him anywhere near here.”
Helen’s forehead bunched up. “You think there could be trouble?”
“Maybe.”
But the truth was trouble was already on the way.
Chapter Seven
Frustrated, Marin shut the dresser drawer with far more force than necessary. “Where is it?” she mumbled.
She’d looked at every inch of the furniture and still hadn’t found an eavesdropping device. She glanced at Lucky, who was still examining her closet, but he didn’t seem to be having any better luck than she was.
With Noah now asleep in his crib in the sitting room, Marin walked toward the closet. “Maybe Grandma was wrong about the bug,” she whispered.
Lucky, too, was obviously frustrated, and he stopped his search to stare at her. “We could be going about this the wrong way,” he said under his breath. “Maybe we should just blow off this bug and concentrate on making sure this place is as secure as it can be.”
“You’ve already done that,” she pointed out.
The sheriff, Jack Whitley, had already been alerted about Grady Duran possibly being in town, and he’d agreed to send out a deputy to patrol the ranch. The ranch hands had been instructed to keep an eye out for Grady, as well. And her parents had agreed to turn on the security system that they’d had installed but almost never used.
“I could arrange to have surveillance cameras brought in,” Lucky explained, his voice not so soft now. “Then, I could monitor the perimeter of the ranch.”
“The ranch is
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