Page 62 of The Last Promise You Made

“Aw, yes. I do remember something about that now. You had a reservation right at the end of the season. But you canceled, didn’t you?”

I’d been set to stay at the Grand Laredo in Kentucky before I’d been called back to D.C. earlier this year to help chase down the Lovato angle with Rory’s dad. I smiled at him. “Family duty called, unfortunately, but perhaps we can fix that soon.”

I wasn’t sure Ryder even knew he’d done it, but he’d somehow inched his way into my space so our shoulders were now brushing. Sparks and awareness drifted between us. Laredo caught it all—the slight movements, the unspoken body language.

The reports on him said he had an IQ over one hundred and sixty, but he hadn’t gone to college. Instead, he’d gone to work in the fields in California alongside migrant farmworkers, as if he wasn’t the heir to an American ranch dynasty.

“I’ll make you a deal, Ms. Kent—”

“It’s Gia, please.”

He smiled. A suave smirk I was sure had many women handing over their panties to him but was doing nothing to me. “Gia.” He rolled the two syllables as if tasting a fine wine. As if he was savoring them. “I’ll make you a deal. If you can convince this man to attend the charity gala I’m throwing for the Kentucky Art Institute and listen to my pitch about taking a position on the Eastern Dude Ranchers’ board, I’ll not only grant you an interview, I’ll give you a week free at the Grand Laredo before the season even starts. Full access to every activity you want…and to me.”

I could imagine what he’d try to do to me in a week. Wine and dine me before sleeping with me and sending me on my way. Even if Laredo wasn’t a potential suspect, I wouldn’t sleep with him. My limbs seemed to have turned into a block of ice at even the suggestion. Maybe it was because my body was reacting to Ryder instead, igniting me until it felt as if my skin and bones were going to combust. Or maybe it was because my inner instincts didn’t trust the suave player standing before me.

“Only you would try to sleep with the woman you found on my ranch, Laredo.” There was an edge to Ryder’s tone that hadn’t been there before, a claim he was staking that should have pissed me off because there was nothing but two kisses, mistrust, and lives that didn’t match between Ryder and me. And yet, the possessive growl had my heart spinning in a dizzy dance.

“Don’t mind Ryder. He’s been pissy all morning,” I said with a smile.

Laredo laughed, the low sound echoing through the cold air around us. “Why don’t you show me the new cabins, Ryder, and I’ll try to convince you to join the board myself? If that doesn’t work, I may have to resort to using my powers of persuasion on her.”

Ryder’s huff was somewhere between another growl and a laugh. “You’re incorrigible.” The two men started toward the path leading to the cabins, and Ryder looked back at me. “Will you make sure Mila and her friend make it back to Mama for lunch?”

I wanted to tell him Sadie could do it, because I needed time with Laredo, but there was a look in Ryder’s eyes—half plea, half command—that made me bite my tongue and just nod.

When the men disappeared around the corner, I headed back into the barn.

Sadie was sitting on a barrel near the bottom of the ladder. From above came the soft laughter and chatter of little girls—the same light talk that had surprised Ryder and me when we’d walked into the barn a few minutes ago. Addy was talking. Complete sentences without a single stutter. I didn’t know if it was because she’d finally talked about what had happened to her mother, or if Mila and the kittens had woven a magic spell around her.

“I can’t believe it,” I said softly to Sadie with a smile.

“The magic of Mila.”

We both listened for a moment, and then Mila appeared at the top of the stairs. “I’m hungry. Can we come down now?”

“Ryder asked me to take you to your nana for lunch,” I told her.

“Come on, Addy! We can introduce your jaguar to my unicorns after we eat!”

Mila came bounding down the stairs, spinning away from the bottom, and both her rainbow leggings and bright-pink sweater were covered in straw. Sadie started brushing at her, and I turned to watch Addy as she made her way cautiously down.

When she hit the ground, she gave me a soft smile.

“Did you like playing with the kittens?” I asked.

She nodded without saying anything, and I tried not to be disappointed. I wanted to hear her relaxed and vibrant like she’d sounded with Mila.

The four of us headed out of the barn toward the farmhouse. We were halfway across the parking lot when my skin started to crawl. A weird awareness drifted over me, as if I was being watched. I knew to trust those instincts. They’d been my friend in far worse situations than this. My feet stalled, and I scanned the surroundings, taking in the long, tree-lined drive, the fields, and the fruit trees that would bloom soon. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

Sadie and Mila kept going, but Addy stopped and was watching me, seeming to read my tension. I sent her a smile and waved her forward. “Go on. I’m right behind you.”

She shifted the backpack on her shoulders, ducked her head, and kept walking toward the steps.

I did a full three-sixty, taking in every single thing that might be out of place and finding nothing. There were two trucks I knew from the last time I’d stayed at the ranch. We’d run the plates on both workers—Shawn and Ramon. Shawn was clean, but Ramon had a drug-related charge in Nashville that had been dismissed in exchange for a stint in rehab. When the task force had chased down Ramon’s old dealer, he was hooked into a local gang that had nothing to do with the Lovatos, and Ramon had been clean since getting out.

There was nothing but the sounds of the farm, the movement of the animals, and the banging from the construction. And yet, the feeling I was being watched wouldn’t go away.

Ryder had said he’d upped the security here as well as at his house. Maybe that included cameras. I’d ask when he got back.

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