Page 21 of Disciplining Dana

“Yep. We’re pretty proud of it ourselves.”

By the time she finished, both Dana and Kurt stood in silent astonishment.

“That pretty much covers everything,” the woman said brightly. “Do you have any questions?”

“About a billion, honestly,” Dana replied, “but for now I think I’ll hold off until I’ve had a chance to absorb everything.”

The young woman laughed. “Yeah, lotta folks who first come here seem surprised about all we offer. People have the impression we’re just a… special resort,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.

A few more details were given and questions answered, and then the young woman passed over a pair of scan card keys, giving them directions on where their rooms could be found. As Kurt and Dan crossed the lobby toward the guest wing, Dana leaned close.

“Dude ranch, with a little bit of kink, my ass.”

“I don’t know… that dude there sure looks like a cowboy to me.” He cocked his head, drawing her attention to a couple walking across the lobby. The man was dressed in jeans, wore cowboy boots, and had a loop of rope in his hands. Those things by themselves wouldn’t have looked out of place on a ranch, even if it was a dude one. However, in this case, the rope led to a ring fitted to a collar that wrapped the throat of the woman walking slightly ahead of him. As she strode forward, she lifted her knees high with each step, the clomp of what appeared to be hooves on her feet clacking against the floor.

Dana came to a stop, staring for a second. There was play, and then there was… play, and this was definitely the latter. Pulling her gaze away from the couple, she directed her attention back to Kurt. “A cowboy hat and boots do not make one a ranch hand. Plus,” she added, “I don’t think cowboys generally parade their… um horses around a hotel’s lobby, do you?”

Kurt spread his hands. “You know what they say, ‘Save a horse and ride a cowboy,’ though in this case, I suppose it should be a cowgirl.” He glanced over at Dana with an ill-concealed smirk and drawled, “Yippie kay yay.”

Dana rolled her eyes. “Cute. Don’t get any ideas, though. I told you on the plane I’m not going to put my hair in pigtails and call you Daddy just because Rawhide Ranch caters to”—she gestured toward where the couple had walked off to—“people with kinks.”

Kurt grinned. “I’m just saying, when in Rome…”

“No,” she replied with a grimace. For a moment she stood in silence, then began walking again. “Seriously, how did Gary get us invites?”

“I honestly have no fucking clue.”

They continued until they reached the edge of the lobby. As they entered the hallway, Dana grabbed Kurt’s forearm, stopping him again. “Kurt… do you think… could Gary be…”

Kurt looked back in confusion until recognition wiped it from his face. “Dana, c’mon. This is Gary we’re talking about. There’s no fucking way he could’ve kept something like being in the lifestyle a secret all these years.”

Ugh. Sure, Kurt might be right, but…

“Okay, maybe so, but do you think he—or someone else—found out about us?” She searched his face to see if he was following where she was going. “You know, that we’ve been sleeping together? Or some of the places we’ve been to while on assignment?” She looked for a reaction, waiting to see if he was putting two and two together and coming up with the same big fat suspicious four she was.

“I… I don’t know. If he has…” Kurt ran a hand over his head. “Jesus, why wouldn’t he have said something?”

Exactly.

“Because he’s a good boss? Because he doesn’t want to interfere in our personal lives, especially since we’ve been so careful not to let it affect our work.”

Kurt shrugged. “Maybe?”

Maybe? Maybe?

“Well, something’s going on, because it’s clear we didn’t get in here because of info he got from the Missoula Chamber of Commerce. At some level he—or somebody working for him—knew what Rawhide Ranch really was.”

“And he sent us here because he knew we’d fit in.”

“Yeah, but is that the only reason?”

Kurt grimaced, then blew out a ragged sigh. “Okay, listen, we could spend the rest of our time here trying to figure this out, but we can’t afford that. Let’s drop our stuff off in our rooms and then get to the mine and see what we can find out.”

Dana nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. We can deal with this later.”

Once they’d left their bags in their rooms, they met back up in the lobby. From there, they left the main building behind, heading along one of the gravel paths in the direction of the mine from what the young woman had described earlier. Additional directions from another staff member and a few discreet signs later, they stood in a quaint gift shop, staring at the trinkets and memorabilia surrounding them.

“You folks need any help?” A tall, chisel-jawed man with dark hair smiled at them as they stood gazing.

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