“What is that face about?” She circled a finger in the air around her own face.
“Nothing important.” He wasn’t about to let her shift the focus of this conversation. “Lover? Real mother of the baby? Who are you hiding from?”
Her gaze lit with fury. “Silas is my baby. I’m the one nursing him. Or did you miss that detail?”
He hadn’t missed anything. In college, he’d been infatuated with Mia Graves, model. Everything from her sly and sultry expressions to her wide, gregarious smile captivated his imagination. Her meteoric rise had set the advertising and marketing world on fire. More than one of his professors had made them study either her career or the brands she represented.
“Okay,” he allowed. “That was ridiculous. So clear it up for me. I can’t protect you or the ranch without information.”
It was hard for people to understand just how much territory was out here, how much ground the crew had to cover. “If you found a way to sneak in, someone else could do the same.” He didn’t want to think about coming back to check on her and finding a tragedy. On the flip side, he didn’t want some crazed person destroying the ranch in an effort to find her.
“I’m here because this is the last place anyone will look for me. Can’t we just leave it at that?”
“Afraid not.” He couldn’t allow her to stay here at all. Infatuation or sympathy aside, his responsibility was to the ranch.
“Why should I trust you to do the right thing?”
“Do you have a choice?” Her gaze dropped to the scarred plank floor and he felt like a jerk. “You don’t have to tell me everything,” he added quietly. “You aren’t hurting anyone out here and no one needs to use this place. But you’re isolated. I’d rather not come back to find someone hurt you.”
“I really can’t tell you anything.”
“If not your dad or your ex, what other man has the resources to drive you to this?”
Her shoulders hunched and she cuddled her son closer as her bravado vanished. “Not a man,” she said. “A woman. A woman with influence and access to far more resources than she deserves.”
Chapter 2
Frustrated, Mia looked to the doorway and the stick she’d thought to use against Jarvis Colton, Triple R ranch hand. He hadn’t tossed the stick aside or out of her reach; he’d placed it inside the open door. He looked like he’d walked straight off the set of a modern cowboy photo shoot. He might resemble a model, the type of man she used to deal with on a daily basis, but he wasn’t. She had to remember he was a stranger and posed a very real danger to her plan.
Plan. What she had in mind so far barely qualified as an actionable concept. And now there was a witness to her current incompetence. She wanted to pull at her hair, this entire mess was so embarrassing. She tucked Silas back into his car seat so she wouldn’t upset him if she got emotional again. And she didn’t want to be at a disadvantage if Jarvis tried to force her out of the tiny cabin.
He had a powerful build and the dark T-shirt he wore revealed strong, sculpted arms. She wasn’t exactly a lightweight, but he posed a clear risk, physically and logistically. When she’d started modeling, her agent had suggested she study self-defense. The skills she’d learned hadn’t been tested in years and she’d prefer not to test them now.
“Mia.”
The kindness in his voice nearly reduced her to tears. It wasn’t fair that this chance encounter should make her feel less alone. Since escaping yesterday, Regina had sent her one threat after another. She’d sent pictures from Tamara’s neighborhood as well as the courtyard in front of her ex-husband’s condo. A night of worry and nightmares interrupted by her restless son hadn’t helped Mia figure anything out. Unfortunately, Jarvis was right about this place. She didn’t see good sleep coming anytime soon and Silas needed her at her best.
“I didn’t know I was on the Triple R,” she said. She caught herself working the gold band she wore on her thumb as her weary brain tried to get ahead of this stalemate with Jarvis so she could return her focus to the stalemate with Regina. “I thought I’d found an old hunting cabin.”
“You basically did.”
“Well, the good news is my problems shouldn’t find me here.”
He removed his hat and raked his fingers through his dark hair. “Let me get you to a better location,” he said. “Somewhere up-to-date and safe.”
He had no idea how much the idea tempted her. “There’s no such thing as safe right now,” she said. “My stepmother, Regina, is gunning for me.” She glanced at her phone, resting at the top of Silas’s diaper bag. Thank goodness the woman didn’t have real guns. “This spot is only safe because it’s run-down.” Jarvis frowned. “She thinks I’m too spoiled to rough it to this degree.”
“You’re not.”
“No,” she replied, though it hadn’t really been a question. “We’ve never gotten along. The Graves family is a walking cliché. We have the trophy wife and the bitter, resentful daughter of a wealthy father determined to overlook any unpleasantness in favor of building his business.”
While she vented, he’d stepped close enough that she couldn’t ignore the scent of sunshine on his skin. This place might suit her and the baby temporarily, but he took up more than his share of the space.
“What happened?”
“What didn’t?” She spared him the gory details of years of bickering and snide remarks and cut straight to the current issue. “Being newly divorced by the end of my first trimester, I talked with my dad about career options. Real estate felt like the right fit, so I took the classes. When I passed my state exam, he offered to let me handle the sale of his country house once I was ready to get back to work.”
“Your stepmother doesn’t want to sell the place?”