“Hey, you looking for the lady in the room next to mine?”
He turned around as a big man stepped through the open doorway of the motel room next to Georgina’s. This had to be the guy that Kiesha was talking about. He had wide shoulders and was several inches taller than Ed, with a trimmed dark beard.
“Yeah, I am. Do you know where she is?”
“Why? She in some kind of trouble?” the other man asked.
Ed didn’t like his interest. “That’s not really any of your business. What’s your name?”
“Remy Madison.” The big man folded his arms over his chest.
“What are you doing in Wishingbone, Remy?” Ed asked.
“There’s no crime in coming to Wishingbone, is there?” Remy countered.
“Nope, there isn’t. Still like it if you answered my question.”
“Here interviewing for a job at Sanctuary Ranch.”
Okay, that surprised him. Sanctuary Ranch didn’t hire very often. Most people didn’t leave their jobs there. And there were special requirements to working there that meant that the Jensens were very picky about who they hired.
“Didn’t realize Clint was hiring.”
Remy just gave a chin nod in response. He’d need to make a call to Clint tomorrow. See what was up with this guy. He seemed to have a chip on his shoulder. Ed couldn’t see him fitting in at Sanctuary. All the men who worked there were in the lifestyle. Most were Daddy Doms, and all of them were very protective of the women who lived on the ranch.
“You seen Georgina today?” Ed asked. “She might have gone home, but she’s not answering her phone so I’m here to check on her.”
Remy looked him up and down. “So she’s not in trouble with the law?”
“Would it matter to you if she was?”
Remy leaned against the doorway. “I don’t like to see women being harassed.”
Ed narrowed his gaze. “Not in the habit of harassing people, especially women. And I’d take a dim view of anyone who did harass a woman in my town.”
“Hmm. We’ll see. The little bit sure is popular, first thing this morning she had some woman banging on her door and demanding that she come for pancakes. I went out for a bit after that. But when I got home, there was another woman in a dress and cowboy boots, which ain’t exactly gonna keep her warm in this weather. She was knocking and telling her how Loki was sorry he tried to kidnap her last night . . . you see now why I might be worried?
Ed grimaced. “Yeah.”
“Hour after that, another woman starts calling through her door, telling her to stop hiding and put on her big girl panties and come confront Loki for scaring her.”
Fuck. He was starting to understand how that might all sound bad.
“Now, the sheriff of this fine town turns up, demanding to know where she is.”
“She’s likely gone home,” Ed muttered, almost to himself.
“Not unless she was planning on running home,” Remy told him. “Was about to go searching for her. She took off running about an hour and a half ago.”
“Running? In this weather? It’s dark. Why didn’t you stop her?”
Remy raised his eyebrows. “Not in the habit of telling women I don’t know what to do.”
“Well, if you’re going to work on Sanctuary Ranch, you best get used to the way the ranch and this town operate. We take care of women around here.”
Red filled Remy’s face. “Really? Does this Loki know that? Seeing as he goes around kidnapping women.”
“He doesn’t kidnap . . . fuck, whatever. I don’t have time to explain what happened. You see which direction she took?”