Chapter Nineteen: Red Wine White Couch

Gia

RED WINE + WHITE COUCH

Performed by Danielle Bradbery

“Of all the ranches in all the towns in all the world, you walk into this one,” I said to Jaime Laredo, making sure the flirt and twist of the old Casablanca line was obvious.

The man’s dark eyes flashed with interest. Desire was in his gaze as it strolled down me inch by inch, as if I was wearing a sexy cocktail dress baring my legs and arms instead of layers of flannel and jeans. It might have felt sleazy coming from another man, but this one, confident and sure, made it look sensual. An offer he didn’t have to physically state but hung in the air anyway.

“Have we met, Ms. Kent? Unfortunately, I’ve never been to Paris or Morocco,” he teased back.

Ryder had been relaxed and friendly when Laredo had approached, but the more the two of us talked, the stiffer I felt him grow, until tension all but radiated from him.

“I’ve been trying to interview you for my article in Agricultural Sciences Today on how dude ranching has saved the American frontier.”

“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.

I headed up the stairs and in the back door Sadie had left open.

The house smelled like vanilla and sugar. Eva was in the kitchen, and if I hadn’t had a report on her sitting in a folder on my laptop, I would have wondered if she did anything but cook and bake. Instead, I knew what book clubs she attended and the line dancing she did with her husband.

She smiled at me in welcome, warm eyes sparkling just like her youngest daughter’s.

“Gia! Nice to see you again,” she said. “Is my son behaving himself?”

I thought about our passionate kiss in the kitchen that I’d instigated but he’d taken control of. I remembered the way his fingers had bitten into my skin and the feel of him pressed into me.

I smiled and said, “Of course. Perfect gentleman.”

Sadie scoffed from behind her mother and then said, “You know Mama was hoping you’d say the opposite.”

Even years of practicing an expressionless face couldn’t stop my cheeks from flushing.

Sadie let out a laugh, kissed her mother on the cheek, and said, “I’m off to the bar. Uncle Phil has me working ’til close tonight.” She grabbed a coat and a purse from the coatrack and then sent me another cheeky grin. “Game night at the bar tonight. Ryder usually makes an appearance. You should get him to come. I think he needs a few drinks to loosen up that attitude he’s got growing into an ugly beast.”

“Sadie!” Eva laughed.

My lips twitched. “I don’t disagree with him needing an attitude adjustment, but I highly doubt you’re going to get that man away from Addy at the moment.” I glanced around for the little girl and was unable to prevent the worry that coasted through me when I didn’t see her.

Eva read my concern, saying softly, “I sent the girls to wash their hands.”

An older woman came into the kitchen via the archway from the living room. Her face was just starting to show signs of wrinkles, and her black-and-white corkscrew hair was tucked beneath a vivid magenta scarf littered with pictures of unicorns Mila probably adored.

She walked over to me, extending her hand with a smile, saying, “I’m Rianne.”

I shook it, flipping through the Hatley file in my mind. She was Maddox’s babysitter who was more family than employee. She was also a retired teacher and had taught all the Hatley kids in the third grade.

“Gia.”

“Oh, I know who you are. I’ve heard quite a bit about you.” She winked.

I didn’t know how to react to the admission, and I was glad I didn’t have to respond as Mila came running back in with Addy slowly following her.

“Nana, can we eat at the table in the playroom?”

Addy saw the new person and stopped at the archway. The soft smile on her face turned completely expressionless, and the fingers on her right hand dug into the skin at her wrist on the left. It destroyed my heart to see her react this way. There was a difference between teaching kids to be wary of strangers and the absolute fear Addy seemed to experience.

“Get the tray out,” Eva said to her granddaughter, and Mila shouted, “Yes!” before running to the pantry and coming out with a wooden tray. Eva assembled bowls of homemade chicken soup, thick slices of homemade sourdough, silverware, and napkins on it.

“Don’t forget the snickerdoodles, Nana!”

Eva shook her head, patting Mila’s cheek. “Nope. I know better. You’ll eat the cookies first. Lunch and then snickerdoodles, Bug-a-boo.”

Mila looked devastated.

Addy had made her way over to me and was standing so close she was almost pressed into my side. She’d removed her jacket and her backpack by the door, and she kept darting her gaze toward them, as if she was trying to figure out how long it would take her to get away.

“You okay?” I asked softly.

She shrugged, watching as the other people in the room chatted away about Mila’s school. I realized with a panicked start that Addy should be in school too. Then, I wondered if she’d ever gone to school. I highly doubted it. Somehow, Ravyn had been able to keep her out of the education system. Maybe she’d said she was homeschooling her. Maybe there was no record of Addy existing anywhere. I wasn’t sure. But I did know there was no way the little girl could go to school at the moment. We couldn’t afford for people to know she was Ryder and Ravyn’s daughter. Not yet.

Eva handed Mila two glasses of lemonade, picked up the tray, and made her way to the archway. She glanced over to where Addy stood with me. “Come on, kiddo. Let’s get you settled in the playroom.”

Addy hesitated, but then she looked up at me as if to make sure it was okay. “I’ll be right here, and Ryder will be in soon.”

She didn’t say anything, but she went to her backpack, dragged her jaguar out of it, and followed her grandmother and cousin from the room.

Sadie turned toward me and said, “It’s so strange. She was chattering away with Mila like she didn’t have a care in the world, but now she’s retreated into her silent self.”

“I was surprised to hear her talking to Mila. I can almost count on two hands the number of words she’s spoken to Ryder or me.”

Rianne perked up. “She doesn’t usually talk?”

I shook my head and explained that she’d gone through a trauma with her mother, a friend of mine, as I shot Sadie a look, trying to remind her no one was supposed to know Addy was Ryder’s daughter.

“Did she talk before that happened?” Rianne asked.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I wasn’t around a lot.”

I could tell Rianne wasn’t sure how to take my response. Her wheels were turning, trying to put together the puzzle, but instead of asking about the situation, she focused on Addy. “So, she talks to Mila but not really anyone else? What is it like when she does talk?”

“One or two words. Incomplete sentences that feel forced.”

“And how does she do around crowds or new people?”

As Eva came back into the kitchen, I started to say I hadn’t really seen her around a crowd, but then I thought of her tantrum the day before in the car at the mall. “She melts down a bit around new people and new things. And like with you, just now, she freezes.”

Rianne was nodding as if it all made sense. “I had a child in my class once who was a selective mute. It can be triggered by trauma, but it’s mostly found in kids with extreme social anxiety. They talk at home or with people they are most comfortable with just fine, but their bodies seize in social situations, especially ones they aren’t prepared for or are unknown to them. It can look like defiance to those who don’t know better, because they see the child being friendly and talking and then absolutely shutting down and refusing to speak. What people don’t realize is that it takes an enormous amount of effort for the child to get even those one or two words out—like talking when you’re sick times a hundred.”

I frowned, thinking about everything I’d experienced with Addy since finding her. “How do we know if it’s the trauma or this selective mutism?”

“Time, I suspect. Either way, I’d suggest finding her a good behavioral therapist. They can put together a plan for her family, friends, and teachers.”

Well, that wasn’t going to happen. Not yet. Not until we could make sure she was safe.

My mind went to those few seconds outside when I’d felt like I was being watched.

No. There was no way we could get Addy into therapy until we found her mother’s killer and either tied them to the Lovatos or not.

But I could research the topic of selective mutism and do my best to help her.

“I’m out,” Sadie said, hustling out the door. “If I don’t get to the bar soon, Uncle Phil will make me clean up the peanut shells with chopsticks.”

“Don’t let him bully you!” Eva shouted as the door slammed behind her daughter.

It was quiet in Sadie’s wake. I’d never been uncomfortable around the Hatleys. It was part of the reason I’d left, unsure if I could continue to see them as suspects when I liked them so much. But at the moment, with the two older women eyeing me with interest, I felt decidedly uncomfortable. It had nothing to do with my job, though, and everything to do with the feelings I had for the blue-eyed rancher.