Grainger: Gray Wolf Security Wyoming, #2

By Glenna Sinclair

This is the second book of the Gray Wolf Security Wyoming series, with over 50,000 words of romantic suspense.

 

I grew up on a farm, but I left there the moment I could join the Navy. The last thing I wanted was to be shipped back to Wyoming to return to the life I'd left behind.

 

But here I was. I don't know why Ash Grayson would think joining this new satellite office of Gray Wolf would help me. Yet, there was something beautiful in the simplicity of small-town life. And Eve Spraberry might not be the angel the town seemed to think she was, but she was angelic enough to distract me from the life I left behind, and that was kind of the point, wasn't it?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Glenna Sinclair
• Release date: Mar 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9798223225294

Glenna Sinclair

Experience the heart-racing novels of Glenna Sinclair, the master of romantic suspense. Sinclair's books feature strong male protagonists, many with a military background, who face real-world challenges that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Books2read.com/GlennaSinclair Facebook.com/AuthorGlennaSinclair GlennaSinclairAuthor at Gmail dot com

Book preview

Prologue

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Eve

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There was a huge crash. I sat up, still in the darkness, my ears straining to hear it again. Where had it come from? Was it inside the apartment or outside?

Long moments passed where the only sound was the hard beating of my heart. And then—another crash! I got up and ran down the hall to my mother’s room. But it wasn’t her. She was sound asleep, curled up like a child in her narrow twin bed.

I paused there in the hallway, my ears once again straining to hear anything, to find an answer to the crash that had woken me. And then it came again from further away.

The vending machines.

I grabbed a sweater off the peg by the door and slipped out the main door, making my way down the narrow hall to the reception desk. Marko, my night manager, wasn’t there. He should have been there.

Another crash, above my head.

I ran out, rushing up the stairs toward the sound. I could hear voices, could hear Marko’s distinct deep rumble. I ran faster when I heard him suddenly stop speaking.

I knew what this was. They were back.

Why wouldn’t they leave us the hell alone?

Chapter 1

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At the Ranch

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Sutherland thought if she gave it a couple of days, if she let everyone cool off a little, they could have a calm discussion and figure this thing out.

She was wrong.

What do you mean you don’t know what I’m talking about? You were there, on the back of your horse, while we were looking at it! You saw that massive hole in my fence!

I did. But I have no idea who did it.

Bodhi Archer, the intensely handsome actor from New Zealand who, for reasons that were far beyond her understanding, had bought the neighbor’s ranch, studied Sutherland with this bemused look on his face. She wasn’t sure what she wanted more: to slap him or to kiss him.

And that—not to even touch on that incredibly sexy accent!—was making it difficult for her to get her point across to him.

You said... something that made me feel like you knew something about it. The fence borders your property.

It does, and I was out surveying my land at the time, but I didn’t see anything.

You smiled.

His eyebrows arched high up on his forehead. And that means I’m guilty?

Sutherland buried her hands in her pockets because she was afraid she was about to reach out and do something she couldn’t take back.

There are rumors in town that you want to expand your ranch.

There are plenty of ways to do that, Mrs. Knight.

Then you didn’t sabotage my fence in order to encourage me to sell?

Why would I do that? I like the idea of you as my neighbor.

She bit her lip, trying to keep the inappropriate smile that wanted to burst across her face from making an appearance. It’d been a long time since a man had had the power to make her feel like a giddy teenager. But for him to make her feel that way right now? Highly inappropriate.

Then you’ll be happy to return my cows to me?

Of course—the moment they are located and identified.

Sutherland inclined her head and turned, determined to leave with some of her dignity intact. But he couldn’t allow that, could he?

Would you have dinner with me?

Sutherland stopped. Did Bodhi Archer just ask her out?

She turned and studied him, taking in the dark hair and the boyish good looks, the charming smile and the clear affection for weightlifting that caused his shirt to bulge in all the right places. He was even more handsome in life than he was on screen, a fact she would have said was impossible until now. Her eleven-year-old daughter had a crush on this man—when she wasn’t crushing on MidKnight Ranch’s assistant foreman, Hank Stratton—that included a couple of posters placed prominently in her bedroom.

This was the man who had the charm—and the balls—to ask her out.

"I just accused you of sabotaging my ranch—stealing my cows!—and you’re asking me to dinner?"

I don’t make a habit of mixing business with my private life.

You can compartmentalize the two things?

Of course.

There was that charming smile again.

Sutherland couldn’t stand it anymore. She climbed into her truck before she was tempted to fall under his spell. She was the owner of MidKnight Ranch before she was anything else, even a woman. She had to put the welfare of the people she employed and the ranch’s bottom line before all else.

Dammit!

Sutherland drove back to her own home in desperate need of a hot cup of tea and a few minutes of silence. Instead, she found Kirkland Parish waiting for her in her study, his face a mask of angst that warned her there was more she was going to have to deal with before she could have that tea.

The completion of the construction on the bunkhouse has been pushed back another week because of some permit the foreman had trouble getting.

Another week?

Which means we have nowhere to put the new operative for Gray Wolf when he arrives later this afternoon.

Sutherland groaned. A few months ago, she’d agreed to take on a satellite office of Gray Wolf Security when the founder and owner, Ash Grayson—a former squad member of the same Green Beret team her husband had been a part of before his death twelve years ago—made a proposition to her that meant new revenues that would keep MidKnight solvent for the foreseeable future. The running of MidKnight had never been easy, but it seemed lately that everything that could go wrong had gone wrong—such as the massive hole someone had blown into their fence that had resulted in fifty head of cattle wandering onto Bodhi Archer’s land. And she had a loan she’d taken out to cover other unexpected expenses that was coming due, a balloon payment she never would have been able to pay if not for Ash.

But Gray Wolf was proving to be just as difficult as running MidKnight was.

This was the fourth time the construction on the bunkhouse—the building where they intended to house not only the four operatives they planned to employ, but also the offices of the administrative staff—had been delayed. They’d had one case that had had a few bumps here and there, but was completed successfully. They had leads on multiple other cases, but nothing was signed yet. It felt like Ash had been too optimistic about the amount of business they would get and he’d wasted the hundred thousand dollars he’d given Sutherland as seed money to begin this venture.

We’ll have to put him up in a motel.

That’ll cost a significant amount of money.

Sutherland shrugged as she tossed her keys onto her desk and fell hard into her chair. Do you have a better suggestion?

Do you have space anywhere here? Maybe he could bunk with Hank.

She shook her head. He’s only got one room, one bed. Besides, he’s had Jonnie staying with him since the Karl boy and his father broke into her house.

What about here?

There’s no space left.

We could move Matthew in with us, if that would be helpful.

Sutherland smiled, grateful for the offer. But she’d had a small child once upon a time and she knew how demanding on a person’s time they could be and how nice it was to go to bed at night alone. She could only imagine how even more important that would be for a couple with the intensely loving relationship Kirkland and his wife, Mabel, clearly had. She couldn’t ask them to give up that privacy, even if it was really only going to be for a week.

Look who I found wandering around outside, Mabel, appearing as though out of Sutherland’s thoughts, announced, gesturing for a young woman to join her in the doorway.

Eve?

Sutherland got up and went to the woman, offering her a friendly hug. The two women smiled brightly at one another, a great deal of affection flowing between them.

I haven’t seen you since the Fourth of July picnic! Sutherland said. How are you? How’s your mother?

Mother is the same, Eve said, sadness filling her expressive hazel eyes.

Sutherland took her hand and squeezed. She knew that Eve’s mother suffered with Alzheimer’s, a cruel disease that stole a perfectly healthy woman’s mind. And Eve’s mother, Rachel, was one of the kindest, smartest women Sutherland had ever known. She had bought and run her own motel when she was just a twenty-two-year-old single mother. When Mitchell—Sutherland’s husband—had died in Afghanistan, Rachel was one of the first people to show up on her doorstep, a casserole in one hand and a shoulder to cry on on the other side. She said she would have brought a bottle of wine if Sutherland hadn’t been four months pregnant at the time.

She brought the wine a year later.

I... uh... I didn’t come here as a social visit, Eve said, her eyes beseeching Sutherland to hear her out. I was... well... She pulled an envelope out of her back pocket and pressed it into Sutherland’s hands. I’ve pulled together as much money as I could. I don’t know what your fees are, but I’m a little desperate. I need to hire Gray Wolf.

Sutherland opened the flap of the envelope, a little shocked by just how much cash was inside. She held it out to Kirkland, her face a mask of bewilderment. Kirkland gestured for her to hear Eve out before speaking. After only a few months, he knew her well enough to know that her instinct would be to offer her friend and neighbor a huge discount—if not free services.

Gray Wolf couldn’t afford that right now. But Sutherland knew very well that Eve couldn’t afford to part with that envelope, either. Her need must have been very serious.

Sutherland pulled Eve gently to a chair and made her sit. She perched on the front of her desk in front of Eve, studying her face with as much compassion as she’d ever felt for this young woman.

Tell me what’s going on.

Eve stared down at the floor, a heavy sigh escaping her lips.

You know there have been a lot of new people visiting the area, celebrities and wealthy people who, for some reason, have suddenly found interest in this region.

I’m aware, Sutherland mumbled, her thoughts briefly returning to her exchange with Bodhi Archer.

There is a developer buying up property all around the motel. They’ve already bought the gas station there and the drugstore down the road. They’re in talks with the diner. And they’ve made multiple offers to my mother and me. Eve looked up. "I’ve turned them down because Momma can’t leave that motel. She’d be lost... She barely remembers me most days, but she knows the motel, knows that’s her home."

Sutherland took her friend’s hands again. She didn’t say anything, just held her hands.

Eve sighed. They were polite at first, just making the offers, sweetening them each time I turned them down. And then they began posting online, going to places like Yelp and Reddit, telling lies about the hotel. My lawyer shut them down and we’re in the first steps of a lawsuit against them over it. So, then they started harassing my clients in the parking lot at the diner. My lawyer again got an injunction and stopped that. But now they’re doing other things, coming on my property and damaging it. They somehow got into one of the rooms and trashed the furniture. They broke some windows. They threw eggs at the cars in the parking lot. And just the other night, they were tipping over the vending machines. When Marko confronted them, they beat him up. She shook her head. It was bad. He had to have twelve stitches in his eyelid. And now my other employees are scared to come to work. Ramon quit. Alison won’t clean rooms alone. Sara calls in sick more often than not.

I’m sorry, Sutherland said, squeezing her hands.

Eve sighed again, the sound breaking Sutherland’s heart. I’m at my wit’s end. My lawyer says there’s not much we can do unless we can prove it’s them, but when I do manage to catch them and get the police involved, these people deny a connection to the developers. They’re mostly drifters or unemployed men the developers pay thousands to keep quiet. And now my customers are afraid to stay with us. Things are getting out of hand and if it gets much worse, we’ll go out of business and be forced to leave.

Tears filled Eve’s eyes. She looked up, beseeching Sutherland’s face again.

I can’t lose the motel.

We won’t let that happen.

Kirkland came over to sit beside Sutherland.

We can set up separate security cameras feeding directly into our computers that we can monitor twenty-four-seven. And we can send an operative to act as security on your property.

Eve hesitated, even though Sutherland could clearly see the hint of relief coming into her eyes.

I thought about hiring just a straight security guard, but I’m afraid the sight of someone standing outside at night will frighten people away. I want my customers to feel safe.

Kirkland smiled politely. Gray Wolf specializes in subtlety. We can have our operative keep a low profile.

Eve shook her head again. "I really... I need this person to be almost invisible."

What if he pretended to be your husband?

Kirkland and Eve both looked sharply at Sutherland. But then Mabel—whom everyone had forgotten was still standing just inside the doorway—put in her two cents on the idea.

That would be brilliant. As your husband, it would be perfectly normal for him to be around the motel twenty-four hours a day. He could make repairs, work the front desk—do everything an equal partner would do in a family-owned business.

Exactly, Sutherland agreed. We could come up with a simple cover story, tell people you met him over Tinder or something like that. Tell them it was a whirlwind romance... That’s been known to happen, especially out here.

Eve’s eyes brightened. Do you really think people would buy that?

Yes.

Eve was a single woman, living in the middle of nowhere in a town where she’d known all the eligible bachelors—all four or five of them—since they were babies. She was running a business alone, taking care of her ailing mother. Not only would people in town believe it; it would put to rest a few rumors that had been swirling around her for years. And it wasn’t like there wasn’t precedent. There were several young women in the area who’d done exactly this over the last few years.

Eve focused on Sutherland, clearly needing the support of someone she trusted. Sutherland squeezed her hands again.

"It’ll be perfect. We just hired a new operative who’s due