Grayson by Delores Fossen

he lived in a separate wing of the ranch house. The youngest, Kade, was at his apartment in Austin where he worked for the FBI, but he could be at the ranch in an hour if necessary.
    Grayson hoped it wouldn’t be necessary.
    He stopped the car in the circular drive and looked around. It was pitch-dark now, but there were enough security and Christmas lights for him to see that no one was lurking around, ready to strike. Still, he didn’t want to dawdle. Grayson grabbed the suitcase that Eve had taken from her place in San Antonio. She latched onto the laptop, and they hurried up the flagstone porch steps.
    Other than the Christmas lights, there was no glitz here like at the Collier estate. The porch was painted white, and the rocking chairs weren’t just for show. They used them often.
    “You’re finally here,” Bessie said the moment she threw open the door. And despite the laptop between them, Bessie hugged Eve. “Girl, you are a sight for sore eyes.”
    “It’s great to see you too, Bessie,” Eve answered.
    “I got a room all made up for you.” Bessie caught on to Eve’s arm and led her across the foyer. Not marble, but Texas hardwood.
    The furnishings here and in the rest of the house leaned more toward a Western theme with pine tables and oil paintings of the various show horses and livestock they’d had over the years. One of Dade’s girlfriends had joked that it was cowboy chic.
    Eve glanced around and took a deep breath. She was probably thinking things hadn’t changed much since she’d last been here. Grayson’s thoughts went in a different direction. As always, she looked as if she belonged there.
    Under different circumstances, she would have.
    But it hadn’t been different circumstances since his father had walked out on his family twenty years ago. Since then Grayson hadn’t wanted a wife or a family. Of course, that hadn’t stopped him from having sex with Eve in the woods.
    Later, he’d have to figure out how to deal with that.
    Bessie directed Eve toward the stairs to the right of the entry. “I can run you a bath. And then you can have something to eat. I made chili and pecan pie, your favorites.”
    Eve looked back at Grayson as if she expected him to rescue her. “I need to go over these pictures,” she insisted.
    Grayson took the laptop from her, balancing it in his left hand since he had her suitcase in his right. “The pictures can wait a few minutes. Besides, I’m starving. Take your bath so we can eat.”
    That wasn’t exactly true. Eve and he had grabbed some fast food on the way out to the Collier estate, but Grayson knew he could get Eve’s cooperation if she thought the dinner and bath breaks were for him and not her.
    It worked. Eve didn’t argue.
    While Bessie chattered away about the Christmas dinner plans, she led Eve into the bathroom of the guest suite. Grayson deposited Eve’s suitcase in the bedroom and went to his suite directly across the hall so he, too, could grab a quick shower.
    Grayson tossed his clothes and Stetson onto the bed and hurried because he wanted to get back to the pictures. He also needed to find out the status of the background checks on Annabel, Claude, Sebastian and Nina. However, he wasn’t nearly as quick as Eve because he had barely dried off and put on a pair of clean jeans when there was a knock at the door.
    “It’s me,” Eve said, but she didn’t wait. She threw open the door just as Grayson was zipping his jeans.
    “Oh, sorry,” she mumbled. Her hair was wet, no makeup, and she was wearing a dark green sweater top and pants. She wasn’t wearing shoes but rather a pair of socks.
    She fluttered her fingers behind her as if indicating that she was about to return to her room so he could finish dressing. But she stayed put with her gaze pinned to his bare chest and stomach.
    She pulled in her breath and held it for a second. “You have a scar,” she whispered.
    For a moment Grayson had thought that breathless reaction was