again, make some notes, then get a good night’s sleep. If she was going to be sparring words with Lucas Donlon again, she’d need all of her brain synapses firing on full. And if only she could stop the rest of her body from firing on full for an entirely different reason, she’d be in great shape.
* * * *
Kathryn didn’t know what to expect when she arrived at Donlon’s ranch the next day during daylight hours. She’d considered and rejected the possibility that the gate would be unguarded. Even if the vampires were tucked away safely in their beds somewhere, there was the house and barns to consider. And the animals, which to her untrained eye looked valuable. But more than anything, she just couldn’t see Donlon being that lax about security. He pretended to be an easygoing, ain’t -life-wonderful kind of guy, but there was another side to him that she imagined could be quite deadly when it came to the fore. When she’d insisted on questioning his vampires directly, any sense of the playboy had fled, and, in that moment, he’d been all business. And when he’d ultimately told her that his people would talk to her simply because he ordered them to do so . . . she could tell he believed it absolutely. Hell, maybe it was yet another vampire thing.
In any event, there were guards in all the same places and then some compared to the previous night, but they were human instead of vampire. Whereas the white wooden arch off the highway had been unguarded last night, today there were two human guards blocking her way. She showed them her credentials, and they checked her name against a list. Since Donlon was expecting her, albeit later this evening, Kathryn wasn’t surprised when they permitted her to proceed past this first checkpoint. The second stop, the one with the stone arch, had four human guards in place of the two vampires from last night, although all four of them looked remarkably like their vampire counterparts. If the sun hadn’t been shining, Kathryn wouldn’t have been able to tell them apart. She gave a mental shrug and turned over her FBI credentials one more time. The list was checked again, and she was permitted to continue with one cautionary piece of advice.
“The main house will be locked, ma’am,” one of the four humans informed her politely. “And there’s no one there to answer the door. I suggest you wait down by the barns. The trainer’s there, along with her staff. She’ll be able to give you a cold drink and a place to sit, if you’d like.”
“Thank you,” Kathryn said. “I’ll do that.”
And that’s why she found herself parking in front of the main house and walking up the flagstone paved driveway until she reached a set of wooden stairs that dropped down the twenty or so feet to where the barn and paddocks were located. It was a beautiful, sunny day, the sky a baby blue with not a cloud in sight, despite the cool temperature. Lucas’s snide remarks about her clothes the previous evening had stung, so she’d dressed casually this afternoon. Her hair was pulled into its usual tight ponytail that hung below her shoulders. Her jeans were soft and comfortable, well-worn in all the right places, and she had a white tank top tucked in at the waist. The air was chilly, despite the sunshine, so she’d pulled on a light blue dress shirt, wearing it open like a jacket. At least her footwear was good. At the last minute back home, she’d shoved her boots into her suitcase, after flashing on a sudden mental picture of herself in her FBI blue suit sticking out like a sore thumb on the streets of a dusty, wild west town, complete with raised wooden walkways and hitching rails. The only thing missing had been the Lonesome Dove soundtrack. She’d felt silly at the time, but now she was glad to have them with her. The town was a bit more modern than her vision, but she’d seen plenty of people wearing boots, so she’d been right to bring them. And it had nothing to do
* * * *
Kathryn didn’t know what to expect when she arrived at Donlon’s ranch the next day during daylight hours. She’d considered and rejected the possibility that the gate would be unguarded. Even if the vampires were tucked away safely in their beds somewhere, there was the house and barns to consider. And the animals, which to her untrained eye looked valuable. But more than anything, she just couldn’t see Donlon being that lax about security. He pretended to be an easygoing, ain’t -life-wonderful kind of guy, but there was another side to him that she imagined could be quite deadly when it came to the fore. When she’d insisted on questioning his vampires directly, any sense of the playboy had fled, and, in that moment, he’d been all business. And when he’d ultimately told her that his people would talk to her simply because he ordered them to do so . . . she could tell he believed it absolutely. Hell, maybe it was yet another vampire thing.
In any event, there were guards in all the same places and then some compared to the previous night, but they were human instead of vampire. Whereas the white wooden arch off the highway had been unguarded last night, today there were two human guards blocking her way. She showed them her credentials, and they checked her name against a list. Since Donlon was expecting her, albeit later this evening, Kathryn wasn’t surprised when they permitted her to proceed past this first checkpoint. The second stop, the one with the stone arch, had four human guards in place of the two vampires from last night, although all four of them looked remarkably like their vampire counterparts. If the sun hadn’t been shining, Kathryn wouldn’t have been able to tell them apart. She gave a mental shrug and turned over her FBI credentials one more time. The list was checked again, and she was permitted to continue with one cautionary piece of advice.
“The main house will be locked, ma’am,” one of the four humans informed her politely. “And there’s no one there to answer the door. I suggest you wait down by the barns. The trainer’s there, along with her staff. She’ll be able to give you a cold drink and a place to sit, if you’d like.”
“Thank you,” Kathryn said. “I’ll do that.”
And that’s why she found herself parking in front of the main house and walking up the flagstone paved driveway until she reached a set of wooden stairs that dropped down the twenty or so feet to where the barn and paddocks were located. It was a beautiful, sunny day, the sky a baby blue with not a cloud in sight, despite the cool temperature. Lucas’s snide remarks about her clothes the previous evening had stung, so she’d dressed casually this afternoon. Her hair was pulled into its usual tight ponytail that hung below her shoulders. Her jeans were soft and comfortable, well-worn in all the right places, and she had a white tank top tucked in at the waist. The air was chilly, despite the sunshine, so she’d pulled on a light blue dress shirt, wearing it open like a jacket. At least her footwear was good. At the last minute back home, she’d shoved her boots into her suitcase, after flashing on a sudden mental picture of herself in her FBI blue suit sticking out like a sore thumb on the streets of a dusty, wild west town, complete with raised wooden walkways and hitching rails. The only thing missing had been the Lonesome Dove soundtrack. She’d felt silly at the time, but now she was glad to have them with her. The town was a bit more modern than her vision, but she’d seen plenty of people wearing boots, so she’d been right to bring them. And it had nothing to do
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