The Gentrys: Cinco. Linda Conrad

again soon. Very soon, she hoped.

      A couple of T-shirts and sweats, her running shorts and shoes, and the nice navy-blue slacks outfit she’d bought last year to attend her father’s retirement party. That, the clothes she wore and some underwear were about all she owned.

      She began stowing her gear in the huge walk-in closet and in one of the drawers when, without warning, she felt Cinco’s presence behind her. She rounded on him, ready for anything. The man had so far been totally unpredictable.

      Cinco bent over to pick up a pair of underpants Meredith hadn’t noticed she’d dropped. When he felt the satiny smoothness of the flimsy black briefs, he’d become enchanted. They weren’t at all what he would have expected coming from the uptight Viking pilot. He failed to notice her warrior stance until he’d straightened up.

      Holding the silk lightly in his fingers, he grinned into her deadly stare. “Here you go. Mighty sexy undies for a captain.”

      Meredith snatched them from his grip, narrowing her eyes in defiance. Her hands curled into fists, and Cinco was amused to see she seemed ready for a fight.

      All in all, she surely did look fine. Every furious inch of her long, lean body. Not too lean, mind you. The curves he figured were hidden underneath that starched, khaki outfit would be a perfect match for him. He just knew it.

      Uh-oh. Where did that come from? He was supposed to be her guardian. Her protector. He never figured he’d have to protect her from himself.

      As he stood there, speechless and breathless from the mere nearness of this spectacular woman, she turned and continued cramming the underwear and some T-shirts into a drawer.

      He stepped back and tried to get a grip on his racing hormones. He needed to think of her as a client. Or a sister. Or a buddy he could pal around with while they bided their time. He could do that.

      Cinco swallowed hard and moved to open the drapes covering the big picture window on the east wall. The sun quickly filled all the dark corners of the room, and he felt a lot steadier.

      “So. What do you like to do for fun, Meredith?” he asked while still gazing out the window. “Do you ride…or have you ever done any line dancing?”

      “The only things I ride are propelled by horsepower not horse meat,” she muttered. “And the only lines I’ve ever danced around were ones thrown by superior officers who decided it might be worth their stripes to try coming on to me.”

      Meredith slammed the drawer shut on the last of her things. Then she hefted the duffel into a far corner of the closet. Returning shortly to her comfortable prison cell, she faced her slow-talking jailer who still stood in front of the window.

      She hated the way her heart pounded when he came into view. Nor had she been at all prepared for the thick honey that seemed to replace the blood pulsing in her veins as his low voice sent heat trembling up her spine.

      “I don’t think you’ll find anything out here in the wilderness that will keep me occupied, Gentry. That is, unless you have a plane hidden around somewhere.” She didn’t like the sarcastic tone in her voice, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. Her world was slowing, turning on its side.

      “As a matter of fact, we do have a few planes on the spread,” he said softly. “No fighter jets or fancy jumbos that can haul around generals, mind you. But we do have a couple of single-engine prop planes that we use for ranch work, and a small Learjet we use for corporate…”

      He stopped midsentence like a person who’d just remembered he hadn’t turned off the stove’s burner when his car was a mile down the road. “Oh, no. Don’t go getting any ideas about flying while you’re on the ranch. As it is, we have to think up a cover story about who you are and what you’re doing here. Having a gorgeous lady pilot turn up on the ranch might be a bit too suspicious. We don’t want any speculation going around. It wouldn’t take long for word to get out and your security would be compromised.”

      His fatherly concern suddenly seemed more like the obsessive control she’d always hated coming from her father or from her sole, onetime romantic interest. She gritted her teeth and tried to choke down the urge to smash him and run for her life. How in God’s name would she manage to last even one day out here in no man’s land with this…this…cowboy?

      Meredith took a breath and plopped into the easy chair. “I don’t suppose you have a good bookstore or a workout gym in this rinky-dink dust bowl?”

      She eased back into a patch of sunlight that lit her hair with golden sparkles. Cinco’s breath caught at the sight of the dusty halo around her head. She looked like a glittering angel.

      His mind was suddenly wiped clean, kinda like a PC that crashed with no warning. When he found his voice again, he forgot she was as prickly and skittery as a unbroken filly. He forgot it was his job to keep her safe and sound, and away from bad influences. He forgot that he’d promised himself to only think of her as a client or a pal.

      He forgot everything except how absolutely beautiful she looked. And how, in this light, she suddenly resembled a fragile, china doll more than an icy Amazon queen.

      He hooked his thumbs in his jeans pockets and gave her a slow smile. “No bookstores or gyms, I’m afraid. But don’t you worry, sugar. We’ll work something out.”

      Three

      After forty-eight hours of solitude on the ranch, Meredith felt a little more like her old self. Composed, well-rested and…simply bored right out of her mind. She’d thought she might bump into Cinco, or that he might want to search her out and show her around. But she hadn’t seen much of him in almost two days.

      Finally able to get the cadence right, she jogged in the crisp, early-morning light. The dusty country roads leading to and from the main house offered a less than perfect avenue for a run. But she had them conquered now and picked up her speed.

      No one was around at this early hour to bother her. In fact, she was exceedingly grateful not to have to dodge cars or be faced with making small talk to other runners the way she did on an air base or in the city.

      She inhaled a deep breath as she jogged and instantly regretted it. She’d caught the familiar scents of sage and clover earlier, but now something else overpowered them. Was that the smell of cow manure? Whew! She supposed it could have been worse. Maybe she’d smelled something more rank at some point, but she couldn’t exactly remember when.

      Right this minute she couldn’t remember a time in her whole life when she could lounge around, doing nothing but breathe in fresh air and read books all day. The freedom should’ve been luxurious, but she’d been so close to grabbing the ultimate freedom—of being allowed to decide her own fate.

      Meredith actually sighed. She’d come so close to a new life.

      The thought of what she’d been forced to forgo caused a sharp pain in her lungs. She slowed to a stop and leaned over. Placing her hands on her knees, she breathed deeply.

      She needed—no, she absolutely lived—to control her own world. To be in charge of every situation and be able to walk away whenever she wanted.

      All her life she’d been in a prison of one kind or another, controlled by someone who’d claimed only to care about her best interests. And when the clear air of freedom had been almost within her grasp…she’d found herself forced back into the stale air of a prison, even though it was beautiful countryside. And once again guarded by someone else who claimed to care only about her protection.

      Meredith wanted to assume total responsibility for her own life, and had for as long as she could remember. She had no doubt that she could protect herself, either. Her current impossible situation made that whole dream feel like a nightmare.

      Logically she knew the ranch was the best, perhaps the only, place for her at this point. But her heart wasn’t buying logic right now.

      Meredith glanced around at the acres of fenced land surrounding her. For miles—literally