Familiar Showdown. Caroline Burnes

could see that she was uncomfortable. It would be hard for anyone to count a loved one dead without a body. He hated the word closure, but it was true. The physical body gave closure, allowed death to become real.

      Except, in the case of Rory Sussex, Johnny didn’t believe there had been a plane crash or a death. In fact, he and the U.S. government were almost certain that Rory was very much alive.

      The question was where had he gone and when would he show up at Running Horse Ranch?

      Chapter Four

      Sunlight glinted off something—a quick wink, wink. Johnny saw it, but he didn’t call Stephanie’s attention to it. Someone was on the high north ridge, watching them with binoculars.

      He eased his horse forward so he was between Stephanie and the watcher. Just in case.

      So who was it on the ridge? Was it Rory? Or was it some of the men pursuing Rory? Johnny had no doubt that members of Carlos Diego’s gang were hot on Rory’s heels. Rory had managed to piss off everyone involved. And Diego, a powerful man who’d built an empire selling information and drugs, didn’t keep hurt feelings to himself. He resolved his problems with bullets.

      “Here’s a break in the fence.” Stephanie slipped off her horse, put on her gloves and began pulling the barbed wire out of a tangle. She used her lithe body to tug the wire taut, and Johnny was momentarily captivated by her sheer physical beauty.

      When she looked up at him with a frown, he dismounted and grasped the wire to help her. She labored with total concentration, and Johnny could see that she’d learned to work fast and efficiently. Living alone on a South Dakota ranch, she had no time for mistakes or leisure.

      “Something wrong?” she asked.

      He found her staring at him, brown eyes puzzled. A whisper of suspicion shifted across her features.

      “No. Just distracted for a moment.” He forced his mind back to the job at hand.

      “Distracted by what?” she asked.

      “Thinking about how you’ll manage here by yourself.” He saw instantly that he’d offended her. Her cheeks flushed with anger and she yanked at the wire.

      “I’ll manage just fine. A man isn’t the solution to every problem on a ranch, you know.”

      He controlled the impulse to touch her and wondered what was wrong with him. He’d almost stroked her back, as if it were his job to comfort her, as if she’d desired his protection. “I didn’t mean it that way. If you were a man, I’d still have concerns about one person with all this work and responsibility. What if you get hurt? Cell phone coverage out here is spotty at best. You could lie—”

      “Stop it!” She wheeled around to confront him. “Stop it right now. A meteorite could fall out of the sky and strike me if I lived in Chicago or New York. A driver could have a heart attack and lose control of a car and I could be crushed. Or someone could mug me. The only difference is that I’d likely lie in the middle of the street with people passing by and no one would help.”

      “I’m sorry, Stephanie. I didn’t mean to upset you.” He could see that he’d stepped in it deep. An apology wasn’t going to smooth this over.

      “Bad things happen everywhere, Johnny. It’s true, I could get hurt here. But I could get hurt anywhere. And just let me tell you, for the record, the worst kind of hurt comes not from physical pain but from—” She broke off and took a deep breath.

      “I didn’t mean to sound macho or condescending.”

      She struggled to regain control of her emotions, and he could see how much it cost her. “It’s okay. I overreacted.”

      She bent back to the fence, and he had an opportunity to scan the ridge. There was no reflection of sunlight on metal. Whoever had been watching had either left or hidden.

      While he didn’t like it, he had expected it. Rory Sussex had stolen from two factions—the U.S. government and Carlos Diego. Both were out to get him.

      And Stephanie was caught squarely in the middle—with the added handicap that she had no clue as to what was happening around her.

      “Let’s keep moving,” she said as he helped her pull the fence tight and stapled it into place. “I want to cover this north line before dark.”

      “Yes, ma’am,” he answered, glad for any reason to move away from the ridge where the observer had such an advantage.

      He wasn’t worried that someone would hurt Stephanie. Not yet. Not until Rory made his next move. But once Rory initiated the action, Stephanie could become the bone in a very big dogfight.

      STEPHANIE REGRETTED HER OUTBURST, but she was fed up with folks heaping doom and gloom on her head. She knew the risks and dangers of living alone, so isolated, on a horse ranch. Once the winter set in, travel was difficult and there was no guarantee anyone would think to check on her. But the truth was, she could just as easily live in town and be alone. She hadn’t bothered to try to make friends, and there was no one to miss her even if she lived in a town apartment and were injured.

      She blew her breath out, mounted her horse and rode along the fence. They mended an additional two breaks and finally hit the end of the fence line. The wire was good for another winter, unless a deer or something crashed through it and took it down.

      They’d worked in silence for the better part of an hour, and she’d grown comfortable with him. As she turned her horse toward the barn, Johnny spoke again.

      “I am sorry if I upset you.”

      “It wasn’t you. Every time I go into town, I hear that. People feel compelled to warn me about all the dire things that might happen. I don’t see them fretting about Wade Chisholm or Will Tanner. And it’s because they’re men. Because I’m a woman who’s chosen this life, they can’t help but see me as reckless.”

      To her surprise, he chuckled. “Point taken. You trust yourself, and others should respect that and trust your decisions.”

      Despite the fact that she was still a little sore, she laughed, too, though her laugh was rueful. “Sometimes trust can be misplaced.”

      “Folks can disappoint—that’s a fact. I’d rather spend my time with a horse,” Johnny agreed.

      “A horse and one black cat.” She relaxed, letting her body sway with Flicker’s movement as the little roan carried her home. “You know, I never thought I’d be a cat person, but Familiar is so…”

      “Intelligent?” Johnny supplied.

      “That’s right. He seems to hear everything I say and he even answers me. I’m sure he does.” She laughed out loud. “Eleanor, his owner, says he’s a detective. That people around the world hire him to solve cases.”

      A frown passed over Johnny’s face. “Really? How extraordinary.”

      “You don’t think it’s poppycock?”

      “Why couldn’t it be true?” Johnny shrugged. “It’s as likely as some of the things I’ve seen.”

      She found it surprisingly easy to talk to Johnny. Before he’d appeared at Running Horse Ranch, weeks had passed when she didn’t speak to anyone. Once she stocked up on supplies, she only went to town for emergencies or necessities. And she’d spent most of July and August on the ranch.

      “Tell me about Black Jack,” Johnny said. “Where did Rupert Casper get him and how?”

      Stephanie thought back through the tangle of the horse’s history. “Some of this is fact and some is gossip and some is pure vicious rumor from the two men who brought Black Jack here.”

      “Let’s start with the vicious rumor. That’s my favorite part,” Johnny said.

      Stephanie took a swat at his arm. “Could be you’re