“Come on, it’s time to eat.”
They took off after Ashton and were soon munching away from bowls along the far wall. “Ummm, if someone could give me a ride to a town with a bus station or something, I’ll get out of your hair. I need to have someone take care of what’s left of my car and….”
“The car was already found and towed. A friend of mine has it, but he says it’s probably a lost cause,” Ashton said. “As for leaving, I doubt anyone is going to be moving very soon. Another snowstorm is on its way, and all anyone can do is hunker down until it passes. Could be a few days.” He pulled out one of the chairs and sat down, motioning for Ben to do the same. “What were you doing out in that kind of weather? Cold nights will kill anything that’s out in them. It was near twenty below last night. You were probably less than half an hour from not recovering at all.” His gaze bored into Ben, but it didn’t come across as bad or challenging, more like intoxicating in its intensity. Ashton was probably in his early thirties, with dark hair and smooth skin over a chiseled jaw, but his deep brown eyes said that he had experienced a lot in those years. Ben shifted a little uncomfortably, wondering if Ashton could look into his soul. What if he didn’t like that he saw?
“My car went off the road and….”
Ashton leaned closer, his gaze hard. “Look, you can tell me anything you like to feel safe.” Those piercing blue eyes, flecked with touches of green, never wavered. “But you holed up in my barn after an accident you had when you were driving on roads no one would ever have been out on unless they were desperate or in trouble. So which is it? Or is it both?”
His cane dropped to the floor with a bang, pulling his gaze away. Ben took the chance to breathe and come up with a good story.
Chapter 2
ASHTON WAS prepared for the lie. He could see it forming behind Ben’s eyes. “Tell me the truth. Are you on the run from the law?”
Ben shook his head almost immediately. “No. I’ve never done anything illegal.”
The way he stressed the I’ve suggested that he might not have, but someone else he knew probably had. Which was interesting. “Go on,” Ashton encouraged softly, and then he waited. He could see the conflict behind those gorgeous brown eyes and knew that inside Ben’s mind, a war of some kind was raging. He didn’t want to break the spell, but he knew the moment Ben made his decision by the way he looked away.
“It’s best if you just forget you ever saw me. I should have been out of your barn and on my way long before now.”
Ashton chuckled. “You weren’t going anywhere. A few hours ago you were so weak, you couldn’t even walk to the truck so we could bring you to the house and try to help you.” He inhaled deeply. “I think you owe me the truth about why you were on my ranch.”
The wind picked up outside, singing as it whipped around the corners of the house. “It’s really something out there,” Ben said.
“And it’s going to get worse,” Ashton added. “So regardless of what, in your opinion, I might have been better off doing, neither of us is going anywhere. The guys have the animals fed and bedded down, and there isn’t much else we can do until this weather passes.” He stood, using the cane—which he hated—for balance as the dogs clustered around him.
Normally the dogs spent most of the time outside except to sleep, but when it was this cold, they were happy to stay in the house. Ashton spread out a blanket on the floor near the fireplace, and they all hurried over to lie down in a huge puppy pile. Then he puttered around the living room a little. He needed something to do to keep his mind off the answers he needed from Ben. If he wanted to find out the truth, he had to be willing to open up himself. So when Ben came in and sat on the sofa, Ashton got the ball rolling.
“I spent five years in the Army as a military policeman. I saw plenty of action and witnessed things I wish I could unsee.” He held his breath and released it slowly, trying not to go back there.
“I think I understand,” Ben said softly, and Ashton watched him closely, seeing in him the touch of darkness that came from seeing things that left a stain on your soul.
“I definitely know how to keep the people in my life safe.” Ashton also knew when someone wasn’t telling the truth. His police training had taught him that. So while Ashton was fairly certain part of what Ben had told him wasn’t a lie, he knew Ben was very definitely hiding something big, and Ashton wanted to know what. His ranch and all those who worked on it were his responsibility. He didn’t need trouble showing up on their doorstep. Even if it was in the package of a young man with intense eyes and floppy, dirty-blond hair who was more adorable than anyone had a right to be.
He didn’t mention that last part.
Then he continued his story. After leaving the Army, Ashton had started a security company with one of the men he’d served with, one of his personal band of brothers. He’d figured he was on his way to making a successful life of his own. The company had taken off like a rocket, with a huge demand for their systems in corporate and government offices. When his father fell and broke his hip eighteen months ago and could no longer take care of himself, Ashton had come to the ranch to take care of it and his father, and had found a connection with the ranch he hadn’t expected. His dad had lasted just six more months. After that, Ashton had not been able to turn his back on the family ranch… the home he hadn’t realized he’d missed until it was nearly gone. His dad had hated every day that he hadn’t been able to get out with the horses. It didn’t matter that being thrown had been the reason for his dad’s problems in the first place. His dad needed horses to live, and riding had been his passion. Ashton had spent much of his early life on horseback as well. Just another loss that the cane represented, he thought.
When he finished his story, he said, “Go ahead and rest. Do you need something to drink?” Ashton didn’t wait for an answer and returned to the kitchen to brew some tea. Warm drinks were perfect on a day like this.
He carried a cup into the living room, placed it on the table near the sofa, and sat in his favorite chair, sighing softly when he was able to take his weight off his legs. He reached for his copy of Pillars of the Earth and opened the hugely thick book toward his place in the middle. Ashton loved this story and had read it a number of times, usually in the winter when there wasn’t much to do. Though if he was honest, right now he was spending more time watching and wondering about Ben and what he was running from than reading. He had no idea what it was about the man he’d found sleeping in his barn that fascinated him, but he couldn’t seem to look away for very long.
Ben eventually fell asleep, and Ashton set his book aside, quietly got up, and left the room. The dogs watched him, but he motioned for them to stay where they were. Most of them settled down, but Whiskey, a miniature boxer mix, jumped onto the sofa and settled near Ben’s feet. Ben didn’t wake, and Ashton returned to the kitchen to figure out what he was going to do for lunch.
The back door opened and closed, and a moment later, after taking off their winter gear in the mud room, Lucifer—Lucy—and Marcel came in.
“Everything okay?” Ashton asked, putting on the coffee.