Page 2 of PenPal Hero

Lifting her chin, she sailed past him, more determined than ever to prove him wrong. She was stronger than she looked. Someone who could take care of herself. And she had every intention of proving it to him just as soon as she decided what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. Though her boss was making noises about bringing her on board as a junior partner, a big part of Bonnie felt like it was on hold. Restless. Waiting. For what, she had no idea. Her therapist claimed the feeling might have something to do with her lack of closure from her kidnapping — closure she was never going to get if she couldn’t remember a single blasted thing about it.

They’d tried everything to jog her memories. Endless counseling. No less than three field trips to the parking lot at Mack’s General Store — an all-day ordeal each time since it was an eleven-hour round trip. They’d even put her through a bit of hypnosis therapy. So far, none of it had worked. Three whole days of her memories remained a blank slate inside her head.

Bonnie coped with the missing pieces of her memories by thinking about them as little as possible. She refused to talk about them to anyone outside her family, whom she’d long since sworn to secrecy on the topic. Folks in Hereford didn’t know about her damaged past, and she intended to keep it that way.

She’d enjoyed her final three years of regular old public high school, and now she had a perfectly normal job serving as the administrative assistant to a woman who was as much a friend as an employer. Other than the constant sense of restlessness that dogged Bonnie’s heels, life was good. Her only real complaint was her brothers.

She gave Jackson a pointed look. “You can put my suitcases down now.” She wasn’t sure what he was waiting for. He’d safely delivered her to work, where security cameras covered every nook and cranny of the main office area. Her desk rested front and center in the crosshairs of the main camera.

Alice must’ve heard the jingle of the front door, because she came sailing out of her office around the corner. “There you are!” Her slender arms were outstretched as she moved in Bonnie’s direction. She looked like a million bucks in a flaming orange blazer, white pencil skirt, and orange stilettos. Her blonde hair was piled high on her head, probably to give her another inch or two of height. She hated the fact that she’d been born short.

Bonnie hugged her. “Why are you so dressed up?” She took a step back and frowned down at her own pink eyelet sundress and boots. Maybe she should’ve read that itinerary a little more closely. She’d just assumed they’d be dressing casual for the week.

“Because the retreat is kicking off with a meet and mingle session for brokers. My attendance isn’t optional. Yours is.” Alice gave Bonnie a knowing look. “This time around, anyway.”

Bonnie blinked at her boss’s not-so-subtle reminder about her interest in making Bonnie a junior partner. “Are you seriously thinking of sending me on another retreat already?” Before my first one even begins?

“As a matter of fact,” Alice arched her well-manicured eyebrows, “this is an annual event that starts the first Monday after every 4th of July.” She snapped her fingers. “Like clockwork.”

“Then why am I just now hearing about it?” Since Bonnie managed Alice’s appointment calendar, she was pretty sure Alice hadn’t attended the retreat last year. Or the year before that.

“Because,” Alice spread her hands, “I spent the last two years trying to stay two steps ahead of a group of fraudulent real estate investors.” They were in jail now, but not before swindling two elderly couples out of their local homesteads and life savings. “That tells me I need to up my marketing game in town and in the surrounding areas. And by me, I mean we.” She waved a finger between the two of them. “We’re a team, Bon Bon, no matter how much you balk at the idea of studying for your broker’s license.”

A snicker from Jackson made Bonnie round on him. “What are you still doing here?”

Grinning, he gestured at the four suitcases he’d set down just inside the door. “Waiting for my tip. Pretty sure the going rate is five bucks a bag.”

“No kidding?” She swallowed a laugh, trying to scrape up the usual sarcasm she employed on him. “Hate to break it to you, but your payment was getting to enjoy my amazing presence on the drive here, mister.”

“Sold.” He snaked out a hand and tweaked one of her dark braids before she could dodge him. “I expect a daily proof of life pic. You miss even one, and I’ll be beating down the doors at Anderson Ranch B&B.” He wagged a finger at her. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Just go,” she muttered, swatting away his finger. Sometimes Jackson rode the very edge of his promise to keep her deepest, darkest secret.

As he pushed the front door open and strode back to his truck at the curb, Alice stared after him, open-mouthed. “Wow! You weren’t kidding about him being overprotective.”

“It’s not just him,” Bonnie snapped. “It’s all five of my brothers. They’re complete tyrants.”

“Just doing their jobs.” The sound of clapping made her swivel back toward Alice’s office. Alice’s stepbrother, Holt Winchester, filled the doorway with his broad shoulders — all six feet, three inches of tall, rangy cowboy mechanic. Like most of the local guys, he was in boots and jeans. His, however, were spattered with grease instead of dirt. A plain t-shirt was molded to his chest, probably grease spattered, too, though it was hard to tell since it was black. His dark hair waved out from beneath a straw Stetson, giving him a deliciously windblown look.

“What are you doing here?” Bonnie blurted, then wanted to bite her tongue. Since his sister owned the place, he had every right to come and go as he pleased.

“He’s our ride to the retreat,” Alice declared merrily. “That way, I don’t have to leave my car parked behind the building for the rest of the week.”

Holt cocked his thumb and forefinger at her, pushing away from the doorway. “Which would be a very bad idea, considering the number of car thefts around here lately.”

“Car thefts?” Bonnie frowned in confusion at him. “Jackson said there were some break-ins, but I didn’t realize…” Her voice dwindled at the crooked smile dawning across Holt’s tanned features. It made a tiny indention appear in his cheek that she longed to press her finger to. Yeah, she was crushing pretty badly on her boss’s stepbrother, something she’d spent the last couple of months trying her hardest to stop doing.

“Yep. Car thefts. At least half a dozen of them in the past two months.” The dimple in his cheek grew more pronounced, telling her that he was very much aware of her ongoing attraction to him. “It’s been all over the local news.”

Alice brushed past him to return to her desk. “She doesn’t watch the news. I can barely get her to read my emails.”

He snickered as he moved farther into the main office area to get out of her way. “No wonder you want her so badly as a partner. She’s the exact opposite of your obsessive, compulsive?—”

“And she gets sales,” his sister shot over her shoulder. “That girl might come across as all soft and relaxed; but trust me, she’s dynamite when it comes to convincing folks to sign contracts. Absolute dynamite!”

“I have to be dynamite to survive at Yates Ranch.” Bonnie grimaced as she moved toward her desk. “Five brothers, remember?” She didn’t need to keep up with the crime statistics in their small town, because she had them watchdogging over her day and night.

“Who adore you to pieces.” Holt swaggered closer. “If they didn’t, they wouldn’t keep such close tabs on you.”

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