Page 16 of A Rancher's Vow
“No, you’re right,” Kelli assured her. “There would be less trouble if hewasa kid. All grown up means he’s fair game for this nonsense.” The other woman sighed. “I hope having this many people around doesn’t mean more Stone secrets get dug up.”
Damn. Like the fact that Kelli was heiress to a large horse operation in her own right. It wasn’t an outright secret. People in the horse breeding community, or those who knew Kelli’s grandfather, could put two and two together quickly enough. The only reason Charity knew was that Fern had found out ages ago and told her on the down low. Then, with Kelli’s permission, Tucker had shared the information during Charity’s office introduction under a strict NDA.
“I’ll go get people cleared out,” Charity offered, turning to do exactly that.
“No, stay. This is one for the guy hands to deal with. And…” Kelli tossed her a quick grimace. “I’d like you to stay close. If someone does head our way, you have my permission to run interference then.”
“I can walk you home,” Charity offered. Kelli’s house was on the other side of the arenas and barns. Beside it, a second house that would be Tucker and Ginny’s was nearing completion.
“Thanks, but for now, I’d prefer to keep an eye on things.” Kelli sighed. “What if someone decides to sneak up on my house to get an exclusive?”
Charity’s skin crawled with terrible memories. “We need to up security around here, big time.”
“We do.” Kelli considered. “Sad in a way. Silver Stone has been a welcoming place for years. Very open-door policy, but if this is the kind of thing people think is permissible?” She gestured at the unwelcome crowd.
“It’s not always easy to do what’s right, but we do it anyway.”Charity quoted her grandmother with conviction, bracing herself to be strong enough to follow through on the motto.
“Yeah.” Kelli kept watching the parking lot. “Stupid that one little article can result in this mess.”
Charity arranged herself so that if anyone took a picture from the parking lot, they’d get her face and not Kelli’s. Then she pulled out her phone and started searching for recent updates connecting Silver Stone and Dustin. “I wonder…”
“I thought the article was funny when I read it,” Kelli admitted.
“It could have been, except for the hashtags that went too far. How on earth did—” Charity stopped. “Oh, shit.”
“What? You can’t just sayoh shitwhen we’re in the middle of a situation and not explain yourself,” Kelli complained.
“He’s been doxxed.” A bad taste flooded Charity’s mouth as memories of her own viral experience rushed in. “There are text messages turned to screen shots added to the hashtags. Dustin’s email and the ranch address. His phone number.”
“Crap.” Kelli leaned over the phone. “Who did it?”
“Their info is scrubbed off.” Charity read a little closer, and a cold chill went through her. Dustin was going to be so pissed. “It’s a woman. Says she dated the#SilverStoneStudin the past, and here’s the scoop on how good he is in bed.”
Kelli swore. “That’s seriously shitty. I’m calling Luke and Tucker. They’d better know why we’ve been invaded.”
Charity kept reading and searching on her phone while Kelli connected with her husband. There were maybe four or five screen shots in total, but every one of them included some dirty detail plus a way to contact Dustin.
People online were running with it, though. Adding their own comments and increasing the viewing audience as every minute passed.
“Luke. You with the guys?” Kelli nodded at Charity. “Gather them up. You might want to find Dustin and give him an escort home. Charity found the source of the nonsense—some extra-level social media bullshit. We need a family meeting, ASAP. Meet us at Caleb and Tamara’s.”
“Dustin was in field thirty-seven fifteen minutes ago,” Charity offered.
Kelli flashed a thumbs-up. “You hear that? Good. I’ll get the guys here to finish clearing the riffraff… No, I will not go hide.” Kelli rolled her eyes. “No, I will not put Charity on.”
Charity’s phone rang. She glanced down at the screen then back at Kelli. “It’s Tucker. Do I answer it?”
Kelli laughed. “You’re double teaming me,” she complained to Luke. Here. Talk to Charity.”
She passed her phone over.
Charity was in the middle of the Stone family up to her neck and the water was still rising. “Luke?”
“Hey. Thanks for the info on the media invasion. Can you stick with Kelli? I just got off the phone with Ashton. He’s mustering extra hands to deal with the crowd, so you two can take Secret Path and meet us at the ranch house.”
“Of course, I’ll stay with Kelli. But I was going to do that anyway. Also, Kelli is wicked smart, and she’s going to be just fine.”
Damn it. Her mouth was going to get her in trouble, but seriously.
