Free Last Stand Ranch by Jenna Night Page A

reached up to touch the area where she’d been shot. She shivered, even though the room wasn’t cold.
    The bottle of pain pills the hospital gave her sat on the dresser, but she’d need to go downstairs to the kitchen for a glass of water. Mentally thanking Claudia for packing an overnight bag for her, she reached for her robe at the foot of her bed. She tucked her good arm into a sleeve and let the fabric drape over her sore shoulder.
    She headed toward the stairs, stepping softly on the thick carpet, trying not to wake anyone. But at the top of the stairs she could see dim light glowing down in the living room. Someone was already awake. Maybe they’d heard something. Dogs barking. A car engine prowling up the drive. The sound of someone ratcheting a shotgun.
    Fear twisted her nerves from head to toe, turning the dull pain in her shoulder into a piercing jolt and setting her teeth on edge. She grabbed the banister with her good hand and started down the stairs.
    Elijah sat on one of the leather sofas, his booted feet on the coffee table, watching the flat-screen TV on the wall with the volume turned down low. A laptop lay open with an electronic tablet beside it on the table in front of him. He had a pistol within reach on the sofa cushion.
    Bobby sat at the dining room table, visible through the open, airy design of the common area. He was facing a laptop computer screen, the bluish glow reflecting on his glasses and giving his bright red hair a more muted, brownish appearance.
    Jonathan, sprawled on the second living room couch, flipped the page of a thick paperback book.
    Olivia reached the bottom of the stairs and all three of the men looked up. Elijah was on his feet in an instant. “What’s wrong?”
    â€œSomething up?” Bobby asked, looking directly at her.
    â€œI don’t know.” The sudden, intense attention was disorienting. “I was going to ask you if there was something wrong.” Olivia looked for reassurance in the tense expression on Elijah’s face. “Why are all of you awake?”
    â€œWhy are you awake?” Elijah asked.
    Jonathan set his book aside and stood up.
    â€œDid you hear something?” Elijah demanded, sounding like a battlefield commander. “Did you see something?”
    â€œI don’t see anything,” Bobby said, his attention back on his computer.
    â€œSee anything? What are you looking at?” Confused, Olivia turned to Bobby, and then back to Elijah. “Do you have security cameras set up around your house?”
    â€œWhat woke you up?” Elijah barked.
    â€œMy shoulder,” Olivia barked back. She dug the bottle of pain pills out of her bathrobe pocket, held it up and rattled it. “I came downstairs to get a glass of water.”
    Elijah’s shoulders relaxed slightly. She realized he had his pistol in his hand.
    He tucked the gun into the waistband at the small of his back.
    She sighed. Nothing like annoying the people trying to help you.
    She walked by Bobby on the way to the kitchen and paused to see what he was looking at on his computer.
    The screen was split into twelve images. She recognized the wooden crossbar at the entrance to the long driveway, the front door and a couple of views of the veranda at the back of the house. The other images were views of the outside of the house, and some other buildings, maybe a barn and a stable.
    She looked up and saw Elijah watching her. “Who are you?” She gestured at the computer screen. “Why do you have so much security at your house?”
    â€œIt never hurts to be careful.” He started toward the kitchen. “I’ll get your water.”
    Olivia maneuvered around Bobby’s chair so she could block Elijah’s path. “Wait.”
    He stopped, his dark eyes intensely focused on her. Her mouth suddenly felt dry, but she held her ground.
    â€œYou already know a lot about me,” she said. “You know a couple