Bluegrass State of Mind (16 page)

Kenna was still amazed to learn that
Spires Landing finished off a racing career earning over three
million dollars. He was now happily providing stud service at two
hundred thousand dollars each go around.

Everything had been looking great for
Will until four months ago. The farm was making money. His
employees were happy. His mares were pregnant. And training was
going well on all his new horses. Then the accidents started
happening. Stall doors mysteriously opened in the middle of the
night. A trainer had come in at five in the morning to discover the
door open to Spires Landing’s stall and his tail peeking out the
feed door. He was happily eating a pile of fresh apples and sugar
cubes. He had thought it a fluke until the fence in the stallion
pasture fell down. A whole section of the four plank fence was
found laying on the ground, conveniently moved to the side so
Spires Landing could just walk right on out. Luck was again on
Will's side as Spires Landing was scheduled to be bred that day and
never left the breeding barn.

Will hired additional guards to patrol
at night, but they turned up nothing. Accidents continued to happen
though. The engine on one of the tractors was damaged so it was
unusable, and more fences were torn down. He was left with having
to drive the fence lines, over fifteen hundred acres worth of fence
line, every morning before the horses were let out. But that still
didn't do anything to protect the hundreds of horses that were kept
in pastures day and night. He had almost one hundred employees all
trying to figure out who was doing this.

That was where Will thought Sheik
Mohtadi Ali Rahman came in. He had approached Will just two months
before the accidents started wanting to buy his farm and horse
operation. Will and his family turned him down. He tried once more,
offering an ungodly amount of money. But this was Will's family
heritage and they couldn't sell. Mo seemed to take it in stride,
buying the two horse farms next to Ashton Farm instead. It was
after he moved in that the accidents started. Will figured Mo
didn't like losing. When money didn't work, he had his security
force start these attacks on the farm in hopes that they would
change their minds and sell.

Kenna didn't agree with his theory of
Mo being behind the problems. But she knew not to argue until she
had proof, one way or another.

Will's parting words still caused heat
to flood her belly though, "Mo isn't going to get the farm and he
sure as hell isn't going to get you."

Kenna closed her eyes and dreamt about
sweet kisses and horses eating apples.

Chapter Nine

The next five days flew by for Kenna.
She woke up at six in the morning, took a hot shower to wake up,
and started studying. At eight, Miss Lily would send a tray up with
breakfast and orange juice. Kenna ate while studying Kentucky law.
She studied property law, criminal law, civil law, ethics, family
law, court procedures, tax law, estate law and so much more that it
was starting to run together.

Paige or Betsy would come over with a
late lunch, giving Kenna a thirty minute break. Kenna bored them to
death with conversations based on what she was reading. Then it was
off to take a practice test and review the incorrect answers before
Will arrived for dinner around eight at night. After studying for
twelve hours a day, she made herself stop when Will came over. They
would go out on a date at the Cafe, or drive into Lexington for
dinner and a movie. They talked, laughed, and kissed whenever out
of sight of the Rose sisters.

It became a joke between them to see
how long they could kiss goodbye on the porch before Miss Lily
turned the light on or came out to sweep imaginary leaves off the
steps. She would then usher Kenna inside asking about how the date
went and how studying was going, all while scolding Will for being
fresh.

Kenna put on a spring skirt and polo
shirt. She spun around the room. Today was her last break. She had
studied all morning and now Mo was sending a limo to pick her up
for their lunch date. Will wasn't thrilled when she told him about
her lunch, but swore it was strictly friendly. He trusted her, so
he didn't even try to stop her. Maybe he knew if he had tried,
their relationship would be damaged. Working in a male dominated
field made it real easy to have male friends, and Will was trying
to accept it. McKenna knew the reason wasn't because Mo was male.
It was because Mo was Mo. And Will thought he was responsible for
the accidents on the farm. What Will didn't know, was that she was
going to this lunch primarily to find out if Mo was really behind
all of the damage to Will's farm.

Kenna applied her pale pink lip gloss
and then looked out the window. She liked watching the gentle
breeze over the daffodils and the new leaves trying to make their
way to the light. She took in a deep breath of country air,
smelling some horse feed from the seed store and the fresh cut
grass from the house next door. A slight tingle of worry washed
over her, but she pushed it back. If Danielle needed her, she'd
contact her. She had written Danielle a couple of quick emails to
check in, but had not heard back yet. Just as she started to pull
in her lower lip to nibble on it over what horrible possibilities
were occurring to Danielle, a huge black limo stopped in front of
the house. A uniformed man, she recognized as Mo's assistant, got
out of the passenger side door and confidently walked up to the
house. She grabbed her purse and gave herself one last look in the
mirror before heading downstairs to have lunch with
royalty.

"Madam, I am Ahmed. I will escort you
to lunch today," he said with a slight bow of his head. He stood
only about three or four inches taller than her, but she was pretty
sure his uniform hid a cache of weapons that he knew how to use. He
was friendly, but there was alertness in his eyes to everything
around them.

"It is so nice to meet you. I am sorry
I didn't get to introduce myself the other week at the sales,"
Kenna said.

Apparently not used to such attention,
Ahmed blushed slightly. "I am used to staying in the background.
Most people don't notice me. Madam is very attentive." He opened
the back door and held it open for her. When he went to close it,
she stopped him.

"Please, no need for me to sit back
here by myself. Please join me. I would love to talk to you some
more. And please, call me McKenna or Kenna. Either works for me!"
Surprising to her, he looked unsure of himself momentarily before
he decided it would be okay to join her. "Ahmed, what do you do for
the Sheik?"

"Oh, this and that. Mostly I head
security. Because that puts me in the most contact with the Sheik,
I also act as an assistant when needed."

"Sounds very exciting. I bet you have
traveled all over the world and seen amazing sights. It was very
nice of you, as head of security, to pick me up today. I am sure
you have more important things to do, what with all those accidents
at the Ashton Farm. I am sure you have to work really hard to make
sure the vandals don't start tampering with things on your
property." As subtlety went, it was a poor effort. But she hoped
she pulled off the innocent face well enough to disguise her
interrogation.

Her hopes were squashed when Ahmed let
out a sharp bark of laughter. "McKenna, you are very direct for a
woman. I know all about your relationship with the Ashton family,
and I am very aware of their belief the accidents are being ordered
by my boss. You are very brave to attempt interrogation on an
interrogation expert. Of course my interrogations usually involve
certain… tools, shall we say." He shook his head as if fully amused
by her thought of interrogating him.

"Well, we could go back to Miss
Lily's. She has a wonderful watering can for her flowers that would
be perfect for waterboarding if you are feeling my form of
interrogation is inadequate," she deadpanned. That ought to shut
him up, she thought when she saw his mouth momentarily
drop.

But then he grabbed his side and
doubled over in his seat with great big belly laughs. Well, there
goes being the tough chick. Ahh, now she knew what to do... Kenna
slipped her sunglasses on and turned away from Ahmed, shaking her
shoulders as if racked with tears. She threw in a couple of
sniffles and a repressed sob or two.

Ahmed immediately stopped his
laughter, "Madam, I am so sorry I insulted you. Women are too
kind-hearted and innocent for such talk. I offer you my humblest
apologies."

Kenna turned her head, letting out a
little sob. With a slight lip tremble, "I was just trying to look
out for my boyfriend, you know?" Hiccup. "It's been very stressful
on him and his poor father with his heart condition. You know, I
lost both my parents." Hiccup. Lip trembling again, "and Betsy and
William are like surrogate parents to me." Full on sobs began.
Kenna turned her head and gave more body-shaking sobs.

"Please, Madam, McKenna. Please, I am
so sorry I made you cry. I know you were looking out for them.
Please, let me assure you, it is not us who are causing these
problems. Actually, I have been put in charge of trying to find out
the culprits. As you have mentioned, we fear they will move on to
us next."

Kenna cast a glance out of the corner
of her eye and saw Ahmed fidgeting with his tie and lacking his
normal composure. She turned her head to him and let a smile
overtake her face as she removed her sunglasses exposing tear free
eyes. "Thank you for letting me know, Ahmed. I am very relieved you
had nothing to do with it." She smiled wider as Ahmed's mouth
dropped and started making fish faces as he stared at her. "I will
convey my belief to the Ashtons that you have nothing to do with
the accidents and hopefully you can work together to solve this
mystery before anything else happens.”

Ahmed took a good thirty seconds to
recover. Slowly, a smile crept up his face, "You, Madam, need to
come work for me. I will pay you more than you can ever dream of.
Well played. Well played, indeed."

Kenna returned his smile, "Thank you.
You have your interrogation techniques and I have mine," she
winked.

By the time they arrived at Mo's farm,
her and Ahmed were joking easily between themselves and acting as
if they were lifelong friends. Kenna enjoyed Ahmed's dry sense of
humor. She loved that she could replace the seriousness that sat so
far back behind his eyes with a little laughter. Ahmed opened the
door to the limousine for her and was met by Mo as she stood up.
Dressed impeccably in a black pinstripe suit, he kissed both of
Kenna’s cheeks as he escorted her up the stairs and into, what she
could only describe as a palace. White marble outlined the black
marble floors in the center of the room. Furniture she knew was
specially made for his home filled the entrance way. They walked a
quarter of the way down and turned right into a sitting room twice
the size of her apartment in New York.

"Sir, I feel as your head of security,
I must warn you to be careful when alone with Miss Mason," Ahmed
said as he signaled the wait staff to bring in the meal.

"Do you believe she would harm me,
Ahmed?" Mo said with a faked look of fear.

"I must warn you, she has
unprecedented interrogation skills." Ahmed looked sternly at
her.

She raised one corner of her lip in
look of deviousness.

"And how do you know this?" Mo was now
looking at her, taking note of the side games going on between her
and Ahmed.

"She interrogated me in the ride over
here."

"Surely you mean she tried to
interrogate you." Ahmed turned to Mo and lowered his head in
shame.

"No, Sir. I mean she interrogated me
thoroughly. She asked me about the accidents at the Ashton Farm. I
told her everything I knew and all we were doing to try to figure
out who is behind them."

"Really? She broke you? I don't mind
you telling her, as I figured the subject was going to come up.
But, I was hoping I could seduce her before we got to serious
conversation. But, my curiosity is piqued now. How did one little
woman get you to talk on a confidential matter? After all, I know
when you were a commander in the Elite Service, you were captured
and tortured for three days before rescue. All the while, never
revealing any classified information. So how on Earth did Kenna get
the information out of you?" Mo asked, truly confused.

Ahmed cleared his throat and looked
down at the floor, "She cried, Sir."

Mo looked to Ahmed’s lowered head and
then over to her. She knew she was the picture of womanly
innocence, except for the huge smile across her face. She saw Mo
fight the laugh coming, but he couldn't stop it. She and Ahmed soon
joined in.

"Please, let us sit and have lunch.
You may tell me all about this interrogation technique. Then I
thought to seduce you with my charm, have you agree to marry me,
and we can look around your new home."

Kenna laughed even harder. She knew Mo
was only partly teasing and she also knew he was aware of her
relationship with Will. Anything Ahmed knew, she was sure Mo did
too. "Lunch sounds great and so does the tour, but you know Will
already thinks you are causing the accidents. Do you really think
it's a good idea to move in on his woman, too?"