GI Cowboy

by Delores Fossen

  But there was also a baby in his lap.

  Maddie Simmons was almost two years old and had blond curls that haloed around her cherub cheeks. Unlike some of the other children, Maddie wasn’t afraid of strangers.

  Obviously.

  She was right in Parker’s face and was babbling while she wiggled her fingers in front of him. Parker continued to glance out the window, but his attention kept returning to Maddie.

  Intrigued at this cowboy warrior’s interaction with the angelic little girl, Bailey walked closer. Parker looked up, and their gazes collided. He had a strange expression on his face, a mixture of shock, concern, amusement and a little of get-me-out-of-here.

  “She’s teaching me the ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’ song, I think,” Parker explained.

  Maddie verified that by smiling and babbling, “Bitty, bitty pider.” She clapped her hands and then started another set of sounds. “Tinkle, tinkle.”

  Bailey recognized this one. “‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.’ I think she wants you to sing it.”

  Parker looked at Bailey as if she’d had just asked to jump out of plane without a parachute. “I don’t think so. I can’t sing.”

  That only encouraged Maddie to get closer. “Tinkle. Tinkle.” She exaggerated the sounds as if trying to teach him.

  Parker shook his head again, but Maddie persisted by pinching his mouth, and Parker finally mumbled the first line of the song. He was totally off-key, sounding very froglike, but it delighted Maddie so much that the little girl laughed and plopped a kiss on his cheek.

  Despite the knot in her stomach, Bailey couldn’t stave off a smile. Children were magical.

  She walked closer and eased down on the floor beside them. She positioned herself so that she too could keep watch. “Anything from the sheriff?” she asked Parker.

  “Fifteen minutes ago he called and said several deputies from the surrounding towns have joined the search.”

  “Good. If they’re still looking, that means they still have hopes of finding the driver of that car.”

  “Maybe.” Parker paused. “And what if they don’t?”

  That required a deep breath. “Then life goes on as usual.” She glanced around at the handful of kids. “Or as close to usual as possible.”

  “Without me?” he pressed.

  Another deep breath. “I’m sure with your credentials, Bart Bellows will have another job for you.”

  “We’re back to that part about not wanting your mother to win.”

  “Yes,” she said without hesitation. But then she hesitated. “You won’t have trouble getting work elsewhere?”

  “No,” he also said without hesitation. “As soon as the sheriff gives us the all clear, I’ll call Bart and tell him I’m off the case.”

  Bailey nodded. Good. This was what she wanted.

  The knot in her stomach tightened.

  Maddie tried to get up, but she got off balanced. Bailey reached for her, but Parker beat her to it. He gently caught onto the toddler’s arm and steadied her.

  “You’re good with kids,” she commented.

  There it was again—the total shock in Parker’s eyes. “I’m not.”

  Bailey flinched at his suddenly rough tone. “But Zach—”

  “I wasn’t around much when he was this age. Or any other age,” he corrected.

  That sounded like old baggage that he didn’t especially want to discuss. Bailey shrugged. “I suppose it was hard for you to be home a lot because of your commitment to the army.”

  Parker didn’t answer. He stared at the window, until Maddie began to sing her version of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” The cheerful song definitely didn’t go with the somber mood in the room, but her staff was trying to keep things upbeat.

  Charlotte was at a work table making Fourth of July decorations with two of the older children, and Audra was arranging the others into a circle for a scaled down version of Duck Duck Goose. Bailey knew from experience that all the running around from the game would tire out the kids, and at least several would need a nap.

  When Maddie saw the game forming, she babbled bye-bye to Parker, gave him another kiss and toddled over to join the others.

  “Why this?” Parker asked, drawing Bailey’s attention back to him. “Why run a day care?” Parker’s investigation had confirmed her trust fund. She didn’t need to work. And she obviously loved kids…

  Bailey heard the unspoken part of question, mainly because her mother often spoke it aloud. “You mean why am I here instead of raising a family of my own?”

  Parker gave a begrudging nod. “I guess that’s what I meant.”

  “I love kids, but I haven’t met anyone I’d like to have kids with. My last relationship ended badly.” Very badly. As in he turned out to be a low-life scum who cheated on her with a lap dancer and then told the press all about two-timing the governor’s daughter. “Let’s just say, I’m not a prize catch for most guys.”

  “Right.” His eyebrow lifted. “You’re beautiful, rich and smart. Guys hate that in a woman.”

  Bailey bit her lip to stop herself from smiling. “Thank you.”

  He thought she was beautiful.

  That was something else to take her mind off the black car, but Bailey did glance out to make sure it wasn’t there. “I also have a mother who’s the governor, and while Mom says she would love for me to marry and give her grandchildren, she’s yet to approve of any man I’ve dated.”

  Parker stared at her. “You need her approval?”

  “No.” Bailey pushed her hair away from her face. “But sometimes it would be nice to get it.”

  He made a sound, a rumble deep within his throat. “In the message that she left on your machine, she seemed to be playing matchmatcher with you and me.”

  “All talk, I assure you,” Bailey mumbled. “She’ll find fault even with a non-Neanderthal guy like you.”

  She hated this turn in the conversation. Hated that she’d just revealed something that personal to a man who was practically a stranger. If she continued with this, it wouldn’t be long before she told him that she was toying with the idea of using artificial insemination to get pregnant.

  Now, that would get him running. But it would also be revealing a secret wish that she wasn’t ready to reveal to anyone. Time to switch gears to something more palatable, but Parker changed it for her.

  “Who’s that?” he asked and got to his feet.

  She looked out the window and spotted the familiar dark-haired man making his way toward the porch. “Sidney Burrell, the handyman. He’s putting in that bathroom Charlotte told you about.” Bailey checked the date on her watch. “Though he wasn’t supposed to work today. He only works after hours, after all the children are gone.”

  Parker stood at the window and studied him. “When he’s here, he has access to the entire building?”

  “Of course. Why?”

  “You trust him?” Parker fired back.

  Bailey was about to say yes, but she hesitated. “He moved to Freedom about four months ago so I don’t know him that well, but he had good references. And he hasn’t done anything to make me distrust him.” She noticed his alarmed expression, and that alarmed her. “Why all the questions?”

  Parker didn’t take his attention off the man. “I think he’s carrying a concealed weapon.”

  She jumped to her feet. “What?”

  “Look at the slight bulge around the ankle of his jeans.”

  She did look, and yes, there was a bulge. “You think that means he has a gun?”

  “Wait here,” Parker ordered, and he hurried out the room and toward the front door.

  Bailey had no intention of doing that. Ahead of her, Parker disengaged the security system and threw open the front door just as Sidney was coming up the steps. Even though Parker didn’t draw his own gun, Sidney stopped in his tracks. His eyes widened, and he volleyed glances between Parker and her.

  “I heard about the car everyone’s looking for,” Sid
ney said. “It’s all over town. I came over to check on you.”

  “I’m fine,” Bailey lied.

  Parker stepped out onto the porch and would have shut the door in her face, if she hadn’t caught onto it. Parker shot her a warning glance over his shoulder, probably so that she would go back inside, but Bailey went on the porch with him.

  “This is Parker McKenna,” she said, trying to make it sound like a casual introduction.

  Parker didn’t wait for Sidney to respond. “Are you carrying a gun?”

  Sidney pulled back his shoulders. “What business is that of yours?”

  “Are you carrying a gun?” Parker repeated. He took a single step closer to Sidney, but that step along with his expression had a menacing feel to it.

  “Yeah.” Sidney’s expression took on a menacing feel, as well. “I am. But I have a permit to carry concealed.”

  Since Bailey’s emotions were already running high, she forced herself to put this in perspective, though she didn’t like the fact this man had been in her day care with a weapon strapped to his ankle.

  Except Parker had a weapon too, she reminded herself.

  “Why carry a gun?” Bailey asked.

  Sidney shrugged and softened his glare when he looked at her. “My house isn’t in town, and a time or two I’ve come home to find coyotes in my yard. It’s easier to have the gun on me than in the glove compartment of the truck.”

  She nodded, accepting that. “I’d prefer if you didn’t wear it in the building,” she simply stated.

  Sidney’s mouth tightened. “If that’s the way you want it.”

  “It is,” Parker answered for her.

  For a moment she thought Sidney might argue with that, but he finally smiled and tipped his fingers to his forehead in a mock salute. “I’ll be seeing you around.”

  For some reason, that sounded like a threat. Or maybe it was just the nerves getting to her. Parker and she stood there and watched Sidney walk away. The man got into a blue pickup truck and drove off.

  “You should call Bart and ask him to run a background check on this guy,” Parker suggested.

  That was a good idea, and Bailey made a mental note to be more careful about the people she hired. When had her life gotten so complicated?

  Her phone rang, and even though she’d been expecting and even praying for this particular call, her heart began to pound when she saw the sheriff’s name on the screen. Her hand was shaking too, but she pressed the button to answer it and put it on speaker so Parker could hear.

  “Did you find the car?” Bailey immediately asked.

  “No,” Sheriff Hale said after several snail-crawling moments. “We looked hard, Bailey, but that car isn’t on any road in this county. I figure the guy knows we’re onto him, and he’s long gone.”

  Bailey tried not to react, and on the outside she probably didn’t. Inside was a different matter.

  “We’ll keep looking, of course,” the sheriff continued. “I’ll review each new security tape. And I’ll have one of the deputies drive by Cradles to Crayons at least every hour. We got this situation under control, Bailey, and I don’t want you worrying about it.”

  “Thank you,” she told him, and she clicked the end call button.

  She didn’t move. Bailey just stood there, even though the July heat was brutal. Sweat was starting to trickle down her back.

  “Okay,” Parker mumbled. “That’s that, then.” He extended his hand for her to shake.

  A farewell shake, no doubt.

  Bailey stared at his hand. Then at Parker himself. And she had the sickening feeling that her life depended on the decision she was about to make.

  Chapter Four

  Well, it was a victory, but Parker didn’t feel like celebrating.

  Yes, Bailey had told him that he could continue to be her bodyguard, but since she’d snarled when she said it, Parker didn’t think this was an employer-employee match made in heaven.

  She drove ahead of him in her BMW and pulled into her neighborhood, an area Parker knew well since he’d been watching her for days.

  But who else had been watching her?

  Parker had been careful and observant, and he hadn’t seen anyone suspicious, but those surveillance tapes proved otherwise. He hoped like hell that the driver of that mysterious black car didn’t have some kind of insider information about Bailey’s schedule, but then she was pretty predictable.

  During the workweek, Bailey went to the day care at six forty-five and came home around seven p.m. Sometimes later. She often took meals with female friends or members of her staff at the diner, Talk of the Town, but other than that, she didn’t have much of a social life.

  Was that because she was nursing a broken heart?

  Since Parker had already done an extensive background check on Bailey, he knew about her failed relationship with the Dallas real estate tycoon Trey Masters, who’d been downright chatty with the tabloids about what it was like to date the governor’s daughter. It hadn’t been pretty, and since that happened only four months ago, that might explain the no-male company in Bailey’s life.

  Parker also knew other things. Personal things. For instance, on Saturday, Bailey had visited a fertility clinic in Amarillo. He knew because he’d followed her there and had seen her collect their literature on artificial insemination and single parenthood. He wondered if the governor knew about her daughter’s possible plans to become a mother.

  Having a child of her own would suit Bailey all right. He had seen her with the children at the day care, and she was a natural.

  Ahead of him, Bailey pulled into the driveway of her prairie-style house. It was homey, not at all what he’d expected when he’d first seen it a week earlier. Across the entire front of the house was a porch, complete with hanging plants, rocking chairs and even a swing.

  She got out and immediately looked back at him as he brought his truck to a stop behind her. Even though she was wearing dark sunglasses now, she was no doubt still glaring. And probably hating that she had no other choice but to rely on him for her personal safety.

  “There’s no reason for you to check the house,” she told him, again.

  Parker ignored her, again. “I just want to make sure no one has broken in.”

  “I have a security system, and I use it.”

  “So you’ve said. But there are ways around a security system. Humor me, Bailey. This won’t take long, and it’ll make me sleep better tonight.”

  She huffed, just as he knew she would do, and pushed her shades to the top of her head. With her keys ready, she walked to front door. Probably because her hands were still shaking, something she wouldn’t dare admit, it took her several seconds to get it unlocked. Almost immediately the security system began to whine, and she punched in the code on the wall keypad to disarm it.

  “Wait right here,” Parker insisted. And in this case, right here was just inside the doorway. He didn’t want her outside alone, but he didn’t want her in the house itself until he gave the all-clear.

  He stepped around her, their shoulders brushing. Not good. Even that small amount of contact caused him to remember that in addition to being the job, Bailey was an attractive woman that got his body humming.

  Parker told his body to knock it off.

  He drew his gun and got to work, making his way through the living room and into the kitchen. He figured there’d be high-end furnishings and decor, maybe black granite countertops, lots of crystal and mirrored stainless appliances, but it was more old-fashioned than newfangled. Butcher-block counters and whitewashed cabinets. There was a jar of crunchy peanut butter and a loaf of bread on the center island.

  The word that came to mind was cozy.

  Bailey lived a lot more normal life than he’d expected. She certainly didn’t live like the daughter of a governor with roots that were Texas royalty.

  From the kitchen Parker went through the dining room and checked the laundry room before he went to the side of the house with th
e bedrooms. There were three of them, all decorated in that same cozy style with warm colored walls and quilts on the beds.

  He instantly knew which bedroom was Bailey’s because it still carried her scent. He glanced at the bed, unmade, with the sugar-white covers rumpled as if she’d just gotten up. For just a flash of an instant, he got an image of her climbing, naked, from that bed.

  Hell.

  He didn’t need that image in his head.

  “See anything?” Bailey asked.

  Parker nearly jumped out of his skin. She was right behind him, and he had no idea how that’d happened. Oh, yeah. He did. He’d been caught up in that whole naked, sugar-white sheets fantasy and was fighting the effects that both the fantasy and the woman had on his body.

  He shot her a scowl about breaking his stay-put rule and checked the adjoining bathroom. No one was there. But there was a claw-footed tub with a stack of paperbacks and several bottles of bubble bath beside it.

  Again, he got the naked image, this time with sudsy water sliding down her—

  “Everything looks just as I left it,” she commented, snapping him back. “No bogeymen. Plus, it’s still daylight, and my neighbors have no doubt heard about the office incident and the black car. They’ll be on the lookout, so I seriously doubt a stranger will make it within a hundred yards of my place without one of the neighbors calling me and Sheriff Hale.”

  That’s what Parker was hoping.

  He was also hoping his body would soften.

  Parker reholstered his gun and waited until Bailey was out of the doorway before he walked past her. No more accidental touching. He had enough going on inside him without adding the real thing.

  “Lock the door when I leave,” he instructed. “And set the security alarm. I already gave you my number, and if you have to go out for any reason, call me. I’ll come over and go with you. Oh, I’ll be back tomorrow morning to drive you to work.”

  She wearily shook her head and followed him to the door. “We’ll be joined at the hip.”