The Colton Bodyguard

by Carla Cassidy

  Tyler stood, his features stoic. “You can spend the rest of the night in my bed. I’ll stay awake and keep an eye on things. First thing in the morning you pack your bags. You won’t spend another night here.” His voice was brisk and all business.

  “Where will I be going?” she asked.

  “Back home to Tulsa and I’ll be going with you. I’m not letting you out of my sight until this woman is behind bars.”

  “What about my work with Sugar?” she asked. The entire world had turned upside down in the space of a heartbeat.

  “We’ll figure it all out in the morning. I should call the authorities and make a report.”

  “Please don’t,” she said hurriedly. “I’ve already had more publicity than I want and there’s really nothing they can do. Besides, Ryan is already working on trying to find her with the Tulsa Police Department. If we’re going back there, I’ll just let Ryan know about this latest incident and he can deal with it from his end.”

  She shivered as a deep bone chill overtook her. It had been surreal to open her eyes and see her hazel eyes, her own face staring down at her.

  “Are you sure? It wouldn’t take long to file a report.”

  She shook her head. “I’m positive. I’ll talk to Ryan tomorrow and he can take it from there.”

  “Come on. Let’s get you settled in my room,” Tyler said. He helped her out of bed and threw an arm around her shoulders and then led her into his room, where he turned on the light and gestured her toward the bed.

  The clock on the nightstand indicated that it was just before three o’clock. She got into bed and watched as he pulled on a pair of jeans, his socks and his shoes and then grabbed a T-shirt from the closet and pulled it on over his head.

  He then went to the top drawer of his dresser and pulled out a handgun. He smiled at her grimly. “I might be a businessman, but I’m also an Oklahoman and I have a gun. I’m going to call Raymond and Bill to come over and help me keep an eye on things around here. Get some sleep, Greta. You have nothing to worry about for the rest of the night.”

  She believed him. He looked bigger, meaner and thoroughly capable with his dark blue eyes, determined expression and a gun in his hand.

  This was the Tyler Stanton she’d known in the past, confident and in control with a slightly dangerous edge to him. She was more than comfortable to let him be in charge. How many people had met this man across a conference table in the boardroom? She bet it was an experience they never forgot.

  He waited until she was snuggled beneath the sheets that smelled of his familiar scent and then he grabbed his cell phone, turned off the light and left the room.

  She heard his deep voice speaking to somebody on the phone before he moved out of hearing distance. She closed her eyes, but sleep was as distant as the lights of New York City.

  Over and over again her mind played that moment when she’d left her dream behind and come awake to terror. Greta had always been a sound sleeper, but she couldn’t believe her twin had managed to get through a screen and open the window without awaking her.

  She must slither like a snake, move as quietly as a shadow. Greta shuddered once again and pulled the comforter more tightly around her.

  The minute Big J had confessed that he’d bought her as a baby and that she had been one of two, everyone had realized it hadn’t been Greta’s DNA all over the ranch where trouble had happened. It had been her twin’s.

  With that new knowledge, her detective brother had begun to search for the whereabouts of Tamara Stewart, Greta’s birth mother, in an effort to find out more information about Greta’s twin.

  It had been twenty-six years since Big J had met the woman and bought a baby from her, twenty-six years when Tamara Stewart could have married and moved anywhere in the world.

  Greta only hoped her brother managed to get some answers before her twin got another opportunity to vent her hatred, a hatred Greta wished she understood. This was her last thought before she finally fell asleep.

  She awoke just after dawn. The house was quiet and she snuggled deeper into the sheets, surrounding herself with Tyler’s scent.

  She didn’t want to get up and face the day. She hated the fear that now resided deep inside her. They had all realized that Greta’s twin had probably been responsible for all the damage and mischief that had occurred around the ranch.

  They all agreed that it had been the twin who had attacked Abra so many months ago and had killed the ranch hand Kurt Rodgers, but last night had been the first time she’d come for Greta.

  Reluctantly, she got out of bed, knowing she couldn’t put off the future, whatever it might hold, any longer. She crept out of the bedroom and stopped in surprise as she saw Tyler sitting in a straight-back chair in the hallway just next to the bedroom door.

  He was sound asleep, his gun in his lap and his sensual mouth slightly agape. Her heart tightened as she realized he’d apparently spent the night in a chair just outside where she’d slept in order to make sure he kept her safe from harm.

  She remained frozen, unsure if she should go back into the bedroom or try to creep past him without awaking him. Before she could make a decision, his eyes opened and he smiled. “Good morning. It looks like we made it through the night.”

  “You must be exhausted,” she exclaimed. “You can’t have slept well in that chair.”

  He grabbed his gun from his lap and stood, then stretched with his arms overhead, the action forcing the bottom of his T-shirt to creep up to expose a bit of his taut bare belly.

  He dropped his hands and eyed her purple nightgown with an angel seated on a gold half-moon on the front. “I knew you were a cotton kind of girl,” he said with a small smile. The smile left his lips as his gaze locked with hers. “Are you okay? Did you get some sleep?”

  She nodded. “I slept, but I’m not sure I’m a hundred percent okay.”

  “You’ll feel better once we get you out of here.”

  “What, exactly, are the plans?” she asked.

  “Why don’t you get dressed and I’ll make the coffee and we’ll figure everything out then,” he replied.

  “Okay.” Her heart beat slightly faster as she entered the guest room where she’d been attacked. With the light of day creeping in the window, which was closed and locked, the room held no hint of the life-and-death drama that had occurred the night before.

  She grabbed her underclothes, a pair of clean jeans and a brown flannel shirt. She headed into the bathroom, where she showered as quickly as possible and then got dressed.

  By the time she went into the kitchen, the coffee was made and Tyler sat at the table with two cups of the fresh brew already poured. He’d changed into a long-sleeved flannel shirt, as well, his a blue pattern that emphasized the color of his amazing, beautiful eyes. He also wore his gun in a holster on his belt.

  She sat and pulled one of the two cups before her and wrapped her fingers around it, seeking its warmth to ease the chill that hadn’t quite dissipated from the night before. “Now, what are the plans?”

  “We pack up and take you home. You’ll be safer there not only with your family around but with me there, as well. I’m hoping your family will welcome me as a guest for a while?”

  “Of course they will, but what about your work? You have responsibilities here,” she protested.

  “I’ve given myself vacation leave. I’ll be close enough that I can drive back here if necessary, but I’m not letting you go without me.” He gave her a sexy smile. “I haven’t gotten to court you long enough yet.”

  “And what about my work with Sugar? I’d already started making some headway with her.”

  “You mentioned that you had a corral where you work with horses.”

  She nodded. “It’s pretty much like the setup you have here.”

  “Then we’ll get her into a trailer and bring her with us.” He took a sip of his coffee.

  Greta frowned, thinking of all the reasons why Tyler shouldn’t come home with her
and yet feeling surprised to realize how badly she wanted him beside her. It was crazy after spending such a brief time with him, but she couldn’t help it. Right now he represented safety to her.

  “Can you get Sugar into a trailer?” she asked worriedly.

  “Raymond and Bill can use a chute and get her in. She won’t be happy, but she’ll survive.”

  Greta took a drink of her coffee and wondered if she would survive the inexplicable wrath of a so-far-elusive sister who seemed to have the ability to stay undercover and move as if she were a ghost.

  * * *

  It took a little over two hours to get everything ready to prepare to leave the house. Tyler instructed Raymond and Bill to trailer Sugar and then called his general manager at Stanton Oil to let him know he would be in Tulsa for an indeterminable amount of time.

  He then called Derek to let his neighbor know he would be gone, and Derek assured him he’d keep an eye on the place. While Tyler was making his phone calls, Greta was packing her bags.

  With the necessary calls made and business taken care of, Tyler went into his room to pack what he thought he would need for his time in Tulsa. He hoped the Colton family would welcome him, although he knew he carried the baggage of being not only Mark’s brother but also the man who had been pictured in the paper kissing Greta. And a fine kiss it had been.

  He’d just have to make them understand that he was there for Greta’s safety and nothing more. The vision of opening her door the night before to see her sitting in bed, eyes wide in terror, her throat red and the cold wind of the night blowing through the open window, would sit with him for a very long time.

  What if she hadn’t been able to scream? What if Tyler hadn’t awoken? He would have found her dead in the bed this morning. He shoved the thought out of his head, unable to abide that particular image without feeling sick to his stomach.

  At a little after nine o’clock Tyler’s powerful black pickup truck was in the driveway with Sugar in the horse trailer hooked behind it. “I just had an idea,” he said to Greta when they stepped outside with their bags in hand.

  “What’s that?” Her worried gaze shot to the horse.

  “Why don’t you ride with me and we’ll leave your Jeep here in the driveway. Maybe that will throw off your evil twin and she’ll think you’re still here. At least it might work for a little while.”

  “Okay,” she agreed after a moment of hesitation.

  “I’ll pack the bags,” he said.

  She dropped hers next to his and then walked to stand a couple of feet from Sugar’s trailer. “It’s going to be all right, girl,” she said. “I know you’re scared, but we’re going to take you someplace nice and you’ll be just fine.”

  She had nearly been killed last night and yet she was concerned for the mental welfare of his horse. She had to be traumatized and yet she worried about how traumatized Sugar might be by riding in the trailer.

  It only made him want to keep her safe from harm more. She wasn’t the typical socialite he’d thought she might have become when she’d been with Mark. She wasn’t like any other woman he had ever met or dated. He had no idea where their crazy relationship might be headed. He knew only a ferocious sense of protectiveness for her that he couldn’t deny.

  They were on the road by nine fifteen. “I gave my father a heads-up that we were on our way to the ranch while I was packing,” she said.

  “So he knows I’m with you?”

  “He knows and I’m sure by now everyone at the ranch knows.”

  “And?” He shot her a quick glance, picking up on something in her voice.

  “And I’ll admit he has some reservations about you, but ultimately, he trusts my judgment.”

  “I didn’t expect to be greeted with warm fuzzy hugs,” he replied. “As long as they don’t make me sleep in the barn or the stables, I’ll handle the fact that they have some reservations about me.”

  “It’s just that with the breakup with Mark so fresh, I think they all believe I’m rebounding with you to hurt Mark. You know that’s not the case.”

  He gave her a quick glance. “To be honest, it never crossed my mind. But you don’t strike me as the vindictive kind of woman who would consciously seduce me to hurt my brother.”

  “Ha! I don’t remember being the one who did the seducing,” she exclaimed in protest.

  He cast her a quick grin. “And a fine seduction it was.”

  Her laughter was music to his ears. He didn’t want her to think about last night and how close death had come to her. He didn’t want her to dwell in a place of fear, although he knew she had to harbor a simmering terror deep in her heart.

  She’d been attacked, and the bad guy—or in this case, the bad woman—hadn’t been caught. There was no sense of safety this morning, only the hope that maybe they’d buy themselves a couple of quiet days by fooling her sister into believing she was still at his place.

  Despite what had happened and the circumstances of their leaving his house, the drive to Tulsa was pleasant. They talked about the passing scenery, the coming of winter and inconsequential things he hoped dispelled some of the residual terror she’d suffered the night before.

  He asked her to tell him more about her siblings, knowing that he would probably meet them all at one time or another while he was at the ranch.

  She told him about Eric, the trauma surgeon who had found love with Kara Sheppard after witnessing her being struck by a hit-and-run driver. He learned that Jack had a five-year-old son, Seth, and that Greta was particularly close to Tracy, the woman who had become the love of Jack’s life. Tracy was currently pregnant with a baby girl.

  Greta told him that Brett was married to Hannah and the two of them had just had a baby boy named Alexander and Daniel had been working his horse-breeding program and recently married his assistant, Megan.

  Finally, there was Ryan, who was not only actively working the investigation into the trouble at the ranch and finding Greta’s biological family but was also in love with a forensic expert named Susie.

  “I think it’s going to take me a while to get them all straight,” he said and then added, “So you’re the only one who hasn’t found true love.”

  “After the debacle with Mark, and with a killer’s target on my back, finding love is the very last thing on my mind,” she replied. “Horses are so much less complicated than human beings.” She paused a moment. “And with everything else that’s going on, I’m worried about my father.”

  Tyler looked at her in surprise. “Worried about what?”

  “On the surface he’s still the bigger-than-life figure that he’s always been, but I’ve noticed little things that make me believe he’s losing some mental capacity.”

  “Do you mean like dementia or Alzheimer’s?”

  “I hope not, but yes. There’s a hesitation about him, a blankness in his eyes sometimes that makes me worry.” She twisted her fingers together in her lap.

  “Have you spoken with your brothers about it?”

  “A little bit, but not much. Jack has basically taken over all the ranch duties and responsibilities. I’m just so used to Dad being the one to take care of us all and he’s always been so good at taking care of my mother.”

  “Greta, right now you have to think about taking care of yourself,” Tyler said gently. “I can’t imagine being in your head with everything that seems to be swirling around in there.”

  She smiled ruefully. “It’s definitely chaotic in there.”

  “The best thing you can do for yourself is let go of as much of the chaos as possible. Ryan is taking care of the investigation into Kurt Rodgers’s murder and finding your twin sister. Your family will rally around your father and support him. All you need to focus on is working with Sugar and staying close to me so that I can keep you safe from harm.”

  She reached a hand up and rubbed the center of her forehead, as if attempting to erase a headache. “You’re right,” she said and dropped her hand back to her lap. �
�My brain is on overload right now. I won’t work with Sugar today. She’ll need some time to get settled into the new surroundings and I can spend the afternoon showing you around our place.”

  “Sounds like a good plan,” he agreed. He hoped that for at least a day or two her twin would be fooled into believing she was still at his house. He only hoped he wasn’t making a mistake by taking her back to the home where too many bad things had already happened.

  Chapter 7

  Greta had thought that arriving home would bring her a sense of renewed peace and security, but it didn’t. This was where her sister had attacked her mother, where her twin had committed arson and mischief and had killed Kurt Rodgers.

  Still, there was some comfort in knowing that not only would Tyler and her brothers be around, but so would any number of devoted and loyal ranch hands. She’d have plenty of people watching her back here, and at least now they knew for sure who the enemy was and what she looked like.

  After they’d entered the impressive gates that led to the Colton estate, she pointed him past the house and toward the small corral. Her first priority was getting Sugar out of the trailer and into her new home.

  Tyler backed the trailer up to the corral gate and by that time two of the Colton ranch hands had appeared. Greta and Tyler got out of the truck.

  “Hey, Damon... Michael.” She greeted the two men with easy friendliness. “This is Tyler Stanton. He’s going to be staying here for a while.” As the men exchanged handshakes, she moved to the trailer. “And this is Sugar, my newest challenge.”

  Both men kept a healthy distance from the trailer. They knew how possessive Greta was when she was working with a particular horse. “She’s a beaut,” Michael said.

  “She’s a mess,” Tyler replied.

  “If anyone can turn her around, it’s our Greta,” Damon said with obvious pride.

  Greta flashed him a smile and then moved to the back of the trailer. She opened the back and Sugar exploded out backward. She raced around the corral, her nostrils flared in displeasure as she kept her distance from the trailer.