The Colton Bodyguard

by Carla Cassidy

  He couldn’t begin to delve into the head of a killer. He had faced many tough sharks across the table in the boardroom and had always come out on top, but they had been savvy businessmen, not cold-blooded killers.

  And now they knew that Alice had a gun. The ante had been upped and the stakes were higher than ever.

  He fought the impulse to tighten his arm around Greta, afraid of awaking her from whatever dreams she might be having.

  He was out of his area of expertise. If Alice had wanted a battle in the boardroom, then he’d have been confident of his ultimate success. But it had been sheer luck and the power of his big-engine truck that had saved their lives last night.

  Last night wouldn’t be the end of things. He imagined that failure would only feed Alice’s killing rage. They wouldn’t be out of the woods until she was in jail, facing a multitude of charges that would keep her locked up for the rest of her life.

  And once that happened, what would happen between him and Greta? What did he want to happen? Certainly he didn’t want to stop seeing her, but he also wasn’t sure if he was ready to offer her something more lasting.

  He wasn’t sure he believed in love...or marriage. Eventually, he wanted those two plus children, but was he ready for it now?

  Certainly he had been lonely when he’d met Greta, and being with her filled up a place in his heart that had been empty for a very long time. But was that real and lasting love? He just didn’t know what true love felt like and he didn’t want to make a mistake. She didn’t deserve him making a mistake.

  Dawn lightened the room when she stirred and turned onto her back, displacing his arm from around her as she stretched like a kitten just awaking. She opened her eyes and looked at him, a soft, sleepy smile curving her lips. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning to you,” he replied.

  She stretched again and then sat up, holding the covers up to hide her naked breasts. “I can’t believe how well I slept.”

  He grinned at her wickedly. “You more than earned it after last night.”

  She returned his grin. “Then you should have slept very well, also.”

  “I did.”

  She reached down and grabbed her nightgown from the floor. “And so a new day begins.” She pulled the gown over her head and then slid out of bed.

  “It’s still early,” he said, slightly disappointed that she was ready to leave the warmth of the bed, the warmth of him next to her.

  “I thought I’d get in a little bit of time with Sugar before breakfast. I’m going to shower and dress. Meet you back here in thirty minutes?”

  “I’ll be ready.” He watched her leave his room and then got out of bed and headed for his own shower. Time to prepare himself for another day of being on edge each time they stepped outside the door, of watching for anyone who might present any potential danger.

  Tyler hadn’t mentioned to Greta that last night Ryan had told him not to take Greta off the ranch again, a command that Tyler had easily agreed to with the taste of fear still lingering in the back of his throat.

  There were too many variables when they left Colton property. At least here all he had to worry about were a couple of outbuildings some distance away, her barn and her corral. Still, the fact that Alice apparently now had a gun in her possession simply upped the challenge.

  “No carrots this morning?” he asked forty minutes later when they stepped out into the cold morning air.

  “No carrots,” she replied. “I don’t want Sugar to expect treats all the time. I need her to bond with humans, not with carrots.”

  “Makes sense,” he agreed.

  He watched as she opened the corral gate. He took his usual position with his back to the house and facing the corral and outbuildings.

  Would an unexpected attack come today? Would it come tomorrow? The inability to guess what might happen next was frustrating as hell.

  He watched as she walked to the center of the corral and Sugar came toward her. She was making good progress with the horse. He only wished Ryan and his coworkers would make progress in pinning down a killing twin sister.

  Thankfully, Greta had only about forty-five minutes in the corral and then they went inside to clean up for breakfast. Breakfast was a lively affair with Big J regaling them with stories of the past and how hard he’d worked to make the Lucky C into the successful cattle business it had become. “Thank God I managed to buy out my brother so that I could run the ranch the way it was supposed to run,” he exclaimed. “Before that happened, the ranch was in near ruins and now look at it.” Pride lit his features.

  “Hard work always pays off,” Tyler replied.

  “Damn straight,” Big J replied.

  “Are you planning on being here for Thanksgiving?” Abra asked Tyler when Big J had wound down.

  Tyler looked at Greta, unsure how to answer. If Alice was captured tomorrow, then there would be no reason for him to remain here. Sugar could be moved back to his corral and Greta could continue to work with the horse on whatever terms she decided.

  “He’ll be here for Thanksgiving,” Greta replied for him.

  “Good. I’d already placed him on my seating chart, but I wanted to make sure,” Abra replied. “I’m planning on setting up two long tables in the basement for eating. The dining room just won’t hold our big family anymore.”

  “That sounds great, Mother,” Greta replied.

  “It’s going to be a hell of a good day,” Big J boomed enthusiastically. “There’s nothing better than having the entire family around.” He looked at Tyler. “You should start your own family. You aren’t getting any younger.”

  Tyler laughed. “It’s on my to-do list.”

  “Speaking of to-do lists, I got Tyler’s horse to take carrots from me yesterday and I plan to try some apple slices later today,” Greta said.

  “Hmm, speaking of apples, do you have apple pies on that menu list of yours for next week?” Big J asked Abra.

  She smiled at him fondly. “How could I not, knowing that apple pie is your favorite?”

  The two exchanged glances of love that made Tyler’s heart squeeze tight. What was it like to have the same woman smile at you across a table for nearly forty years? What was it like to bind your heart with another to share a lifetime of experiences, of joy and disappointments?

  Tyler hadn’t got a chance to enjoy seeing his parents’ marriage grow and endure. He couldn’t imagine him and Mark ever bonding enough to enjoy each other’s families.

  Whether they knew it or not, the Colton family all shared something special, a love and respect for one another that Tyler suspected was rare.

  He mentioned that fact to Greta after breakfast when they headed back out to Sugar’s corral. “Trust me, we’ve all had our ups and downs,” she said. “Jack and Brett butted heads about the running of the ranch but finally worked out their differences. Nobody really believed Daniel would be successful with his breeding program but he’s proved us all wrong. Everyone was angry with Ryan when he arrested me. I think because our childhood was fairly dysfunctional with my mother gone so much of the time, we all bonded closer than a lot of siblings. We fight hard when we fight, but thankfully, we love each other harder.”

  “Your mother seems to be holding up quite well,” he observed.

  “She does. It’s strange—when she was attacked and put into a medically induced coma, I swear my father aged ten years overnight. But since she got home from the hospital, she seems stronger and happier than she has ever been in her life. She used to be so cold and status conscious, but I see no sign of that now.”

  Greta opened the corral gate, and as always, Tyler’s gaze shot around the area as his hand automatically fell to the butt of his gun.

  Where was Alice?

  The question haunted him. Was she sleeping in some flophouse motel room where she didn’t have to show identification and paid in cash? Or was she in the backseat of the car that had followed them last night, plotting a new way to get to
Greta?

  His worst fear was that she was right here on Colton land. There were a thousand places for a woman to hide here on the property. She could be hidden in any of the barns or in an infrequently used outbuilding, and even the ranch hands wouldn’t see her as they went about their usual chores.

  He hadn’t been able to give Ryan much information on the car that she’d driven the night before. But hopefully, some sort of bulletin had gone out to be on the lookout for a crazy female killer driving a dark sedan and wielding a gun.

  He refocused on Greta in the corral. Sugar refused to take the apple slices, although she danced close to Greta and then backed away in uncertainty.

  “I really didn’t expect her to take the apple slices,” Greta said almost an hour later when she left the corral. “They’re smaller than the carrots and something completely different. Maybe this afternoon or tomorrow she’ll respond better.”

  They turned to see Ryan coming toward them. He looked more tired than Tyler had ever seen him. With the grim set of Ryan’s mouth, Tyler knew he wasn’t bringing good news.

  Sensing that Greta might need some emotional support, Tyler placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to his side.

  “Ryan, what’s up?” Tyler asked.

  “I just thought I’d stop by and let you know that Joe Baker made a report this morning that his black Ford Taurus had been stolen. He hadn’t been out all day yesterday and so doesn’t know the exact time it disappeared.”

  “A Ford Taurus... That sounds about right,” Tyler replied.

  “We found the vehicle an hour ago abandoned not too far from here. We’ll try to pull prints to confirm that it was stolen by Alice, but at this point I think we can all assume it was her.”

  Greta leaned a little closer to Tyler. “And you said it was abandoned not far from here?” she asked.

  “About a mile or so.” Ryan’s lips pressed together in a taut line.

  “Then that means she’s definitely near,” Greta said in a soft voice that simmered with fear. “That means she’s probably here right on the property now.”

  “I think she’s been here off and on since the night your tires were slashed in my driveway,” Tyler admitted. “Joe Baker...does he live near here?”

  “Two ranches over.” Ryan scanned the landscape, his green eyes narrowed. “Just stay close to the house.” He looked at Tyler. “I wish I could be here 24/7 to make sure Greta stays safe. I also wish I could place a full force of officers out here to keep her surrounded, but I don’t have the power to do either.”

  “That’s why I’m here,” Tyler replied. “I’ll do everything I can to make sure she stays safe from harm.”

  “I hope you’re up to the job,” Ryan said.

  Tyler tightened his arm around Greta. He hoped like hell he was up to the job, too.

  Chapter 12

  It was the day before Thanksgiving and Greta and Tyler came in from their early-morning work with Sugar to a kitchen that smelled like apple-and-cinnamon heaven.

  “Edith, you look like a floury queen of beauty,” Tyler teased as he eyed the woman with her flour-dusted apron.

  “Too bad I’m not making malarkey pie. I’m sure you’d be tasty surrounded by a good crust,” Edith quipped.

  Tyler laughed and Greta shook her head with a bright smile. It was good to see her smile. While the work with Sugar was progressing nicely, too often a dark fear appeared to overwhelm the bright green-gold of Greta’s eyes.

  The past week had brought no further showdowns with Alice, nor had it brought any news about her exact whereabouts, either on the ranch or off it.

  The tension of danger yet to be released was definitely in the air whenever they were outside. Each time they stepped out the door, a tight knot of worry fisted in his stomach.

  He knew Greta felt it, too. It showed not just in her eyes but in her body language as she walked to the corral, even in the private time they spent together. She was a little quieter than usual, a bit more skittish.

  Twice more since the night they’d been shot at, she’d come to his room and they’d made love. Each morning that he’d awoken with her, his fear for her grew deeper and more profound.

  He couldn’t imagine anything bad happening to her under any circumstances. He didn’t even want her to suffer a hangnail or a stubbed toe. But if something happened to her under his watch, he wasn’t sure he’d ever get past it.

  “Smells like Dad’s favorite,” Greta said.

  Edith nodded. “Apple pies this morning, and then when Maria comes in, she’s baking up the cherry and pumpkin pies.”

  “Something for everyone,” Tyler replied. “My personal favorite is pumpkin. What about you?” he asked Greta.

  “Guess I take after Dad. I love apple, but cherry is a close second.”

  “Good information, but I have more work to do. Scoot, both of you. Out of here,” Edith exclaimed. “I have more important things to do besides stand around and chat about pies.”

  Greta and Tyler left the kitchen and went into the family room, where Brett and Hannah sat, apparently waiting for breakfast time. Hannah held baby Alexander in her arms and Greta quickly beelined for the blue bundle of baby boy.

  With a small laugh Hannah handed the baby to Greta, who sat down beside her sister-in-law and cooed to and stroked the baby boy’s fine hair.

  Tyler watched, enchanted by Greta’s obvious maternal instincts. It was easy to imagine that the little boy she held in her arms were theirs.

  For a moment his brain went on a fantasy vacation. He visualized a beautiful round-bellied Greta, her face glowing with the life she carried. He could imagine his hand on that belly, feeling the first kicks of life.

  He smiled inwardly as he thought of a frantic ride to the hospital, the antiseptic smell of a delivery room and him coaching Greta to deliver their child.

  He snapped his attention to the here and now. Was this love? The flight of fancy into a future filled with a particular woman pregnant with your child? The desire to be a part of her birth experience and raise a precious baby together?

  “You think he’ll keep those blue eyes?” Greta asked.

  “My doctor said not to count on it. It’s an even bet whether they’ll eventually be brown like mine or green like Brett’s,” Hannah replied.

  “I’m hoping for brown like Hannah’s,” Brett said as he smiled affectionately at his wife.

  “And I’m hoping for the Colton green eyes,” Hannah returned.

  Greta raised the baby up closer to her face and drew in a deep breath. “I swear if anyone ever figured out how to bottle that sweet baby scent, they’d make a fortune.” She handed Alexander back to his mother.

  “Speaking of fortunes, how are you managing to be away from the oil business for so long?” Brett asked Tyler.

  “Thankfully, I am lucky enough to have great people who work for me,” Tyler replied. “My general manager has checked in with me daily and the business runs like a well-oiled machine that rarely needs my actual presence. To be honest, I haven’t taken a vacation for the last ten years. This time here has been a welcome change.”

  “You can’t feel like you’re on vacation here,” Greta replied. “You’re babysitting me and we’re both definitely on edge.”

  “And you’re definitely not a baby,” Tyler retorted.

  “But you know what I mean,” she said.

  At that moment the maid came in to get the baby so that breakfast could begin. Abra was more animated than Tyler had ever seen her, almost manic as she ticked off the details of the Thanksgiving meal the next day.

  “Sounds like we’re going to be eating for a week,” Tyler said when she’d gone over the menu.

  Abra smiled at him. “Feeding five strapping young men and their wives and you and Greta and making sure everyone gets their favorite dish requires a lot of food.”

  That started a rousing discussion about everyone’s favorite Thanksgiving dish. Brett and Big J argued good-naturedly abou
t the merits of sweet potato casserole and Hannah jumped in to say that she loved the cranberry salad.

  The discussion about food continued through the rest of the meal, and afterward Greta and Tyler headed upstairs for a little downtime before heading back out to the corral.

  He followed her into her bedroom and sat in one of the blue chairs in the sitting area of her room. He hadn’t forgotten the conversation they hadn’t finished when breakfast had begun.

  She sat in the chair across from him in front of the fireplace, which was laid with wood awaiting her request for a live fire.

  “Mother was definitely wound up,” she said and then frowned. “I hope tomorrow goes exactly as she’s planned.”

  “There’s no reason to believe that it won’t,” he replied. “But right now I want to tell you that your comment about me babysitting you bothered me.”

  “I’m sorry, but it’s true. I feel like you got roped into this not only because we’d slept together, but also because my sister attacked me at your house and my brother put the responsibility on your head.”

  “Trust me, I wouldn’t be here with you if I didn’t want to be,” he replied. “I’d tell you to get somebody else to watch over you and I’d be out of here.” He leaned toward her. “You need to understand, I want to be here for you.”

  “You just like sleeping with me.” She averted her gaze from his.

  “You’re right—I do like sleeping with you. But I also love to watch you working with Sugar. I love hearing the sound of your laughter. I like learning new things about you and sharing time in your company.”

  She looked back at him and studied his face for what seemed like an eternity.

  “Greta, I love sharing pieces of our past and being in the fold of your family,” he added.

  She paused a long moment, her gaze lingering on him. “Okay, then,” she said and stood. “Let’s go ahead and head out to the corral. Sugar is going to get introduced to you.”