Colorado Billionaires Boxed Set (The Wedding Wager, The Wedding Hazard, The Wedding Venture)

by Regina Duke

  Thor grinned as Ashley stepped to the center of the room, open-mouthed, and turned in a slow circle to take it all in.

  At last, she shook her head in amazement and said, “You must be doing very well in the security biz.” She took a deep breath. “Heavenly. It smells like pine. Where do you sleep?”

  “There are doors to the right, see? Where the stairs meet the loft? Under there is the bathroom door and my bedroom door. I sleep downstairs because I have to let Rocky in and out. The third door leads to three more rooms on the ground floor, and your room will be upstairs. See the little hallway up there off the balcony? It leads to the master suite with a private bath. You can have the whole thing to yourself. Want to see it?”

  “Oh, wow. Give me a tour. This is amazing.”

  Thor was pleased. When his father came up to view the place, his mother and Britney Beth had come along. All they could do was ask who polished all that wood. Who took care of the floors? Who picked out all that manly furniture? Who was going to wash those windows? Never mind that neither of them had to do a lick of their own housework.

  Upstairs, Ashley was just as appreciative. “Oh, wow. Look at that four-poster. And the quilts. This is so cool.” She peeked into the bath. “Oh, can I take a bath in that tub? I have my own little sitting room? Can I live here forever?”

  Thor felt a strange tingle when she said that. The idea of Ashley living there forever stirred warm feelings. He wondered for moment how great that might be. But he pushed that aside. She was a client, she was in danger, and he wanted to keep her safe while they solved the mystery of her mother and made sure she was not going to be a target for some bad guy.

  “I hope you enjoy it,” he said. “Most of the women I know don’t want to live out here. We’re surrounded by trees and wildlife and not much else. Lots of critters running around in the night, so if you hear scampering on the roof or outside on your deck, just ignore it. I’m closing the rolling shutters.” He pushed a button on the wall and a red steel door covered the windows and the French doors that led onto the upstairs deck. “If someone manages to get up to your bedroom from the outside, they won’t get in. I hope it doesn’t feel too claustrophobic. Since someone already tried to snatch you, I don’t want to take any chances.”

  “Thanks. I’m impressed.”

  Rocky was sniffing around the suite, moving from the sitting area to the bath to the big bed. In an easy leap, he plopped himself in the middle of it.

  “There are pajamas and towels in the drawers over there. My family sometimes uses the cabin for vacations, so there’s always a supply of toiletries, new toothbrushes, a hair dryer, everything you might need. Make yourself at home. I’m going down to get a few things out of the car.”

  As he left, Ashley was dropping backwards onto the four-poster, still making appreciative noises. Rocky followed Thor back downstairs. Together they did a quick check of the rest of the house. Thor made sure the security panels were closed in the unused bedrooms, and Rocky made sure no unwanted rodents had checked in while they were gone. Thor checked the box hidden in the kitchen wall that contained the electronics for the perimeter alarms and other bells and whistles he’d added to the cabin. At last, he paused at the front door and paid attention to Rocky as they stepped outside. The Doberman was relaxed and happy. He trotted out a few yards to his favorite tree and anointed his property. Thor went to the SUV to fetch Ashley’s shoeboxes full of letters. Arms full, he used his foot to close the front door once Rocky was inside.

  He set everything on the bar and gave the dog a stern look. “Don’t you touch this food. I’ll feed you in a minute.”

  Before he could grab a can opener for Rocky’s dinner, a bloodcurdling scream came from upstairs.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Rocky forgot about food and zoomed up the stairs, with Thor on his heels.

  “What is it? Are you all right?”

  Rocky skidded to a stop and looked around, confused.

  Ashley stood in the door of the bathroom, holding something long and wriggly at arm’s length. Shaken, but recovering quickly, she said, “Don’t tell me. Your brother Ulysses has never gotten over his name, and he likes to make everyone else pay for it.” She shook the wriggly thing.

  “Oh, no,” said Thor. “I’m sorry.” He took the artificial snake out of her hand and frowned at it. “This isn’t Uly’s style, but I apologize. Want me to look around for more?”

  “If they’re all the same plasticized species, I can handle it. But do find out who left it. I may want revenge.” She screwed her face into a mockery of an evil queen of payback.

  Thor laughed out loud, partly at her expression and partly with relief at her reaction. “Hey, food’s downstairs. I’ll go heat it up.”

  Ashley reached for the snake. “Let me keep this little guy as a souvenir. I’ll be right down.”

  They ate in congenial silence for a while. But soon, Thor snapped his fingers as if remembering something he had to do, and he turned on the outside lights. Ashley watched Thor move in and out through the French doors that led onto the deck at the end of the great room. The deck lights illuminated the area and part of the forest as well.

  “Spotlights?” she asked as he returned for the second half of his burger.

  “And motion sensors,” said Thor. “If you hear alarms in the middle of the night, don’t panic, but don’t come downstairs until I give the all clear, okay?”

  Ashley shrugged. “Okay. You expecting the parking lot snatcher to try getting in?”

  “I didn’t see anyone following us on the way here, but better safe than sorry,” said Thor. “Be right back.” He opened a cupboard, pulled out a can of spray lubricant and went back outside.

  Ashley nibbled at her fries and watched him as he stretched his lean muscled form upward to fiddle with something over the doors. The wall that separated the lower windows from the tall glass that soared to the ceiling blocked it from her angle, but she suspected it was another retractable shutter like the ones upstairs.

  At last Thor came back inside and pulled the French doors closed. He returned to the cupboard, flipped a series of switches and red rolling shutters descended from the mechanism on the outside wall.

  “Aren’t those used for protection from hurricanes?” asked Ashley.

  “Yes. They work for a lot of things. The tracks are anchored to the house. The windows near the ceiling are still exposed, but if someone’s thinking about breaking in, chances are they’ll move on to the next place. By the time they figured out how to open these things, the alarms would be going crazy and law enforcement would be on the way.”

  Ashley nodded. “Sweet setup.”

  Thor smiled. “My dad gave me carte blanche. He’s swell. I think you’d like him. Did you get enough to eat?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. I wanted to take a look at the letters my dad wrote to Julie. All this correspondence came as a shock, you know? I didn’t know my parents stayed in touch.”

  She pulled a dozen envelopes from the first shoe box.

  “There must be a hundred letters there,” said Thor. “You plan on reading them all tonight?”

  Ashley shook her head. “Not really. I’m bushed. But seeing his handwriting makes me feel like he’s still around.” She unfolded the first letter and skimmed it, then moved on to the next.

  Thor’s phone buzzed on the table.

  “Dang it.” He picked it up, glanced at it, and shook his head. “My mother again. Okay, I’d better talk to her.” He headed toward his bedroom.

  Even from the other room, Ashley could hear some of the conversation. At least, she could as Thor’s end grew more and more heated.

  “No! This is getting out of hand. I told you, it’s over between me and Britney Beth.”

  Ashley made a face at Rocky, who was lying at her feet, waiting for snacks. She pinched off part of her burger and offered it to him. His stub of a tail wagged once and he gulped it down.

  “Sounds like your daddy is having problems
with his mother,” she said.

  Thor reemerged from his bedroom.

  “Sorry about that. My mother knows exactly what buttons to push with me. I don’t know why she’s so intent on me marrying this woman.” He shook his head in disgust.

  “Could be worse,” said Ashley. “She could be psychotic, like mine.”

  Thor set the phone back on the table. “She’s pretty insane when it comes to this topic.”

  “Why the push? You have a brother, right? Can’t he get married and give her grandkids to play with?”

  “He did,” said Thor glumly. “Get married, I mean. To a woman my mother did not approve of. And two years later, they divorced. Very messy. No kids.”

  “Oh.”

  Thor picked up one of the letters. “May I?”

  “Sure.”

  He began to read. After a moment, he frowned and asked, “Mind if I skim through these with you?”

  “No, not at all. I’ve already told you all the family’s dirty laundry.”

  “Your mother was pretty insistent about wanting a picture of you,” he commented, pressing one of the letters flat on the table.

  “It’s a big surprise to me. She never even allowed me to have school photos taken before dad and I left.” She paused. “Do you think that’s why she wanted one? Do you think she regretted never having any photos of me?”

  Thor shrugged but said nothing.

  At last, Ashley came to the end of the small stack and pulled out a folded paper. A photo slipped to the table as she read the letter aloud.

  Julie,

  You seem sincere in your wish to have a photo of Ashley. She’s nearly twelve now and beginning to change into a young woman. I dare say you wouldn’t recognize her on the street. I’m glad to hear you are continuing your therapy sessions. As for a Christmas visit, this year won’t work. I’m swamped at the office.

  Best wishes,

  Donald

  “Hmph,” said Ashley, “that’s odd.”

  “What is?” asked Thor, frowning at the photo.

  “Dad talking about me changing into a young woman. I was a real late bloomer. We used to joke about that. I got into the movies as a kid clear through my junior year.”

  “Ah,” said Thor. “He probably wanted to explain why you had changed so much since your mother saw you.”

  “But I didn’t.”

  Thor turned the photo around. “No, but this girl did.”

  Ashley’s jaw dropped. “Who the hell is that?!”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Ashley took the photo and stared at it in disbelief. “I’ve never seen this girl before in my life. Why did dad send Julie a picture of a stranger?”

  Thor sat back in his chair. “Looks to me like your daddy didn’t want Julie to know what you looked like. Had anything changed by age twelve?”

  “Oh, sure. I was a tow-headed baby. I was still blond at eight, but by twelve my hair had darkened to brown. And I had braces from age ten until I was fourteen.”

  “So your father may have been telling the truth when he said Julie wouldn’t recognize you on the street. But just to make sure, he sent this photo of a blond teen in a busty cheerleading outfit. Were you a cheerleader?”

  “Never.” She chewed her lip. “I wonder what other surprises I’ll find in these letters.”

  “We’ll look tomorrow, okay? You must be tired after everything that’s happened today.”

  “It’s just so puzzling.”

  “Only because you’re not thinking like a bodyguard.”

  “Meaning?”

  Thor hesitated.

  “You brought it up,” said Ashley. “Out with it.”

  Thor propped his forearms on the table and tapped the photo with one finger. “My guess is, your father sent her a picture of a different girl to make sure your mother would never recognize you on the street.”

  “But she lived down here and we were in Boulder.”

  “You just made that drive yourself. Couldn’t your mother have done the same?”

  Ashley’s eyes grew wide as she saw where he was going. “She was looking for me.”

  “And probably not in a good way,” said Thor. “Your dad wanted to keep you safe. He was trying to prevent a kidnapping.”

  “But, what if she took that other girl?”

  “We don’t know who this girl is. She might live in New York or Canada for that matter. I doubt that he sent her a photo of a classmate. That would hit too close to home.”

  “Oh, my gosh. I feel like I just woke up from a dream where I thought I knew my father, but now? I don’t know anything.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not. And on top of that, someone tried to kidnap me, and there was blood on my mother’s floor, and I feel like I’m going crazy. Oh, God, don’t let me become my mother!”

  “Easy, easy.” Thor scooted his chair closer and put an arm around Ashley’s shoulders. “You’re doing fine. None of us know our parents. Not really. They only show us the parent side, you know? They don’t tell us all the stuff they went through when we weren’t around. My dad just started sharing stories with me and Uly about his early days in the oil fields. Rough stuff, let me tell you. I never would have believed my old man could do those things if he hadn’t told me face to face. You know the important stuff. You know your father loved you very much and did everything he could to protect you. Right?”

  Ashley took a deep breath. “Right.”

  “And frankly, you strike me as anything but crazy. You’ve been handling all this drama and crisis like a champ. Tomorrow we’ll go back to my office and start digging into this, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Meanwhile, you’re safe here. You can go on up to bed. I’m on duty down here. Me and Rocky.”

  “Before I do that, I have to figure out how to pay you for your services. It’s important that I pay my way,” said Ashley. “It’s my dad’s legacy. He may not have had much to leave me when he died, but he paid his own way, right up to the end. So do I.”

  “I admire your determination, but my services aren’t cheap. What are you thinking?” he teased. “Planning a bake sale?”

  “Very funny. What about PR for your business? I majored in art, but minored in business. I could help you out on that front.”

  Thor raised a brow, considering her offer. “That might work. I’ve been trying to think of some way to reach out to the community. Maybe you could make some suggestions. How long are you available?”

  “I’m at loose ends since dad died. We lived in an apartment all my life. Not even a house to be tied to. I’m pretty much available.”

  Thor’s phone pinged. He picked it up and glanced at it.

  “Oh, for the love of Pete.” He texted back, stabbing at the little screen with his finger.

  Ashley leaned in close to catch a glimpse of his mother’s latest message.

  “Looked at baby funiture today. Britney Beth likes the pale blue pieces.”

  Ashley blew a raspberry.

  Thor pulled his head back and his brow furrowed. “You think she’s over the line?”

  “No offense. She’s probably a loving parent. But she’s trying to manipulate you into rushing toward marriage. She can look at all the baby furniture she wants. That has nothing to do with your readiness to marry and have kids.”

  Thor tilted his head to one side. “When you put it like that, I think maybe I’m not a bad son for being annoyed.”

  Ashley snapped her fingers. “I’ve got it! The perfect way for me to pay for your services. What if I get your mother off your back about marrying this Britney Beth person?”

  Thor’s eyes widened. “You can do that?” He held out a hand. “Deal. Do it.”

  “You should hear the details first.”

  “Does it involve bodily harm?”

  “No, but—”

  “Then do it.” His hand was still extended.

  “Okay, then.” Ashley shook his hand. “Give me the phone.” She t
ook it and texted back, “Don’t care what Britney Beth wants. My fiancée Ashley will make those decisions.”

  Thor’s eyes grew big as saucers.

  Before he could do anything, Ashley hit send.

  “Done.”

  Thor snatched the phone back. “Are you crazy? She’ll kill me.”

  “Who’s protecting who here? She’s your mother. She won’t kill you.” Ashley paused. “Unless she’s like mine, in which case you’re in big trouble.”

  The phone was whooshing already with a returned text.

  Thor began to pace. “Oh, boy, it’s hitting the fan now.”

  Another whoosh.

  “I thought she wanted you to get married? She should be happy you have a fiancée. That means you’re engaged. See? Problem solved.”

  “You’ve just set yourself up as a double target,” said Thor. “Your mother’s enemies are out to get you, and now my mother will be, too. She wants me to marry Britney Beth, not someone she never met before.”

  Whoosh.

  “How deadly is your mother?”

  “This is not a joke.”

  “You told me to do it,” said Ashley, defensively.

  “I know, I know.”

  “Are you going to read those messages?”

  Thor glanced down at the phone as if it had grown teeth.

  “Oh, for goodness sake, give me that phone.” Ashley took it from him and texted, “It’s late. Info and pix tomorrow. Love you. Bye.” She hit send, then turned off the phone and handed it back to him.