Natural-Born Protector / Saved by the Monarch

by Carla Cassidy

  “I understand there’s a wall in the town house that needs to be painted. You want me to send one of my men over to take care of it?” Fred owned a large construction firm.

  Melody looked at him curiously. “You haven’t been in the town house before?”

  “Not inside,” he replied. “Lainie kept telling us she was going to invite us over, but every time we’d bring it up she’d tell us the place wasn’t quite ready for company.”

  “She was trying so hard to be independent,” Rita said, her eyes radiating the sadness of a mother’s heartbreak. “Fred didn’t want to intrude on her privacy.”

  “Just say the word and I’ll get a couple of men in there to do whatever needs to be done to get it on the market as soon as possible so you can get on with your life,” Fred said.

  Melody laughed. “I’m beginning to think that the two of you are trying to get rid of me.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Rita exclaimed. “You know I love having you here, but I know you’ve begun a new life in Chicago and there’s really nothing here for you.”

  “And I’m hoping to finally convince your mother to make a new life with me,” Fred said. “I’ve asked her to marry me.”

  Melody smiled at the man who had been in her mother’s life for years. “Fred, you’ve asked my mother to marry you at least a dozen times before.”

  He gazed at Rita fondly. “But I think this time she’s going to say yes. She’s wearing my ring around her neck.”

  Rita smiled and pulled a chain from beneath her blouse. Hanging on it was Fred’s college ring with its blue stone. Melody found it corny, but oddly charming. “I told him I’m willing to go steady, but I’m still thinking about marriage.” She smiled coyly.

  My mother has a better love life than I do, Melody thought and found that fact incredibly depressing. Her mind instantly filled with a vision of Hank. She’d felt so safe with him the night before, and after they’d gotten back to Lainie’s he’d seemed to know that she wasn’t ready to be alone.

  Her thoughts of Hank suddenly turned unsettling as she wondered what those broad shoulders would feel like naked beneath her fingers. She wondered what those lips of his might taste like in a fiery kiss.

  The rest of the lunch was pleasant enough as Fred and her mother talked about a cruise they were taking in the fall and some renovations Fred had decided to do on his home.

  After lunch she left the restaurant and headed down Main to Hall’s Car Haven. As she drove, her thoughts scattered in a million directions. She hoped her mother finally married Fred. He’d certainly waited for her long enough.

  Fred had been partners with Melody’s father, James. James had died of a heart attack when Melody was ten and Lainie fifteen. Fred had been a huge support to the grieving widow and eventually their friendship had developed into something deeper.

  Melody’s thoughts turned to Steve, the young man she’d dated in college. When he’d given her the ultimatum of choosing either Lainie or him, the choice had been remarkably easy and she’d realized at that time that she wasn’t in love with him.

  Lainie had needed her and since the time they were young, Lainie’s need had been enough to fill Melody. Now, with Lainie gone, Melody felt more alone, emptier than she’d ever felt in her life.

  Was it any wonder that she was vulnerable to Hank Tyler’s charms? Lainie’s death had left a huge hole inside her and surely her visceral attraction to Hank was simply the need to fill that hole.

  She shook her head to clear her mind as she pulled into Hall’s Car Haven, where several cars were on lifts and a small group of men clustered around the front door.

  Nerves tightened her stomach muscles as she got out of her car and approached the front door. The men moved aside for her to enter. The minute she walked in and saw the man behind the counter, she knew he was Dean.

  His long black hair framed a handsome face that had the lean, slightly dangerous look that had always attracted Lainie. Tattoos covered his arms but he smiled pleasantly at her. “Can I help you?”

  “I hope so. Are you Dean?”

  His dark eyes narrowed slightly. “Who’s asking?”

  “I’m Melody Thompson, Lainie’s sister.”

  A flash of pain streaked across his features. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was just wondering if I could ask you a few questions.”

  He looked around, as if wishing that somebody else would come in. He finally looked back at her and drew a deep sigh. “Look, I already told the sheriff I don’t know anything about her murder. We broke up a couple of weeks before and I was with my new girlfriend the night Lainie was killed.”

  “Did you know who she might have gone out with the night she was murdered?”

  He shook his head. “After we broke up, we didn’t talk anymore.”

  “Whose idea was it to break up?”

  “It was mutual. We were just kicking it, you know. Neither one of us was in love or anything like that. We dated for a couple of weeks and decided it wasn’t working. No hard feelings, no big drama.”

  Disappointment fluttered through her. “So you don’t know anyone who might have wanted her dead?”

  “Sorry, I can’t help you.”

  “Thanks for your time.” She turned to leave but stopped as he called her name.

  “You know she wanted a kid. She told me she didn’t want to get married or anything like that, but she wanted a baby. That’s why we broke up. I’m not ready for kids.”

  “You know where I can find James O’Donnell?”

  His eyes flashed darkly. “Why do you want to find him? He’s a crazy dude. That’s who I figured killed her, but Sheriff West said he had an alibi for that night.”

  “I’d still like to talk to him.”

  “He works most nights at the video store on Main. I don’t know where he hangs during the days when he isn’t working.”

  “Thanks, Dean.” She turned and left, thinking that he’d been telling the truth. At least she hadn’t had to pay for an oil change in order to talk to the man. But that was a small comfort, considering she really hadn’t gotten any new information.

  She headed home, deciding that she’d spend the rest of the afternoon packing up more of Lainie’s things. She’d been home only about thirty minutes when there was a knock at the door.

  Maddie marched in when she answered, a bag of chocolate-chip cookies in her hand. “I’m still not sure I’m going to like you, but I thought maybe you’d like to eat some cookies with me,” she announced.

  “I was just thinking maybe it was time for a cookie break,” Melody replied as the two headed for the kitchen table.

  Maddie set the bag on the table, then went to the refrigerator and pulled out the gallon of milk. “My grandma baked these cookies. They were Lainie’s favorites. Lainie always said a chocolate-chip cookie could fix almost anything, but no matter how many I eat, I’m still mad at my dad.” She scooted into a chair at the table.

  “Why are you mad at your dad?” Melody asked as she poured them each a glass of milk, then put the jug back in the refrigerator.

  “Just because,” Maddie replied as she opened the bag of cookies and took one out. “My mommy’s dead.”

  “I know. My daddy died when I was about your age,” Melody replied.

  Maddie chewed thoughtfully, her gaze not leaving Melody. “Do you remember your daddy?”

  “Not a lot,” Melody confessed. “It was a long time ago and I was pretty young.”

  “Sometimes I don’t hardly remember my mom. Grandma says she was perfect for my daddy and that his heart will hurt forever. I wish his heart would stop hurting so he could maybe find me a new mom.” She took another bite of her cookie while Melody digested this information about Hank.

  Maddie took a drink of her milk and wiped her milk mustache off with the back of her hand. Melody got up and grabbed a paper towel and handed it to her. She murmured a thank-you and reached for another cookie.

  “I liked coming here
to see Lainie. My grandma always tells me what to do and my daddy hardly talks to me at all, but Lainie always talked to me.”

  “It’s important to have a friend to talk to,” Melody replied.

  “Which do you like better? Cowboys or bodyguards?”

  Melody sat back in her chair at the abrupt change of subject. “I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it before,” she replied, wondering what was going on in the little girl’s head.

  Beneath the obvious intelligence and touch of bravado Melody suspected there was a hurt little girl who needed something she wasn’t getting.

  “Aren’t you going to eat a cookie?” Maddie asked.

  “Absolutely,” Melody agreed and grabbed one. “Mmm, your grandma is a good cookie baker,” she said after taking a bite.

  “Grandma cooks everything good. Lainie couldn’t cook. Sometimes she’d order pizza and we’d eat it right out of the box. I love pizza.”

  A knock sounded at the door and Maddie frowned. “That will be my dad or my grandma.” She didn’t move from her seat at the table.

  “Then I guess I’d better answer it,” Melody said as she got up. She opened the door to find Hank, a deep frown cut across his forehead.

  “Is my daughter here?”

  Maddie appeared in the living room doorway. “Maddie, you’ve got to stop bothering Melody,” he said at the sight of her.

  “I’m afraid this is all my fault. She isn’t bothering me. I invited her in,” Melody said, figuring the little white lie wouldn’t hurt. “We were just talking about having a pizza party.”

  Maddie moved to stand next to Melody, and to her surprise the little girl slipped her hand into Melody’s. “You like pizza, Daddy. You could come to the party, too.” There was a faint wistfulness in her words.

  Hank looked at his daughter for a long moment, then gazed at Melody. “When and where is this pizza party?”

  “Tomorrow night, right here. I’ll make a big salad and homemade pizza,” Melody replied.

  “It’ll be fun,” Maddie said as she dropped her hand from Melody’s. “Please, Daddy. We never do anything together and this will be fun.”

  “What time?” Hank asked.

  “Why don’t we say around six? What kind of pizza do you like, Maddi—Madeline?” Melody asked.

  “Pepperoni is my favoritest.”

  “Then pepperoni it is,” she replied.

  “Okay, then we’ll see you around six,” Hank said. “And now, Maddie, it’s time to go home.”

  “Bye, Melody,” Maddie said.

  “Goodbye, Madeline,” Melody replied. She watched as father and daughter walked back out into the hallway. They didn’t touch each other, didn’t even speak, and Melody wondered about their relationship.

  Which do you like better? Cowboys or bodyguards? If Melody had to hazard a guess, it would be that Maddie wasn’t thrilled with her father’s new job.

  She returned to packing up the items in Lainie’s room, thoughts of Maddie and Hank falling aside as her heart filled with memories of her sister. Each item that went into a box for charity broke her heart.

  By ten o’clock she was exhausted. She took a quick shower, changed into her nightclothes then got into bed.

  She tried not to be depressed that she’d learned nothing over the last couple of days to help identify her sister’s killer, but it was hard not to be discouraged.

  Nobody seemed to know anything about the man Lainie was going out with on the night of her murder. Nobody knew anyone who was angry with her or wanted to harm her.

  “I’m trying, Lainie. I’m trying to find out who took you from me,” she whispered in the dark of the room. With her heart aching, she drifted off to sleep.

  The ringing phone awakened her, and her first thought was that it was Lainie, calling to tell her about her day. She rolled over and fumbled on the nightstand for the receiver, at the same time waking up enough to know that it couldn’t be Lainie.

  Lainie was dead.

  The luminous numbers on her clock radio let her know it was just after midnight. Who on earth would be calling at this time?

  She grabbed the receiver and lifted it to her ear. “Hello?”

  “Go back where you came from.” The low, male, guttural voice was filled with a menace that seeped through the line.

  Her first impulse was to hang up, and that’s exactly what she did. She tossed the phone onto the bed and reached out to turn on the lamp, needing light as a chill danced up and down her spine.

  Although the phone call had frightened her, it excited her at the same time because it meant she’d made somebody nervous. Now all she had to figure out was who.

  Hank stood in the doorway of Maddie’s room, watching her sleep. A knot formed in his chest as he stared at her little face.

  She’d been angry with him ever since he’d made the decision to sell the ranch and move here. He didn’t know how to deal with her anger and he didn’t know how to deal with the fact that every time he looked at the daughter he loved, he remembered the woman he’d lost.

  Something in him had died with Rebecca, something integral to life, and he didn’t know how to reclaim it, wasn’t even sure he wanted to try.

  He moved away from the door and went into his room, where the king-size bed awaited him. It was late. He should be asleep, but sleep had been a problem for him ever since he’d sold the ranch.

  Too little activity, he thought. He wished Dalton would call about a job, something that took him into dangerous territory where he had no time to think about himself or his life, where the only thing he had to worry about was survival.

  He went back into the living room and poured himself a healthy shot of scotch, then sank down on the sofa to wait for sleep to claim him. More mornings than he cared to admit he woke up on the sofa, having never gone into the bedroom.

  As he took a sip of the drink he realized that he felt as if he were waiting for his life to begin. From the moment he’d closed on the sale of the ranch he’d known that he was about to embark on a new life. But until Dalton came through with an assignment he was in limbo.

  He frowned as he thought he heard a faint knock on his front door. A glance at the clock let him know it was after midnight. What the hell?

  Setting his glass on the coffee table, he got up from the sofa and went to the door. He opened it a crack, surprised to see Melody standing on the other side. She was wrapped in a royal-blue bathrobe that matched her wide eyes and her hair was tousled as if she’d just climbed out of bed.

  “Did I wake you?” she asked. “I thought I saw a light beneath your door. God, I hope I didn’t wake you.”

  “I was still up.” He opened the door wide enough to allow her to enter. “Is something wrong?” As she swept past him he caught a whiff of her scent, that slightly floral fragrance he found so attractive.

  “I’m sorry to bother you. Nothing is really wrong, I just got a phone call and I couldn’t go back to sleep and to be honest I just needed to talk to someone.” She tied, then retied the belt around her waist.

  He took her arm and led her to the sofa. “What kind of phone call?”

  She sat on the edge of the sofa. “It was a man. He told me to go back where I came from.”

  Hank looked at her in surprise and sat next to her. “When did this happen?”

  “Just a few minutes ago.”

  “Did you recognize the voice? Did you check the caller ID?”

  “The call came up anonymous and no, I didn’t recognize the voice.” She wrapped her arms around herself, as if to ward off a bone-chilling shiver.

  “I was just having a little scotch. Want one?” he asked.

  She hesitated a moment, then nodded. “Okay, maybe just a little,” she agreed.

  He got up and poured her a finger of the amber liquid, then returned to sit next to her and handed her the small glass.

  “Thanks. I didn’t think the phone call bothered me that much, so after I hung up I shut off my light and tri
ed to go back to sleep, but I kind of got creeped out.” She took a sip of the scotch and grimaced. “This stuff always tastes like medicine to me.”

  He smiled. “It’s good medicine. It will warm you up from the inside out.”

  She nodded and took another sip. “The good news is I guess I’ve got somebody nervous with all the questions I’ve been asking.”

  “Maybe now’s the time to step back and let Zack West do his job,” Hank replied.

  Her eyes narrowed slightly and she set her glass on the coffee table next to his. “Not on your life. I’m getting closer and if it was Lainie’s killer who contacted me, then maybe he’ll call again and maybe he’ll say something that will identify him to me.”

  “I don’t like it,” Hank said flatly. “Besides the people in the bar, who else have you spoken to about Lainie?”

  “Yesterday I went to Hall’s Car Haven and talked to Dean, but he wasn’t any help.” She frowned thoughtfully. “Maybe I just need to make a list of all the people I’ve talked to, and the killer will be on the list.”

  “You’re forgetting one little thing,” he replied. “Cotter Creek is a very small town. I’m sure everyone knows you’ve been asking questions.”

  “So it could be somebody I haven’t even talked to,” she replied with a frown.

  “Have you changed the locks on the town house?” He stared down into his drink, finding the slender curve of her neck and the peek of something black and lacy just above the neckline of her robe disconcerting.

  “Not yet. I meant to do it, but haven’t gotten around to it. I’ll do it first thing in the morning.”

  “Maybe you should stay here for the rest of the night.” He looked at her once again and fought the impulse to reach out and stroke a length of her long, shiny hair.

  “Thanks, but I don’t think that’s necessary. If he really wanted to harm me, then he wouldn’t have called to warn me off.”

  Hank reluctantly agreed with her assessment. “Still, you’ve made yourself visible and that could be dangerous.”

  “Then maybe we should make your services to me official,” she replied. “I don’t know what the going rate for bodyguard services is, but I might be able to afford you for a little while.”