The Bodyguard's Return

by Carla Cassidy

  It was Charlie’s death that made him believe something wasn’t right. As the week had progressed and he’d gained some emotional distance from the trauma of finding Charlie dead, he’d found it hard to believe that Charlie would have done such a thing under his own volition.

  Although his logic battled with his instinct, he’d decided to go with his instinct for the moment. He glanced back at Savannah, who had changed partners and was now dancing with Joe Steward, a middle-aged widower with four kids at home.

  Joshua thought about cutting in, but the idea of holding Savannah in his arms, feeling her lush curves against him sent an uncomfortable shot of desire through him.

  “Heard you’re moving.”

  Joshua turned and smiled at his brother Zack. “Yeah, I’ve decided to move into the cabin.” The cabin was a little two-bedroom place down the lane from the big house. At one time or another almost all the brothers had lived there. Zack had been the last and had left to move in with Kate.

  “Any reason why you decided to make the move?”

  “Nothing in particular. I just got used to having my own space while I was in New York.” Certainly that was part of the reason he’d decided to move, but not the main one.

  Each time his father looked at him Joshua felt a silent pressure to bend to his father’s will, to agree to go back into the family business.

  “You need help moving your things?” Zack asked.

  “Nah, it’s just a matter of taking a couple of suitcases to the cabin.” At that moment Kate joined them.

  “Hey, Joshua, you look as handsome as ever,” she said. “All you Wests look fine in a tux.”

  Zack tugged at his collar. “Personally, I can’t wait to get out of this monkey suit.”

  “I couldn’t agree more,” Joshua said with a laugh.

  “If you’ll excuse us, I believe my husband has promised me at least one spin around the dance floor.” Kate grabbed Zack’s hand, who moaned loudly but allowed his wife to pull him to the dance floor.

  Once again his attention was captured by Savannah, who was twirling on the arm of yet another man. Didn’t the woman ever take a break? She’d been dancing nonstop almost since the moment the band had begun playing.

  “Nice party.”

  Joshua turned to see a familiar face. “Hi, Ms. Burnwell,” he said to the flashy-dressed woman who worked as a Realtor in Cotter Creek.

  “It’s Wadsworth now, Sheila Wadsworth.” She smiled. “While you were in New York I went and got myself married.”

  “Congratulations,” Joshua replied. “Have you retired from the real estate business?”

  “Heavens, no, I’m busier than I’ve ever been. Thomas, that’s my husband, he’s always complaining that the only way he can get any attention from me is if he wears a For Sale sign around his neck. And speaking of Thomas, I’d better go find him. That man has an unusual fondness for the spiked punch.”

  As she hurried off Joshua stared after her. So, the real estate business was booming in Cotter Creek. He frowned, a thought niggling at the back of his head. As the thought took full form, he looked around for Savannah.

  He spied her on the dance floor with yet another partner, a young man he didn’t recognize. Her cheeks were flushed with color and she looked at Joshua in surprise as he tapped her partner on the shoulder. “I’m taking your partner,” he said to the young man.

  He frowned, but stepped back. Joshua grabbed Savannah’s hand and led her off the dance floor. “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “I’ve thought of something and we need to check it out.” He pulled her away from the party and toward his truck.

  “What? What did you think of? Where are we going?” She hurried to keep up with his long strides.

  “We need to find a plat of the area. I have a hunch.”

  “I have a plat in my office at Winnie’s.”

  He got into the truck and started the engine as she scrambled into the seat next to him. “What’s your hunch?” she asked as they pulled away from the West ranch.

  “I’ll tell you when we get that plat.” He might be wrong. He needed to visually see on paper what was in his mind at the moment. “You looked like you were having fun.” He cast a quick glance at her, noting that her cheeks still held a flush of color and her eyes sparkled brightly.

  “I love to dance. I’m not terrific at it, but I love it. The wedding was wonderful, wasn’t it? Libby looked like a fairy princess.”

  As they drove to Winnie’s place she continued to chatter about the wedding, talking about how cute Gracie had looked, the decorations in the church and how happy the bride and groom had appeared.

  He thought he heard a wistful note in her voice but told himself all women got a little silly when it came to weddings and babies.

  By the time they reached Winnie’s, he was as tense as he’d ever been. He told himself it had nothing to do with Savannah, that he was anxious to see if his suppositions were right. If what he believed was correct, then Savannah wasn’t crazy and there was something wicked going on in Cotter Creek.

  Savannah unlocked the front door, then led him up the staircase. He followed behind her, trying not to notice the sway of her shapely bottom mere inches in front of his face as they climbed the stairs.

  Once they were in the room she used as an office, he stood in the doorway and watched as she dug through a pile of papers stacked in one corner.

  “I know I’ve got one somewhere,” she said as she flipped through the stack. “I got one from Lillian down at City Hall when I first arrived in town. It made it easier for me to know where everyone lived when I needed to conduct interviews. Ah, here it is.”

  She straightened and unfolded the large plat and laid it on the table. Joshua walked over and looked at the map that detailed the lots and land of Cotter Creek and the immediate surrounding area.

  As he focused on the map, he tried not to notice the disturbing scent of her, a fragrance that smelled clean and fresh with just a hint of vanilla and musk. He grabbed a pen, then looked at her. “Who was the first person who died in a suspicious accident?”

  “George Townsend. A kerosene heater exploded and his place burned down, him with it.”

  Joshua looked at the plat and placed a big X on the Townsend property. “Who’s next?”

  “Roy Nesmith. He fell out of his hayloft.”

  Joshua identified the Nesmith property and placed a large X there. One by one they went through the names and marked the property, with Charlie’s land being the last on their list.

  “Oh, my God,” Savannah said softly as they both stared at the plat. The marked areas formed a disturbing pattern. All the accidental deaths took place on the west side of town.

  “What do you think the odds of something like this happening are?” he asked. “That all the accidents would happen to men who lived in the same area?”

  Savannah’s eyes were wide as she held his gaze. “It’s about the land, isn’t it?” She looked down at the plat, then back at him, her breasts rising and falling with quickened breaths.

  “It has to be about the land.” Without warning she threw her arms around his neck. “You did it! I knew you could help me figure it out.”

  The moment her arms curled around his neck, the instant her breasts made contact with his chest, he lost the ability to figure out anything. All he knew was that she was warm in his arms and that since the last time he’d kissed her all he’d thought about was when he might kiss her again.

  She must have seen something in his eyes, something that should have made her dance away from him, but instead she pressed closer into him and parted her lips as if in invitation.

  He couldn’t help but respond. He’d been on the verge of an explosion for the past week. As he crashed his mouth down to hers, he allowed the explosion to consume him.

  Chapter 8

  Savannah felt as if she’d waited a lifetime for his kiss. There was a hot, hungry demand in his lips that forced all thoughts of crazy con
spiracies and land schemes out of her mind.

  His strong arms wrapped her tight, pulling her as intimately against him as she could get. He was all hard muscle and she relished the feel of him against her, boldly aroused and taut with desire.

  His tongue swirled with hers, evoking a want in her that she’d never experienced before. The hunger she tasted in his mouth clawed inside of her, made her weak and needy in a way that only he could sate.

  As the kiss continued, his hands swept first up her back, then down to cup her buttocks through the silky material of her dress.

  His touch filled her with heat. She wanted him in her bedroom, in her bed, his naked body against hers. She wound her arms around his waist beneath the tuxedo jacket and unfastened the cummerbund.

  As it fell to the floor, he stepped back from her, his eyes blazing and his chest heaving. “This isn’t a good idea.” His voice was husky as his gaze swept slowly down the length of her, then back up to meet hers.

  His lips might be saying one thing, but the heat of his gaze said quite another. He wanted her. The knowledge torched fire through her, making her think that following through on what they had begun was a very good idea.

  “Why not? We’re both single and consenting adults.” She reached out, took his hand and pulled him out of the office and into her bedroom. He came willingly, although once they were in the bedroom he pulled his hand from hers, his gaze tormented.

  “If you don’t want me, then I certainly don’t want to make you do anything you don’t want to,” she said, as if it didn’t matter to her. But it did. Her heart hammered in her chest. There was no doubt in her mind what she wanted. Him.

  “I want you,” he replied, his voice thick. He took a step toward her. “I haven’t been able to think about much of anything else except how much I want you.”

  His words made her heart beat faster. He took another step that brought him to within inches of her. He reached out and ran his fingers through her hair, as if unable to stop himself. “I definitely want you.”

  “Then what’s stopping you?” She felt his hesitation and it was killing her.

  He dropped his hand, his eyes darkening with the shadows that often filled them. “Because if we’re going to do this, then you have to understand that it isn’t any kind of a commitment on my part. This isn’t a promise of a relationship, it doesn’t mean we owe each other anything.”

  “And you tell me that I talk too much,” she said teasingly.

  His cheeks flushed slightly with color and he smiled back at her. “I just want things to be completely clear between us. I don’t want there to be any kind of misunderstandings on either side.”

  “What makes you think I want anything else from you except a hot roll in the hay? Joshua, why don’t you just shut up now and kiss me,” she demanded.

  His eyes flared and he did. It was as if the brief conversation had unleashed something wild inside him. Still kissing her he shrugged out of the tuxedo jacket and removed his shoulder holster and gun.

  He then once again wrapped her in his arms and as his fingers worked to lower the zipper at the back of her dress, hers unfastened his shirt buttons.

  She wanted to feel the expanse of muscled chest that had taunted her since she’d seen it naked when he’d been on his way to the shower. She wanted to curl her fingers into the dark springy hair that decorated the center of his broad chest.

  When her dress zipper was lowered, he slid the garment off her shoulders and it fell to the floor, leaving her clad in her bra, her pantyhose and panties.

  He ripped the tie from around his neck and finished unbuttoning his shirt. He shrugged it off, exposing the naked chest that had caused so many fantasies in her mind.

  He grabbed his wallet from his back pocket and removed a foil wrapper. He placed it on the nightstand, then reached for her once again.

  Within seconds the rest of their clothes quickly joined her dress on the floor and when they were both naked, they fell together on the double bed, a tangle of arms and legs and hunger.

  As his mouth took possession of hers, his hands covered her breasts, filling her with a heat that burned all thought from her head.

  His mouth left hers and trailed down her neck and across her collarbone, causing sweet sensations of pleasure to shiver through her. She raked her hands down his warm, smooth back, loving the play of muscles beneath the skin.

  The golden dusk of twilight filtered through her bedroom curtains and played on his features with a soft illumination. He raised his head to look at her, his eyes gleaming with a breathtaking intensity.

  Her heart thundered and desire crashed inside her as he dipped his head and took one of her nipples in his mouth. She gripped the back of his head, his hair thick and soft beneath her fingers.

  Mindless pleasure swept through her as he nipped and licked at her breast and she wanted to give him the same kind of mindless pleasure.

  She ran her hand down the hard expanse of his chest, over the washboard muscles of his stomach then curled her fingers around the hard length of him. He moaned, a deep low growl that only increased her need for him.

  For the next few minutes they explored each other’s body, touching and tasting as the tension in Savannah spiked higher and higher.

  It seemed that he could indulge in the foreplay forever, but it didn’t take long for her to feel as if she might explode if he didn’t take her completely.

  “Joshua,” she moaned his name. “Make love to me.”

  He turned over on his side and grabbed the condom from the nightstand. She took it from him, ripped open the package then rolled it onto him. By the time she was finished, he was trembling with his own need.

  As he moved on top of her, she opened her legs to welcome him. He entered her, filling her up and at the same time his mouth took hers in a breathless kiss.

  For a long moment neither of them moved. He ended the kiss and held her gaze as he moved his hips, withdrawing slightly, then stroking back into her.

  The primitive yearning that had possessed her during their foreplay now exploded into something bigger, something so intense she felt as if at any moment she might fragment into a million little pieces.

  She met his hips thrust for thrust in a rhythm that grew more frenzied. Her senses were filled with him, his scent, his touch and the sound of his rapid breaths and low moans. His features were taut, lips pulled tight and eyes smoky as he moved faster and faster.

  Her release crashed through her and she clung to him, half-crying, half-laughing as waves of sensation washed over her. It was as if he’d only waited for her before allowing himself to let go. He stiffened against her, crying out her name as he shuddered, then collapsed on top of her.

  As they waited for normal breathing to resume, for heartbeats to slow, she stroked her hands down his back, loving the feel of his warm skin. She was grateful he didn’t immediately jump out of the bed, eager to be away from her now that they’d sated themselves.

  He finally rolled to her side, but gathered her in his arms. “That was amazing,” he said.

  She smiled and placed her hand on the side of his face where she could feel the faint stubble of whiskers. “I think I’ve wanted to do this from the minute you took off your shirt and offered to scrub my back in your shower.”

  He didn’t give her a responding smile, but instead a frown furrowed his forehead. She could almost see the wheels turning in his head and she sighed impatiently. “Honestly, Joshua, if you’re worried that somehow I’m going to get all mushy and romantic on you, don’t.”

  A flash of relief shone from his eyes. She propped herself up on one elbow, vaguely irritated. “Other women might think you’re all that, but this was just a hormone call as far as I’m concerned.”

  He propped himself up on his elbow, his face mere inches from hers. “Do you get these hormone calls often?”

  She knew he was really asking about past relationships. “It’s been over a year since I’ve been with anyone.”
/>   “Why is that?” He reached out and swept a curl away from her eyes.

  He confused her. He’d been so intent in making sure she understood this meant nothing to him. Yet he was exhibiting a gentleness that pulled her toward him and a curiosity about her that seemed in direct conflict to his earlier words.

  “I don’t know. Relationships aren’t a priority for me.” There was no way she intended to confess to him that relationships had always been difficult for her, that she’d never found a man who loved her, flaws and all. “What about you? Did you leave a trail of broken hearts back in New York?”

  “Not me. I tried to make sure hearts didn’t get involved.”

  Somehow that didn’t surprise her. “It must have been rough growing up without a mother,” she said, changing the subject.

  The shadows that had momentarily drifted across his eyes lifted and he shrugged. “It’s hard to miss what you never knew. I was just a baby when she was killed. I have no memories of her at all.”

  “And they never found out who killed her?”

  “I think it’s the only unsolved homicide that’s ever happened in Cotter Creek,” he replied.

  “Sometimes I wish I had less memories of my mother,” she said drily.

  “I gather from little things you’ve said about her that she was difficult.”

  She smiled ruefully. “There are some people who are just not cut out to be parents. My mother and father were two of those people. Sometimes I think it would have been easier to be raised by a pack of wolves.”

  “Is that why you left Scottsdale?”

  “I left because it was time for me to leave. It was time for me to figure out who I was separate from my parents.” Funny, they’d spent the entire week together but this was the first real conversation of substance they’d shared.

  “I can understand that.” Once again a darkness filled his eyes. “That was why I decided to head to New York, because I needed to know who I was aside from being a member of the West family.”

  She wanted to ask him more, wanted to know about the thoughts that caused those shadows, but knew she had no right. This night was supposed to mean nothing and that meant she had no ownership of his inner thoughts.