Her Rancher Bodyguard

by Brenda Minton

  This had been Kayla Stanford’s season in their lives. He had thought it had been mostly for her, to help her face her life. But today he’d seen things in a different light. She’d grown up, and been there for his family.

  “I’m going to leave Monday,” she said as they approached his family. Janie was on her horse. Jase and Lucas were messing with Lucas’s mare, picking her front hoof. She’d probably picked up a stone.

  “It isn’t goodbye,” he said to the woman at his side.

  She looked up at him, the borrowed cowboy hat leaving her face in shadows. He moved the brim of that hat, giving him a better view of her face, her eyes. He considered kissing her, but the good sense he’d been born with prevailed. This wasn’t the time or the place.

  “I know it isn’t,” she responded. “I’ll be around. I’d like to think we’ve become friends. Even if you were against babysitting me back when this all started.”

  “We’re friends,” he assured her.

  She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. “Go beat those Martins.”

  He moved to the right side of his horse, definitely the off side for mounting. But he and Cin had gotten used to it. He swung into the saddle, settling in the seat and steadying the horse, which shifted beneath him.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll teach ’em how it’s done.” He tipped his hat and she laughed.

  Lucas moved his horse around to Boone’s left. The four of them rode toward the gate. Kayla went off to sit with her family. Breezy, Oregon, Lily and the younger children. He glanced her way one last time.

  Sometime during the branding of their third calf, he looked up again and realized she was gone.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Kayla’s phone had buzzed. When she looked down, the text glared up at her, making her blood run cold. But she’d managed to smile and pretend everything was fine. She told Breezy she was a little cool and was going to grab her jacket out of Boone’s truck. Instead, she’d gotten behind the wheel of the truck and guided it out of the parking lot, careful to ease off the clutch, conscious of the large stock trailer on the back.

  Her phone buzzed a second time. They wanted to know if she was coming. Alone.

  She texted that she was.

  She drove out of the rodeo grounds and onto the highway, the trailer jerking the truck, making it a little harder for her to ease forward the way Boone had taught her. It would take her at least ten minutes to get back to the Wilders. She texted again, telling the person on the other end to be patient. She was coming. She’d do whatever they said.

  A smiley face was the response. Daron had been right. These guys were young and dangerous. She kept driving, the truck feeling heavy with the trailer on the back. Or maybe it was her, feeling weighted down, as if she couldn’t move fast enough.

  The slower speed gave her time to think, time to plan. But she didn’t have a plan. She only knew that she wouldn’t let anyone hurt Maria or Jesse Wilder.

  She pulled up to the farmhouse. The place looked sleepy and innocent, as if there couldn’t possibly be anyone here threatening her or the family that had been so good to her. She got out of the truck and closed the door quietly, hoping she could make a circle of the house and see if she saw anyone. She remembered that Boone had a gun in his RV. The door would be unlocked.

  She took a dozen steps and someone grabbed her.

  “Don’t move. Don’t say a word.”

  She nodded.

  “I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. You thought you were too good for me, didn’t you, Kayla Stanford? You told me I was a stupid kid. But look who is going to win.”

  “I can’t look. You’re behind me.”

  “You don’t need to see me. I’m so unimportant to you, you didn’t even think that I might be the one pulling the strings, making you and your daddy dance. But I’m going to show you. I’ve sent the article to the paper. Tomorrow morning everyone will know about Paul Whitman.”

  “He’s no longer working for my father,” she countered.

  “I don’t really care about him. I care about you. I care about your father’s money. He fired my father. No explanation, just told him he wasn’t needed any longer. Because of that my father started drinking and never stopped. He died last year.”

  “I’m sorry.” No one should live like that. Or die like that. “Blane. That’s your name, right? Where’s Ken?”

  Hadn’t she read somewhere that if you make a personal connection with an attacker, it softens them? She glanced around looking for the other man and didn’t see him.

  “Don’t worry about where Ken is and don’t try to act as if we’re friends.”

  “Are the Wilders okay?” she asked, desperate enough to continue trying the friendship tactic.

  “They’re fine. We tied them up. They haven’t done anything to us. We just wanted you.”

  “Okay, you have me. Where are we going? Where’s your friend?”

  “He’s getting the car. We parked on the side road.”

  “What are you going to do with me?” She glanced around, hoping to see an escape route. She saw Sally, Boone’s collie. The dog was easing out of the shadows, the snarl low in her chest. He didn’t hear the dog.

  “Ransom,” he said. “We figure you’re worth enough to get us out of the country. But first, we’ll have some fun.”

  “Good. I do like a decent party.”

  In the distance she heard a car. His friend maybe. Sally came closer, her growl a little louder.

  “I’m about sick of that dog.” He pulled a gun. She elbowed him in the face as he took aim at the collie. The bullet went wide. The gun flew from his hand. A car came up the driveway.

  She broke loose and ran. She wouldn’t go to the house. She couldn’t put Boone’s parents at risk. Instead, she ran for the RV. Inside it was dark and quiet. She locked the doors and leaned against the paneled wall, waiting for her heart to return to normal.

  Blue lights flashed across the walls of the camper. Outside she heard Sally give one sharp bark, asking for the door to be opened. Kayla unlocked the door and let the dog in. And in the dark she saw a shadow, and then a figure emerged.

  “It’s me.” Boone stepped forward, limping up the steps of the camper. “You’re okay?”

  She nodded, unable to speak.

  He took off his hat and tossed it on the patio table. “Kayla, I...”

  “I didn’t want them to hurt your parents.”

  He brushed a hand down his face. “I’m so mad at you, I don’t know what to say. You could have gotten yourself killed.”

  “But I didn’t.”

  “No, you didn’t.” He shook his head. “I can’t think straight right now. But your father is on his way. He’s taking you back to Austin, because I can’t have you here if I can’t keep you safe.”

  “But you got them.”

  “Yeah, I got them. But right now you’re not safe from me. I don’t know if I want to throttle you or kiss you.”

  “Kiss me?” she suggested.

  He shook his head. “Come on, my mom wants to see with her own two eyes that you’re safe.”

  She reached for his hand. He wouldn’t take it.

  “Not right now,” he said. “You should have trusted me.”

  “I know. But I didn’t want anyone to get hurt on my account. I wanted to protect you all.”

  “I do the protecting around here. I don’t need you to protect me.”

  “No, you don’t.” She walked next to him back to the house.

  “Your brothers and sister are here.” He nodded, indicating the yard full of trucks.

  “Great.”

  “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

  “They said to come alone,” she tried to explain.

  He sho
ok his head. “You have us for a reason. You don’t have to do things alone anymore. You especially don’t have to give in to the demands of blackmailers.”

  “They said the story is going to be in the paper tomorrow.”

  He stopped her, his hand on her arm. “Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. But you’re going to survive that. Your father will survive it. You have to trust the people in your life.”

  “I know.”

  Then she was surrounded by family. Boone walked away, leaving her to her siblings. Jake took control, telling her to get her bag. Her father could pick her up at the Circle M Ranch.

  She allowed Jake to walk her out the door and down to his truck without a goodbye to Boone.

  She took the handkerchief he offered as they drove away. Somehow she would come out of this stronger than ever. She knew that. Someday soon she would thank Boone for giving her the opportunity to find herself.

  But today was not that day.

  * * *

  Boone woke up to early-morning sunshine filtering through the miniblinds. He rolled over and almost fell off the narrow sofa of his RV. Sally whimpered and scrambled to stay on the cushion. He glanced down at her.

  “What are you doing on the couch?”

  In response she slid off and curled up on the floor.

  “You going to sleep all day?”

  He jumped at the familiar voice. “What are you doing here?”

  Daron was stretched out in the recliner.

  “I thought you might need backup. By the time I got here, everyone was gone or asleep. You didn’t hear me come in.”

  “I’m going to change the locks.”

  “You won’t do that. You’d miss me.”

  “I wouldn’t.” Boone sat up, stretched and reached for his crutches. “I’ve got a doctor’s appointment this morning.”

  “Yeah, I heard. Want me to drive you?”

  “If you would. Have you talked to Lucy?”

  “Yeah, she’s good. She’s in San Angelo on a job.”

  “Gotcha. Have you talked to Mr. Stanford today?”

  Daron headed for the kitchen and started the coffeemaker. “Yeah, he’s glad this is over. The article did come out. It made him look bad, but the real criminal is Mr. Whitman. Kayla is going to press charges. I guess you didn’t think you could tell me about that.”

  “No, I didn’t. She told me in confidence.”

  “She doesn’t confide in a lot of people,” Daron said as he leaned against the counter.

  Boone opened the fridge. He pulled out a package of sausage and found a clean skillet.

  “You could do the dishes today,” he told Daron.

  “Yeah, I will. Or hire someone. Do you think the twins would want to earn extra money?”

  Boone put the pan on the burner. “The twins always want extra money. But I’m not going to pay them to clean the RV.”

  “Then, I will. About Kayla. She’s going to be okay. I think she’ll be better than ever. It’s you I’m not so sure about.”

  “I’m fine.” Boone poured the coffee that had brewed into his cup. He lifted the cup to salute Daron.

  “I don’t think you’re fine, Boone. I think you got too close.”

  “You’re not the head of this organization, Daron. We’re partners. You’re definitely not my boss or my mom. I don’t need your advice.”

  “No, but you do need your head on straight for the next job.”

  “My head is on straight.”

  Daron grabbed a spatula and flipped the sausage. “You’re right. I’m out of line. What time is your doctor’s appointment?”

  “Ten.”

  “So do you love her?”

  Boone stilled, then pointed at the door. “Get out.”

  “Listen, if you need to talk...”

  “I’ll get a therapist if I need to talk.”

  “Boone, it wasn’t your fault. The kid, he had us all fooled.”

  “The kid was a pawn.” Boone said the words clearly, not allowing emotion to get the best of him. “And why do you think everything goes back to that day?”

  “Because it does. We all relive it every day.”

  “Do you?” Boone leaned against the counter and watched his friend fry sausage until it no longer resembled food.

  “Yeah, I do. I convinced James he should go with us. I’m not sure what we thought we were going to do.”

  “We thought we would check it out and then go back with a plan to extract those guys.”

  “But they were waiting for us,” Daron said.

  Boone looked away. He didn’t want to see the nightmare relived on his friend’s face. He didn’t want Daron to see it on his. They couldn’t talk about that day without experiencing it all over again. The explosion. The heat. The screams. The pain.

  “We made a stupid pact, while you were in the hospital.” Daron turned off the pan. “Protect others. Live our lives for the brother we lost. We were a lot younger then.”

  “We were young.” They’d been twenty-five. Not really that young, he guessed. But young enough to think they needed a pact to honor their fallen friends. If James wasn’t going home to his family, Daron and Boone would never have families. Except that Daron had promised James he’d keep an eye on Emma and Jamie.

  “If you love her, you should go for it, Boone. Don’t let her get away.”

  Daron handed him a plate with a few burned sausages.

  “I’m not sure what I feel.” Boone sat down at the table. Daron sat across from him. “You know the emotions in situations like this aren’t always real.”

  “Yeah, you’re right, not always. It’s a job and we can get caught up in some stuff. But you’ve always kept your emotions separate from the job. This time you didn’t.”

  “No, this time I didn’t. She took me by surprise, Daron. I didn’t expect her. I didn’t expect to feel this way.”

  “Don’t let her get away,” Daron said off-handedly as he stood and dumped sausage in the dog’s dish. “I’m going to Duke’s for breakfast.”

  “Good idea.”

  Don’t let her get away. He brushed off the advice. They couldn’t build a relationship on what they felt in the middle of a crisis situation. Kayla had depended on him to keep her safe. He’d felt like the man rescuing her from danger and from herself.

  In time they’d come back to earth and see the relationship for what it was. Temporary. And if he missed her for a little while, that was normal.

  They’d felt a bond only because he was her bodyguard and he had liked playing the hero.

  They just needed time to realize that their relationship had been built on close proximity and the situation they’d been in.

  But in truth, he couldn’t imagine a time when he wouldn’t think about her. What was he going to do about that?

  Chapter Fifteen

  Kayla stood next to her father when he was sworn in as Texas state senator. The next day she left for Martin’s Crossing.

  Samantha and Remington were getting married at the end of the week. Kayla wouldn’t miss that wedding for the world. She pulled up to her sister’s small house and for a moment sat in the truck she’d recently traded her car for. Samantha walked out the front door, waved and then headed her way.

  “Well, look what the cat dragged in.” Sam leaned in the window and kissed her on the cheek. “I’m glad to see you. I need help packing.”

  After the honeymoon Sam would be moving to the Jenkins ranch. Kayla had asked to stay in this house on the Martins’ property. She was going to apply for a job at the Martin’s Crossing Consolidated School. She was going to live in the country. She’d already sold her condo. She’d traded off her convertible. She had a pair of boots that were meant for the farm, not the club.

>   She would see Boone. Often. Her heart beat faster on that thought.

  “I’ll do whatever you need me to do,” she assured Sam as she climbed down from the truck.

  “I’m glad to hear that. I’ve got so much to get done. And tonight is the family dinner at Duke’s. So you’re just in time.”

  “I’m not sure I’m ready to go to town,” Kayla admitted as they crossed to the little cottage that she’d come to love.

  She immediately plopped on the oversize sofa and grabbed her favorite afghan. It felt so good to be home. She smiled up at her sister, and for a minute she forgot her loneliness, the emptiness that sometimes caught her by surprise.

  “Why?” Sam moved a box and sat on the chair, pulling it close to the sofa so she could put her feet on the coffee table.

  “Because I’m not ready.”

  “You’re going to see him eventually. And you know that you want to see him.”

  “I know. But it shouldn’t be so hard. It was a month of my life. Barely. It wasn’t exactly a relationship that we broke off. I shouldn’t...” She sighed.

  “Miss him?” Sam gave her a sweet smile. “But you do. Because it doesn’t matter why you were together. What matters is how you feel. How do you feel?”

  “I miss him. Every day. I thought it would get easier. I thought it was just a fluke. But it wasn’t.”

  “Call him.” Sam tossed her a phone.

  She tossed it back. “I’m not calling him. He hasn’t called me. How pathetic would it be to call him? But I would like to see his family. I would like to know how his dad is doing.”

  “Jesse is great. They put in a couple of stents, changed his medication and he says he hasn’t felt this good in years.”

  “I’m so glad to hear that.”

  “But you’re not going to call. You know, you could call Maria and ask how they’re doing. It doesn’t have to be about Boone.”

  “I should call. But who am I to them? No one really.” She buried her face in her hands. “I sound pathetic. I’m not a pathetic person.”

  Samantha tossed a pillow at her. “You’re a dork. You’re trying to convince yourself that you didn’t fall in love with Boone. And while I can’t imagine loving him, I get it that he might be appealing to someone else.”