Guarded by the Cowboy (WEST Protection Book 2)

by Em Petrova

  The woman made a noise in her throat, and Lauralee jerked her stare to hers.

  “How will you get me out of this prison?” She barely moved her lips as she spoke. Her hair lay in lank strings around her pale face. When had she last felt the sun on her skin? Or walked more than fifteen feet to the bathroom? She was wasting away, and that included what was left of her mind.

  “We’re figuring that out, but trust us that we will do it.” Vehemence leaked into her tone.

  “He watches me at all times.”

  Dipping her head, she shifted around a plate holding toast and another with a single orange on it. Even the cook took time to create a pretty presentation for the prisoner in residence.

  Lauralee held her gaze. “I promise I will not leave this place without you. You’re leaving soon.”

  She picked up the other tray containing last night’s barely touched meal. With her face averted from Isadora’s, she murmured, “Swallow the note.”

  The woman turned her face to stare through the barred windows as if she didn’t hear Lauralee. Was it an act, or had she really sunk into her despair? What if she didn’t read the note and the next person to clean the tray found it?

  Seeing no choice but to leave—she’d already spent too much time in the room—she carried the tray to the door, the plates and silverware jangling as she walked. She slipped out and was about to lock the door once more, when a man rounded the corner.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Lauralee had never seen this man before, but Boone most likely knew him. He had an air of authority he used to make her believe she was doing something wrong.

  She shifted the tray in her hold. “What does it look like?”

  “You took too long in there. What were you doing with the woman?”

  She locked the door, heart saddened that she must do such a thing, and turned to the jerk of a man. “I was unclogging her toilet, if you must know.”

  His lip curled in disgust. “That isn’t your job.”

  “Perhaps not, but I was there, and she asked me if I could do it.”

  He stepped toward her with purposeful steps meant to intimidate. And she was—only she’d never show such a thing. She worked with a lot of men in her career, and she wouldn’t let any throw their laundry at her or stomp on her such as this one meant to do.

  His eyes drilled into her, cold and heartless. What did she expect from anyone working in this place? If they had a soul when they were hired, they lost it working here.

  “I don’t believe you. What’s your name, woman?” he demanded.

  “It’s none of your business. I have to take this to the kitchen.” She started past him, and he stepped into her path.

  She tried to step around him in the other direction, and he moved with her. When he settled a hand on her waist, ice hit her heart. Was Boone at the monitors? Could he see what was happening to her?

  She darted a look around, planning escapes and discarding each. She could toss the tray in his face and make a run for it. That seemed to be the best course available.

  As she gathered her courage, a roar sounded.

  “Get your goddamn hands off her!” She recognized that deep rumble—had heard it speak words with an edge of desire for her—but had never heard Boone like that.

  In a flash, Boone grabbed the guy, cocked his fist and smashed it into his nose. He howled in pain.

  She cried out as he crumpled to the floor. When her hands went lax, she dropped the tray. Food and drink spilled all over the carpet.

  Boone stood over the man on the floor, chest heaving and fists clenched. “You dare to lay hands on my wife?”

  Her heart flipped at his words and the deadly tone.

  “Get up and leave this property. Your employment is officially terminated.”

  “You don’t have the power to fire me,” he spat through the blood flowing thick from his nostrils. It dripped off his chin onto his shirt.

  Boone squared his shoulders, posturing like an animal about to go in for the kill. “Try me, asshole. Get. Up. And. Get. Out.”

  Lauralee gaped at Boone. She’d never seen him angry before. The blazing ire in his eyes was but a small molecule of what he was capable of, she knew from the power radiating off him in waves.

  How many more men like this were lurking around corners, unseen? Would they ever be able to get Isadora out?

  The man scooted into a sitting position and straightened to his full height, which was close to Boone’s.

  “Black will hear about this.”

  It happened so fast, she hardly saw it.

  Boone had the man around the throat and pinned to the wall with a knife at his jugular. “Don’t threaten me.”

  A shudder ran through her at the promise in his tone. She had no clue Boone could be this man. Did she want to know this man?

  He shoved the guard, knocking his head on the plaster. “Do you hear me?”

  “Let go of me.”

  Slowly, millimeter by millimeter, Boone lowered the knife from his throat. He uncurled his fingers one by one to release his hold on the man’s neck. The man’s blood stained his hand, but he dropped it to his side. Last, he took a step back, only enough to allow the man to skirt around him.

  She must have made some noise, because Boone turned his head and locked his stare on her. “Are you all right?” His voice came out as if he was the one who’d been strangled.

  “Y-yes.” She looked at the dropped tray and mess on the carpet. She started to kneel, and he walked over to crouch next to her. Having his body so close and his scent infusing her nostrils shouldn’t cause her to relax, but he soothed her, pure and simple.

  Using the hand that was clean of blood, he touched her cheek. “I’ll pick this up, honey.”

  “I got it.”

  “I never should have put you in this kind of danger.”

  Her gaze flew to his.

  “Shh,” he murmured before she could speak. “Not here. We’re still on camera. Go back to our room and lock the door. Wait for me. I’ll make some excuse that you’re ill and won’t return to work today.”

  A lump lodged in her throat, and she couldn’t force a single word past it, so she only nodded. He helped her to her feet with a hand on her elbow, and she left him to clean up the tray she dropped.

  With each step that carried her away from Boone, her heart thundered twice as fast. They had to leave this place. Staying within these oppressive walls another day would suck her soul out. Now Boone had a target on his back, and even if that guy left and didn’t speak to Black about the incident, someone was sure to see on the camera or hear about it.

  Unless she could get to the surveillance room and tinker with the footage. Deleting a few minutes of film would take her just a few clicks of a button.

  She stopped walking, unsure if she should listen to Boone and return to their room or go in search of the surveillance room. She had a guess where it might be located within the house, but she didn’t know.

  Boone’s rough, furious tone when he told that man to get out made her shiver again, and she turned in the direction of their room.

  Once inside, she paced. And sat on the bed and quaked. She wanted to cry to ease this horrid lump in her throat, but tears were miles away from her right now.

  Boone was so much more than she expected. Every day, he faced dangers she’d never seen up close and personal before.

  Do I want to let a man touch me, knowing he’s capable of holding a knife to a man’s throat like that?

  The answer to that was yes. She waited for him to walk through that door, take her in his arms and make her feel safe again. And not only because he was protecting her in a lot of ways, but because she felt something for Boone.

  She’d fallen for him.

  How stupid. She hadn’t expected to enjoy his company or become his lover, but their link would sever the minute they drove off this ranch—they’d be coworkers and nothing more.

  After seeing the burning e
xpression in his eyes when he asked if she was all right, did she really believe that?

  A knock on the door had her springing up from the mattress and running to open it. Boone walked in, a whirlwind tornado of force confined to his six-two frame. When he spun to her, every muscle seemed to vibrate with power.

  Her insides melted.

  He took two steps toward her and stopped.

  “Black’s going to find out about us,” she whispered.

  He tightened his jaw.

  Fear overpowered her emotions.

  Boone overpowered her good sense.

  He was everything she never knew she wanted and all the things she needed in one big, muscled cowboy bodyguard.

  “I have to get to the surveillance room and try to erase that footage,” he said.

  She reached out and grabbed hold of his shirt. “Take me with you. I can do it.”

  “Can’t risk it.”

  She stifled a scream. “You and your risk. How about what I’ve risked coming here with you? My safety, my sanity, my life—my heart!”

  Too late, she realized what she’d said. The words hung in the air like a dense fog neither could break through. She stared up at him in total shock, only to see the same mirrored on his rugged features.

  Then he broke through it…closed the gap between them…yanked her into him. “Christ, honey.” His ragged whisper whooshed across her lips a heartbeat before he slammed his mouth over hers.

  She moaned in surrender, in too deep with this man to contain her feelings any longer. Thinking back, she’d been battling them from the first day he walked into the office and started teasing her. She couldn’t pretend or run away any longer.

  He plundered her with his tongue, thrusting it in and out, bringing her to her tiptoes to deepen the caress until her mind blanked and she only felt.

  The kiss slowed, and he tenderly ended it on a nibble.

  She shivered in pleasure and opened her eyes to meet his stare.

  “I have to go see about the cameras. Please don’t ask me to bring you with me. Lord knows you can do it better than I can, but shit could be coming down on us as we speak. If that guy runs his mouth to Black, we don’t have long to make a move to get his wife out. Our clock’s ticking, and I’m going to do what I can to buy us time.”

  She couldn’t argue with that logic. She nodded and dropped down from her toes to step back. In simple terms, she related what needed to be done to the system to delete the footage in the hall outside Isadora’s room. He nodded and repeated it back to her.

  “You got it. Be careful, Boone.”

  He walked to the door and then threw her a look. “We still need to have a talk.”

  As soon as the door closed, she clasped her hands over her middle and bent forward, breathing hard.

  The admission she’d made.

  The kiss.

  The admission.

  They had to get out of here. That guy confronting her in the corridor had been scary enough without him grabbing her. Never in her life had a man laid hands on her without her permission, and she was determined that it would never happen again. When they got back to the office, she would ask Ross to train her in self-defense. She refused to feel helpless again.

  She walked to the bed and sat for a brief second, but quickly popped to her feet once more. Too much energy sluiced through her veins to let her remain in one spot for long. She paced to the closet and stared at Boone’s clothes hanging there in neat order, while hers were still half in the bag, half out of the bag and scattered in a pile on the floor.

  They were so different. She’d seen that from the start, and it turned her off, but now that she knew him better, she saw they shared one trait that bound them now—a drive to be the very best in what they did.

  She dragged in a deep breath and caught a hint of Boone’s scent lingering on his clothes. Reaching out, she closed her fingers on one of his shirts. She loved him, and a deep knowing inside her told her it wasn’t fake, short-lived or passing.

  Now he knew she had feelings, and while she hadn’t laid it all on the line, that spark in his eyes told her he might be feeling more too.

  God, what was he doing right now? Since she’d never seen the security system in person, she could only guess at the setup. If she’d told him incorrect information, he could be fumbling through her directions to no avail.

  The burn phone Boone gave her wasn’t much use in hacking systems. She needed something a bit more high-tech. But perhaps she could use her time alone wisely by digging up as much dirt as she could on everything Black had his fingers in. Every piece of every pie, from oil to cattle to his exes and enemies.

  She’d hoped to learn most of this firsthand, but after only a few days working within Black’s household, she found the staff was scared silent. She was lucky the cook had given her the task of carrying the tray—otherwise, she might not have ever learned where Isadora’s room was located.

  While Lauralee flipped through articles on Black’s empire and worth, she came across some former employers from the 1990s. Surely those would be easier databases to hack even with her low-quality phone.

  After a solid hour of testing passwords, she finally lit on one that opened the file. She sat on the bed, hunched over, neck muscles burning from her uncomfortable pose, for long minutes reading through information about Black’s work with this particular finance company.

  He had attended college but never finished. Still, his good ideas had given him entry to the company…

  Where he also met his first wife?

  Lauralee fell down the rabbit hole, tearing apart the company’s database to find the woman. Their names were on several projects together. Then suddenly his ex-wife’s file revealed an end date of employment.

  She rifled through more searches and finally found their wedding date was shortly after—they couldn’t work at the same company, so the former Mrs. Black quit her job.

  But within months, Black quit as well, and then Lauralee hit a dead zone of months where it seemed neither left an electronic footprint.

  A soft knock at her door had her closing the windows on her phone and leaping to her feet. Something in her spine popped, but she ignored it as she rushed to open the door. Anna stood there, eyes wide.

  “Oh, thank God you’re okay!” she whispered, shoving her way inside. “Close the door, Lara. We can’t let anyone hear us talking.”

  Her stomach wobbled with terror at the maid’s reaction. “What’s going on?”

  “What happened when you delivered that tray to Mrs. Black?” Anna wrung her work-reddened hands.

  “Some guard got in my face, saying it took me too long to deliver the tray. But I was just doing a chore in Mrs. Black’s room. Anna, why can’t Mrs. Black go out of her room?”

  She gave a swift shake of her head. “The rest of the staff are saying your husband attacked the guard.”

  “He did.” Visions of that fight rocked her.

  Anna’s eyes bulged.

  “The guy touched me, and Bo-Brodie won’t stand for that behavior.”

  “Oh Lord. What will happen now?”

  “Brodie sent the man away. Fired him. He insisted on cleaning the mess I made when I dropped the tray, and he told me to come here and rest a while.” All true, but she put on a subservient air she never felt when it came to Boone.

  Anna nodded. “That’s mostly what I heard. Besides the part where the guard touched you. All of us maids suspected as much since he’s tried to trick us into being alone with him.”

  “Then I’m glad he’s gone!”

  “Lara…soon you and Brodie will be too. There’s a zero-tolerance policy about fighting on the ranch. And…”

  Her heart already lodged in her nostrils at Anna telling her they’d be gone before they had a chance to free Black’s wife. Which meant they had to find another way in, by force or maybe that kidnapper group that Boone mentioned.

  But she focused on what Anna wasn’t saying.

  “Tel
l me,” she urged in a whisper.

  Anna reached behind her and latched on to the doorknob. Her blue eyes narrowed as if she tried to impart some information she didn’t want to speak aloud. “Just be careful. They’re watching you now.”

  “They? Black? Who else?” She tried to stop Anna from leaving, but the maid hastily made her exit.

  Lauralee leaned against the closed door, heart hammering. They had to get out of this place—now. Before Black decided to interrogate them…or worse.

  She rushed to the closet, grabbed Boone’s bag and started pulling items off the hangers to shove inside.

  Chapter Ten

  The sound of the door opening at Boone’s back sent the hairs on his neck straight up and stiffened his spine.

  Slowly, he shot a look over his shoulder to see Thornburne standing there. Thank God he’d managed to alter the camera footage already. Since the cook knew Lauralee had taken the tray, she had to be seen entering the room. He only tinkered with the time stamp, making it look as if she’d only been in Isadora’s room for a minute.

  He also didn’t delete the part where the thug put his hands on her or Boone attacked him for it.

  Black would need a reason for Boone making the call to fire the guy.

  “Need something?” Boone asked Thornburne.

  “You’re wanted in Black’s office.”

  Son of a bitch.

  He pivoted in his chair and stood. “Thanks. You wanna take over here for a bit?”

  “Sure.” He slid his gaze past Boone to the screens. Boone knew the instant he walked out, Thornburne would view that footage from outside Isadora’s room.

  More than anything, he burned to return to Lauralee and get her out of this place. As he started toward Black’s office, the sound of feet pattering behind him made him turn.

  Lauralee rushed into his arms, hair disheveled and her face white. He caught her around the waist and faked a tender pose to make it look as if they’d happened across each other by accident and were sharing a newlywed moment of affection.