The Bodyguard's Return (5 page)

He’d missed the scent of fresh hay, of green grass and cattle. But, the view wasn’t all that he had missed. He’d been homesick for his brothers and his sister. Maybe because there had been no mother around, the siblings had grown up being unusually close.

But things were changing. Three of his brothers were either married or getting married. His eldest brother, Tanner, had married a princess who had come to Wild West Protective Services when renegade forces had taken over her father’s kingdom.

Zach had found love with the girl next door. Kate Sampson had captured his heart while he’d helped her investigate her father’s death.

And now Clay was about to take the walk down the aisle with the Hollywood beauty he’d fallen in love with. Three down, three to go, Joshua thought. He frowned as his thoughts returned to Savannah.

He needed to know if she’d uncovered something that made somebody nervous enough to take that shot the night before. The thoughts that had plagued him on his ride returned. What worried him was that it might not be about her at all.

It might be about him. He feared his problem from New York had followed him to Cotter Creek.

And if that were the case, then it was possible that just by being with her he’d put Savannah in more danger than she could ever imagine.

I
t was just after nine when Savannah drove toward the West ranch house. She was hoping to talk Smokey into allowing her to interview him for her column. The column was due the next day and she was running out of time. Of course, she’d much prefer interviewing Joshua, but he’d made it fairly clear he wasn’t interested.

Despite the horror of the night before, she’d slept like a baby. She liked to think her peaceful sleep came from the fact that whoever had shot at them had used birdshot and Joshua had told her it was obvious it wasn’t meant to kill. It didn’t hurt that Sheriff Ramsey had mentioned that kids had done something like that in the past.

Still, she suspected her deep sleep had been because she no longer felt so alone. At least for the moment she had Joshua on her side.

Joshua
. The man was definitely under her skin, and she wasn’t sure why. Granted he was nice-looking, but it was more than that. She sensed something dark in the depths of his green eyes, a torment that piqued her reporter interest.

As the West ranch came into sight she thought of the family that lived inside the house. Joshua had told her that he’d returned to Cotter Creek because he’d missed his family.

Whenever she’d spent time at the house with Meredith, she’d felt surrounded by the love the house contained, something she’d never felt in her own home.

She’d long ago come to terms with the fact that her parents had been incapable of loving her the way children needed to be loved. But that didn’t mean that sometimes in the dark silent moments of the night or in a reflective pause during the day it didn’t hurt.

She found it hard to imagine what the West house must have been like when there had been six small children inside. Now there was just Joshua and Meredith living at home.

Tanner and his princess bride, Anna, had built a home on the West property. Zack had moved into the Sampson home with Kate. Clay and Libby had rented a house in town until their home could be
built, also on the West property, and Dalton also rented a place in town.

She had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before the house would be filled with grandchildren. Already there was Gracie, Libby’s little girl, and Meredith had told Savannah the other day that she suspected Anna might be pregnant.

Savannah didn’t think much about marriage or having children. Certainly she would love to have both those things someday in her future, but knew better than to pine for something that might never be.

“Find a job you love, Savannah Marie,” her mother had often told her. “Because your job is probably all you’re going to have to fill your life.”

Shoving away her mother’s voice, she parked in front of the sprawling ranch house and before she got out of the car she flipped the rearview mirror into position so she could see her reflection.

She finger-combed her curls and checked her lipstick, then, realizing she was primping just in case Joshua was home, she frowned with irritation and snapped the mirror back into place.

No amount of finger-combing could transform her red curls into lush blond waves. No amount of primping could erase the freckles that danced across her nose or make the shape of her nose more elegant, her cheekbones more pronounced.

“You’re plain, Savannah Marie, and you might just as well accept the idea.” Her mother’s voice echoed in her ears.

She grabbed her pen and notepad and got out of the car to the raucous barks of Judd and Jessie. She took a moment to pet Charlie’s dogs, then went up to the porch and knocked on the door.

Red West greeted her, a broad smile lighting his features. He was a tall man, still fit despite his age although Meredith had told her he suffered from arthritis. He had all but retired from the family business, leaving it in his eldest son Tanner’s hands.

“Hi, Savannah. I’m afraid you’ve missed Meredith. She already left to go shopping for a dress to wear to Clay’s wedding.”

“Actually, I’m not here to see Meredith. I’d like to talk to Smokey.”

Red’s eyebrows danced upward in surprise as he gestured her inside the door. “You know where to find him.”

“Thanks.” She walked through the large living room and into the kitchen, where Smokey sat at the kitchen table reading the morning paper.

“Too late for breakfast and too early for lunch so I can’t imagine what you’re doing here,” he said.

She sat at the table next to him and smiled brightly, hoping she could wheedle him into the interview. “How are you doing this morning, Smokey?”

“Same as I did yesterday morning, same as I probably will be doing tomorrow morning.” Smokey turned the page on the newspaper.

“I see you’re enjoying this morning’s issue of the
Cotter Creek Chronicle
.”

“Who says I’m enjoying it?” His grizzled eyebrows drew together in a frown.

If she hadn’t spent so much time at the West house she might have gotten her feelings hurt by Smokey’s cantankerous attitude. But she’d been around often enough to know he talked that way to almost everyone. He seemed to take perverse pleasure in being irascible.

“Actually, I’m here on behalf of the paper,” she said. “I’d like to interview you for my column on notable people in Cotter Creek.”

Smokey stared at her over the edge of the paper. “Now what in God’s creation makes you think I’d be interested in such nonsense.”

“Give her a break, Smokey.” Joshua came into the kitchen and a ridiculous wave of pleasure swept through her. He took a seat at the table opposite Savannah. “She’s had a rough couple of days.”

She flashed him a surprised, but grateful smile and tried to ignore the way the sight of him made her heart dance. “Come on, Smokey. I promise I’ll make it as painless as possible.” She tried to focus on the old man and not on Joshua, but found it impossible not to shoot surreptitious glances at the attractive cowboy.

This morning he wore a pair of jeans and a navy-blue knit shirt that clung to him in all the right places. She willed her attention back to Smokey.

He huffed a sigh and set the paper aside. “All right, but if you think you’re going to make me cry
like Barbara Walters always makes people cry in her interviews, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Great.” She pulled a miniature tape recorder from her purse. “Even though I take notes, I like to make a recording as well. Is that all right with you?”

Smokey eyed the tape recorder like it was a piece of smelly trash that had somehow made its way to the table, but he nodded his head in agreement.

Savannah opened her notepad and began the interview. Initially she felt self-conscious with Joshua seated at the table, watching her with his dark green eyes.

Within minutes she forgot his presence as she talked to the cook who was not just a wounded cowboy who had no longer been able to ride the range, but a man who had stepped in for a family who was desperately in need.

She’d instinctively known the old man’s story would be a good one and as he talked about the special place he’d found for himself in the West family her heart was melting for the old rascal.

It took almost an hour to get what she needed and by that time Smokey was showing definite signs of impatience to be finished.

“Thanks, Smokey. I’ll just get these notes typed up and next Sunday morning everyone in town will be reading about you.”

He got up from the table with a grunt. “All I care about is getting you out of my kitchen so I can get to the business of making lunch.”

“You’re good at that,” Joshua said, falling into step with her as she left the kitchen. “You got him to talk about stuff I didn’t know about him.”

She smiled, a wealth of warmth sweeping through her at his compliment. “Thanks, that’s my job.”

“What are your plans for the rest of the day?” he asked.

“My first order of business is to get to the office and get this interview turned in,” she replied. “Why?”

They stepped out on the front porch. “I was thinking maybe I’d hang out with you. You know, get an idea of a day in the life of a reporter.”

She eyed him with disbelief. “You’re interested in maybe becoming a reporter?”

His gaze didn’t meet hers, but instead shifted out to the pastures. “No, but I’m just back in town after being gone for a while. You’re relatively new to town. I just thought it might be fun to hang out together.”

For just a brief second a flutter of pure feminine pleasure swept through her, but it quickly vanished beneath a dose of harsh reality.

He thought it might be fun to hang out together? This from the man who hadn’t even returned her phone calls in the first three days he’d been back in town. “That’s the biggest bunch of crap I’ve ever heard,” she said flatly.

His gaze shot to her, as if her unvarnished reply had surprised him. “There’s some women in this
town who would probably be flattered if I told them I wanted to spend time with them.”

“Yeah, well I’m not some women and I know a load of crap when I hear it. Now, are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

He leaned back against the porch railing and ripped a hand through his dark hair, a frown creasing his forehead. “I’ve just been thinking about what happened last night and I think maybe it wouldn’t hurt for me to keep an eye on you until we figure out if the shooting really was an attempt to warn you off your current path.”

“So, you’re offering to what? Be my personal bodyguard?”

“In an unofficial capacity,” he replied.

She’d managed to minimize the danger of last night since she’d awakened this morning, but his offer of bodyguard services put a new spin on things.

“Are you sure that’s necessary?” she asked.

“No, I’m not sure about much of anything. But I’ve always thought it was better to be safe than sorry.”

“If we’re talking about my safety, then I like the way you think,” she said with a touch of dry humor. She wasn’t sure what made her more uncomfortable, the way her heart pounded at the thought that she might be in danger, or the beat of her heart as she thought of having Joshua at her side for the next couple of days.

“Okay then.” He gave a curt nod of his head as if satisfied with this new turn of events. “If you’ll just
wait here, I’ll get my keys and things and I’ll follow you back into town.”

As he went back into the house, Savannah leaned against the porch railing and drew several breaths in an attempt to gain control of her racing heart.

He might not want to work for the family business, but obviously the family business was in his blood. She had to remember that he hadn’t offered to spend time with her because he found her witty and charming, but rather because he thought she might be in some kind of danger.

She’d risk her life to get her story, but she certainly wasn’t fool enough to risk losing her heart to a man like Joshua West.

Joshua followed behind Savannah’s car in his pickup. He wasn’t thrilled by his decision to act as bodyguard to her, but his personal moral code made it impossible for him not to. If he had brought danger to her, then he was responsible for keeping her safe.

It was ironic that he suspected it was possible that just by being seen with her he might have made her a target. It still stunned him, that a jilted lover could become a psychotic danger not just to him, but to a woman whose only mistake had been to be seen in his company.

He wasn’t sure if he was putting Savannah into more danger by continuing to be in her company, but he was concerned that the damage had already been
done. If Lauren had followed him from New York and had seen him with Savannah, then she might be in danger anyway. By playing bodyguard Joshua might make things worse, or he might just be in the right place to keep danger away from Savannah.

He patted his jacket and felt the bulk of his shoulder holster and gun beneath. He hadn’t worn a gun since he’d left Cotter Creek one and a half years before. His conceal-and-carry permit was still good, and it vaguely surprised him that the weapon felt as if it belonged resting against his body.

He frowned and tightened his fingers on the steering wheel. It would be so much easier to decide on his next course of action if he knew for sure who had shot at them last night and why.

After Clay had left that morning, Joshua had gotten on his cell phone and tried to call the woman who had made his last few weeks in New York a living hell. He’d wanted to make sure she was still in New York and that she hadn’t followed him here to continue her reign of torment.

Unfortunately Lauren hadn’t answered the call. That didn’t necessarily mean she had left New York City. She might be at work, and, although he knew she’d been a paralegal, he didn’t know what law firm she worked for. He’d have to try to call again that evening.

Until he could confirm that it hadn’t been her that had shot at them last night, he intended to make sure Savannah stayed safe. She shouldn’t have to pay the
price for his bad judgment, for his botched relationship with a nut.

He thought he’d been clear in his intentions with Lauren. He’d thought she’d understood that he was just having a good time. He’d thought she was doing the same, but she’d taken their brief relationship to heart, had manufactured it into something that had nothing to do with reality.

Then she’d gone crazy and made a scene and now he wondered just what she might be capable of. Following him here to Cotter Creek and shooting at him or at Savannah, who she might assume was his new romantic interest?

He shoved thoughts of the beautiful Lauren Edwards out of his head and tromped on the gas as he realized Savannah drove almost as fast as she talked.

When they reached the newspaper office she pulled into a parking space in front of the building and he parked next to her car.

He got out and met her on the sidewalk, where the glass from the broken window had been swept up. A new window had been installed in the storefront of the office, although it lacked the lettering that announced the place as the
Cotter Creek Chronicle.

“While you type up your interview and do your reporter thing, I’ve got a couple of things to take care of here in town,” he said. “I’m headed to Ramsey’s office to see if I can get copies of those accident reports, then I have a fitting for my tux for Clay and Libby’s wedding.”