by Cynthia Eden
Gideon looked heavenward. “Oh, yeah, that delicate flower can’t handle being scared. Lord forbid.”
“She is delicate.” Hadn’t Gideon seen her? “She almost got shot today. I’m trying to keep her out of danger, and you are shoving the danger right at her! This plan was supposed to stay between us. Hell, I thought I could trust you to keep quiet.”
“I thought you were about to tell her!”
He’d been intending to handle things, his way.
Gideon shook his head. “Look, man, the people in my town were at risk today. A stray bullet could have hurt someone. Killed someone. I had to warn my deputies about the stalker, and I came out here to do extra recon because I wanted to make sure your fool-ass was safe.”
Bran’s back teeth had clenched. With an effort, he managed to relax his jaw. “I never expected that shot in town. I wouldn’t put the people in this town at risk, you know that.” He also wouldn’t be making any other trips to the little town of Hideaway, sure as hell not anytime soon.
“Oh, I get that you don’t want anyone else at risk. You just want a big, giant bull’s eye on your own back.” Gideon glared. “You need a whole team of bodyguards up here.”
“Why? So they can get hurt when the asshole comes for me?” His voice was a low snarl. “No, absolutely not.”
“Your plan is shit, Bran. Shit, and I am telling you this as one of the few real friends that you have.” Gideon’s glare got worse. “I can’t believe I agreed to this BS idea in the first place.”
“Uh, you agreed because we were trying to draw the jackass out. And because you’re better than any dumbass bodyguard that my manager would try to shove at—”
A door slammed.
Uh, oh, those last words hadn’t been as low as he would have preferred. Had Julia heard him? His gaze shot to the hallway. Sure enough, there she was. Still wearing the same outfit—dammit!—but at least she had on a bra now. Her nipples weren’t visible so he didn’t need to punch Gideon, and she’d pulled on sneakers. He’d take that as a win.
“Dumbass bodyguard?” Julia muttered as she cocked her head. “What? Want to say that again?”
Um, no, he didn’t.
“You need to tell her,” Gideon urged before he whirled away and strode for the couch. The sheriff threw himself down on the cushions and sprawled out. “I mean, if you’ve got her living up here with you, don’t you think you’re putting that big-ass bull’s eye on her back, too?”
Yes, dammit, he did think that. And he was terrified. And furious. Bran’s gaze locked on Julia. “I should never have let you stay.”
She shrugged. “Tell it to my contract. Kicking me out was never an option.” Her attention shifted to Gideon. “I thought you were going to be coming here in the morning. You know, with our groceries.”
“I am not a friggin’ delivery boy. You are the assistant. Thought you said you would be making delivery arrangements.” His eyes were slits. “Don’t you have some sharp object you need to go play with?”
Bran had no idea what Gideon was going on about. He didn’t have time to care. Bran could only shake his head as he prowled toward Julia. “Don’t you get that danger is around me?”
She headed straight for him. Matched him step for step. When they were touching close, Julia lifted her hand and stabbed her index finger into his chest. “Dumbass, don’t you get that I’m not scared?”
“Oh, yeah,” Gideon drawled from the couch. “Real delicate flower right there. A strong wind would probably knock her over.”
It probably would. Hadn’t he once had the same thought? Her bones were fragile, she was tiny, and all Bran wanted to do was pull her into his arms and protect her. Instead, I brought her straight into danger. Bran’s breath released on a long exhale. “I’m sorry.”
She frowned suspiciously up at him. Her brow crinkled, and she kept her index finger pressed to his chest. “What have you done now?”
“You didn’t know everything coming in to this job. You didn’t know…” Another exhale. “No one knows, except Gideon, because I wanted him as back-up protection.”
Now her hand pulled back. “Slow down,” Julia instructed him only her voice was all soft and tender. “Start at the beginning and tell me everything. I want to help you.”
You can’t. Bran shook his head and shouldered around her. “You have to leave, Julia. I don’t care what kind of contract you signed, it’s not safe to be around me right now.”
“That’s odd. Because I happen to feel very safe with you.”
His head whipped toward her.
She had a faint smile on her face. One that made that lone dimple wink in her cheek. “It’s how I feel. Just telling you the truth.”
Yes, Julia kept telling him the truth. Unlike so many others in his life. She wasn’t bullshitting him. Wasn’t working her own agenda.
Her gaze met his. No hesitation. “I want to help you.”
That was the thing… “You can’t.” Did she think he wanted to send her away? Hell, no. He wanted to keep her as close as he could get her. Yet after what had went down that morning at the grocery store and what might happen… “When this mess is over, you can come back.” Yes, yes, that would work. He was already looking forward to her returning. “When it’s safe, when the danger has passed, you can come back and, ah, work with me.”
Julia shook her head.
His heart seemed to squeeze. He lifted his fingers and rubbed at the ache in his chest. An ache that shouldn’t be there.
“I’m not leaving, Bran. You obviously need me.”
Gideon snorted.
Her gaze shot to the sheriff. “I want to know…” Now she took a few steps toward the sheriff. Her sneakered feet made no sound. “I want to know why your boy Gideon was sneaking around your property in the middle of the night.”
Instead of replying, Gideon flashed her a shark’s smile. “There are a few things I’d like to know about you, too, sweetheart.”
Sweetheart?
Bran saw Julia’s pretty face tighten.
Don’t call her sweetheart. In a flash, Bran turned on his friend and snapped, “Watch your ass with her. She sure as hell isn’t your sweetheart.”
Gideon blinked. “Oh? Does that mean she’s yours?”
Bran’s lips parted. I want her to be. Shit, shit. No way. Wrong response.
“I’m no one’s sweetheart,” Julia spoke flatly. “But I am a woman who is well on her way to being seriously annoyed. First, I have to deal with some whack-job shooting at a grocery store today, and then I get all disturbed when I’m trying to go back to bed because some loud sheriff is stomping around outside. My day—and my night—hasn’t been the best ever, so I’d appreciate some explanations.” A faint pause. “Considering how close I came to taking a bullet today, I think I deserve the truth.”
She did. Bran slid a hand over his jaw. His fingers scraped against the stubble there. “Someone is after me.”
She lifted one eyebrow. “You don’t say.”
“My motorcycle accident? The one where I totaled my bike? I told you the brakes didn’t work, but…I didn’t mention the fact that they stopped working because some SOB sabotaged them.”
Her lips parted.
“I’m sure that’s what happened,” he added darkly, “because the sonofabitch had sent me a note right before the accident, telling me that he was coming for me. Telling me I was going to get exactly what I deserved. I thought it was bullshit, until I nearly broke my neck on that road. After the docs at the hospital cleared me, I went back home and found out that someone had broken into my place. Stole some of my personal stuff and left me a note saying that next time, I wouldn’t walk away.”
She rushed toward him. Her hands flew out and locked around his arms. Her touch burned right through him. “And you didn’t go to the cops?”
Gideon coughed. “Hello! I’m a sheriff. Sitting right here.”
Bran had let the local cops try to run their investigation. “There wasn’t any e
vidence on the motorcycle itself, not enough left to prove sabotage.”
“But the note—”
“Yeah…” A long sigh from Gideon. “There was nothing special about the note. It was printed on the computer at Bran’s place. No prints were found. And, yes, people did look for prints. I pulled some strings for my buddy and got a very quiet investigation going. Unfortunately, jackshit was turned up. The cops in his area weren’t real interested in his story, and then Bran packed up and came here. He knew I would help.”
Her eyes were wide now as she stared up at Bran. “Your manager must be pissed.”
Pissed was an understatement. “I’m Hathway’s cash cow. He wanted to surround me with bodyguards and shove me in lockdown mode until this mess was over. He wanted to hire a dozen PIs to track the sonofabitch.”
She nodded. “Yes, that all sounds smart.”
His lips thinned. “I let Hathway hire several PIs.”
Her eyelids flickered, and he saw the flash of surprise.
“They found nothing.” A few had even implied he might be making up the story. What the hell? Like he needed more media attention. Uh, no, thanks. “I wasn’t about to go the full-scale bodyguard route. You think I want to be caged up every minute of the day?”
“That’s…it doesn’t have to be that way.”
Didn’t she understand? “A bodyguard would be another target. Anyone close to me is a target.” Her hands were still around his arms. “Didn’t you learn that today?”
She didn’t speak.
“He’s using himself as bait,” Gideon offered helpfully. “Or at least, I think that was the plan when he first pulled into town.”
“The plan was to lay low. To see if the jerk had followed me up here. If he had, then I intended to draw him out…” His lips twisted. “With the sheriff at my back.”
“Here I am,” Gideon murmured. “Consider your back covered. That’s why I was making sure your property was safe tonight instead of, you know, being all snug in my bed.”
Julia’s gaze slanted to Gideon, then came back to Bran. “I think the stalker followed you.” Her pretty lips tightened. “Not having a bodyguard with you in the mountains is a mistake. A bodyguard would stand between you and danger. A bodyguard would—”
“I don’t want someone risked for me!” And shit… “That already happened, okay? We kept it as quiet as we could, but after the motorcycle accident, Charles Warner, the head of my security team when I’m on tour…the guy got stabbed right outside of a club. He was waiting on me to come out after a show. There was a thick crowd, people were shouting my name…” It had been chaos. “Someone shoved at me. Charles shoved back, and he wound up with a knife between his ribs.”
“What?” Julia shook her head. “I didn’t read about that! Not so much as a word was in the press.”
“Because I have a lot of money, and I can pay to keep things quiet. Charles didn’t want the attention. I paid his hospital bill, then I made sure Charles and his family were settled.” Charles had two little girls. Two little girls who’d almost lost their dad because the fellow had been standing between Bran and that crazy asshole out there.
“How do you know the attack came from the same person? How do you know your stalker is the one who stabbed him?”
Bran pressed his lips together.
“Because he got a phone call,” Gideon answered, still lounging on the couch. “The caller asked him how many more people would have to be hurt before Bran got the punishment he deserved. Sounded like a confession to me.”
Her hold tightened on Bran. “You should not have kept all of this secret!”
Gideon laughed. “Bran is good with secrets. Didn’t even tell the manager why he was suddenly ditching all his security personnel. Just spouted some BS about needing his time to create.”
He did need to work on his music. He also needed to stop the sonofabitch after him. Bran pulled away from Julia. “No one else is going to get hurt.”
Her chin notched up. “No one but you, is that it?”
Did she think he wanted this mess? He didn’t. The PIs had turned up nothing, and the asshole was still out there, waiting for his chance to strike. “He’ll come for me, and I’ll be ready.”
“You weren’t ready in town today.”
She was fucking right. He’d let down his guard. Been distracted—by her.
Julia shook her head. “He’ll come for you again, and you could wind up dead. Have you thought of that?” She closed the distance between them. Distance he’d just created. Her scent—so sweet and sexy—wrapped around him. “This is crazy! You can’t set yourself up this way. You need help!”
“I’ve got Gideon.”
Her expression didn’t alter. Obviously, Gideon didn’t impress her.
“I was going to wait until morning, but since Gideon is here now…” The ache in Bran’s chest was getting worse. “He can take you back to town.”
Her cheeks reddened. “Stop trying to fire me! I told you, I have an ironclad contract—”
“I’ll pay you enough money that the contract won’t matter. The job is done. I won’t risk you.” He turned away. Bran had to turn away before he did something dumb like grab her and pull her into his arms. Kiss her with all the frantic passion and hunger he felt. “It’s late as hell, so I’m going to bed.” Mostly, he just had to get out of there. Get away from her gorgeous eyes and all that perfect skin. “Gideon, be sure and set the alarm when you leave.” Bran headed for the stairs.
“That’s it?” Julia’s sharp voice followed him. “You think you can fire me and just walk away?”
“Yes.” He didn’t look back at her. Couldn’t. “That’s exactly what I think I can do. Haven’t you heard? I’m Bran Copper. I do any fucking thing I want.” Damn but his chest ached. “And right now, I don’t want you here. Not either of you. So get the hell out.”
Chapter Six
“Yeah…” Gideon winced. “Sorry about that. In case you haven’t noticed, Bran can be a bit of a bastard some days.”
“Really?” Her gaze was on Bran’s retreating back as he climbed the stairs—and didn’t look back. “I must have missed that.” Her hands went to her hips as her mouth curled into a small smile.
It was really adorable the way Bran thought he had any control over her. He believed he was kicking her out? Not likely.
“I don’t like your smile. It’s creepy. A creepy smile on a beautiful woman is usually a bad sign.”
She heard the faint click of the upstairs door closing. She figured it had to be Bran’s bedroom door shutting.
“I’m happy to take you to town. I’ll drop you off at Meg’s Bed and Breakfast so you can get settled for the rest of the night. I’ll just wait here for you to…” Gideon’s words trailed off as Julia turned toward him.
“Thank you, but no.”
His brows climbed. “No, you don’t want to stay at Meg’s?”
“No to everything. I don’t need a ride to town. I’ll be staying here. It’s my job.”
Some of the faint humor left his face as Gideon rose to his feet. He was tall and muscled. He didn’t exactly look like some green country sheriff. She made a mental note to have Cole dig into Gideon’s background. Dig hard and deep.
“I don’t think you understand what’s happening here,” Gideon said as he advanced on her. “You had some nice self-defense moves outside, and you were lucky enough to catch me off guard—”
Lucky? She snorted. She could take him down right then and there if she wanted.
His brows beetled. “This isn’t a game.”
She hadn’t thought that it was.
“Someone out there is gunning for Bran. If you stay close to him, you’ll get caught in the crossfire.”
Yes. “That’s a chance I’ll take.”
“What? Do you have some kind of death wish or something?”
A shrink had once said that she did, yes, but she’d stopped seeing him. He hadn’t been particularly helpful to her. “I’
m not leaving Bran on his own.”
“That’s how Bran wants things!” The words seemed to explode from Gideon. “I’ve known the guy since we were kids. He likes to be alone. He never lets anyone close, that is just not his style. If you think you’re coming down here in your short shorts and your skimpy top—”
Now she glanced down at herself. Seriously? He was attacking her clothes?
“And you think you can charm or seduce your way past Bran’s guard, you need to think again.” His voice hardened. “He will use you, he will hurt you, and he will still walk away. That’s what he does. Hell, I don’t think he can help himself. I’m sorry, but it’s the way things are.”
Her shoulders stiffened as her gaze returned to meet his. “Thanks for the warning, but I’m a big girl. I can handle myself, and I’m not exactly worried about a little heart break.”
He blinked and seemed puzzled. “You after the money? I mean, that’s why most of the women hang out with him. For money or because they want to fuck someone famous.”
She let out a low whistle. “My, sheriff, you are a charming one. However do you manage to keep yourself single?”
Now he stiffened.
“I’m guessing that you’re single. Just...” A brittle smile. “Something I sense.”
His cheeks went ruddy. “I don’t know what game you’re playing.”
Not a game. She’d considered confiding the truth to him, but, well, he was pissing her off so her urge to share vanished.
“You’re on private property, ma’am.”
He’d ma’amed her. Not a good sign.
“Bran said for you to leave, and as the sheriff, it is my job to escort you from the premises.”
He was going to try that line on her? Her hands clenched, but then released. Getting angry wasn’t going to fix the situation. Getting dragged out of the house wouldn’t help her to protect Bran.
That meant she was left with only one option. Bran would have to rescind his order.
She let her shoulders slump. “Right. Fine. Will you—will you at least give me a few minutes to get my stuff?” Julia sniffed and swiped at her left eye, as if she was wiping away a tear.