Is my property worth killing over? A few days ago I would have said no. Now Natalie wondered. It was entirely possible that Peterson knew something she didn’t. True, he owned a chain of inns and lodges all across New England, and through them became a billionaire. The Buck’s Head was in an ideal location and should be making her good money. Was that why he wanted it so badly?
Lloyd Peterson was a narcissistic psychotic prick who had to have his own way no matter what the cost.
Pulling into the parking lot at the local bank, Natalie got out, and in an unusual move, glanced around for any sight of Peterson’s Mercedes. Observing Jude doing the same, she almost rolled her eyes at the ridiculousness of it. Peterson won’t try to kill me in broad daylight in the middle of town.
“You don’t have to come in with me,” she murmured as Jude hovered so close to her she could scent the soap he washed with. “The bank has security.”
“I think I will anyway.”
Walking inside, Natalie suppressed a sigh, knowing that his close proximity to her would set the town who witnessed it to gossiping. Does Natalie have a boyfriend now? Who is he? I remember when Jimmy left her high and dry. The teller made no comment as she walked up to the young woman’s window, but smiled politely.
“Hi, Natalie,” she said, her swift glance taking in Jude’s hulking presence. “A deposit today?”
“Yeah.” Natalie felt other eyes on them, greedy for small-town talk, and knew the backyard fences would be alive with questions over the stranger seen with Natalie Hardstone.
She made her deposit, pocketed the receipt, then headed for the sidewalk along the main street that ran through Landson. Jude hovered so closely she finally turned on him and held up her hand with a glower.
“Dude,” she snapped. “Give me some damn room. You’re stifling me.”
“Oh.” He crammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and grinned sheepishly. “I’ve never been a bodyguard before.”
“People are going to think we’re lovers with the way you lurk in my personal space.”
Jude sidled a step away, his pale eyes glinting. “Now that is an idea I like.”
“Not gonna happen.”
Shaking her head, Natalie walked down the sidewalk toward the hardware store, trying not to look for Peterson’s car. The cars and trucks passing them by or that were parked on the street were hardly as expensive or as flashy as his Mercedes. Upon not seeing it at all, she felt more foolish than ever for believing she needed a bodyguard.
“Make yourself useful,” she told Jude, handing him the items she had come to buy.
“Ah, so I’ve been relegated to a beast of burden,” he replied with a small grin as he followed her up the aisle.
“Should I call you my donkey?” she asked, her tone arched.
“I would much prefer you didn’t.”
Chuckling, Natalie continued her shopping, answering Jude’s questions about the town and its people. “Most folks have lived here all their lives,” she said, “just as I have. Some young people move away to the cities, but I wanted to stay and run the lodge.”
“You seem young to own such a business,” Jude commented, pacing at her side as she examined the shelves.
Natalie paused and glanced at him. “I inherited it from my parents. They died a few years ago.”
“What happened?”
“A car accident,” she replied, succinct, not wanting to go into the emotional details. I barely know this guy. “A hit and run.”
“That’s terrible.”
She caught the sympathy in his eyes and the line of his mouth and clamped her lips against the welling of grief that threatened to rise. “It’s been tough.”
Striding on, she said, “I learned the business from my dad. He had learned it from his dad. One day, I’d like to pass it on to my kids.”
“A noble idea.”
Natalie eyed him, wondering if he was being sarcastic, or if it was a hint to go to bed with him. Jude’s expression showed nothing more than mild interest with nothing else that suggested either. “I thought so. One day I’ll have kids.”
Jude stayed silent as she paid for her purchases, once again enduring the curious looks from the clerk, a young man she had dated once in high school. Jude carried the bags out of the store with an expression of mild amusement. “I guess you like children?” he asked.
Natalie smiled. “I do. I’ve always wanted them.”
“And no, er, husband? Or potential husband?”
Standing on the sidewalk, waiting for traffic to pass so she could cross, Natalie knew that such a question was inevitable, though she had hoped it would never come up. “I came close,” she murmured. “He discovered he was allergic to commitments and took off one day.”
Expecting more questions, or at least a comment, Natalie watched him from the corner of her eye when he said nothing. Not sure if she should be glad for his lack of curiosity, or feel bad because Jude showed little interest in her, Natalie shrugged inwardly.
Traffic cleared, and Natalie stepped off the sidewalk to cross the street. Jude wasn’t with her. Shooting a quick glance over her shoulder, she saw that he was busy looking at the flyers posted on the light pole beside him.
Stopping in the middle of the street to wait for another car to pass by, Natalie called, “You coming?”
Without waiting for an answer, she continued on, her mind on her new advertising campaign. In the distance, she half-listened to the roar of an engine, and the squealing of rubber on asphalt. She started to look in the direction it came from when Jude’s scream of her name jerked her head toward him instead.
Chapter Four
Jude both heard and saw the truck bearing down on Natalie and dropped the bags. “Natalie!”
She turned toward him and away from the danger. She doesn’t see it. How can she not know it’s there and coming straight at her?
The truck’s chrome grill flashed silver fire in his eyes as he half-lunged, half-flew across the lanes of the street. Natalie seemed to freeze in place, her eyes widening in panic, flicking as though trying to decide which way to run. Everything seemed to slow down; he watched the truck bear down on her, closing the distance.
Still, Natalie stood in frozen terror, like a prey animal caught in a trap. Jude leaped, his arms wide, and brought her down in a flying tackle in the middle of the road and rolled. The rough asphalt scraped skin from his back as he skidded, Natalie safely in his arms, into the next lane.
The truck screamed past both their bodies, a tire kissing his boot as it went by.
His flesh on fire from the nasty scrape to his back and hips, Jude lay for a moment, breathing hard. Natalie didn’t move. After a couple of shaky breaths, he grew alarmed, thinking perhaps he had been a second too late, and that the truck had killed her.
“Natalie?”
Lifting his head slightly, he found her jade eyes wide and shocked, staring into his own. “Are you all right?” he asked.
“I—I think so.”
Growing aware of the babble of voices around them, Jude saw in a swift glance that people approached. Cars had stopped in the street as the drivers got out. He heard someone yell, “Call 9-1-1!” and another shout, “Get an ambulance!”
Sitting up carefully with Natalie in his arms, Jude felt her body shaking, trembling with either fear or injury. The skin of her face had become ghostly pale, and that alarmed him. He tried to set her on the pavement so he could examine her for possible injuries, only to have her stand up abruptly.
The people closed in with questions, with murmurs, as Jude, wincing, also stood up. “Are you hurt?” “I saw everything; I’ll be a witness; he tried to run you down.” “Dude, you’re bleeding.”
Jude looked around and saw a man with long hair and a scraggly beard with a concerned expression and eyes that flicked between his face and his back. “Yeah,” he mumbled, reaching to touch his sore back. “I got scraped.”
“Man, that is some road rash you got there,” th
e man said, staring.
In the distance, sirens wailed as Natalie heard what the man said and turned to him. “Jude? You got hurt?”
Before Jude could answer, the other guy said, “I’ll say. His back looks like raw hamburger.”
Others crowded around to see for themselves as Natalie took his arm to turn his body around so she could look. “Oh, shit,” she muttered.
Jude couldn’t quite understand what the fuss was about. Sure, he’d had plenty of injuries before, and the scrapes he received falling off the motorcycle stung almost as bad. But he had always healed quickly, and pain never bothered him much.
“You should go to the hospital,” Natalie told him, her face uptilted to his.
“Why?”
“Dude, I watched the whole thing,” said the bearded fellow. “You must have skidded ten feet on your back.”
With a small grin, Jude shrugged and winced. “I couldn’t let her get run over.”
Murmurs rose as an ambulance, a firetruck, and two police vehicles pulled up, lights flashing red and blue. Medics and the firemen entered the milling crowd and focused on Natalie and himself. “You folks injured?” one asked.
Natalie gestured. “He is.”
“Mind if I have a look at you, sir?”
As the sheriff’s deputies started asking questions, Jude let the medic examine his back. “We should take you to the hospital for treatment, sir,” the medic told him.
“No, I’ll be fine.” Jude winked at Natalie’s worry and concern. “It’s no big deal.”
The medics tried to dissuade him, but Jude stayed adamant; he didn’t need a hospital or treatment. One presented a clipboard and a pen. “Then sign here that you are refusing treatment.”
Uncertain what this meant, Jude took the pen and scribbled something, unsure of what, at the bottom of the paper. The medics went away, and the deputies stepped forward. “Mind telling us what happened?” one of them asked. “Natalie, how are you?”
“Fine, Dave.”
Natalie, her voice quavering slightly, explained how the truck roared at her from nowhere, and how Jude tackled her and saved her life. As she spoke, Jude absently watched a few of the crowd move on while others still gaped and cars drove around the block of people in the middle of the street.
“Jude is one of my guests, Dave,” Natalie went on.
The deputy looked Jude up and down. “Do you have some ID, sir?”
Jude met his gaze calmly. “Not on me. Natalie drove.”
“Your name then?”
Jude gave it, and the deputy nodded. “Natalie, did you see the driver?”
She shook her head. “No, but I know who it was.”
As Jude already suspected Peterson had tried to run her down, even though he did not see the driver’s face behind the tinted glass, he showed no surprise. The deputy’s focus sharpened on her.
“Who?”
“Lloyd Peterson.”
As the cop took notes while Natalie explained the attempt to purchase her property, the vague threats, Jude absently took in the shocked expressions on the faces of those who listened. Natalie was right. Not much happens in this town. A near murder both shocked and fascinated them.
“And you saw this happening, sir?”
With a jolt, Jude returned his attention to Natalie and the deputy. “I saw the truck headed right for her,” he said, recalling how everything seemed to go by in slow motion, yet happened so fast. “I yelled her name, but she didn’t seem to see her danger. I ran out and grabbed her before it could strike her.”
“She was lucky to have you around.” The deputy closed his notebook while the other one dispersed the crowd. “If I have more questions, I’ll come by the lodge, Natalie,” he said, his voice kind. “And I’ll go talk to this Lloyd Peterson.”
“Thank you, Dave.”
The ambulance and the firetruck rolled slowly away as the onlookers melted out of their path. Jude retrieved the bags he had dropped in one hand, then took Natalie’s in the other. “You ready to go back?”
Natalie nodded, her hand in his moist. “Why won’t you go to the hospital?”
“I see no reason to,” he replied as they reached the safety of the sidewalk, and strode toward her truck, still parked at the bank.
“Your back is a mess.”
He chuckled. “I’m impervious to infections, and I heal fast. I’ll be fine.”
“You’re lucky. Something like that would have me in bed for weeks.”
“I did not hurt you?” he asked, observing some dirt on her clothes but no blood.
Natalie responded with a tiny grin. “With the way you grabbed me, you took all my weight on you. I don’t have a scratch.”
She lifted her hands as they walked, then suddenly gasped in shock. Instantly, Jude stared at them with worry, thinking to call the ambulance medics back. “What’s wrong?”
“I broke a nail.”
Puzzled, Jude recoiled, staring at her face as she grinned widely, listening to her pleasing laughter. He chuckled, seeing how she had just played him. “Oh, you’re funny, honey.”
“I do try.”
Jude put the bags into the truck’s bed as she unlocked the cab. When he climbed inside, he nearly hissed in pain as his chewed flesh met the smooth cloth of the seat. Natalie watched his expression. “I can still drive you to the hospital,” she offered, starting the engine.
“No, I’ll be fine,” he replied, leaning forward slightly. “Besides, I’m here illegally, remember? They might find out.”
“Yeah,” she answered slowly, driving out of the lot, “they will.”
As she melded into the traffic and drove toward the lodge, Jude felt the burning pain spread across his back under the rocking motion of the truck. Half tempted to ask her to take him to the hospital despite the risk of being put in jail for being here illegally, Jude gritted his teeth and endured it.
“Thank you for saving my life,” Natalie said, driving and gazing straight ahead.
“You’re welcome.”
At his light tone, she shot him a fast glance. “You were right,” she continued, her voice low. “He won’t stop at attempted murder, will he?”
“No.”
“He’ll try again?”
“Yes.”
“Even with the cops knowing he’d be the chief suspect if I got killed?”
“Have guilty people escaped justice before?”
Natalie nodded, then sighed. “He’ll make it look like an accident,” she said, her voice despairing. “He’ll kill me, won’t he?”
“No.” Jude grinned. “Not while I’m around.”
“Maybe I should demand twice what he offered and sell to him,” she continued. “It’s not right to risk your life over this stupid melodrama.”
“Oh, he will find it very difficult to kill me,” Jude told her on a laugh. “Don’t worry about that, my girl.”
“What? Are you invincible? Immortal?”
He heard the scoff in her tone. “Nope. Just a great deal stronger and tougher than you think.”
Rather than answer, Natalie shook her head, driving on down the highway. Though he had been forbidden to reveal what he was to any human, Jude reflected on informing her anyway. He liked her, and he felt he could trust her. Yet the need to remain hidden from humans had been too deeply ingrained in him to start confessing now.
“I’m just glad you offered to be my bodyguard,” she said a few miles later. “I feel bad that you got hurt, but glad it was not worse.”
“I feel the same way.”
“And you still want to help me?”
“Sure.”
“Maybe you’re as insane as he is,” she muttered. “Happily agreeing to risk your life for me.”
“It’s mine to risk,” he answered. “Right?”
“I suppose.”
She stayed silent for the rest of the trip to the lodge and parked the truck around the back. Jude had stiffened up during the ride and almost groaned as he got out. Before
he could, Natalie nipped the bags from the truck’s bed and led the way into the lodge.
He breathed in the scents of cooking and heard the murmurs of the guests in the dining room, his stomach rumbling. “I’m going up to my room to shower,” he said, pausing near the stairs, “and then will you join me for lunch?”
Natalie nodded. “Sure.”
The hot water of the shower stung his butchered back with a savage intensity, but Jude endured it with gritted teeth. His flesh would heal faster if the wounds were clean, so he stayed under the spray for as long as he could handle it. Dripping, sore, he stepped out of the shower and carefully dried himself. Dressing again, throwing his torn shirt in the trash, he went back downstairs.
Natalie idly sipped ice water at a table, waiting for him, and glanced up as he approached. “I can tell from your face that you’re hurting,” she commented as he sat down.
“The pain will pass quickly enough.”
Natalie sipped from her glass, watching him with near suspicion in her eyes. “Are you ex-military or something? Like Rambo, trained to ignore pain, hunger, extreme cold, heat?”
Jude studied her. “I don’t know who this Rambo is, but no. I’m not former military.”
“You must be from far away if you’ve never heard of Rambo,” she replied, humor lighting up her eyes.
The waitress arrived with thick bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches, fries, and cole slaw, and Jude took a huge bite from his immediately. “You do have good food here,” he said, his mouth full.
“I was lucky enough to hire Rick,” Natalie replied, eating her sandwich with more daintiness than he. “Other inns keep trying to steal him from me, but he stays loyal.”
“Loyalty is a good trait.”
Hunger kept them both silent for a time, and Jude kept a watchful eye on the dining room even as he devoured the fries hot enough to burn his mouth. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary, the guests happy, the waitresses keeping them so. “This is a good business to have,” he murmured. “Helping people enjoy themselves.”
“Keeping them happy brings them back over and over,” Natalie replied. “And they tell their friends. Word of mouth, you know.”
Dragon Fever: Limited Edition Holiday Romance Boxset Page 3