It was only the beginning of vulnerabilities, and of pleasure. Over the course of that night, Glory surrendered again and again as Jesse put her through her paces, changing their positions and his demands regularly. Sometimes it was Jesse who submitted, but more often it was Glory.
And during those brief moments when her thoughts were at all coherent, she wondered how she had survived ten years without Jesse tuning her body and then causing it to play symphonies.
They slept for an hour, but then Jesse awakened Glory in a most delicious way and had her thoroughly, all over again. She was allowed to shower in peace only when Liza was up and around.
Her suitcase was lying on the bed when she came out wrapped in a towel.
“I stopped by your car and picked this up on the way home last night,” Jesse said, watching her with those brazen brown eyes of his. “Can you imagine the speculation that must be going on? I can hear it now—‘I tell you, Mavis, she parked her car at the graveyard and disappeared without a trace.’”
Glory laughed and took out clean underwear, a pair of jeans and a roomy aqua-blue cable-knit sweater. “Give the gossips their due, Jesse,” she said, beginning to dress. “They’re saying I’ve been in your bed all night, and they’re right.”
He stopped her as she would have hooked her bra and gave each nipple a warm suckling before snapping the front catch himself and pulling the straps up onto her shoulders. “I love you, Glory.”
Her cheeks heated as she looked up at him because, after all of it, she found herself wanting him to lay her back on the bed and take her again. She didn’t know how she was going to wait six months to share this room with him on a regular basis, but she was determined to do it, because she wanted their marriage to be long and unshakably solid. “Oh, Jesse, I’m so wanton.”
Jesse laughed. “Patience, Glory. There’s always tonight at your place.”
She smiled and put her arms around his neck to kiss him, teasing his lips with her tongue. “Since it’s my bed, Sheriff,” she said, “I’m going to be calling all the shots.”
Reluctantly Jesse backed away, but not before Glory lightly touched the front of his jeans and found him reaching for her.
They went downstairs separately, Glory first, and Jesse about five minutes later.
*
It snowed on New Year’s Eve, but that didn’t stop Harold and Delphine’s guests from attending the wedding. The church was still decorated with poinsettia plants from Christmas, and candlelight flickered romantically.
Glory stood at the front of the church, wearing her royal blue bridesmaid’s dress. Happy tears dropped into her bouquet of roses and carnations, and soon the vows had been exchanged and the bride and groom were hurrying down the aisle to strains of joyful music. As Glory turned to follow, she made eye contact with the man who would be her groom when summer came, and six months seemed to be a very long time.
On the other hand, when you compared it to forever, half a year was nothing. Glory and Jesse had arranged for special counseling with the pastor, for themselves and for Liza, and they were already working hard at learning to be a family.
She’d messed up badly once, and Glory didn’t intend to make the same mistake again. She knew now that love doesn’t just happen, it has to be nurtured and cared for.
Jesse was waiting at the foot of the aisle, his arm out for Glory, and she went into its curve willingly. “I’ll drive you over to the reception,” he whispered into her ear, managing to trace it once with the tip of his tongue, “but I can’t promise to take the most direct route.”
Glory was grateful that everyone was looking at Delphine, who made a lovely bride in her pale rose dress and big picture hat, because she herself was blushing. “Jesse Bainbridge,” she scolded. But she let him put her into his grandfather’s fancy car, and she didn’t say a single word when he turned off down a side road and headed for the rest area overlooking the river.
Her protests were cut off with a kiss that made her go damp all over, and when Jesse made the seat go back, she just went with it, already too weak to sit up without support.
“Jesse, they’ll miss us—my mother’s wedding—”
“We’ll be back in plenty of time for the pictures and the cake,” Jesse said, raising her billowy skirt to find her with his hand and caress her.
Instinctively, Glory raised her knees up, then let them fall wide apart. Her hands gripped the tufted seats as Jesse ducked under her skirt to tease her through the thin, tautly drawn panty hose. When he peeled them down, there were no protests from Glory, because he’d already created a need that made it hard for her to lie still.
He parted her, and she heard his muffled chuckle under all those ruffles. She would have sworn he said, “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!”
*
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Seemer
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter,
Glory Ann Parsons,
to Mr. Jesse Alexander Bainbridge on
Saturday June twenty-second at 2:00 p.m.
First Lutheran Church Pearl River, Oregon
Snowbound with the Bodyguard
Carla Cassidy
Dear Reader,
A snowstorm, a handsome bodyguard and a woman on the run with her precious baby. What more do you need to create a thrilling romance?
Snowbound with the Bodyguard was originally one of the books in the Wild West Bodyguard miniseries, a series I wrote with great enjoyment.
I love a man who is a natural protector, one who would take on anything and anyone to protect a vulnerable woman and her child. Dalton West is that man. I fell in love with him as he came to the aid of Janette Black, a woman who needed a hero as danger closed in.
I hope you enjoy reading their story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Happy reading!
Carla Cassidy
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Epilogue
Prologue
“Order up.” Smiley Smith, owner and short-order cook at Smiley’s Café, banged the small bell on the counter to punctuate his words.
Janette Black wiped her hands on her cheerful red-and-white apron, then walked over to retrieve the Thursday special.
She grabbed the plate and served it to the man seated at the long counter. “Here you go, Walter.” She smiled at the old man who came in every Thursday afternoon regular as clockwork for Smiley’s meatloaf.
“Thank you, honey. Can I bother you for another cup of coffee?” Walter offered her a sweet smile.
“For you, Walter, it’s no bother.” She turned around and went to get the coffeepot, grateful that the lunch rush was over and she only had two more hours in her shift. Then she could go home and snuggle her little boy and visit with Nana until it was time for her to be back here first thing in the morning.
“How’s that grandmother of yours?” Walter asked as she poured his coffee.
Janette’s heart warmed at thoughts of her grandmother. “She’s okay. We have her heart condition under control. She tires easily, but she’s doing just fine.”
Walter laughed. “She’s a corker, that one. It will take more than a couple of strokes to keep her down.”
As Janette began to wipe down the countertop, she smiled. Her grandmother wasn’t just a corker, she was the woman who had raised Janette from the time she was three and the woman who was now helping Janette raise her little boy. Nana’s last stroke had been nearly a year ago, but she had astounded the doctors with her recovery.
Janette was just giving the shiny surf
ace a final swipe when the tinkle of the bell over the front door indicated another diner arriving.
She looked up and her blood froze. There were three of them, all wearing the khaki uniforms of law enforcement. Sheriff Brandon Sinclair led the way, swaggering in followed by two of his trusted deputies.
There were only two cafés in Sandstone, Oklahoma, and she’d chosen to work at Smiley’s because the other place, Lacy’s, was where Sinclair and his men usually ate their lunch.
Sheriff Sinclair surveyed the café like a king overseeing his domain, his ice-blue eyes narrowing just a touch as his gaze landed on Janette.
Take a table, she mentally begged. If they sat at the table, then Heidi, Janette’s coworker, would wait on them. Janette had spent the past year of her life doing everything possible to avoid contact with the sheriff.
As he and his deputies headed toward the counter, her stomach bucked with a touch of nausea and her heart began to beat the rhythm of panic.
She couldn’t lose it. Not here. Not now. She refused to let him know how he affected her, knowing that he would relish her fear.
He’s just another customer, she told herself as the three seated themselves at the counter. “Can I take your orders?” she asked, surprised to hear her voice cool and collected despite all the emotions that quivered inside her.
“Coffee,” Sinclair said. “What kind of pie is good today?”
“Apple,” Janette replied tersely, then added, “the apple is always good.”
“Then let’s make it coffee and pie for all of us,” Sinclair said.
Janette nodded and turned to get the coffeepot. She could do this. As long as she didn’t look at him too long, as long as she didn’t get close enough to smell his cologne. She had a feeling if she got a whiff of that cheap, cloying smell she might vomit.
She filled their cups, trying to ignore the way Sinclair’s eyes lingered on her breasts. Her throat tightened and her heart banged harder against her ribs.
“Never guess what I heard through the grapevine,” Sinclair said to his deputies.
“What’s that, Sheriff?” Deputy Jed Billet asked.
“I heard that Janette has a little baby boy. What is he, about five months old, Janette?” Sinclair gazed at her knowingly.
She turned to get their pie, her hands trembling as she opened the display case that held the desserts. He knew. Dear God, he knew.
“Gonna be tough, being a single parent,” Deputy Westin said.
As she placed the pie in front of Sinclair he reared back on the stool. “A boy. There’s something special about a boy, don’t you think so, Jed? I mean, I love my three little girls, but I always dreamed about how great it would be to have a son. Unfortunately, all my wife could pop was girls. Still, a boy needs a father, don’t you agree?”
A roar went off in Janette’s head. She had to escape. She had to take her son and leave Sandstone because she knew what evil Sheriff Brandon Sinclair was capable of, and as long as she remained in Sandstone he had the power to do whatever he wanted to do.
If he decided he wanted her baby boy, she knew he’d find a way to get him.
Chapter 1
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I just got word that the bus isn’t coming.”
Janette blinked and stared up at the man in charge of the Cotter Creek bus station. She straightened in her chair as she realized she must have dozed off. She wrapped her arms around her still-sleeping son and gazed at the man with confusion.
“Excuse me?” she said.
“The bus. It’s not coming. It’s been held up by weather.”
“By weather?” Dulled by sleep, she stared at him as if he were speaking a foreign language.
He nodded. “Ice.” He pointed out the window. Janette followed his finger and gasped in surprise as she saw the icy pellets falling from the sky. The ground was already covered with at least an inch.
Where had it come from? When she’d arrived at the bus station two hours ago the skies had been thick with gray clouds, but there hadn’t been a hint of snow. Of course the last thing on her mind when she’d left Sandstone had been the weather forecast.
She looked back at the man and tried to swallow against the sense of panic that had been with her since she’d packed her bags and left Sandstone that afternoon. A friend of her grandmother’s had driven her the thirty miles to Cotter Creek, where a bus to Kansas City ran every other day. It was supposed to run today.
“Will it be here tomorrow?” she asked.
“Depends if the weathermen are right or wrong. They say we’re in for a blizzard, but they’re wrong more often than they’re right.” He shrugged his skinny shoulders and pulled a stocking cap over his head. “You best get settled in someplace for the night. I’ve got to close down here. Check back in the morning and I’ll know more about the schedule.” He was obviously in a hurry, tapping his heel as he looked at her expectantly.
“Of course.” She stood, grateful that Sammy still slept in his sling against her chest. She didn’t want to show how scared she was, didn’t want to do anything that might draw unnecessary attention to herself.
She’d find a pay phone, call the nearest motel and get a room for the night. Hopefully she’d still have time to get as far away from Sandstone as possible before Brandon Sinclair even knew she’d left the small town.
She grabbed the handle of her large suitcase and draped the diaper bag over her shoulder, still groggy from the unexpected catnap.
She was barely out the door before the bus station, little more than a shack, was locked up behind her. The ice that fell had coated the sidewalk and created shiny surfaces on everything else in sight. Under different circumstances she might have found it beautiful.
With Sammy safely snuggled beneath her wool coat, she looked up and down the street. She didn’t know Cotter Creek well. Perhaps there was a bed-and-breakfast someplace nearby where she could spend the night.
A new disquiet soared through her as she eyed the deserted streets. It was just after six but it was as if the entire town had packed their bags and left. There wasn’t a person or a car on the street.
She should have asked to use the phone in the bus station. She should have asked the man where she could get a room for the night. But the nap had dulled her senses, and he’d hurried her out too fast for her to think clearly.
The sight of a phone booth in the distance rallied her spirits. Cotter Creek was near a major highway, and that meant there had to be a motel somewhere nearby.
Pulling the suitcase behind her, she hurried as fast as the slick concrete would allow toward the phone booth, feeling as if luck was on her side as she spied the small phone book hanging on a hook just inside the door.
She stepped into the booth and closed the door behind her, grateful to be out of the cold wind and stinging ice. With cold fingers she thumbed through the book until she found the page with the motel listings. Make that one listing. The Cotter Creek Motel.
Digging change from her purse, she felt Sammy stir as if the rapid beating of her heart disturbed his sleep. She drew a deep breath to steady her nerves.
She’d wanted to get as far away as possible as quickly as possible from Sandstone and Brandon Sinclair. Okay, so she couldn’t get on the bus tonight. She’d cool her heels in a motel room and catch the bus the next day. Although she hated to part with a dime of the money that was neatly folded and tucked into a side pocket in her purse, she really didn’t have a choice.
She had to get out of town tomorrow. Thirty miles was far too close to the devil and his minions. She wouldn’t be satisfied until she was a thousand miles away. Once she got settled in a new town, she’d send for Nana and the three of them would build a new life where Brandon Sinclair couldn’t bother them.
She dropped the change into the slot and punched in the number for the Cotter Creek Motel. A man answered on the third ring. “No room at the inn,” he said.
“Is this the Cotter Creek Motel?” she asked, her hand tightening o
n the receiver.
“Yeah, but if you’re looking for a room, we’re full up. They’ve shut the highway down up north and I’ve got a houseful of travelers. I’ve even rented out my sofa in the lobby.” He sounded positively gleeful. “Sorry.” He hung up.
Janette held the receiver for a long moment, her heart pumping with panic once again. She hung up and frantically thumbed through the skinny phone book, looking for a listing of a bed-and-breakfast, a rental room, anywhere she could get a warm bed for the night. There was nothing.
She wanted to call her grandmother and ask her what to do. Where to go. But she’d only worry Nana, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.
Besides, Janette was an adult. She had to handle this. She was twenty-four years old and a mother, and the most important thing in her life at the moment was little Sammy. She had to get him someplace safe and warm.
She leaned her head against the cold glass of the booth and watched as the ice began to turn to snow and pick up in intensity. What was she going to do? She and Sammy couldn’t spend the night out in the elements.
Desperation filled her and she felt a panic attack coming on. The palms of her hands grew slick with sweat as her throat seemed to constrict. She closed her eyes and drew in deep breaths, forcing the attack away. She didn’t have time to be weak now. Sammy needed her, and she needed to get him someplace safe for the night.
She opened her eyes once again. The clouds and ice were creating an early twilight. She straightened as she saw a light shining from a window of one of the storefronts in the next block.
Where there was light there might be somebody who could direct her to a place for the night. She checked to make sure her coat was securely fastened to keep Sammy as warm as possible, pulled up her hood and tied it beneath her chin, then stepped out of the phone booth and into the wind that had begun to howl with fierce intensity.
Glory, Glory: Snowbound with the Bodyguard Page 17