The Bodyguard's Assignment

by Amanda Stevens

  Grace could imagine having meals there—lingering over coffee in the mornings, dining by candlelight in the evenings. Anticipating the night ahead, if Brady was sitting across from her.

  He brought in the sacks containing her new clothes and placed them in a room down a narrow corridor. When he came back out, he jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “That’s the bedroom. You may as well get settled in while I start a fire.”

  “I suppose indoor plumbing is too much to hope for way out here,” she murmured.

  “Bathroom is just across the hall from the bedroom. There should be plenty of hot water, if you want a shower.”

  That was exactly what Grace wanted. She felt as if she’d been living in her clothes for days. My God, she thought almost in surprise. She and Brady had only been together a few hours, but she felt as if she’d gotten to know him better than all the time she’d spent with him years ago. Was it because he’d confided in her things that he never had before? Or was it because, this time, she was more willing to listen?

  In the bedroom, she took only a moment to study the sparse, sturdy furnishings, the narrow bed spread with a patchwork quilt, before gathering fresh clothes and moving across the hall to the bathroom.

  Brady was right. There was plenty of water and it was hot. Grace lingered under the steam until the water grew lukewarm, and she realized guiltily that the supply wasn’t endless.

  She dried off, dressed, and by the time she came back out to the living area, Brady had built a roaring fire. Chilled from her still damp hair, Grace crossed the room and warmed her hands over the blaze.

  “Nothing like a fire,” she said. “Furnaces just don’t quite do it for me.”

  Too late, she realized the implication of what she’d said, the memories her words would provoke. She and Brady propped on pillows in front of the small fireplace in her apartment. Naked and sated, and yet still touching. Still hungry. Still not having had enough of each other.…

  “I remember how you always liked a fire.” His tone was low and intimate, drawing Grace’s gaze in spite of herself.

  It seemed so strange to her that they were standing here together, after so many years apart, the heat of his gaze warming her as ably as the fire behind them.

  Their gazes clung for the longest moment, and then he said, almost roughly, “Judging by how long you were in the shower, I’d say you’re still prone to using all the hot water.”

  “Some habits die hard, I guess.” Memories continued to assail her. Brady washing her back, kissing her neck, caressing her skin beneath steaming water until she thought she would die from wanting him.

  He took her arms suddenly, startling her. His touch sent a thrill up her backbone, but the hard edge in his eyes made her ask uncertainly, “What are you doing?”

  He backed her up, until her legs touched the leather sofa, and she sat down, sinking into the soft cushions. Brady knelt beside her, his gaze never leaving hers. “I’m going in there to take a cold shower,” he said. “But first we need to get a few things straight.”

  “Like what?”

  “We’re about twenty-five miles from the highway, fifty miles from the nearest town. I’m going to take the truck keys into the bathroom with me, so if you leave the cabin, you’ll be on foot. The terrain is rugged to say the least, and if you don’t freeze to death before you get to the highway, there’s bobcat and javelina to worry about. You know anything about javelina, Grace?”

  “It’s a wild boar,” she said, angered by his tone. “I’m not completely stupid, Brady.”

  His brow arched ever so slightly. “It’s a wild boar with tusks out to here.” He measured several inches in the air. “Combine those tusks with a nasty disposition and you’ve got yourself an animal you don’t want to mess with.”

  “So what you’re telling me is that I’m stuck in the cabin,” she said coolly. “With you.”

  “And I’m stuck here with you.” His gaze flickered over her, then came back steadfastly to her face. His eyes hardened. “What we’ve got to do is find a way to make this work. I’m not going to start anything with you, Grace. You get what I’m saying? This is a job to me. Nothing more.”

  Her blood turned hot with anger. “I get what you’re saying, Brady. Loud and clear. I’ll try to refrain from jumping your bones first chance I get,” she said sarcastically.

  His gaze narrowed. “I didn’t say that to hurt your feelings. There’s still something between us. We both know that. But I’m not going to compromise your safety and my job for a quick roll in the hay. I’ve learned my lesson.”

  “If you’re finished, then there’s a few things you need to get straight.” She punched his chest with her finger.

  His brow lifted again, as if surprised by the forcefulness of her tone. “Such as?”

  “I made a mistake five years ago. I’ve admitted that. I’ve regretted what I did to you more than you’ll ever know. I’ve even tried to make up for it. Why do you think I went after Kane?” she asked angrily. But before he could respond, she continued. “I’m not trying to excuse what I did, but I don’t need you throwing it in my face every chance you get, either. You get what I’m saying?”

  She could see his own anger working in the gray depths of his eyes, but when he spoke, his tone was almost casual. “Fair enough. We’ll let bygones be bygones. A truce?” He held out his hand.

  Grace reluctantly accepted it. “Before you shake my hand, maybe we need to get something else straight. I’m going to find a way back to Dallas, with or without your help.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” he said easily. “But just out of curiosity, why do you want to get back there so badly?”

  “My mother needs me.”

  A frown flashed across his features. “Does she…how much does she understand?”

  Grace glanced away from his probing gaze. “Sometimes she still recognizes me. Even when she doesn’t, she still seems to trust me. I’m all she has. I have to get back to her.”

  “You wouldn’t be any good to her dead. Have you thought of that?”

  The bluntness of his words chilled Grace. He always did have a way of cutting to the chase. “Please, Brady.”

  Her hand started to tremble and his fingers tightened around hers. “Talk to me, Grace.”

  She wanted to. More than anything.

  “I’ve got people in places you can’t begin to imagine.”

  “I can’t,” she said softly.

  Brady dropped her hand and stood. “I don’t know what you’re keeping from me,” he said, staring down at her. “But I promise you one thing. Sooner or later, I’m going to find out.”

  THE MOMENT Grace heard the shower running, she headed down the hallway to the bedroom. Removing her cell phone from her jacket pocket, she checked her voice mail. Both Burt and Helen had called that morning, as well as someone from the police department. The last message was badly garbled, but Grace thought she could make out: Saturday, 6 p.m., Dealey Plaza.

  Was the message from Kane? Was he setting up an exchange for her mother and the tape? Saturday was only two days away. How could she possibly get away from Brady and be back in Dallas by that time?

  She would have to find a way. She’d crawl down that mountain if she had to. She’d face bobcat and javelina and whatever other beasts stood between her and her mother. She’d take them all on, even Kane.

  But as she turned toward the bedroom door, she realized with a sinking heart that only one obstacle stood in her way at the moment. Brady leaned against the bedroom door, clad only in a pair of jeans, as he glared at her angrily.

  Chapter Eight

  “Who were you talking to, Grace? Who’d you call?”

  He unfolded himself from the door frame and moved toward her in the bedroom. She backed away from him, like an animal trapped by a predator.

  “No one.”

  “You’re not as good a liar as I remembered. Or else you’re losing your touch.”

  She shoved back a stray curl almost
fiercely. “I told you before—I never lied to you.”

  “Then why start now?” He’d stalked her across the room, and now she was edged against the bed, with nowhere to run to. She was tall enough so that she only had to tip her head slightly to look him in the eye. Brady had always liked that about her. She was his equal in every way, but right now he had the upper hand, and he was damn well going to keep it that way.

  “Let’s try this again,” he said calmly. “Who were you talking to?”

  “I don’t owe you any explanations, Brady. This has nothing to do with you.”

  “The hell it doesn’t.”

  She lifted her chin. “You were sent here to protect me, but I didn’t ask for that protection. I don’t even want it. So I’m not going to answer to you or anyone else. This is my business.”

  He grabbed for the phone, but she jerked it away. For a moment, the two of them scuffled like two kids fighting over a toy. When he finally wrested the phone away from her, he checked the display. It was clear. She had fast reflexes. He’d give her that.

  He tossed the phone on the bed, then took her by the shoulders almost gently. “What does Kane have on you? What’s he threatening you with?”

  When she didn’t answer, he tightened his grip only slightly. “I could help you if you’d let me.”

  “The only way you can help me is to take me back to Dallas.”

  “That’s not going to happen. And since you’ve proven to me that I can’t trust you not to get yourself killed—” He released her long enough to whip out the handcuffs from his back pocket.

  Her gaze widened. “You wouldn’t do that. Not now—”

  He flicked them open. “Don’t make this any harder than it has to be, Grace.”

  “I’m supposed to just stand here docilely while you restrain me?” she said bitterly.

  “It’d be better if you lie down.”

  “Don’t do this, Brady. Please.” Her blue eyes were soft and pleading, but he knew it was only a momentary lapse. Grace could be hard as nails when she wanted to be. “If I ever meant anything to you—”

  “You don’t want to go there,” he warned her. “Trust me.”

  He took her wrist and placed the handcuff around it. He expected her to put up one hell of a fight, like she had over the phone, but instead, she lay back on the bed, resting her head against the pillows. He placed a knee on the bed, leaning over her to fasten the other handcuff to the iron railing of the headboard.

  A tear eased from the corner of her eye and rolled back into her hair. The sight of it brought Brady up short. “Did I hurt you?”

  “What do you think?”

  He watched another tear follow the first, and almost against his will, he lifted a finger to wipe it away. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m only doing this because I want to go in and finish my shower, and I can’t trust you not to bolt. I meant what I said earlier. It’s dangerous out there. You could get seriously hurt on this mountain. I can’t allow that to happen.”

  “No,” she whispered. “We can’t have you botching an assignment, can we?”

  He thought of Rachel, dying in his arms, and her bloodstained face suddenly turned into Grace’s. The image was like a knife blade in his gut.

  “Why are you looking at me that way?” Grace asked almost breathlessly.

  “What way?”

  “Like…you care.”

  God, Brady thought. What a fool he was to ever think this could work. That he and Grace could be alone in a cabin for hours, let alone days, without disaster striking.

  Without hormones exploding.

  Five years hadn’t diminished the chemistry between them. If anything, it was more potent than ever.

  She reached up and rubbed the back of her free hand against the stubble on his face. He responded instantly to her touch.

  “You look almost sinister, leaning over me like this.” Her voice had that husky, intimate quality that had always sent him over the edge.

  “I’m not sinister,” he managed evenly.

  “Yes, you are. You kidnap me, hold me against my will. Handcuff me to the bedpost. And now you look as if you want to—”

  “Stop it, Grace.”

  Her brows lifted. “What?”

  “This…verbal foreplay. I know what you’re doing, and it won’t work.”

  “Then why are you still in here?”

  She had a damn good point. If he had half a brain, he’d move away from her, now, before he remembered the sweetness of her lips, the silkiness of her skin.…

  Who was he trying to kid? He didn’t have to remember, because he’d never forgotten anything about Grace’s lovemaking. The way she kissed. The way she touched him. The way she moved against him.

  She’d been like wildfire back then. Blazing hot, out of control, dangerous. And yet there’d been something incredibly feminine about her. Something that had gotten to Brady in a way no woman had ever gotten to him before.

  I won’t do this, he thought almost angrily, but the moment her lips parted, he knew he was lost. He knew that he was going to kiss her, and he knew, after that, all bets were off.

  Her eyes darkened with passion. He felt her hand on the back of his neck, pulling him toward her, and for a split second, Brady tried to fight it. He did. Then, with a groan, he claimed her mouth almost savagely as he lowered himself over her.

  Their lips parted, tongues thrusting, tangling, as their hands greedily explored. She was exactly the way he remembered her. Lean and hard and yet incredibly sexy. All woman. Enough to drive him insane.

  He twisted his fingers through her hair, never breaking the kiss as he shifted his body more intimately against hers. One hand left her hair to trail down her face, experiencing the silkiness for a brief moment before finding her throat, feeling the lightning quickness of her pulse.

  “Brady—”

  “Don’t say anything,” he muttered, shoving up her turtleneck to expose the taut skin of her stomach. He trailed kisses over the flatness as his fingers skimmed the lacy edges of her bra, nudging it aside.

  “Brady, no.”

  That got his attention. He lifted his head, gazing at her through dazed eyes. “No?”

  She traced his jawline almost tenderly. “Not like this.” She glanced at her handcuffed wrist. “Not like…this.”

  He couldn’t have been stopped more effectively with a bucket of cold water. He almost recoiled from her. Straightening from the bed, he grabbed her cell phone, then turned and strode like a man possessed from the bedroom.

  AFTER HE’D SHOWERED and changed clothes, Brady looked in on Grace. He had in mind to apologize to her, but when he stepped into the room, he saw that she was sleeping. Curled on her side, with her hair spilling over the pillow and her lashes shadowing her high cheekbones, she looked like a fragile warrior, strong and yet vulnerable at the same time.

  Had she always had that vulnerability? Brady wondered as he unfastened the handcuff from her wrist. Very gently he massaged the skin, feeling guilty for the way he’d treated her, but knowing that he’d had no other choice. If she’d stayed in Dallas, Kane would have eventually found her. He would have killed her, and then he would have had Brady to answer to. But no matter what vengeance he’d sought against Kane, it wouldn’t have brought Grace back.

  Pulling the quilt over her, Brady stood staring down at her for a moment longer, then he turned and walked quietly from the room.

  Placing his gun and his own cell phone on the floor beside him, he stretched out on the sofa, staring at the ceiling. He needed to get a couple of hours sleep before nightfall, but first things first. Picking up the phone, he punched in the number for the secure line to the Smoking Barrel Ranch. Penny picked up on the second ring, sounding slightly out of breath.

  “Did I catch you at a bad time?” he asked her.

  “No, just the usual chaos,” she said cheerfully. “We’ve been hoping to hear from you. Everything go okay in Dallas?”

&nb
sp; “As well as could be expected,” he said. The line was secure, but you could never be too careful.

  “And your trip?”

  “Eventful.”

  There was a long pause on Penny’s end. “Are you okay, Brady?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. We both are. Is Mitchell around?”

  “Hold on.”

  A moment later, Mitchell’s gruff voice demanded, “Brady? That you?”

  “Yeah, I’m just checking in.”

  “I heard from Kruger. He said you had the package.”

  “Safe and sound.”

  Mitchell paused. “Is she talking?”

  “No,” Brady said grimly. “And I’m not sure she’s going to.”

  “Well, then you’re just going to have to make sure she does. Convince her, Brady. Do whatever you have to.”

  Did that include seducing her? Brady wondered. Losing his head over a kiss? At least one of them had come to their senses. He only wished it had been him. “I may have been wrong about her,” he said. “I don’t think she’s holding out for a story. I think she’s running scared. Kane is threatening her somehow.”

  “The usual extortion or you think he’s got something on her?”

  “I don’t know. But I want you to have Penny check something out for me. Grace’s mother is in a nursing home in the Dallas area. I don’t know which one, but have Penny check them all. The woman’s name is Angeline Drummond. When you find her, I think we’d better put a guard on her. Round-the-clock protection.”

  “You think Kane will go after her?”

  “If he hasn’t already. Grace is more than worried about her mother. She’s scared, Mitchell. Terrified of something. Find out what you can and let me know.”

  “Done,” Mitchell said. “What else?”

  “We had some trouble on the highway just outside Abilene. The local cops may make some kind of stink about it.”