Christmas Bodyguard

by Margaret Daley

  Although Elizabeth wanted to add all the cowhands and even Hilda and her daughter, just because they had access, she wouldn’t. Having access didn’t make a person guilty. There needed to be a motive—something behind what was going on. From what she’d seen, his employees at the ranch respected and liked Slade. “Speaking of Paula’s boyfriend makes me think we should take a look at people close to the list of suspects.”

  “That’s a good suggestion, since we’re running out of suspects from DDI.” Joshua took the photo of Dwayne from Slade. “We’ll need a recent one of Sam Howard now, since he’s nearby.”

  “The one in his personnel folder is good. Last I saw him, he hadn’t changed in the five years since it was taken.” Slade began drumming his fingers again. “We aren’t narrowing this list down at all. We just keep adding to it, and now we’re adding relatives.”

  Joshua pushed away from the table and to his feet. “We don’t want to miss anything.”

  “No, I can’t afford that.”

  The doorbell chimed. Joshua swiveled his attention toward the hallway. “No one was expected. I’d better get that.”

  Elizabeth trailed her uncle, with Slade a few steps behind her. Joshua kept his hand near his holster as he checked the peephole. His stiff stance relaxed a little as Abbey came bounding down the staircase with Bosco yapping behind her. Joshua opened the door to let Brody in.

  “I’m glad you could come help me.” Abbey hugged a notepad and textbook to her chest. “Let’s go into the den to work.”

  Slade stepped to the side, and Brody passed him. But when his daughter started to follow, he moved into her path. “It’s late.”

  A pout tugged at the corners of Abbey’s mouth while Bosco sat at her feet waiting. “I’m having trouble with this Algebra II assignment. Brody is good in math. He offered to help me.”

  “I could have.”

  “I never know when you’ll be busy.”

  Her statement hit the mark. “He can stay an hour.” Slade clamped his mouth shut and sidestepped to let her by with Bosco trotting behind his newfound friend.

  Abbey wouldn’t be able to put her off that easily. Elizabeth marched after the teenage girl. Although she’d planned on going up to bed early, Elizabeth didn’t trust Brody. She wouldn’t be far from Abbey whether the girl liked it or not.

  Abbey threw a glance over her shoulder and planted herself in the doorway into the den. “Please don’t stay in the same room as us,” she said in voice that held none of her earlier pertinacity. “I promise you, nothing is gonna happen.” Shadows clouded her eyes. “Please.”

  “I won’t go far.”

  Abbey didn’t move right away but stared at Elizabeth, then she murmured, “Fine,” spun around and headed across the room to the game table to sit next to Brody.

  Elizabeth backed away and planted herself against the wall across from the entrance into the den. Slade walked down the hallway, took her hand and pulled her toward the staircase.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” She tried to yank away from him, but he increased his grip.

  “Making myself and you comfortable.” He plopped down on the second step and patted it. “Join me. You can see the doorway from here.”

  “Aren’t you concerned about Brody at all?”

  “Not as the person behind this, but I was a teenage boy once and I certainly know what’s going through that young man’s mind. So yes, as a father I am concerned, but if I smother Abbey any more than she’s already smothered, she’ll pull something. This is an easy concession to give her.” He settled his elbows on his thighs and leaned forward, lacing his fingers together. “Besides, this gives us a chance to talk. I think you’ve been avoiding me since you got home with Abbey.”

  “I saw you at dinner and a while ago in the den,” she said, though she had been staying away from him. When she saw him, she thought of their kiss the night before. She thought of her reaction to it, then the disappointment when he’d pulled away from her. She should have been the one to end the kiss, but she’d given in to her feelings.

  “Maybe we should talk about last night.”

  “Why?” She angled around so she could better keep an eye on the entrance into the den.

  “You left upset. That’s not what I wanted.”

  “What did you want?”

  He cradled her face with his large, strong hands. “To kiss you again.”

  “Don’t!” Panic tangled itself in that one word. She shot to her feet and stood in front of the staircase.

  “You’re as conflicted as I am.” Rising, he invaded her personal space. “I know all the reasons you and I shouldn’t be attracted to each other in here—” he tapped his temple “—but in here—” he placed his hand over his heart “—I want to ignore all common sense and pursue what you make me feel.”

  She started around him. “I’ll be by the den door.”

  “Elizabeth.”

  A couple of feet away, she peered back.

  He rubbed his thumb over his wedding ring, then he slipped it off his finger and put it in his pocket.

  “What are you doing?” Again that panic was back in her voice, and she clenched her teeth to keep from revealing any more of her emotions.

  “Finally putting my past behind me. When are you going to?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  He shook his head. “Yeah, you do. You had a lousy childhood, and you’re letting it control who you are today. You want to keep people at arm’s length. Forgive your father. Move on.”

  Tears she hadn’t shed in five years welled up from her depths. She wouldn’t cry. Not again. “It wasn’t just my father.”

  “Who else hurt you?”

  “My ex-husband.”

  He took a step toward her.

  She held up her hand. “Don’t come any closer. This discussion is over. I have a job to do.” Whirling around, she hurried down the hallway and took up a place across from the entrance into the den.

  As she folded her arms over her chest, she glimpsed Slade climbing the stairs. He’d taken off his wedding ring. She couldn’t get the picture of him slipping it off from her mind. For just a few seconds when he had, a seed of hope embedded itself in her heart. Then she remembered her failed marriage and realized she could never make herself vulnerable like that again.

  Late Friday afternoon, Elizabeth stood in the wings of the stage, watching Abbey rehearse the lead in the play, about a young woman trying to find her way home for Christmas and running into all kinds of obstacles. Abbey was good. The story reflected some of Elizabeth’s journey as she pieced her life together after Bryan had left her. Like Laura, the character in the play, Elizabeth had struggled with her self-esteem, thinking she had deserved everything that had happened to her—even the mugging when she’d been searching for a job after the divorce.

  This past week witnessing the rehearsals after school had left her raw each night when she’d returned to the ranch. The extra long days at Abbey’s school had given Elizabeth the excuse to hole herself in her room when Abbey went to hers after dinner. Because every time she saw Slade, thoughts of his kiss, of him taking off his wedding ring, plagued her with feelings she couldn’t have.

  She wouldn’t go there again. She couldn’t lose herself as she had with Bryan—actually had all her life until five years ago. Uncle Joshua had shown her the way to stand on her own two feet. She couldn’t let herself forget that.

  As the dress rehearsal wrapped up, Abbey stepped back to let the cast stream off the stage. Abbey came off last after talking with the director, Mr. Greenly. There would be only one performance, tomorrow evening, Saturday. The cast and crew had been invited back to the ranch after the play for a late celebration. It had been planned for a month, and Slade had hated to cancel something that meant so much to Abbey. Joshua had hired a few extra guards to cover the grounds and house while Elizabeth wouldn’t let Abbey out of her sight.

  She wasn’t looking forward to tomorrow evening.
It would be a long night. One she would be glad to see over.

  “What did ya think?” Abbey said, her excited voice in contrast to the tired lines on her face.

  The past several nights Elizabeth had heard Abbey up until late—sometimes practicing her lines, other times receiving texts and calls until all hours. “You’re gonna be good. Laura is a perfect role for you.”

  The teen beamed. “I get her. Her parents didn’t understand her. Couldn’t relate to her. She felt stifled by them.”

  “Until she left and discovered the world.”

  “Well, I haven’t done that yet.” Abbey weaved her way through the props and cast to the dressing room she shared with the other females in the play. “You will.”

  “Not soon enough for me. There’s so much I want to do. I wish I was graduating from high school like Brody is this year.”

  “You like him, don’t ya?” She didn’t need the teen to answer her—the evidence spoke for itself. Every lunch this past week, Abbey and Brody had eaten together. Several times during the school day they’d met in the hall and talked for a few minutes until they had to get to class—usually with Abbey jogging to make it on time.

  “Well, he’s cute. Sweet. And he’s great with a horse. I think he’s gonna follow in his brother’s footsteps with the rodeo.” Abbey removed her costume and changed back into her jeans and blazer. “Let’s go. I can remove my makeup at home.”

  Elizabeth called the security guard parked outside to let him know that they were coming out. He would pull the car around to the side door, which was only five feet away from the curb. Once they left the auditorium the press of people thinned. Only two other kids were in the corridor that led to the east exit. Elizabeth kept an eye on the two teenage boys down at the end of the hall, at the same time aware of her surroundings and anything that might be unusual.

  The two teens turned down another hallway at the other end, leaving Elizabeth and Abbey totally alone. Elizabeth’s gaze swept the empty passageway, where only some of the lights were on. Three more feet and she and Abbey would be outside in the armored plated SUV and heading home. After she stopped Abbey so she could check the exterior, Elizabeth pushed through the door and scanned the dark parking lot, where there were a half a dozen vehicles.

  Where was the guard with the car?

  The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as though an electric shock had passed through her body. She stepped back into the building and pointed toward the far wall, away from the glass in the doors. “Stay there.” Then she retrieved her cell and made a call to the security guard. “Where are you?”

  He snorted. “Some moron cut me off. I’m almost there. Twenty seconds.”

  “Did you get the license number of the car?”

  “Yep. I’m here.”

  Elizabeth clicked off and stuffed her phone back in her pocket. “Let’s go.” She stepped outside first and checked the area, then hurried Abbey to the SUV with bulletproof glass.

  Once inside the vehicle Elizabeth didn’t stop her vigil but kept panning the traffic around them. She called in the license number to Joshua to run down, then said to the driver, “Make sure our route is different from yesterday.”

  Abbey angled around to see the school disappearing from her view. “What happened back there?”

  “Probably nothing, but someone cut off Kurt when he was coming to pick us up.”

  “Why’s that a big deal? People do it all the time.”

  “As I said, probably nothing, but I’m paid to be suspicious about everything.”

  “I’d hate living my life not trusting anyone.”

  Abbey’s comment made Elizabeth pause. When she was working, not trusting anyone was part of her job, but it didn’t stop when she was off the clock. She lived her life like that, but it wasn’t her job that caused it. Her past relationships with her father and Bryan had driven that point home to her. Now, she protected herself, stayed safe—but the cost was never feeling close to anyone. Was that really how she wanted to live her life? “Are your friends still coming over on Sunday afternoon for another tae kwon do lesson?”

  “Yeah, Lily even wants to go riding again. She and Lindsay have been my best friends for years.”

  Elizabeth’s life wasn’t conducive to having many friends, and there were times she missed that. “Maybe we can do both.”

  “I haven’t gotten to ride all week with play practice right after school. Brody told me Sassy misses me.” Abbey leaned her head back against the cushion. “I think I’ll text Brody to bring Sassy in from the pasture and put her in her stall. After dinner I’ll go down to see her and hopefully ride her in the morning. It’ll help me forget the play is tomorrow evening.”

  “We’ll see.”

  Abbey threw her a frown. “I shouldn’t have to run everything by you.”

  “I know this is hard for you.”

  “Has anyone ever curtailed your activities when you didn’t do anything wrong?”

  “Yes,” Elizabeth murmured, then wished she could snatch the word back.

  “Who?”

  She didn’t want to have this discussion but Abbey’s gaze drilled into her, demanding an answer. “My father. I didn’t date until after I graduated from high school. He told me that was for my protection. He rarely let me go over to a friend’s house unless their parents were friends of his. My day usually consisted of going to school, then home. I didn’t do many extracurricular activities.” She wouldn’t get into the fact that she’d married a man like her father who had to control her every move.

  “Oh. At least Dad never did that until now.”

  “And you know why he’s doing it. He loves you and wants to make sure you’re safe.”

  “Like your father?”

  “He’s nothing like my father,” Elizabeth said with such force even she was surprised by the vehement tone.

  “Then tell me why my father is always working. I’ve seen more of him in the last couple of weeks than in months. His usual routine is to go to work early and come home late.”

  “Why don’t you ask him?”

  Abbey’s eyes grew round. She stared at Elizabeth for a long moment, then turned her head and looked out the window.

  For the rest of the ride to the ranch silence ruled, and Elizabeth was glad. Why was she being forced to talk about her father after all these years? What are You trying to get me to do, Lord?

  She didn’t have an answer to that question twenty minutes later as they pulled up to the main house at the ranch. Both Elizabeth and Kurt got out first and looked around before she waved for Abbey to exit the SUV. The teen slung her backpack over one shoulder and rushed to the front door, which opened before she reached it.

  When Elizabeth entered a few seconds behind her, both Slade and Joshua stood to the side as Abbey took the stairs to the second floor two at a time.

  “Did anything else happen?” Slade asked, watching his daughter vanish down the upstairs hallway.

  “No, the ride here was uneventful.” If you called telling Abbey more than she intended uneventful. “Did you find out who the car belonged to?” Elizabeth asked Joshua, troubled by Slade’s assessing gaze as if he were delving into the secret places in her heart.

  “Yes. The man doesn’t appear to be connected at all to Slade or Abbey. He’s an electrician but has never done any work here or at DDI. So he was probably just an irate driver hurrying to get home.”

  Elizabeth exhaled a deep breath. “Good. I don’t think Abbey would be too happy if she couldn’t do the play tomorrow night and have the cast party here.”

  “I thought you were against the party,” Slade said as Joshua proceeded to lock down the house, a routine he did each night when everyone was home.

  “I am. If I had my way, I’d put my client in a locked room reinforced with steel with no windows and no visitors.”

  “Solitary confinement. That would go over well with Abbey.”

  “She could text or chat on her cell.”

  �
�Oh, then that would make everything better.” A twinkle gleamed in his eyes.

  “Fair warning. She wants to go to the barn and see Sassy tonight after dinner.”

  “I don’t see why we can’t take a walk down there if she wants. None of the guards patrolling the ranch have seen anything out of the ordinary in the past week.”

  “So you think the guy has given up?”

  “Maybe.” He peered at her. “Okay, probably not, but I can wish.”

  “He’s just waiting for you to let down your guard. Tomorrow night would be a good time for him to strike.”

  “Everyone attending the party has been checked out. Joshua has doubled the detail for the event. Since Mary has had to cancel our Christmas open house, she’s using this as a holiday celebration.”

  “So everyone is happy.” Elizabeth started for the stairs, needing a little down time before their late dinner.

  “What happened? Did Abbey give you a hard time? Or did something go wrong at school that I should know about?”

  “No, nothing happened at school. Abbey still isn’t thrilled to have me trail her around, but her friends seem to accept me. In fact, I think another friend is going to join us on Sunday for the self-defense class.”

  “So the pain I see in your eyes is from nothing?”

  How did this man get to be so perceptive? Most people she’d worked for never bothered to ask questions about her personal life, her feelings. Often she’d felt invisible in their homes, which had been fine with her. But here she wasn’t invisible, and she was having a hard down shutting down her emotions. “We talked a little bit about feeling confined. She challenged me when I told her I knew how she felt. I ended up telling her a little about my relationship with my father.”

  “What did she say to that?”

  “She shared with me some of your relationship with her.”