The Colton Bodyguard
“I can imagine that would be unsettling,” Tyler replied.
She nodded. “At the same time, odd things were happening around the ranch—a fire was set in one of the outbuildings, tires were slashed on some of the farm vehicles and fencing kept getting torn down.”
She stopped talking as the waitress arrived with their meals. She continued once the waitress had left, feeling as if she’d held everything in too tight for too long and it was a relief to talk to somebody who had no horse in the race, so to speak.
“Thankfully, my mother came out of the coma and returned home, and she and I continued with the wedding planning.” Greta frowned and took a sip of her wine. “Although my mother seemed happy, something was different between us. She was different with me, but I thought it had something to do with the head injury she’d sustained. Then one day when I was here in Oklahoma City, my brother Daniel called me and asked what I was doing hanging around the ranch. I told him that I was here and it was impossible that he’d seen me there, but he insisted he’d seen me. That’s when I think most of my family started to worry about me.”
She laughed self-consciously. “I’m doing way too much talking and not enough eating. Let’s eat while it’s hot.”
“You have to talk and eat. I feel like you’re forcing me to walk out in the middle of an intriguing movie.” He picked up his fork and steak knife and she did the same.
The steak cut like butter and melted in her mouth, but her head was filled with what she hadn’t yet shared with Tyler. The rest of what she had to tell him, she hadn’t really processed completely herself.
She ate several bites of the steak and baked potato and then continued talking. “Then my DNA was found at several crime scenes around the ranch, including where Kurt was murdered. As you know, I was arrested and you got me out of jail. As soon as I returned home, my mother told everyone that it was me who had attacked her, but it wasn’t me. She said the woman looked like me but she looked crazy and wild. And that’s when my father made his big confession...” Her voice trailed off.
Tyler leaned forward. He held a piece of steak on his fork suspended between his plate and his mouth. “His big confession?”
She nodded. “He told us that after giving birth to all her boys, my mother had finally given birth to the girl she’d always wanted. But the baby only lived for a day and then died. He’d learned from a nurse that a young woman had just given birth to twins at her home because she couldn’t afford the hospital bills. Believing that losing her daughter would send my mother over the edge forever, he met with the other mother and arranged to buy one of her twins for fifty thousand dollars. That’s how I became a part of the Colton family.”
Tyler gazed at her with vague surprise. “It must have been a shock to learn about the circumstances of your birth at your age.”
“A shock not just for me but for the entire family.” She took another drink of her wine and tried to stanch a chill that threatened to invade her. “I know now that I have a twin sister and I think she’s found me. I don’t believe she’s looking for a happy reunion. I think maybe she wants to kill me.”
Chapter 4
Tyler stared at her, stunned by what she’d just told him. A dead baby, another one bought to replace it? And an evil twin sister to boot? It sounded like something out of a bad B-rated movie. “What makes you think she wants to kill you?”
“If she wanted a real happy reunion, she would have just knocked on the front door and introduced herself. Instead it was her DNA found at Kurt’s murder scene. It was her DNA found all around the ranch where bad things have happened.”
“What would be her motive to kill you?”
“I have no idea. I’ve never met her. I don’t know anything about her. I just think she must be crazy. I believe the only reason why she hasn’t managed to hurt me so far is because for the last couple of months I’ve been on the move between the ranch and Oklahoma City for the wedding plans.”
Tyler digested everything she had told him. Was she really in danger? “Did you tell anyone outside your immediate family that you were going to be staying at my place?”
“No, I didn’t even tell my immediate family exactly where I was going. I just told them I had a job in Oklahoma City. Thankfully, nobody asked me to be more specific. They’re used to me being gone and not knowing exactly where I am, especially when I’m working.”
“Then you will be safe at my place,” Tyler replied. Any concerns he had entertained throughout the afternoon about Greta due to the conversation with Derek had been laid to rest.
He gazed at the woman across from him as she focused on her food. She appeared more relaxed than she had when she’d first arrived. She also looked lovely with her slightly wavy dark hair falling to her shoulders and her hazel-green eyes emphasized by long, lush eyelashes.
“It must have been a bit traumatic at twenty-six years old to learn that you weren’t a biological child,” he said, trying to read where she was at emotionally with everything that had happened to her.
She looked up at him and smiled. “More than a little traumatic, but the family rallied around me and insisted that I was every bit as much a Colton as any of them.”
“Did you expect anything else from them?”
“Not really. But it’s funny—when I heard that I had a twin sister, I was surprised and yet I somehow wasn’t surprised. Since the time I was little, I always felt that something was missing, that a piece of me was absent. When I found out that I had a twin sister, that missing piece suddenly filled in.” She laughed. “I know I sound crazy.”
“On the contrary, I believe in the twin connection. I’ve seen too many news stories about separated twins who find each other and finally feel whole for the first time in their lives.”
“Knowing about her has explained the empty feeling I’ve always had, but I’m not eager to meet her if she really is responsible for Kurt’s death and my mother’s injuries.” Her eyes darkened.
An unexpected protectiveness surged up inside Tyler. He’d had no idea what Greta had been dealing with over the past couple of months, and he wished he’d been by her side to ease some of the pain she must have suffered through everything.
He definitely had a feeling she’d downplayed just how difficult the past few months had been for her. First all the incidents on the ranch, then her arrest for a murder she didn’t commit. The finding of her DNA all over the place... She’d been through hell, and apparently, it wasn’t over yet if what she’d said about her twin’s intentions were really true.
Still, he’d satisfied his curiosity and desire to make love to her. But he was vaguely surprised that even after all she’d just told him he still wanted more.
One thing was certain. His brother wouldn’t have been a source of comfort for her. Mark was too self-absorbed to understand or empathize with other people’s feelings.
“What about your real mother? What do you know about her?” he asked.
“Just her name, Tamara Stewart.”
“Do you have any interest in finding her? In getting to know her?”
She looked at him ruefully. “She sold me for fifty thousand dollars when I was two days old. She’s not somebody I have any desire to know,” Greta said. “Although I suppose I wouldn’t mind asking her some questions about my twin to try to find out why she seems to hate me.” She took a sip of her wine. “Besides, they aren’t my family and they never could be. The Coltons are my family.”
“Tell me about them,” he said, hoping to pull some light back into her eyes, which had grown so dark.
“Growing up with five brothers wasn’t easy,” she said. “They teased me unmercifully. I don’t think there’s an outbuilding on the property that I wasn’t locked into or tied up in.” A twinkle of memories sparked in her eyes. “The bottom line is they were my heroes and I wanted to spend all my time with them, proving that whatever they could do, I could do just as well.”
He smiled at the vision of her as a young girl, tagging after her big brothers to prove herself as tough as they were. “Other than Ryan, who I know is a detective, do they all work on the ranch now?”
“My oldest brother, Jack, is the manager. Brett also works on the ranch. Eric is a trauma surgeon. Daniel is actually a half brother, but he’s a whole brother in my heart. He’s enjoying a lot of success with a horse-breeding program he started. So other than Eric and Ryan, the ranch is definitely a family affair.”
“But you’re close to all of them.”
“We’ve had our ups and downs through the years, but yes, we’re all very close.”
After they had finished their meal and the waitress had removed their plates, they lingered over coffee. “I wish Mark and I were closer, but we were never really close even before our parents’ deaths.”
“I think part of what made all of us so close was that our mother wasn’t around very much when we were growing up. She spent most of our childhoods away from the ranch, and when she was at home, she was always in bed with a headache and we were allowed only minimal contact with her.”
“That must have made it hard on your father,” Tyler observed, fascinated by each tidbit of information he learned about her and her family.
She smiled, a warm, open gesture that pooled heat in the pit of his stomach. He wanted to lean across the table and capture her kissable lips with his, breathe in that warmth that her smile exuded. He tamped down the impulse.
“I don’t know how he did it, but my father managed to run a hugely successful cattle operation and at the same time was always there when any of us needed him. Of course, we had a variety of nannies to help out, and our housekeeper, Edith, was like a second mother, but the glue that held us all together was definitely my father.”
A wistfulness welled up in Tyler. There had been many days over the past ten years that he missed his father. Daniel Stanton had been not only loving but a friend and mentor, as well.
“Shall we head back to the ranch?” he asked, unwilling to dwell on the tragedy that had occurred years ago.
“I’m ready whenever you are,” she agreed and took the last sip from her coffee cup.
He paid the tab and then they got back into his car for the short drive home. The scent of her filled the air, a scent of freshness combined with a hint of vanilla and orange. It was so different from the expensive, heavy perfumes other women he’d dated had worn. He found it incredibly evocative.
“We haven’t really talked about the conditions of me working for you,” she said.
He was thinking about how to get her back into his bed that night and she was obviously thinking about work. He tried to adjust his thoughts. “I figured room and board and whatever fee you normally charge.”
She told him her usual fee. “But that’s negotiable depending on my success with Sugar.”
He grinned at her use of the new name. “Aren’t you always successful?”
“I have to admit there have been a couple of unbreakable horses in my past. They were just too damaged to ever trust human beings again. Thankfully, those are few and far between. I have a feeling given a little time, Sugar and I are going to become great friends and then we’ll make sure you’re her friend, too.”
By that time they were back at his house. “Why don’t you unpack and get settled in, and then when you’re done, we’ll finish the night off with a glass of wine in the living room,” he suggested.
“Sounds like a plan,” she agreed. She disappeared into the guest bedroom and Tyler went into the kitchen and sat at the kitchen table, his thoughts on Greta and everything he’d learned over dinner.
It sounded as if she and her family had been through the wringer over the past couple of months and yet she appeared to have weathered everything very well.
Beneath the cheerful attitude she displayed, did a well of emotion exist that she hadn’t tapped into? Time would tell. He was only grateful that she’d apparently forgiven him for the lie that had not only got her out of prison but also broken her engagement to his brother.
Although he hadn’t spoken to Mark since providing the alibi, he had seen him twice at popular restaurants, each time with a different woman on his arm. He didn’t appear to be too upset over the loss of Greta. Greta might not know it, but he’d actually done her a favor. She would have never been happy married to Mark.
It was nine thirty when he and Greta carried glasses of wine into the living room for a nightcap. “I’m assuming you’ll be returning to work tomorrow?” she asked when they were settled on the sofa.
“That’s the plan,” he replied. “And I’m assuming your work with She-Sugar won’t require me at first.”
“Nice save,” she replied at his stumble over the horse’s new name. “And no, for the first week or two, depending on Sugar, it will be just me and her working out together.”
He took a sip of his wine and gazed at her. What were the odds of having her in his bed that night? It was impossible for him to sit next to her, with her heavenly scent surrounding him, and not want her again.
He couldn’t help but remember the silkiness of her skin, the fire of her kisses as they’d made love the night before. She’d been an eager participant, giving as well as receiving. She’d been everything he’d dreamed of and more...and he definitely wanted more.
“Earth to Tyler.” Her voice interrupted his thoughts. “You looked like you drifted off there for a minute.”
“Sorry. I did,” he replied and focused on the sweet curve of her lips. “I was just wondering if you’d want a repeat of last night.”
Her cheeks immediately flushed with color and her eyes widened. She took a sip of her wine and then carefully placed the glass on the coffee table and looked at him. “What, exactly, do you want with me, Tyler?”
She’d asked him the question before, but he hadn’t given her a real clear answer, because he hadn’t had one. He still didn’t have one.
He gazed at her for a long moment before replying. “To be honest with you, I’m not sure. I know I’m tremendously drawn to you physically and I’d definitely like to get to know you better. I’ve wanted that for a long time, but beyond that, I don’t know.”
She averted her gaze from his once again. “I appreciate your honesty.”
“But you didn’t answer my question.” He waited until she looked at him again and then he smiled. “You know what you’re good at and I know what I’m good at.”
She laughed, a musical sound that only increased his desire. “Does that ego get in your way much?”
“I try not to pull it out too often,” he replied lightly. But his lightness of tone didn’t last but a moment. “Make love with me again, Greta. Let me hold you in my arms again and kiss you until you can’t think straight.”
He could tell by the expression on her face that she was conflicted and he pressed on. “Don’t overthink things. Just let it happen. There is no right or wrong to this. I want you again and I believe that you want me, too.”
Her eyes filled with an emotion that had his blood simmering. “I do want you,” she confessed softly.
He didn’t say another word. He stood and took her hand and pulled her up from the sofa, and together they walked down the hallway to his bedroom.
* * *
She’d officially lost her mind. That was Greta’s first thought when she awoke in the guest bedroom the next morning. She’d made love with Tyler and again had refused to stay in his bed through the night, as if that somehow mitigated the fact that they were acting like horny teenagers with no self-control.
He’d told her he wanted to get to know her better, and she’d like to get to know him better, too. But they’d got it all backward, making love first and getting to know each other later.
She had never allowed physical attraction to lead her in a relationship. She’d always allowed her heart and her head to be in charge of her hormones.
But when Tyler looked at her with such hunger, when his lips curved into that sexy smile, she became powerless to deny him whatever he wanted...because she wanted it, too.
It was time she fixed things, refused any more physical contact with Tyler until she at least decided if she really liked him or not. So far she found him surprisingly warm and charming, but she’d really known him for only two short days.
She hadn’t forgotten that the times she’d encountered him while she’d been with Mark, he had struck her as cold and not particularly interested in her presence.
Will the real Tyler Stanton please stand up? she thought as she scooted out of bed. She grabbed a pair of jeans, a blue flannel shirt and clean underwear for the day, intending to spend most of the daylight hours in the corral with Sugar.
Minutes later as she stood beneath a hot shower spray, she couldn’t help but think of being in Tyler’s arms, of his kisses and caresses, which had formed such an intense fire inside her, a fire she’d never felt before.
They fit together perfectly in the bed, but she had no idea how well they’d fit together out of bed. Things had happened so fast. Everything had been pleasant between them so far, but it was early in the game and she really had no idea what to expect in day-to-day life with him.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” she muttered as she stepped out of the shower and grabbed a fluffy fresh-smelling towel from a cabinet.
At least Tyler would be at work today and she would be able to focus her sole attention on the horse renamed Sugar. To Greta there was almost nothing worse than somebody who abused a helpless animal, unless it was somebody who took the life of an innocent human being.
Once she’d dried off and dressed, she stared at her reflection in the mirror and thought of the twin sister she’d never met.
It was obvious from the fact that Abra had thought it was Greta who’d attacked her, and that Daniel had believed he’d seen Greta at the ranch when in reality she’d been in Oklahoma City, that her sister was an identical twin.
Greta had seen heartwarming shows on television about the reunion of separated twins. The reunions always resulted in joy and love and new extended families. Why hadn’t that happened for her? She would have welcomed her twin sister into her life, enjoyed the friendship and love of somebody she’d shared a womb with through nine months.
She didn’t even know her twin’s name or much of anything about their biological mother. All Big J had been able to tell them was the woman’s name was Tamara Stewart and that she had sold him the baby. He’d met her only once, in a small house someplace on the west side of Tulsa near the hospital.
He hadn’t been able to remember the address or the specific neighborhood of the house. He hadn’t even remembered that much about the woman. He either hadn’t paid attention or had forgotten the details from that day so long ago. All he knew was that he’d been so desperate to replace the baby Abra had lost that that was all he’d really cared about. He hadn’t wanted Abra to suffer the grief of finding out that her baby girl had died.
Greta knew her brother Ryan was investigating and attempting to locate Tamara in an effort to get a handle on her daughter, who had become a threat to both Greta and her adopted family.
She turned away from the mirror and tried to clear her mind. There was nothing she could do about her twin sister. She needed to focus on greeting Tyler this morning and letting him know that from now on, there was going to be no more physical interaction between them.
She had to be strong and not allow his smooth talk, his gorgeous blue eyes or his sexy smile to change her mind. She was here to do a job, and if in the process they got to know and like each other, it would be a bonus. But she wasn’t going to be persuaded to sneak into his room for a bout of mind-blowing lovemaking again.
Feeling strong and looking forward to the day of work with the horse, she left the bathroom and headed for the kitchen. She found Tyler seated at the kitchen table, a newspaper folded and laid to the side of him and a cup of coffee before him.
Clad in a navy business suit, a white shirt and a navy-and-silver-striped tie, he looked like the man she’d been accustomed to seeing on the rare times they had run into each other when she’d been with Mark.
The only difference was the warm smile that lit his handsome features when she walked into the room. “Coffee is made, but you’re on your own for breakfast this morning.”
“That’s fine,” she replied. She poured herself a cup of coffee and joined him at the table. “I suddenly feel terribly underdressed for coffee.”
“You look gorgeous in denim and flannel,” he replied.
“And you look handsome in your power clothes. I know you’re probably ready to head into work, but before you go, I need to talk to you for just a minute.”
“I’ve got something to discuss with you, too. But you go first,” he said.
She raised her chin and looked into the depths of his eyes. “I am not going to sleep with you again.”
His lips rose in a rueful smile. “You haven’t slept with me yet.”
She huffed out a sigh of frustration. “You know what I mean. I’m here to train your horse and that’s it. I’m not going to be your nightly toy to play with at will. If you want me again, then we have to get to know each other first.”
He looked at her in obvious amusement. “So you want me to court you.”
She eyed him with a narrowed gaze. “Are you making fun of me?”
He laughed. “Not at all. I’m just trying to get clear on what you want or what you need from me.”
“I’m not arguing that there isn’t some sort of crazy physical attraction between us, but I won’t settle for that. We don’t really know each other. I want to get to know you out of bed, and I want you to get to know me that way, too.”
He sobered and nodded. “As much as I’d love for you to be my bedtime toy every night, I respect your wishes. I’d like to get to know you better. That’s part of what I wanted when I first saw you so many months ago.”
He took a sip of his coffee and set the cup back down. “Greta, I understand that we rushed into things fast and furious and you want it to slow down. I can be slow and patient.” His eyes twinkled. “I promise I won’t try to cajole you into my bed again. I’ll wait until you ask me to make love to you again.”
“You sound sure that I will,” she replied.
“That’s hope you hear in my voice.” The twinkle in his eyes disappeared and he picked up the folded newspaper next to him. “And on a much less pleasant note, the issue I wanted to talk to you about is this...” He opened the newspaper to a prefolded page and shoved it across the table in front of her.
Greta looked down in horror at the photo of her and Tyler kissing by the side of her Jeep. The caption read Cattle Princess Jilts One Brother for Another.
Chapter 5
It was after nine when Tyler finally left the house and Greta headed out toward the small corral. Tyler had suggested that it was probably Mark who had taken the picture and given it to the newspaper. The accompanying story had been tawdry and filled with misinformation and salacious half facts.
Tyler had tried to calm Greta down, but she’d been both furious and embarrassed. She knew her father had a subscription to the Oklahoma City paper. How was she supposed to explain all this to him...to the rest of the family?
She breathed in the fresh morning air as she walked briskly to the corral, telling herself that the article and photo didn’t really matter. But she was surprised to find herself hurt by Mark’s betrayal, if, indeed, he was responsible for the picture and the column of gossip.
When she reached the corral, she remained outside the wooden enclosure. There was no way she could go in and begin to introduce herself to Sugar until she relaxed herself. The horse would immediately pick up on any anger or anxiety Greta carried with her, and at the moment Greta had both bubbling hot inside her.