Christmas Bodyguard

THREE

“What?” Slade hunched his shoulders and lowered his voice, keeping his back to his daughter. “A break-in?”

“I got home a few minutes ago from town and the front door was wide open. The alarm wasn’t on. Mrs. Bradley is gone. Do you think anything happened to her?”

“Mary’s at church. I called her there an hour ago. Is anything taken?”

“I don’t know. I decided I’d better stay out on the porch until the sheriff comes. I phoned him and gave him the gate code.” Hilda had dropped the level of her voice a few notches, but the frantic ring still sounded in her words.

“I’ll be right home. Mary should be there before me. Don’t go into the house.” He snapped the phone closed and turned toward his daughter and Elizabeth.

“Is something wrong?” Abbey asked, her eyes narrowing.

“We need to get going. Do you have the books you need?”

“Dad—”

“We’ll talk in the car on the way to the ranch. I promise.”

“Fine. I’ve got everything I need.” Abbey clutched the straps on her backpack and stalked toward the exit.

Elizabeth moved close, her scent of vanilla swirling about him. “What happened?”

“The house was open when Hilda, my housekeeper, came home from running errands.”

“I understand your mother-in-law lives with you. Was she home?” Elizabeth started after his daughter.

“No. You’ve been doing your homework.”

“I asked Kyra. I like to know everything I can going into a situation.” She paused near his car and watched Abbey climb into the front passenger seat. “I’ll follow you to the ranch.”

He cracked a grin. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?”

Although her expression was somber, a gleam lit her green eyes. “I’ll be right behind you. You should be all right.”

“It’s obvious you don’t know much about my daughter. I wouldn’t be surprised if you hear her clear into your car when I tell her she has a bodyguard and why.”

“Have fun.”

The smile that graced her lips transformed her whole face. He watched her walk to her Trans Am and slip behind the steering wheel. When she waved at him, he suddenly realized he was staring at her. He quickly twisted toward his car door and wrenched it open.

The second he climbed into his Lexus, Abbey angled toward him. The corners of her mouth dipped in a frown. “What’s going on?”

He switched on the engine and pulled away from the curb. Although the ranch was only half an hour away, it would be a long trip. “It began with the wreck.”

She sat up straight, her eyes wide. “Am I in trouble? Am I getting a ticket?”

He shook his head. “I wish that were it.”

“Dad, you’re scaring me.”

Good. She needed to be scared, so she’d follow the safety measures he was putting in place. But his daughter thought she was invincible, taking risks when she shouldn’t.

“Hon, there’s no easy way to tell you this. Our car crash wasn’t an accident. Someone shot the tire out, and that’s why there was a blowout.”

Abbey collapsed back against the seat. “What’s that mean?”

“Someone has targeted—” he inhaled a stabilizing breath “—you.”

“Me!” She flattened herself against the passenger door, totally facing him. “Why? What have I done?”

“I don’t think you’ve done anything. I think they’re angry with me and using you to get to me.”

“Why? What have you done?”

A layer of sweat coated his palms, and one hand slipped down the steering wheel. He gripped it tighter. “I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong, either.” He wasn’t even sure he was the real target, but he wasn’t going to let his daughter think someone was angry enough with her to want to harm her. Not unless he was sure. Logically, he was the one the person was after.

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m a wealthy man. It may be someone after money. It may be more than that. I don’t know.” I don’t understand, either. He was rich, and yet all his money hadn’t been able to save Catherine five years ago. What if he lost someone he loved again? The feeling of having no control swamped him.

“A ransom? Someone wants to kidnap me?”

“That’s a possibility.”

“So that’s why you freaked out at school.”

“Yeah. Someone called with a threat against you. Then when no one could locate you…” His voice faded into the silence as he relived the fear he’d experienced when he couldn’t find Abbey. The beating of his heart accelerated and sweat popped out on his forehead as though he were back in that school hallway at his daughter’s classroom with no Abbey in it.

She glanced behind the car. “Why is that lady following us home?”

Another fortifying breath. “That lady is your bodyguard.”

She bolted up. “What? A bodyguard?”

“Yes.”

“She’s gonna follow me around?”

“She will be with you at all times.”

“When I go to school? The mall? To my friends’?”

“Yes.” His throat dry, he swallowed hard and continued in a firm voice. “To school, but there won’t be any mall trips. Your activities will be curtailed.”

Abbey shook her head. “I’m grounded? I haven’t done anything wrong.”

At a stoplight he pinned her with a look that he hoped conveyed the seriousness of the situation. “This isn’t about right and wrong. This is about your safety. You will do what Elizabeth Walker says. She’ll be there to protect you.”

“Protect me? I’m taller than she is. How’s she gonna do that?”

“She works for Kyra, and Kyra highly recommends her. That’s good enough for me.” It had to be. He was putting his daughter’s life into Elizabeth’s hands, and he hadn’t trusted another person that way since Catherine.

“I’m not gonna have any privacy?”

“At home, to a certain degree. Whenever you’re out, no.”

“I don’t have a say in this?”

“No,” he bit out between gritted teeth, slanting a look at his daughter.

Her mouth was set in a stubborn line. She swung her full attention out the window and crossed her arms over her chest.

The rest of the fifteen-minute drive was done in silence. A silence Slade relished because any conversation he and Abbey had would end up in an argument.

When he arrived at the estate, he pushed his opener and waited for the gates to slowly swing open. As a boy, he’d wanted to be a cowboy, ride his horse and camp outside. That was why he’d bought the property. Yet this period of house arrest until the stalker was found would be the most waking hours he’d spent on the ranch in years.

Instead, he worked. If he worked hard enough, he didn’t remember what he was missing or what he couldn’t change—most of the time. But every once in a while he thought about his wife. Losing her had been devastating. How much more would he have to lose?

“Dad, the gate’s open.”

Blinking, he straightened and focused on the task at hand—drive the car to his house and meet with the sheriff. Try to make some kind of sense of all that was happening to him and his daughter. Try to figure out who was behind this. Because when he found the person responsible, that guy would regret ever coming after his family.

As he passed through the gates and navigated the road to his house, he peered at the red Trans Am behind his vehicle. He wasn’t alone. He had help. Would it be enough?

Through the trees, the sight of his two-story white house with six columns across the front came into view—along with the sheriff’s car and a black SUV. Standing on the large porch that ran the length of the front of the antebellum home were Hilda, Mary, the sheriff and an older gentleman who must be Joshua Walker. When Slade pulled up in the circular drive and parked behind the sheriff’s vehicle, he slid his hands from the wheel and rubbed them on his pants. He couldn’t deny the fear that blanketed him at the moment, but he wouldn’t let others see it.

Abbey flounced out of the Lexus, and the slam of his passenger door prodded him to move. As he climbed from his car, Elizabeth parked her Trans Am behind his vehicle.

“You’ve got a nice little reception.” She nodded toward the porch as Abbey charged toward her grandmother, said something to her, then stomped to the black wicker settee a few yards away from the cluster of people in front of the open door. She plopped her book bag down by her feet.

“Yeah. You know, up until recently my life has been dull.”

“I think that’s about to change.”

“Let’s find out what happened here first. This might not be tied to the threats.” He hoped this was the case, although he doubted it. “I’m afraid I waited too long to upgrade the security system.”

Sheriff McCain ambled toward him and shook Slade’s hand. “I just got here. I haven’t had time to check the house out. I have a deputy checking the exterior, talking to your men. Hilda said she came home and found the front door wide open. Leaves had blown into the foyer. She walked inside and called out for Mary. When she didn’t respond, Hilda got out of the house and placed a call to me.”

“So you don’t know if anything was taken?”

“She didn’t see anything but didn’t go very far in. Mary filled me in about the photo you found this morning at your office.”

“I also received a threatening call against Abbey later at the office on my private line. I informed Captain Ted Dickerson of the Dallas police.”

“I’ll call him and let him know I have an interest in the case. We can coordinate our investigations.”

“As you no doubt know,” Slade said, gesturing toward Joshua then Elizabeth, “I’ve hired help. Ms. Walker will be Abbey’s bodyguard while Mr. Walker will be guarding me. He’s going to do a security assessment of my house today. Whatever it takes, I’ll make this place a fortress.”

“Good. You can never be too careful. I’m going inside and look around. You can come in when I think there isn’t any danger.”

“Okay.” When he and the sheriff joined Hilda, Mary, Elizabeth and Joshua, Slade said to the group, “Sheriff McCain is going inside to make sure it’s all right for us to go in.” As the law enforcement officer moved toward the entrance, his hand on his holster, Slade glanced around.

“Where’s Jake?” Slade’s foreman had been with him from the beginning, and he’d come to depend on him where the ranch was concerned. Jake would need to be kept informed because he knew this place better than most.

“I didn’t get hold of him. No one answered at the barn, and I thought I shouldn’t leave since the sheriff was on his way.”

Slade nodded. “He said something about working on the fence in the north pasture. I’ll let him know later what’s going on if the deputy doesn’t talk to him. I haven’t had a chance to apprise him of the threats. As soon as we get the all clear, Joshua, I want you to start your assessment. It’s obvious I could use more security.” As his first security measure, he needed to make sure Jake had his cell on him at all times.

“Will do.”

Slade peered at Abbey, who sat on the settee with her legs clasped to her chest, her chin resting on her knees. A pallor to her face, she looked shell-shocked. He made his way to his daughter and eased down beside her. “Okay?”

“Sure. What girl doesn’t want a maniac after her and a twenty-four-hour bodyguard?”

He settled his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, honey.”

She shrugged away and turned toward him. Tears misted her eyes. “I’ve done nothing wrong, and yet I’m the one who’s gonna feel like a prisoner. I just don’t understand all this.”

His heart twisted at the anguish in Abbey’s voice, her expression. One tear slipped down her cheek. He brushed it away with the pad of his thumb. Abbey fell into his arms and hugged him.

He flashed back to the last few minutes before Catherine passed away. Tears had leaked from her closed eyes to course down her face—the same face as his daughter’s. A stab of pain sliced through his defenses. His gaze linked with Elizabeth’s, full of concern, and for a few seconds the hurt melted away.

The sheriff poked his head out the doorway. “All clear. It looks like everything is in its proper place, but Slade and Mary, you’ll need to have a look around. At least for now, check the obvious things a thief would steal.”

If the person after him and his daughter had been in his house, Slade felt exposed just sitting on the porch. He scanned the terrain, noting the horses grazing in the open field to the left, but a stand of trees directly in front would be a good place to hide. He’d prefer everyone inside. “Can we all come in?”

Sheriff McCain nodded and stood back from the entrance. “I need to check with my deputy and see if he found anything outside or if any of your men saw anyone.”

Slade moved first into the house with Joshua on his heels. Abbey, Mary and Hilda followed with Elizabeth taking up the rear. Leaves littered the marble floor. A breeze from the door lifted several and swirled them around to land finally in the living room. He scanned the walls, making sure his couple of pieces of art were still hanging. The Manet over the mantel and the Degas between the two floor-to-ceiling windows were untouched. That fact relaxed the tense set of his shoulders and eased the roiling in his stomach. He’d bought the masterpieces for Catherine that last year she was so sick to cheer her up. She’d loved the impressionist period of art.

Maybe somehow the door wasn’t latched properly and the wind had blown it open. Yeah, right, and maybe no one shot out your tire.

As he tramped through his house with Joshua, checking the safe and other places he had valuables, he couldn’t shake the sensation his life would never be the same. He’d learned in business to be wary. Now that feeling would overflow into his personal life.

Back in the foyer, Slade paused near the front door as the sheriff came back into the house. Any adrenaline that had surged through him had subsided, leaving him tired and in need of some caffeine. “I don’t see anything missing,” he said. “I’ll check some more, but if nothing is missing, maybe no one was in here.”

Joshua stepped next to him. “There are other reasons why someone would be in here. I’m going to do a sweep for bugs. I’ll check your phones for any, too. I have my equipment out in the car.”

Elizabeth joined them in the foyer while Mary and Abbey remained in the living room, sitting on the couch. “Your daughter wants to go up to her room.”

“That’s fine. Would you go with her and check it first? I looked in and didn’t see anything, but a more thorough search would be better.” Slade peered toward his daughter who sat with her shoulders hunched, her chin resting on her chest. “Then I’d like to meet with you and Joshua in my office.”

Elizabeth stepped into Abbey’s bathroom and surveyed the luxurious room done in beige marble with accents of forest green. Making the rounds, she opened and closed each cabinet and drawer, then headed back into the large bedroom. She checked for likely places someone would put a listening device, even though Joshua would do a more thorough scan of the whole house later.

Abbey stood in the middle with her arms folded over her chest and a glare on her face. “Don’t forget under the bed.”

“I won’t.” Elizabeth inspected the walk-in closet, twice as big as her bathroom at Joshua’s.

“Oh, and I have a balcony.”

Elizabeth left the closet, shutting the door. “That’s a great suggestion,” she said in the calmest voice she could muster. Teenage kids could be the most difficult to guard. They didn’t like their privacy being invaded even for a good reason. She’d dealt with teens before, and she would deal with Abbey. The best way was to try to win her over, which might not be easy if her pout was any indication.

Before reaching the balcony, Elizabeth opened each drawer in her dresser, felt around, then shut it. The top one held a journal. Her fingers brushed over the bound book with horses on the front.

Abbey rushed toward her and snatched the journal out of the drawer. “That’s private. Don’t touch it.” She glared at Elizabeth and hugged the book to her chest.

“I wouldn’t look in it.” She could remember the diary she’d kept as a teenager—many pages of angst. “Do you see anything missing or moved?”

Skimming her look over her possessions, Abbey backed away. She returned her razor-sharp attention to Elizabeth. “No.”

Elizabeth swung open the French doors that led to the balcony and moved out into the December air, a stiff wind blowing the strands of her hair. Ten by ten with no easy access. Still, she would have Joshua wire the doors with sensors and secure them better.

True to her word, when she was back in the room she knelt on plush white carpet next to the king-size, dark-oak canopy bed with a hot-pink satin coverlet and looked under it. Nothing there but a single tennis shoe and one red sock.

When she rose, she peered at Abbey—the girl’s posture was defensive, one hand quivering when she raised it to sweep her long brown hair behind her shoulders. The dark circles under the teen’s eyes attested to the toll the past few days had taken on her. Something softened in Elizabeth. For a few seconds she recalled her own past fear, the feeling that the circumstances around her controlled her life. “All clear,” she said to reassure Abbey.

“Oh, good, I’m relieved to know there are no monsters under it. I quit looking for them when I was eight.”

“I know this can’t be easy, but I’m here to help you.”

“Don’t pretend you know what this feels like. I’m a prisoner.”

Elizabeth panned the room that lacked nothing, from a big-screen TV to a state-of-the art computer and sound system. “Not too bad a cell.”

Abbey snorted. “Are you satisfied everything is okay? I’d like to be alone, if that’s all right. Surely I can be alone in my own cell—I mean, bedroom.”

“I’ll be downstairs in your dad’s office.”

“Oh, good. That’s right below me. I’ll stomp on the floor if I need you.”

As Elizabeth made her way down to Slade’s office, she clung to the image of Abbey out on the porch. A young girl on the verge of falling apart and trying desperately not to—even using anger to keep herself together. Elizabeth did know what that felt like. But at least Abbey’s father had been right there for her. The love and worry in his expression reached out to Elizabeth and gripped her heart. How many times had she prayed to see something like that on her own father’s face?

She rapped on the office door. When she heard Slade say, “Enter,” she went inside. He sat in a chair behind his desk, swiveled around to face a large window that framed two horses frolicking in the pasture.

“Right now I can’t remember a time when I spent a day just playing, with not a worry in the world.”

The weariness in his voice beckoned her forward. “It’s been a while for me, too.” Even as a child she’d never felt totally free to be herself, to enjoy life without a concern. The thought made loneliness creep into her heart.

He rotated his chair around. His gaze snagged hers, intensity in his gray eyes and something else—vulnerability—that reached out to her, linking them. Her pulse reacted by speeding through her.

“I guess that’s a price we pay when we grow up.” He cocked a corner of his mouth in a half grin that faded almost instantly. “But my daughter shouldn’t have to worry about it quite yet.”

The appeal in those startling eyes, storm-filled at the moment, touched a place in her heart that she’d kept firmly closed for years. She wrenched her look away and swept around in a full circle. “Nice office.” Which was putting it mildly. From a huge mahogany desk with a large-screen computer to the sumptuous brown leather grouping along one side of the room to the floor-to-ceiling bookcases on the other wall, the office was luxurious to the extreme.

He rose. “Let’s have a seat over there where it’s comfortable. Joshua’s doing a walk-through with Mary. How was Abbey?”

“Not a happy camper.”

“I figured that. When she gets scared, she gets angry. The first year after her mother died, I thought my home was a war zone. Thankfully, she began to accept her mother’s death, and I nearly had my daughter back. Then she hit puberty. Everything changed. Did I tell you I don’t like change?”

“I’ll tell you a secret. Neither do I.”

“How do you do what you do?”

“One assignment at a time. It’s important for me to keep my focus on the present.” And she had to remember that. No more journeys into her past.

He took one end of the couch and beckoned her to sit at the other end. “I’m glad it’s Tuesday. I have the Thanksgiving holidays before Abbey goes back to school to get things worked out. It’ll give you two some time to get to know each other. To get her used to you being around.”

“We’ll get into a routine. That should help.”

At that moment Uncle Joshua entered with Slade’s mother-in-law, a woman in her early sixties with short silver hair and dark brown eyes. She came to right above Joshua’s shoulders, and he was well over six feet tall.

Dressed in stylish tan slacks and a matching jacket and a white tailored blouse, Mary grasped the back of one of the chairs in the grouping while Joshua folded his long length into the opposite one. “Hilda is still shaken up in the kitchen,” she said. “I’ll be in there if you need me.”

“I appreciate the tour, Mary.” Joshua grinned, his look fastened onto the older woman.

Mary’s cheeks colored a pink shade as she scurried from the room.

Joshua chuckled. “I don’t think she’s too comfortable with everything.”

“She hasn’t had much time to assimilate what’s going on. I only called her a few hours ago to tell her my plans. Until then, all she thought was that we’d had a blowout on Saturday. She’s lived a pretty sheltered life, especially here at the ranch.” Slade shifted on the couch as though he couldn’t get settled. “I thought we should talk about some kind of game plan.”

Joshua tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair, something he did when he was impatient to get to work. “As I told you before, I want to check for listening devices, then talk to the people who put in your security system.”

“I want to get a feel for the house and the surrounding area. Meet the people who work for you besides Hilda.” Elizabeth captured Slade’s attention. “Everyone.”

“That’s fine. I can introduce—”

A scream from above ripped through the house, followed by a thud.

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