Bodyguard Under the Mistletoe Read Free

it doesn’t make rational sense, you might even love him.”
    â€œI’ve been in love before, and it hasn’t worked.”
    â€œYou’ll never know what’s going to happen with Burke unless you give it a try.”
    â€œOh, hell. I couldn’t possibly pick a more inconvenient time for this to happen.” She stuck the toe of her boot into the stirrup and mounted Elvis. “I’ll be back with Burke to investigate your mysterious voices in the night.”
    â€œI can’t wait to meet him.”
    Fiona watched as Carolyn rode down the ridge to the road where she wouldn’t encounter any barbed wire. Though they were the same age, Fiona felt much older. She’d already been through her own cycle of life—marriage, childbirth and the death of her husband.
    Now she was alone again. Starting over. She envied theglow of first love that flushed Carolyn’s face when she spoke of the FBI agent. Someday, she hoped to feel that way again. She remembered the sudden rush of emotion that came with love. The shivers. The heat. Hot and cold at the same time.
    Instead of walking directly back to the house, she climbed the ridge. From a vantage point behind a boulder, she looked down at her property.
    A cool December wind shook the branches of the pines. In spite of the bright sunlight pouring down, she shivered. The voices she had heard last night could have been coming from the barn. Or the toolshed. Or the unfinished pottery studio Wyatt had been constructing for her.
    She glimpsed something moving at the back of the house. A shadow that resembled the silhouette of a man. She squinted hard, trying to be sure of the vague shape she thought she’d seen. Was someone creeping around her house?
    Her back door slammed. The noise jolted through her like a shot. She hadn’t locked up when she’d gone to greet Carolyn. That shadowy figure could have gone inside her house.

Chapter Two
    Riding in the passenger seat of a black SUV with the Longbridge Security logo on the side, Jesse stared through the windshield at the blue Colorado sky. He was on his way to the Carlisle Ranch to put things right.
    Behind the steering wheel, Wentworth sat tight-lipped and disapproving. He hadn’t said a word on the drive from Delta to the small town of Riverton.
    Red and green Christmas decorations were plentiful on the storefronts. An inflatable snowman stood outside the drugstore. No chance for making the real thing; the weather had been mild for December.
    Wentworth pulled up at a stop sign. To their left was the only gas station in town. In front of the auto repair bay, a cowboy slammed the door on his truck and cursed.
    â€œFor the record,” Wentworth muttered, “I think you should have stayed in the hospital.”
    â€œDuly noted.” Jesse looked toward the gas station where the cowboy’s ranting got louder. “What’s going on over there?”
    â€œThat guy sounds like he’s unhappy about the repair job on his truck. Not exactly in keeping with the spirit of goodwill to all.”
    As Jesse watched, the cowboy grabbed a tire iron and stormed toward the office. “Pull over.”
    â€œAw, hell. I don’t want to get involved in this.”
    Still, Wentworth swung the SUV into the gas station and parked by the pump. Longbridge Security wasn’t connected with law enforcement, but Jesse felt a personal obligation to uphold public order.
    A white-haired man in coveralls shuffled out of the gas station office. In his grease-stained hands, he aimed a double-barrel shotgun at the cowboy. “Take your business elsewhere,” he growled. “Your truck ain’t worth the rubber you leave behind on the road.”
    â€œI got no problem with you, Silas.” The cowboy backed off. “Where the hell’s your grandson?”
    â€œI’m not the boy’s keeper. Or his parole officer. Get off my property.”
    â€œI’m