Cassie's Cowboy Crave: Witness Protection - Rancher Style (Sweet Montana Bride Series) Read Free Page A

Mainly clothing and personal items. Your things will be shipped to our final destination. Probably arrive before we do.”
    “But I have cats. Two of them.”
    “We know. They’ll be fine. Your guardian has agreed to allow pets.”
    “What about my parents? Are they in danger?”
    He gave her a sideways glance. “They have plans to come back to the U.S. anytime soon?”
    “No. I just wondered…” She let the sentence die.
    “Your parents are in Guam. I think they’ll be safe there. From the Lawson brothers, anyway.” He’d muttered the last part.
    Another face came to mind, and Cassie felt guilty she hadn’t thought of him sooner. “And Griffin?” Heck, Gonzalez  knew about her overdue library book; he was bound to know about her boyfriend, even if it was a long-distance relationship.
    “Again. Out of the country,” he said. “Should be fine. Mind if I ask you a question, though?”
    Cassie shook her head. “Go ahead.”
    “Why is it that the people closest to you live so far away?” He’d removed his sunglasses, eyes looking deep and perplexed. Cassie tried for just a moment to place his age. He acted young. Moved like he was too. But the small wrinkles around his mouth and eyes gave him away. The guy was probably in his late forties. Maybe a young-looking fifty.
    It took her only a moment to recall his question. “My parents have done volunteer work out of the country for years. In fact, it’s how they met. Even while my mom was pregnant with me she was digging wells and building schools. I was born in Rwanda. Did you know that?”
    The detective nodded, though his eyes told her he was holding something back. A faulty dam ready to snap.
    “What?” she urged, wondering what the near stranger could be thinking.
    He replaced his glasses and turned back to the window. “Nothing. I just don’t understand how anyone makes a long-distance relationship work.”
    Cassie’s heart was a hot, pounding mess, torn in several directions all at once. She wouldn’t say it aloud, but Cassie was considering ending her relationship with Griffin. In her purse, she’d stashed a letter received from her boyfriend just the day before. A letter that she hadn’t yet opened.
    Cassie wasn’t sure what it might contain – words of his continued love, or an acknowledgement that the relationship wasn’t much of a relationship at all. Either way, Cassie planned to come to her own decision about things before she opened it.
    While forcing a slow breath through barely parted lips, she told herself things would be okay one way or another. At least the people she cared for would be safe.
    Still, she had no idea where she was going, or how long she’d be. And who was this guardian Gonzalez had referred to? What kind of person allowed some stranger and her cats into their home at a moment’s notice? She couldn’t begin to imagine what the days lying ahead might be like.
    Mindlessly, she thumbed through the pages of the book in her hand. And as she sucked in a deep, calming breath, inhaling the familiar scent, Cassie wondered if her journey would be more bitter than sweet. One thing was certain – her near future was like the book in one way – it was entirely unknown to her and filled with possibilities. 

CHAPTER FOUR
    The dark Montana sky gave way to lighter shades as the hour slipped by. Shane should still be in bed right now. Heaven knew he needed the rest. Instead, he was gripping the cool steering wheel in his truck, driving to the airport to pick up a total stranger.
    Damn that nosey brother of his. And Reese – that sneaky little thing had grinned all too wide when she’d heard there was a girl waiting. A girl who needed protection. The stubborn side of him wanted to dislike this woman no matter what she was like. Show them how foolish they’d been. The other part of him, the part that longed for a woman’s closeness, scent, and touch, wanted desperately for her to somehow be the one for him. The way it had