Read Her Rancher Bodyguard for Free Online

going to call your dad and he’ll back me up on this. I don’t know what it is between the two of you, but I’m pretty sure you both care more than you let on.”
    â€œYes, we care.” She looked away, to the potted palm in the corner and the flowerpot that she’d picked up at a discount store because it looked cheerful. She didn’t know what it was called or how she’d managed to keep it alive.
    â€œAre there more letters?”
    She shook her head. “I threw them away. At first I just thought it was a nuisance. But then I started feeling as if I was being followed, and I’m sure they’ve been in my apartment more than once.”
    â€œAnd your dad has gotten letters, too?”
    â€œYeah, he’s gotten letters.”
    He leaned back in the chair and stretched his jean-clad legs in front of him. “Well, Kayla, I guess it’s time we headed for Martin’s Crossing.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause I know I can keep you safe there while the police try to figure out who’s blackmailing your dad.”
    â€œYou can keep me safe here,” she insisted, not liking the pleading tone in her voice.
    â€œI can keep you safer on my own turf.”
    Martin’s Crossing. She shouldn’t have minded the idea of going to the place her siblings called home. But she wasn’t a Martin of Martin’s Crossing. She was their half sister. The only thing they had in common was the mother who had abandoned them all.
    â€œI guess refusing to go won’t work.”
    He laughed at that. “’Fraid not. Before long you’ll be wishing I was the only Wilder in your life.”
    * * *
    By ten o’clock that evening Boone and Kayla were heading for the Wilder Ranch. Lucy had been turned loose to head home for a few days.
    Exhausted by a day that had included police reports and long conversations with her father, Kayla slept the ride away, which helped her avoid answering any more of Boone’s questions. She didn’t want to explain the things best left in the past. Those subjects were walls between herself and her father. Lack of trust loomed as the largest barrier in their ever-fragile relationship.
    She didn’t want Boone inside those walls.
    She woke up as they drove through Martin’s Crossing. Her head had been at a strange angle and her neck ached. She rubbed it, aware that Boone had probably seen her drool in her sleep.
    â€œWe’re home,” he said, his voice softly husky in the dark interior of the truck.
    Home. It wasn’t her home, even though it had become familiar to her in the past year. The main street where her brother Duke owned Duke’s No Bar and Grill. Across the street was the shop his wife, Oregon, owned, Oregon’s All Things. Duke’s wife was crafty and artistic. She made clothes, hand-painted Christmas ornaments and other pretty items. The grocery store was to the right of Oregon’s. Lefty Mueller’s store, where he sold wooden Christmas carousels and other hand-carved art, was to the left. Kayla was a city girl but Martin’s Crossing held a certain appeal. But not long-term. Not for her.
    For some reason the thought invoked a melancholy that took her by surprise, sending a few tears trickling down her cheeks. She kept her gaze on the passing scenery and brushed away the tears.
    â€œWhere do your parents live?” she asked, turning from the window and pulling her hair back from her face.
    â€œA few minutes out of town.” He kept driving, the radio playing country music and the open windows letting in warm summer air. “You okay?”
    â€œOf course.”
    He cleared his throat, then let out a heartfelt sigh. “You were crying.”
    â€œI wasn’t.”
    â€œI have sisters, I know tears of sadness, tears of frustration. All brands of tears.”
    â€œOkay, Mr. Tear Expert, why was I crying?”
    â€œI’m not sure of the exact reason, but