The Colton Bodyguard

“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.