Mountain Bodyguard

Mountain Bodyguard
Cassie Miles

HER ROCKY MOUNTAIN BODYGUARDNannying six children was supposed to be the toughest part of Lexie DeMille’s new job. Then their massive Aspen residence was attacked and it was clear someone had a very personal vendetta to settle. A job that required TST Security and its best bodyguard, Mason Steele. His focus should only have been on securing the remote mountain hideaway. But unraveling Lexie’s secrets became critical to the case and to his own private agenda. Under a veneer of domesticity was a Marine brat with more survival skills than your average nanny. Something about her had driven her assailant into a violent rage. And that same thing blurred the parameters of Mason’s detail–and would test his every survival instinct.

“I have a question for you. You had arranged to pick me up at five o’clock, in just a few hours, for a date. Doesn’t it seem weird for you to ring the doorbell and announce that you’re moving in with me?”

“A valid question.” He translated her concern: “You want to know if it’s unprofessional for me to agree to act as bodyguard for a woman I’m attracted to.”

“Are you?” She brightened.

“Attracted?” He regretted the use of that word. “You’re a good-looking woman. I’m a single man.”

“And you’re my bodyguard. If we’re dating, isn’t that a professional conflict?”

“I considered asking somebody else at TST to take this assignment.” For about three and a half seconds, he’d considered. “It’s not a problem. I can control my personal feelings. At five o’clock, I can quit being a bodyguard, and we’ll have our date. Or not.”

“How do you decide?”

“We’ll know,” he said.

Mountain Bodyguard

Cassie Miles

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

CASSIE MILES, a USA TODAY bestselling author, lives in Colorado. After raising two daughters and cooking tons of macaroni and cheese for her family, Cassie is trying to be more adventurous in her culinary efforts. She’s discovered that almost anything tastes better with wine. When she’s not plotting Mills & Boon Intrigue books, Cassie likes to hang out at the Denver Botanical Gardens near her high-rise home.

To Khloe Adams and her brilliant advice.

And, as always, to Rick.

Contents

Cover (#udf17cdc7-9bc7-5505-a1db-f012bb531cbd)

Introduction (#u4dae6b1b-9585-5c00-bb7f-3f8744abfd56)

Title Page (#u02628132-5ad4-5afc-aebb-1a306f2d157f)

About the Author (#u79a90b6e-05ca-5d71-83a8-11769da599c6)

Dedication (#ua8fc3088-c44d-5685-83b3-db38b2db230a)

Chapter One (#ulink_12024fc9-0fcd-5055-9d6e-fe51788a8b30)

Chapter Two (#ulink_f70c55b7-736c-50ff-ad14-16398ec34712)

Chapter Three (#ulink_e86ac4af-ecda-5afd-844c-f26a56d302c4)

Chapter Four (#ulink_b749a855-fae0-5770-8243-2c97b7c3debf)

Chapter Five (#ulink_e65498c2-e7a4-5af7-bcc8-43c1b7fec342)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One (#ulink_aa2e809b-1d31-54cc-aa21-b3d58efef968)

The hotel was a bodyguard’s nightmare. Mason Steele fidgeted beside French doors that opened onto a flagstone terrace. With extreme impatience, he watched while Admiral Edgar Prescott, tonight’s honoree, made his way through the stragglers who were toasting the crimson glow of a June sunset and finishing off their complementary glass of Colorado merlot.

Number one security problem: isolated mountain location. This seven-story structure was surrounded by national forest with only two viable access roads. Never mind that Aspen was less than forty minutes away, this site was remote. An attacker could assault the hotel, dash across the ninth green and vanish into the forest before Mason and his colleagues figured out where they were hit. To prevent such an ambush, his firm, TST Security, had stationed their own snipers on the roof.

This charity banquet was all hands on deck for TST. They were using five regulars and six part-timers, plus had a helicopter pilot on standby.