GI Cowboy

Her phone rang, and even though she’d been expecting and even praying for this particular call, her heart began to pound when she saw the sheriff’s name on the screen. Her hand was shaking too, but she pressed the button to answer it and put it on speaker so Parker could hear.

“Did you find the car?” Bailey immediately asked.

“No,” Sheriff Hale said after several snail-crawling moments. “We looked hard, Bailey, but that car isn’t on any road in this county. I figure the guy knows we’re onto him, and he’s long gone.”

Bailey tried not to react, and on the outside she probably didn’t. Inside was a different matter.

“We’ll keep looking, of course,” the sheriff continued. “I’ll review each new security tape. And I’ll have one of the deputies drive by Cradles to Crayons at least every hour. We got this situation under control, Bailey, and I don’t want you worrying about it.”

“Thank you,” she told him, and she clicked the end call button.

She didn’t move. Bailey just stood there, even though the July heat was brutal. Sweat was starting to trickle down her back.

“Okay,” Parker mumbled. “That’s that, then.” He extended his hand for her to shake.

A farewell shake, no doubt.

Bailey stared at his hand. Then at Parker himself. And she had the sickening feeling that her life depended on the decision she was about to make.

Chapter Four

Well, it was a victory, but Parker didn’t feel like celebrating.

Yes, Bailey had told him that he could continue to be her bodyguard, but since she’d snarled when she said it, Parker didn’t think this was an employer-employee match made in heaven.

She drove ahead of him in her BMW and pulled into her neighborhood, an area Parker knew well since he’d been watching her for days.

But who else had been watching her?

Parker had been careful and observant, and he hadn’t seen anyone suspicious, but those surveillance tapes proved otherwise. He hoped like hell that the driver of that mysterious black car didn’t have some kind of insider information about Bailey’s schedule, but then she was pretty predictable.

During the workweek, Bailey went to the day care at six forty-five and came home around seven p.m. Sometimes later. She often took meals with female friends or members of her staff at the diner, Talk of the Town, but other than that, she didn’t have much of a social life.

Was that because she was nursing a broken heart?

Since Parker had already done an extensive background check on Bailey, he knew about her failed relationship with the Dallas real estate tycoon Trey Masters, who’d been downright chatty with the tabloids about what it was like to date the governor’s daughter. It hadn’t been pretty, and since that happened only four months ago, that might explain the no-male company in Bailey’s life.

Parker also knew other things. Personal things. For instance, on Saturday, Bailey had visited a fertility clinic in Amarillo. He knew because he’d followed her there and had seen her collect their literature on artificial insemination and single parenthood. He wondered if the governor knew about her daughter’s possible plans to become a mother.

Having a child of her own would suit Bailey all right. He had seen her with the children at the day care, and she was a natural.

Ahead of him, Bailey pulled into the driveway of her prairie-style house. It was homey, not at all what he’d expected when he’d first seen it a week earlier. Across the entire front of the house was a porch, complete with hanging plants, rocking chairs and even a swing.

She got out and immediately looked back at him as he brought his truck to a stop behind her. Even though she was wearing dark sunglasses now, she was no doubt still glaring. And probably hating that she had no other choice but to rely on him for her personal safety.

“There’s no reason for you to check the house,” she told him, again.

Parker ignored her, again. “I just want to make sure no one has broken in.”

“I have a security system, and I use it.”

“So you’ve said. But there are ways around a security system. Humor me, Bailey. This won’t take long, and it’ll make me sleep better tonight.”

She huffed, just as he knew she would do, and pushed her shades to the top of her head. With her keys ready, she walked to front door. Probably because her hands were still shaking, something she wouldn’t dare admit, it took her several seconds to get it unlocked. Almost immediately the security system began to whine, and she punched in the code on the wall keypad to disarm it.