To Love & Protect Her

“Are you having second thoughts?” she asked. “I didn’t even think to ask if you could spare the time to stay with me.”

“My time isn’t a problem,” he said, his voice short. “I want to be sure you understand that we’re going to be alone together, possibly for a while. Are you sure you don’t want to go somewhere else?”

She was too aware of Griff, sitting so close to her in the car. Surrounded by his male scent, his leather jacket still wrapped around her shoulders, her senses were overwhelmed with him. The air around them pulsated with tension. Spending time alone with Griff would be dangerous.

“I’m sure,” she said.

Griff studied Willa for a moment. Her eyes were heavy with fatigue and the bruise on her temple stood out sharply on her pale face. But he saw the resolution in her eyes and nodded with approval. “Good. I’ll call Ryan, then.”

Willa was a lot tougher than he’d suspected, he reflected as he listened to the phone connecting. She was a lady, and he hadn’t spent much time around ladies in his life. He had been prepared for tears and a quivering fearfulness. But Willa had just lifted her chin and given him a steady look. He was almost ready to believe her when she said she could take care of herself.

Almost, but not quite.

She was too trusting, too good-hearted to be as wary as she needed to be. She probably trusted anyone who didn’t actually wave a gun in her face, he thought cynically. If anyone needed a keeper, it was Willa Simms.

He wanted nothing more than to volunteer for the job.

And wouldn’t that be a sight. Wild Griffin Fortune, with his dubious personal background and his present unsavory job, involved with genteel Willa Simms, university professor.

If it weren’t so ludicrous, his fantasy would be good for a laugh. As it was, it was merely pathetic.

He had absolutely nothing in common with Willa. As if to remind him of that fact, his Uncle Ryan’s voice came on the phone.

“Ryan, it’s Griff. We’ve run into a bit of trouble.”

“What is it?” Griff could imagine Ryan sitting up straight in his chair, his eyebrows drawn together.

Griff quickly explained what had happened at Willa’s the night before. “We’re in another part of the state now,” he said, aware that it was all too easy to eavesdrop on a cellular phone call. “I remember you mentioned a cabin that Mary Ellen owns. The one that Jace used recently. Could you give me directions?”

“Of course.” Ryan told him how to get to the isolated cabin, being careful not to mention any names that could give away their location. And he told him obliquely where the key was hidden. Ryan was quick, Griff thought with appreciation.

“We’re going to stay there for a while. You might want to get some investigators into College Station, see what they can find out. I’d rather not expose Willa to another kidnapping attempt.”

“Thank God you got to her apartment when you did.”

Griff could hear the emotion in Ryan’s voice.

“Are you sure she’s all right?”

“She will be. Your goddaughter is tough,” he said.

There must have been surprise in his voice, because Ryan laughed. “Damn right, she’s tough. She gets that from her old man. He was one hard guy. Let me talk to her.”

He handed the phone to Willa and watched her as she listened to Ryan. Her eyes softened and her mouth trembled as she smiled. Finally she said, “I’m fine, Ryan, and so is Griff. I hope you don’t mind if we use Mary Ellen’s cabin.”

She smiled again as she listened, and a low laugh gurgled out of her throat. Its husky sound wound its way inside him and seemed to take hold. He wanted to hear that laugh of Willa’s again.

Smiling, she said goodbye and handed him the phone. “Ryan says he trusts you with my life.”

Griff scowled, irritated by his inability to control his desire for Willa. “He knows damn well he can trust me with your life. I’d never let a family member down.”

Willa’s smile faded a little. “I’m glad you take your family obligations so seriously.” She shifted to stare out the window of the truck, but he’d caught the hurt in her eyes before she turned away.

Griff watched her stiff back, felt the tension swirling through the cab of the truck, and sighed. “Hell, Willa, you know I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Do I? I know practically nothing about you,” she retorted. “And for the record, you don’t owe me any explanations.” Her voice was cool, and she didn’t turn around. “We’re in an unfortunate situation, but that doesn’t mean that I’ll intrude in your life. You can be sure I won’t be a burden.”

She was as far from a burden as he could imagine, and he wanted nothing more than to have Willa intrude in his life. The realization brought a knot to his gut. He gripped the steering wheel more tightly. “Willa, I wouldn’t have brought you here to El Paso if I didn’t care what happened to you. If I were just doing a favor for Ryan, I would have taken you back to the Double Crown Ranch. I didn’t mean it that way.”

Willa turned around and looked at him, but her eyes were carefully blank. “I’m sorry if I misunderstood, Griff. Shouldn’t we be on our way?”

He swore silently as he put the truck into gear and pulled out of the parking lot a little more quickly than he should have. “You’re right. We don’t want to stay here long enough to give anyone a chance to remember us.”

They rode in silence for a while, tension still thick between them. He was shocked to realize that he wanted to pull Willa into his arms and show her just how much he cared about what happened to her. Telling himself again that he was too rough and untamed for a woman like Willa, he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and listened to the hum of the tires on the asphalt.

Taking Willa to this cabin, staying alone there with her, was a huge mistake. He should have known better. He’d known from the first time he saw Willa that she would be trouble. He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her. And now he was going to be cooped up with her in a tiny cabin, with nothing else to do but look at her. And talk to her.

He should turn around right now and go back to the Double Crown Ranch.

But he couldn’t take any chances with her, so he continued on the route out of El Paso. When the road began climbing into the mountains, he forced himself to say to her, “Have you ever been to this part of Texas?”

“No,” she answered. Her voice was carefully even, and he couldn’t interpret her tone. “Before I moved to College Station, the only part of Texas I’d visited was the Double Crown and San Antonio.”

“Keep an eye on the area,” he said gruffly. “You never know when you’ll need to find your way around here.”

Her eyes widened as she stared at him. “What do you mean?”

She seemed more puzzled than shocked, and he sighed at her naiveté. “We don’t know what’s going to happen in the next several days. I want you to be prepared for anything.”

He felt her eyes on him, studying him. “I think I understand what Ryan meant,” she finally said slowly. “Don’t worry, Griff. I could get us back to El Paso if I had to, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“What did Ryan say?” he asked, unable to stop himself.

To his surprise, a faint smile played around her lips. “He said that you always think three steps ahead of everyone else. He said that you’d managed to surprise even him. Now I understand what he meant. I can practically see you thinking as you drive, preparing for any possibility.”

“I learned a long time ago that you only survive if you’re smarter than your enemy. And I intend for both of us to survive.”

“I already told you that I trust you,” she said softly. “I meant it, Griff.”

The coolness was gone from her eyes. Now there was only warmth, and a light that burned steadily as she watched him. It made an answering flame leap inside him.

Deliberately, he turned away to focus on the road. There was no excuse for becoming distracted from his job. And Willa was definitely a distraction.

“According to Ryan, we should be there in about ten minutes,” he said.

“And then what?”

“Then we wait,” he said grimly. “Ryan is putting some private investigators on the job in College Station to see what they can turn up. We’re going to stay here until we have some answers. Until we know who was trying to kidnap you, I don’t want to take any chances.”