Wyoming Cowboy Protection

“Oof.” Instead of her intended dash to the store, she slammed into a hard wall of man.

“Addie.”

She looked up at Noah, whose hand curled around her arm. He looked down at her, something like concern or confusion hidden underneath all that hair and stoicism.

“Everything okay?” he asked in that gruff voice that suggested no actual interest in the answer, but that was the thing about Noah. He gave the impression he didn’t care about anything beyond his horses and cows, but he’d fixed up that truck for her even though she hadn’t asked. He played with Seth as if people who hired housekeepers usually had relationships with the housekeeper’s kid. He made sure there was food for Ty, room for Vanessa and Clint, and work if any of them wanted it.

He was a man who cared about a lot of people and hid it well.

“I just...” She looked back at where the strange, unspeaking man had been. There was no one there. No one. She didn’t know how to explain it to Noah. She didn’t know how to explain it to anyone.

The man hadn’t said anything threatening. Hadn’t done anything threatening, but that hadn’t been normal. “I thought I saw someone...” She looked around again, but there was no sign of anyone in the sunshine-laden morning.

“As in someone someone?” Noah asked in that same stoic voice, and yet Addie had no doubt if she gave any hint of fear, Noah would jump into action.

So she forced herself to smile. “I’m being silly. It was just a man.” She shook her head and gestured with her free hand. “I’m sure it was nothing.” Which was a flat-out lie. As much as she’d love to tell herself it was nothing, she knew Peter too well to think this wasn’t something.

She blew out a breath, scanning the road again. There was just no other explanation. He knew where she was. He knew.

“Addie.”

She looked back at Noah, realizing his hand was still on her arm. Big and rough. Strong. Working for Noah had made her feel safe. Protected.

But this wasn’t his fight, and she’d brought it to his door.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, closing her eyes.

“For what?” he asked in that gruff, irritable way.

Seth lunged for Noah, happily babbling his favorite word over and over again. “No, no, no.” Addie tried to hold on to the wiggling child, but Noah took him out of her arms with ease.

“Aren’t you supposed to be back at the ranch? You know I get groceries on Wednesdays. I could have picked up whatever for you.”

“It’s feed,” Noah said. “Couldn’t have loaded it up yourself with the baby.” He glanced at the grocery cart behind her. “We’ll put the groceries in my truck.”

“Oh, I can handle...”

“He always falls asleep on the way home, doesn’t he?” Noah asked as if it wasn’t something that he knew Seth’s routine. Or that he was letting Seth pull the cowboy hat off his head, and then smash it back on.

Noah moved for the cart, because you didn’t argue with Noah. He made a decision and you followed it whether you wanted to or not. Partly because he was her boss, but she also thought it was partly just him.

“Let’s get home and you can tell me what really happened.” Noah’s dark gaze scanned the street as if he could figure everything out simply by looking around.

She knew it was foolish, but she was a little afraid he could. “I swear, nothing happened. I’m being silly.”

“Well, you can tell me about that, too. At home.” He handed her Seth and then took the cart.

Home. She’d wanted to build a home. For Seth. For herself. But if Peter had found her...

She couldn’t let herself get worked up. For Seth’s sake, she had to think clearly. She had to formulate a plan. And she couldn’t possibly let Noah know the truth.

Noah didn’t think running away was the answer, that she knew after listening to his lectures to Clint.

Beyond that, regardless of his personal feelings for her—whether they existed deep down or not—he had a very clear personal code. That personal code would never let a woman and a baby run away without protection.

Which would put him in danger. Very much because of her personal feelings, she couldn’t let that happen.

“Okay. I’ll meet you back at the ranch.” She smiled pleasantly and even let him take the cart of groceries and wheel it down to where his truck was parked on the corner. She frowned at that. “If you were in town to pick up feed, why are you here?”

Noah didn’t glance at her, but he did shrug. “Saw the truck. Thought you might need some help loading.” Then he was hidden behind his truck door, loading the groceries into the back seat.

Addie glanced down at Seth. “I really don’t know what to do with that man,” she murmured, opening her own truck door and getting Seth situated in his car seat. She supposed in the end it didn’t matter she didn’t know what to do with him. If someone was here...

Well, Seth was her priority. She couldn’t be a sitting duck, and she couldn’t bring Noah into harm’s way. This wasn’t like the poison or the fence. This was directed at her. That man had stared at her. Whether or not those first two things were related didn’t matter, because this was about her.

Which meant it was time to leave again. She slid into the driver’s seat, glancing in her rearview mirror, where she watched Noah start walking back toward the store to return the now-empty cart.

Addie had become adept at lying in the past year. She’d had to, but mainly she only had to lie to strangers or people she didn’t know very well. Even that initial lie to Laurel, and the past three months of upholding it with everyone, hadn’t been hard. Pretending to be Seth’s biological mother was as easy as pie since he was hers and hers alone these days.

But finding a new lie, and telling it to Noah’s face—that was going to be a challenge. She changed her gaze from Noah’s reflection to Seth in the car seat. She smiled at him in the mirror.

“It’s okay, baby. I’ll take care of it.” Somehow. Someway.

* * *

NOAH HAD UNLOADED the groceries at the front door, and Addie had taken them inside, the baby monitor sitting on the kitchen table as they quietly worked.

He should have insisted they talk about what had transpired at the general store, but instead he’d gone back out to his truck and driven over to the barn to unload the feed.

Then he’d dawdled. He was not a man accustomed to dawdling. He was also not a man accustomed to this. Every time something bad had happened in the first two months, he’d been the one to find it. Little attacks that had been aimed at the ranch.

Whatever had shaken Addie today was about her. What she’d seen. He could attribute her shakiness to being “silly” as she said, or even her previous “situation” with her ex, but he didn’t know what that was. Not really. He certainly hadn’t poked into it. He was not a poker, and Addie was not a babbler. It was why this whole thing worked.

But she’d eased into life at the Carson Ranch. So much so that Noah, on occasion, considered thanking Laurel and Grady for forcing his hand on the whole housekeeper thing. She’d made his life easier.

Except where she hadn’t. Those uncomfortable truths he’d had to learn about himself—he was lonely, he liked having someone under his roof and to talk to for as little as he did it. He liked having her and Seth in particular.

Which was his own fault. She didn’t carry any responsibility for his stupid feelings. Even if he’d had a sense of triumph over the fact Addie didn’t jump at random noises anymore, and she didn’t get scared for no reason. Both with the poison and the fence, she’d walked on eggshells for a few days, then gotten back to her old quietly cheerful self.

He’d never told her about the footprints and they’d never returned. So maybe he’d overreacted then. Maybe he’d been silly, but whatever had rattled her at the store was something real. Which meant they needed to talk about it.

But he wasn’t the talker. He was the doer. Grady or Ty went in and did all the figuring out, and Noah brought up the rear, so to speak. He was there. He did what needed to be done, but he was no great determiner of what that thing was. He left that to people who liked to jack their jaw.

Which was when he realized what he really needed. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and typed a text. When he got the response he’d hoped for, he put his phone away and got back to his real work. Not protecting Addie Foster and whatever her issue was, but running a ranch.

He worked hard, thinking as little about Addie as possible, and didn’t reappear at the main house until supper. He stepped up onto the porch, scraping the mud off his boots before entering.

The blast of warmth that hit him was an Addie thing. She opened the west-facing curtains so the sun set golden through the windows and into the kitchen and entryway every day. Whenever he stepped in, she had supper ready or almost.