Clandestine Christmas

His arms came up around her and he steadied her. Glancing over her shoulder at the boy, he hooked an arm around her waist and guided her through the door.

Barkley lumbered to his feet and started to follow them out of the boy’s room.

“Stay,” Chase said, his voice gentle, but firm.

The dog dropped to his belly on a rug, laying his chin between his two front paws.

Chase closed the door halfway. Without saying a word, he led Kate down the staircase, grabbed their jackets and ushered her out the back door onto a wide, wooden porch.

Outside, she broke free of his grasp and walked to the steps leading down, wondering if she could make it to her truck without being stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Chase asked, his voice so close, he had to be standing behind her.

She shook her head and brushed a hand across her eyes, realizing she still held the worn teddy bear in her other hand. Swallowing hard, she pushed the lump in her throat back and half turned, shoving the toy toward Chase. “Could you take this to Jake? He might be missing it.” Her voice sounded gravelly to her own ears. She hated that she was showing emotion when she was sent to be a bodyguard, not a basket case. Kate should have known it was too soon after all that had happened.

“He was half-asleep before we left the room. I’ll take it to him later.” Chase reached for her empty hand and held it. “Do you want to talk about what happened in there?”

“No.” Kate turned her back to him, staring out into the darkness. “Look, Mr. Marsden—”

“Call me Chase.”

“Chase,” she said. “I can’t work for you.”

“Why?”

Kate shook her head. “I’m not the right person for this job.” Hank had assured her she was ready, and that she could handle the assignment. He’d been wrong. Had he told her a child would be involved...then what? Kate wouldn’t have thought she’d react so strongly to Jake’s request for a kiss. But it hit her like a punch to the chest.

Kate would never have children of her own to hug and kiss good-night.

She dug her cell phone out of her back pocket and stepped down off the porch. Swiping at more tears forming in her eyes, she punched Hank’s number and walked toward the barn.

As was typical of Hank Derringer, he answered as if they were continuing a conversation. “Oh, good, you made it there.”

“Hank, my body to guard is in the hospital.”

“What happened?” he asked.

She filled him in on the details and added, “Marsden wants me to stay on, even though Sadie is in the hospital.”

“I think you should. Perhaps you can figure out what’s going on.”

“That’s just it.” She screwed up the courage to back out of her first assignment. “I don’t think I’m the right person for this job.”

“Kate, darlin’, I wouldn’t have sent you if I didn’t think you could handle it. You’re the best shot, and you know how to defend others as well as yourself.”

“You recruited me and sent me here because I’m female,” she stated, her tone flat. “Don’t you have someone else who could take my spot? I’d rather chase down drug cartel members or serial killers.”

“I’m limited on female agents right now. Maybe if you tell me what’s wrong about the job, I can help you figure out a way to handle it.”

Her hand shook as she held the phone, trying to think of the words to describe all that was wrong with this assignment. None of the words she came up with sounded nearly convincing enough in her head. She stared down at the teddy bear she still held in her other hand. “I just can’t.”

“Well, do me a favor and stay on the job for at least a couple days while I see who I can pull to take your place.”

She wanted to wail and gnash her teeth. A couple of days might as well be a lifetime. The more she was around these people, the more she’d be reminded of what she no longer could have.

“Kate, I’m counting on you,” Hank said softly. “And so are they. Do this for me until I come up with a plan.”

Her shoulders sagged. Short of quitting her job working with Covert Cowboys, Inc. she had to do as asked. “Okay. I’ll do what needs to be done.” She sucked in a breath and let it out. “But only until you find a replacement.”

“Tell him to send someone to guard Sadie,” Chase said from behind her.

“I heard,” Hank acknowledge. “I can get one of the cowboys up there tomorrow, but getting a female to take your place will be trickier.”

“Do what you can.” Kate ended the call and stared out at the snowcapped mountains and clamped her teeth together.

Chase placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her toward him. He stared into her eyes, the starlight reflected in his blue eyes. “Are you leaving us?”

Kate sighed and faced the man. Though her first instinct was to run as far and as fast as she could, she had to say, “I’m staying. For now.” She had no choice, other than to quit. And Chuck Rivers didn’t raise a quitter.

Hank’s offer had been the only one she’d gotten in the past six months. Who else wanted to hire a broken former Texas Ranger?

Chase let out an abrupt sigh. “Good. With Sadie in the hospital, I could use all the help I can get. Jake lost his mother not long ago. He needs to know he has people who aren’t going to leave him.”

Guilt settled like sour milk in the pit of her belly. “I said I’m staying,” she snapped, angrier at herself for her desire to leave Chase and the boy behind.

“Thanks.” Chase tugged her hand, bringing her closer.

Kate staggered forward frowning. “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll call it a night.”

“Not yet.” Chase reached up and brushed her cheek with his thumb. “I’d give anything to know why you were crying.”

She froze. The touch of his thumb on her cheek and the warmth of his hand surrounding hers sent a rush of heat all the way through her body and out to the very tips of her ears and toes.

His cool blue eyes seemed to burn a hole through the wall she’d so carefully constructed around her emotions. The same wall that had taken a direct hit when a little boy asked her to kiss him good-night. A moan rose up her throat and out her parted lips before she could stop it. She tugged at the hand held tight in his.

He refused to let go. “Tell me. What made you sad, please.” His rich baritone wrapped around her like a lush, sexy blanket warming her in the chill night air.

Her gaze shifted from his eyes to his lips and a new fire burned from the inside. Chase Marsden was a good-looking man with full, sensuous lips that begged to be kissed.

“Let me help you.”

“I’m supposed to be here to help you,” she whispered, feeling herself fall into the man’s eyes.

He bent and lightly swept his lips across hers, the touch so soft, at first Kate thought she’d imagined it. Then he crushed her to him, his arms clamping around her waist pressing her body against his, his mouth coming down over hers.

The second time his lips touched hers, she had no doubt she was being kissed.

When his tongue slipped between her lips, she opened to him, allowing him to delve into her mouth and caress her in a long, warm, wet glide.

Kate leaned into him, her knees suddenly too weak to hold her steady. Her arms rose to lace behind his neck as the hard evidence of his desire nudged her belly.

For a moment she lost herself in a kiss that should never have happened.

Eventually, they surfaced to breathe. At that point, a rush of awareness slammed her feet back to the cold hard earth and she tugged against his grip. “I can’t do this.”

“Do what?” he breathed against her mouth and traced her lips with his tongue.

She wavered, her body swaying toward him. “I can’t. Do. This.” Finally, she planted the teddy bear against his chest and pushed back. “This is wrong.”

He let her step back, but retained his hold on her wrists. “Please. Don’t go. I promise not to ask you to do anything you’re not comfortable with. All I ask is that you stay and help protect my friends. They need you.” His gaze burned into hers and she could feel herself melting.

“I told you I’d stay.” She finally pulled free of his hold, and pressed the teddy bear to her chest, holding it like a shield to guard her from a man who had heartbreak written all over his face. “Now, if you have a blanket, I can sleep on the couch.”

“As far as my housekeeper and foreman are concerned, you’re my fiancée and my guest. I have plenty of bedrooms. You can sleep in one of them. I’ll have Mrs. Quaid prepare one for you. Shall we step inside before we freeze out here?”

Feeling the cold for the first time since she stepped outside, Kate preceded Chase into the house. His hand rested on the small of her back, reminding her of how dangerous it would be to like this man. He was a job, nothing more.

Even if his touch sent tingles across her skin and filled her chest with a sense of anticipation.

Chapter Three

Chase rose before dawn, a terrible habit he’d picked up when he’d moved to the Lucky Lady Ranch. This far out in the mountains, when the sun went down, there wasn’t much to do but sleep.

All the years of late-night partying with beautiful women and staying up until dawn had taken their toll. The thought of going back to that lifestyle held no appeal to him. After a year on the ranch, he’d become accustomed to the slower pace and the clean, fresh air. After two years breathing clean mountain air, smoky bars would kill him.

He’d started getting up early when William sprained his ankle jumping down from the loft in the barn. He’d been forced to either take over the farm chores or hire out the work. Since he valued his privacy at home, he chose to take over some of the chores, rather than hiring additional ranch hands. Chase discovered a love of working with the animals. Even mucking horse stalls was a balm to his wayward soul.

For the two years he’d been forced to stay at the ranch his grandfather left him, he’d focused on the end of that time frame, thinking he’d leave when he’d served his sentence. Now he knew he couldn’t leave. He loved the place. William and Frances had become family to him and he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

As he crawled out of bed, he could feel every bruise and strained muscle he’d suffered from the bump he’d endured by the runaway vehicle the night before. He’d called the hospital before he’d gone to bed and learned Sadie was holding her own, but that she was still unconscious in the chemically induced coma.

How he’d break it to Jake that his only living relative was laid up in the hospital and they didn’t know when she’d come home, he wasn’t sure. First he had to help William take care of the animals.

Pulling on an old pair of jeans and his cowboy boots, he dressed in a chambray shirt and a sweatshirt, shoving a hand through his hair. He was long overdue for a haircut, but he hadn’t made a special trip to Fool’s Fortune during the day to take care of it. At the ranch, no one cared if his hair grew long. Reporters didn’t follow him around here. In fact his paparazzi days seemed to be over, for which he was eternally grateful. There was something to be said for becoming a hermit and guarding his anonymity.

He paused as he passed the room across the hall from his.

No sounds came from inside. Kate was probably still asleep, dressed in her oversize T-shirt and gym shorts. How a woman could make sloppy clothes look that sexy was a mystery to him. One he would love to explore, inch by incredible inch of her body.

He’d caught a glimpse of her crossing the hallway from the guest bathroom. The sight of her long, beautifully defined legs was enough to keep him awake until midnight, imagining what those legs would feel like wrapped around his waist.

Chase’s initial impression of Kate had been one of a take-charge woman who lived, worked and breathed her job as a protector and bodyguard.

He hadn’t been prepared to see her nearly break down when Jake had asked her to kiss him good-night. The tough-girl facade crumbled in that moment, and he saw the real Kate between the cracks in her wall. A soft, caring, heartbroken Kate. He wondered what had caused her so much pain that a child’s plea would carve a huge chink in her armor?

At the top of the stairs, he heard the faint sounds of pots and pans clanking and dishes being stacked as well as the murmur of voices.

Frances always rose with William and cooked the men a hardy breakfast.

As he descended the stairs and headed to the back of the house to the kitchen, Chase was surprised to see Kate gathering flatware while Frances cracked eggs into a skillet. William sat at the roomy kitchen table, pulling on his boots.

Frances turned with a spatula in her hand and a smile on her face. “There you are. Grab yourself a cup of coffee, the eggs will be done in a minute.” She returned her attention to the skillet and the bubbling eggs. “We were just getting to know Kate. She says she grew up on a ranch in the Texas panhandle and she learned how to ride practically before she could walk. She’ll get along fine around here.”

Chase frowned. Frances already knew more about Kate than he did. “She’s a woman with many talents.” And secrets. His gaze met hers as he passed the table to reach the coffeepot.

Frances cast a smile over her shoulder at Chase. “Now that you’re here, tell me how you two met. I’m sure it was purely romantic.”

Chase’s hand froze on the handle of the coffeepot. When he’d come up with the idea of Kate going undercover, he hadn’t completely thought through the entire story, and that he’d have to play it out with his most trusted employees and friends.

He knew how much Frances liked to gossip with the quilting ladies in Fool’s Fortune and word would get out quickly that way, cementing Kate’s story.

“Well?” Frances shot another glance over her shoulder and then flipped the eggs in the skillet.

Kate’s cheeks reddened. “I’ll let Chase tell the story. He’s so much better at it.” Her brows rose in challenge, her gaze pinning his.

Chase took his time pouring his coffee, while he scrambled to come up with a plausible story. “We met outside a bar.”

“A bar?” Frances grimaced. “Was it at least a swanky bar?”

Chase shrugged. “It was nice enough.”

“What did you do to get her attention?”

Chase chuckled and took a seat at the table, wrapping his hand around the coffee mug. “She barely even acknowledged my existence at first. She was busy helping someone else.”

“What was your first indication she might be the one for you?” Frances asked.

William frowned. “Frances, the kids might not like answering all your questions.”

“Oh, shush, William. I live vicariously through Chase. He’s had a much more interesting life than we have.” She scraped scrambled eggs onto several plates and set the skillet aside. Grabbing two of the plates loaded with eggs, toast and bacon, she carried them to the table. “Go on, Chase.”

“Well, you could say I fell for her the first time we met.” Chase caught Kate’s attention. “How could I not? I mean look at her. She’s beautiful, confident and capable of just about anything.”

“What about you, Kate?” Frances persisted.

Kate had pulled a chair back, a smile tugging at her lips over his responses when Frances hit her with the question. Chase fought the urge to laugh out loud at the way her smile faded when Frances addressed her and she grappled with an answer.

She looked up, her brows puckering. “I wasn’t sure what to think about him. He kind of bowls a woman over.”

“He does, doesn’t he?” Frances gave Chase an affectionate smile and returned to the counter for the other two plates. “Guess that’s why he could have had any girl he wanted.” She turned a grin at Kate and carried the plates to the table. “I’m glad he picked you. You seem so much nicer than the women he had all those pictures with in the tabloids. He was quite the ladies’ man before he came to live at the Lucky Lady Ranch, weren’t you, Chase?”

Kate’s brows rose again, questioningly. “He does have a way of making me do things I wouldn’t normally do.”

“Tell me about the proposal.” Frances pulled up a chair and sat next to her husband.

“Now, that’s enough. We need to eat and get outside to tend the animals,” William said. “Save some of the stories for the evening when we sit in front of the fireplace.”

Frances pouted good-naturedly. “Spoilsport.” Then she waved at Chase and Kate. “Please, eat. We can chat later.”

Chase spent the next few minutes shoveling his food down his throat. The sooner he got outside, the better. He and Kate needed to get their stories straight if this ruse was going to work. He debated telling Frances and William the truth about their engagement, or lack thereof, but he knew Frances. She couldn’t keep a secret to save her life. And he didn’t want to burden her with the responsibility.

In record time he polished off the eggs, bacon and toast, pushed his chair back and stood. “Take your time, William. I can get started.”

“I’ll help.” Kate had finished as well, eating heartily, unlike the women Chase had dated who picked at their food and wasted more than they ate, claiming they were always on a diet. Kate didn’t have a spare ounce of flesh on her bones, probably from working out.

“No need for you to get all dirty,” William said, pushing his half-eaten plate away. “Chase and I can do this.”

“I know my way around a barn, and Chase can tell me who gets what. Besides, I’d like to get to know the place.” She touched the older man’s shoulder. “Finish eating. Chase and I can handle this.”

William frowned. “Don’t seem right. You’re a guest.”

Frances chuckled. “Let the two young folks take care of the animals. Can’t you see? They’d like some time alone.”

The older man’s eyes widened and he harrumphed. “Well, then, I guess I could have that extra piece of toast.” He reached for the stack of bread in the middle of the table. “I feel like I’m playing hooky from school,” he said, shaking his head.

“You do more than your share around here,” Chase assured him. “It won’t hurt for you to take your time eating breakfast.” He grabbed a heavy jacket hanging from a hook near the back door and handed it to Kate. “Frances, do you mind if Kate wears your jacket until I can get her one she can work in?”

“I have my own coat,” Kate protested. “It will only take me a minute to get it.”

“No, honey,” Frances interjected. “Wear mine and save yours. No use getting it all dirty. And wear my mud boots. It gets pretty sloppy around the barn when it snows.”

“Thank you.” Kate pulled on the boots Frances indicated and shrugged into the jacket Chase held out to her. He handed her a knit cap and a scarf, pulled on his own coat, and they left through a mudroom off the kitchen.

Clouds choked the sky, hovering low enough to smother the mountains from view and it smelled like snow. The first snows had already melted and Christmas was just around the corner. Ski resorts were hurting—the owners, ski instructors and lodge workers all prayed for snow. Chase liked it when fresh snow covered the ground and made everything look clean and new.

The only time he didn’t like snow was when they still had cattle scattered in the upper pastures. Fortunately, they had herded them to the lower pastures before the first snows fell. Even the few stragglers had found their way down the mountainside in time.

Chase was thankful his animals were all accounted for. With the attack on Sadie last night, he had other concerns more pressing.

Once outside, Kate pulled the collar up on her jacket and adjusted her scarf around her neck.

“It’s a little colder in the high country than in Texas,” Chase noted.

She nodded, stuffing her hands into her pockets. “Why did you feel it necessary for me to do this job undercover? Especially around your employees?”

Chase expected the question and answered with, “I love Frances and William, but I don’t want to burden them with secrets I don’t want the rest of the town to know.”

“And why do we need to keep it from the rest of the town that I’m here to protect you, Sadie and Jake? For that matter, who am I protecting? If it’s Sadie, I should be at the hospital.”

“They have a security staff at the hospital. I’m certain no one will be able to get to her in the ICU.” Chase reached for the handle on the barn door and opened it, holding it for Kate to enter.

She paused on the threshold, face-to-face with Chase. “People have ways around loose security.”

Chase’s heart thumped hard against his chest at her nearness and he struggled for a moment to focus on her words. “We don’t know if last night’s incident was related to Sadie’s suspicions. Once we’ve taken care of the animals, we’ll go into town and check on Sadie. It should be visiting hours by then.”

Kate entered the barn and glanced around the dark interior. “Did Sadie say who she thought might be following her or why?”

“No. But she did tell me that she was afraid someone was watching her.” Flipping the light switch next to the door, Chase followed Kate inside and grabbed a bucket hanging on the wall. “I moved Sadie and Jake here when their house burned to the ground in Leadville. She and Jake didn’t have anywhere else to go.” He handed the bucket to Kate and pointed to a bin against the wall. “Half a bucket per stall.”

Kate nodded, her brows drawing together as she bent to fill the bucket with grain. “Her house burned. You said the fire department ruled it arson?” She crossed to the first stall and opened it to a sorrel mare. The animal whinnied, tossed her head and stamped her hooves, as Kate dumped the feed into the horse’s trough.

Kate reached up and stroked the horse’s neck, neither affected by the size and strength of the animal, nor the attitude the mare gave her.

Chase grinned. “Penance isn’t usually so easy to get along with.”

Her brow rising, Kate glanced back at the horse. “That’s the best you could do for a name for this poor creature?” She ran her hand along the mare’s neck and across her back as the animal munched on her feed. “No wonder she’s full of spit and vinegar.”

“She’s always been a bit high-strung. But she has a comfortable gait and she’s good at herding and cutting.”

Kate studied the horse. “Her confirmation is good and she seems sturdy enough for a work animal on hilly and rocky terrain.”

“I’m glad you like her. She’s yours to ride while you’re here.”

Her hand stilled on the mare’s neck. “Thanks, but I doubt I’ll be here long enough to take advantage of the offer.”

“I told you, I need you here. I want you to stay until well after Christmas, if Hank can spare you that long.”

Kate returned to the feed bin and scooped another bucketful of sweet feed, her gaze on the task. “Even if we resolve the issues sooner?”

“Yes. At this point, the less upheaval in Jake and Sadie’s lives, the better.”

“So what was the cause of Sadie’s fire?”

“Her house burned because of a gas leak. Fortunately, Sadie and Jake weren’t inside the house when it happened because they were late getting home. Had they been on time, they would have been caught in the middle of a terrible explosion.”

“Where is Jake’s mother?”

“Died in a car wreck six months ago.”

“Any connection to last night’s attack?”

“Not that I could tell.” Chase led a horse out of the second stall and tied it to the opposite wall. He reached for a pitchfork and entered the vacated stall. “You were behind the car that hit us last night. What did you see?” He scooped soiled hay from the floor of the stall and deposited it into a wheelbarrow.

“I would have gotten a license plate number if I’d known the vehicle was going to plow into the two of you.” Kate straightened from the feed bin, the full bucket dangling from her hand. “It happened so fast. One minute I was headed to the saloon to get a room for the night, the next, the SUV whipped out in front of me and then went all kamikaze. I thought the driver would swerve away from you at the last minute—instead he turned toward you as if aiming to hit you.”