Christmas Bodyguard by Margaret Daley Read Free Book Online Page A

need you.”
    As Elizabeth made her way down to Slade’s office, she clung to the image of Abbey out on the porch. A young girl on the verge of falling apart and trying desperately not to—even using anger to keep herself together. Elizabeth did know what that felt like. But at least Abbey’s father had been right there for her. The love and worry in his expression reached out to Elizabeth and gripped her heart. How many times had she prayed to see something like that on her own father’s face?
    She rapped on the office door. When she heard Slade say, “Enter,” she went inside. He sat in a chair behind his desk, swiveled around to face a large window that framed two horses frolicking in the pasture.
    â€œRight now I can’t remember a time when I spent a day just playing, with not a worry in the world.”
    The weariness in his voice beckoned her forward. “It’s been a while for me, too.” Even as a child she’d never felt totally free to be herself, to enjoy life without a concern. The thought made loneliness creep into her heart.
    He rotated his chair around. His gaze snagged hers, intensity in his gray eyes and something else—vulnerability—that reached out to her, linking them. Her pulse reacted by speeding through her.
    â€œI guess that’s a price we pay when we grow up.” He cocked a corner of his mouth in a half grin that faded almost instantly. “But my daughter shouldn’t have to worry about it quite yet.”
    The appeal in those startling eyes, storm-filled at themoment, touched a place in her heart that she’d kept firmly closed for years. She wrenched her look away and swept around in a full circle. “Nice office.” Which was putting it mildly. From a huge mahogany desk with a large-screen computer to the sumptuous brown leather grouping along one side of the room to the floor-to-ceiling bookcases on the other wall, the office was luxurious to the extreme.
    He rose. “Let’s have a seat over there where it’s comfortable. Joshua’s doing a walk-through with Mary. How was Abbey?”
    â€œNot a happy camper.”
    â€œI figured that. When she gets scared, she gets angry. The first year after her mother died, I thought my home was a war zone. Thankfully, she began to accept her mother’s death, and I nearly had my daughter back. Then she hit puberty. Everything changed. Did I tell you I don’t like change?”
    â€œI’ll tell you a secret. Neither do I.”
    â€œHow do you do what you do?”
    â€œOne assignment at a time. It’s important for me to keep my focus on the present.” And she had to remember that. No more journeys into her past.
    He took one end of the couch and beckoned her to sit at the other end. “I’m glad it’s Tuesday. I have the Thanksgiving holidays before Abbey goes back to school to get things worked out. It’ll give you two some time to get to know each other. To get her used to you being around.”
    â€œWe’ll get into a routine. That should help.”
    At that moment Uncle Joshua entered with Slade’s mother-in-law, a woman in her early sixties with short silver hair and dark brown eyes. She came to right above Joshua’s shoulders, and he was well over six feet tall.
    Dressed in stylish tan slacks and a matching jacket and a white tailored blouse, Mary grasped the back of one ofthe chairs in the grouping while Joshua folded his long length into the opposite one. “Hilda is still shaken up in the kitchen,” she said. “I’ll be in there if you need me.”
    â€œI appreciate the tour, Mary.” Joshua grinned, his look fastened onto the older woman.
    Mary’s cheeks colored a pink shade as she scurried from the room.
    Joshua chuckled. “I don’t think she’s too comfortable with everything.”
    â€œShe hasn’t had much time to assimilate what’s going on. I only