Her Rancher Bodyguard by Brenda Minton Read Free Book Online Page A

his bones. Literally. He could feel it in the places where skin and muscle had been ripped, in the bones that had been broken. He could feel it in his mind. And that was the worst.
    For the first time he was thankful for the distraction of Kayla Stanford. And even for Daron. If he had something to focus on, he’d concentrate less on the pain, on the memories.
    But Kayla Stanford proved to be the wrong place to direct his thoughts. Because when he thought about her, what came to mind was the haunted expression she tried to cover up with a smile. The way her scent, something oriental and complex, lingered in the cab of his truck. He sniffed the sleeve of his shirt, because he could still smell her perfume.
    Daron gave him a long look, eyes narrowed and one corner of his mouth hiked up. “What are you doing?”
    â€œNothing. I smelled something. Probably you.” He made a show of smelling the canned pasta. “Maybe it’s this?”
    â€œYou’re losing it.” Daron grabbed Boone’s sleeve and inhaled. “And you smell like expensive perfume. Lucy doesn’t wear perfume.”
    Boone couldn’t help it, he took another whiff. When he did, his eyes closed of their own volition. He thought he would picture her teasing smile. Instead, he pictured the woman sitting in his truck trying to hide the tears that slid down her cheeks.
    Yeah, it was going to be a long night. He had her scent clinging to his shirt and the memory of her tears. The two combined equaled disaster as far as he was concerned.

Chapter Four
    S omeone screamed and Kayla shot straight out of the bed, her heart racing and her legs shaking as she stood in the middle of the unfamiliar room. White curtains covered a window that revealed a view of fields that stretched to the horizon and the distant hills of Texas Hill Country. A cat was curled up at the foot of her bed. A cat?
    She looked at the calico feline, white with black and orange patches, and wondered how it had gotten in here. The cat stretched and blinked, fixing green eyes on her, as if she were the interloper.
    The scream echoed through the house a second time and she realized it was more of a shriek. Someone else shouted, then a door slammed. Obviously the entire family was up. And if she hadn’t been mistaken last night when Mrs. Wilder gave the list of names and locations of her children, there were several of them.
    Although she was tempted to hide away in her room, Kayla dressed and brushed her hair. Before walking out the door of her borrowed bedroom, she glanced back at the cat.
    â€œDon’t you have mice to chase?”
    The feline yawned, stretched and closed her eyes.
    â€œI don’t like cats,” she said out loud. The cat didn’t seem to care.
    â€œI don’t like them much myself. Did the screaming banshees downstairs wake you up?”
    She spun to face a younger man, maybe in his early twenties. He had dark curly hair cut close to his head, snapping brown eyes, dimples and a big smile.
    â€œI’m Jase.” He held out a hand. “I’m the middle brother and also the smart one. No offense to your bodyguard.”
    She still hadn’t spoken. He took her by surprise, with his easy banter and open smile. A few months ago she would have flirted. But she had given it up along with everything else. For the past few months her goal had been a less complicated life.
    This did not fit those plans.
    â€œI would say ‘cat got your tongue.’” He glanced past her to the cat in her room. “But that’s pretty cliché.”
    â€œUm, I’m just...” She couldn’t speak.
    â€œOverwhelmed?”
    â€œMaybe a little,” she admitted.
    â€œThe cat’s name is Sheba. As in queen of. She lives up to it. And she wouldn’t chase a mouse if it crawled across her paws. Let me walk you downstairs. There’s safety in numbers. And there’s probably some breakfast in the kitchen.