LITMIR.BIZ

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The memories hadn’t been pleasant ones.

      “He works too much, more so since Catherine died. He loved her very much, and I suspect it was his way of dealing with her death.”

      Avoidance? She’d become good at that, too. For a moment she felt a connection to her client. “What about Abbey?”

      “She’s precocious. Looks just like her mother and has Catherine’s soft heart. But you’ll have your hands full keeping tabs on her.”

      “What kind of relationship does Abbey have with her father?”

      “It used to be a close one when Catherine was alive, but I haven’t been around them together much in the past few years. She’s a teenager, not an easy time to curtail a person’s life when they don’t want much to do with adults.”

      “He mentioned his mother-in-law. Did he say her name is Mary? Does she live with them?”

      “Yes, Mary Bradley. And yes, she came to help when Catherine was sick and stayed on after her daughter’s death. Slade has mentioned to me how indebted he is to Mary for staying.”

      “What’s she like?”

      “Prim, proper, kind. I used to attend the same church as she did until she moved to the ranch. She is deeply faithful, like Catherine was.”

      Elizabeth was glad to hear that. It was Kyra and Joshua who had shown her the way of the Lord. Now she didn’t know how she’d lived without her faith. But then, her first twenty-five years hadn’t been what she called living. She’d just existed.

      Elizabeth pushed to her feet. “I’d better head home and pack.”

      “As usual, call if you need any assistance. This assignment is special to me.”

      She smiled. “They all are to me.”

      An hour later, after contacting Joshua Walker, Slade sat at his desk at DDI, trying to clear it of everything of importance. He intended to work from home until this was resolved. Yes, he had a bodyguard for Abbey, but it was hard for him to turn something like his daughter’s safety totally over to another. He needed to be around, to help protect her.

      His secretary, Ramona, entered with a stack of folders and set them in front of him. “These are the files from personnel you requested. Anything else you want me to do?”

      “I’ll have a videoconference tomorrow at eleven o’clock with the department managers. Let them know. Also, scan the Wilson contracts when they come in and send them to me. I’ll go over them from home.”

      “I’m taking my lunch break unless you want me to skip it and stay.”

      “No. Go. I’ll be here when you get back. I’m not leaving until two-forty.”

      His secretary started to turn away but stopped. “If you need me to come to the ranch and work, I will.”

      “I might. Hopefully I won’t be there long.”

      Once Ramona shut his door, Slade lounged back in his chair and swiveled it around to look at the tall buildings surrounding his headquarters in North Dallas. Ever since the wreck, his life had been whirling out of control. It was a lot like how he’d felt when Catherine died. He didn’t want to go back to that time. He’d almost totally lost it. The only things that had kept him going ahead were his work and his daughter.

      He shut his eyes, taking a few minutes to compose himself. The coming weeks would be hard, especially with the extra people in his house. They were only a few weeks from Christmas, which was supposed to be about family. Having strangers around would be awkward. He was a private person who didn’t relish the intrusion.

      A picture of the woman he’d hired to guard his daughter teased him. He still couldn’t believe she was a bodyguard. The vision of long auburn hair hooked behind her ears, eyes the color of a pine forest, delicate features and a petite frame mocked that. She should be protected, not the other way around.

      The ringing of his private line yanked him from his thoughts. He snapped his eyes open and snatched up the line, hoping it wasn’t something wrong at the ranch. “Slade here.”

      A long pause, then a mechanical-sounding voice came over the line. “Do you know where your daughter is?”

      TWO

      Slade clenched the receiver. “You’ll regret ever having messed with me and my family.”

      Click.

      His gut churned. Leave my daughter alone. Come after me instead, coward. The words—ones he’d wanted to tell the person on the other end of the line—shouted through his mind.

      He slammed down the phone, then almost immediately grabbed it back up and punched the number for his security chief. After telling him about the call, Slade said, “See if that number can be traced. I need information. Now.”

      When he finished talking with him, Slade dialed the numbers for Dawson Academy. Four rings later—an eternity—a woman in the main office answered. “This is Slade Caulder. I need my daughter located and brought to the office. There has been another threat. I’m coming to pick her up.”

      “Yes, sir.”

      He surged to his feet as he replaced the receiver in its cradle. Scooping up the files and some other papers he needed, he shoved them into his briefcase and strode toward the door. To keep his free hand from shaking, Slade squeezed it into a tight fist and stabbed the down button on the elevator with his knuckle. When he got his hands on the person behind this, he would regret ever threatening his daughter.

      The scent of coffee wafted to Elizabeth as she entered her uncle’s house, the place she called home when she stayed in Dallas. Bosco, her terrier mix, raced from the kitchen, jumping up on her, his tail wagging. His greeting never changed whether she was gone hours or weeks. She scooped him up and cradled him against her, barely able to confine his wiggling body.

      Ah, it was good to be home—even if she was turning around and leaving today.

      Again, she drew in the coffee aroma, savoring the smell that lured her toward the kitchen, where she knew Uncle Joshua always had a pot on the stove. Coffee was a mainstay for them both, especially when she was working. Right now, she needed a lot. Kyra had called her into the office before she’d had her usual four cups in the morning.

      Uncle Joshua sat at the table with his mug and a Sudoku puzzle in front of him. He glanced up when she crossed to the coffeepot and poured herself some of the dark brew. “I was hoping I could talk to you before I had to leave, Beth.”

      Joshua was the only one who called her that. Every time she heard him say Beth she was reminded of how important she was to her uncle—and how important he was to her. He’d saved her life and pulled her back from the edge of despair. After her ex-husband had left, she’d had to grow up fast. And then when she’d been mugged, it had been a wake-up call, forcing her to see that she needed to take control of her life. Joshua had shown her how to do that. It was Joshua who showed her how to stand on her own two feet, and she hadn’t depended on another person since then.

      “I heard from Kyra you’re working for Slade Caulder, too.” After setting Bosco on the tile floor, Elizabeth poured some coffee in her mug and cradled it between her palms.

      “Yeah, I just got off the phone with him about half an hour ago. I’ve agreed to be his bodyguard and do a security assessment. I’m due out at the ranch in an hour. He said his daughter might be in danger, too. Are you going to be her bodyguard?”

      Elizabeth plopped into the chair across from her uncle and took a long sip of the hot drink while Bosco leaped into her lap and curled into a ball. “Yes. It looks like we’ll be working together for the first time.”

      “Is that gonna bother you?” Her uncle’s hazel eyes bore into her over the rim of his mug.

      “No, why should it?”

      He

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