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  Man. That sounded sexual, too. “Until this guy is caught, yes.”

  “Am I allowed to say that I hate having to rely on you for peace of mind?” she asked.

  Parker smiled before he could stop himself. “You’re allowed.” He made the mistake of looking at her. Really looking. And he saw the strain of all of this deep in those jeweled blue eyes. “Am I allowed to say that I’m sorry this is happening to you?”

  “No.” But then she smiled, too. It was brief and filled with as much weariness as was in her eyes. “I’m not big on people feeling sorry for me.”

  That wasn’t exactly a surprise. “Or leaning on anyone,” Parker supplied.

  His comment brought her eyes back to his. “That, too.” She swallowed hard. “I just want my life back.”

  Everything inside him said this was a good time to leave. Give Bailey a pat on the arm, say something reassuring and then get the heck out of there. Being around her was like playing with an inferno.

  But Parker didn’t do as his insides told him.

  He went with a different part of his body, and that would have been all right, maybe, if his thoughts had been purely sexual and in search of the cheap thrill of holding her in his arms. But his heart got in on this, too.

  Parker hated to see her hurting like this.

  Yes, she was a stubborn pain in the butt, but she was also a vulnerable woman. He was a sucker for a damsel in distress, and while Bailey wasn’t exactly a damsel, she did have that distress part whether she wanted it or not.

  Cursing himself, he reached out and slipped his hand around her waist. One nudge, and Parker did indeed get Bailey in his arms. She went right into them as if she belonged there, and the embrace put them body to body again.

  His heart might have been what prompted him to comfort her, but his runaway imagination soon got in on the deal. Parker thought of her bed again. Her, naked. Him, naked and in that bed with her. Those long, beautiful, athletic legs wrapped around him while he did exactly what his body was begging him to do.

  Mercy.

  When his assignment was over, he really did need to take the time to be with a woman.

  Her warm breath hit against his neck. Almost like a kiss, and his imagination filled in the blanks. Her breathing also created some interesting contact with her breasts against his chest. She didn’t put her arms around him. Didn’t need to. There was already too much contact as it was.

  “Don’t read anything into this,” she mumbled. “You just caught me in a weak moment, that’s all.”

  That cut right through the scalding-hot fantasy, and Parker pulled back so he could meet her gaze. “You’re allowed weak moments.”

  She frowned, caught onto his arm to move him away. But then looked down at his biceps. “I think your muscles have muscles,” she mumbled.

  Parker nearly laughed. “I’m not that big.”

  Her left eyebrow slid up, and she smiled without actually smiling. Parker wasn’t sure who blushed more— Bailey or him. Thankfully, the humiliation was cut short when the black limo pulled into Bailey’s driveway next to his truck.

  Bailey stepped away from him but not before cursing under her breath. “That’s my mother.”

  Parker was already going for his gun, but that stopped him. “You were expecting her?”

  “Not a chance. I would have warned you. Brace yourself. She probably saw the way we were standing, and she’ll read a lot into it. Prepare yourself for questions that have nothing to do with being my bodyguard.”

  Great. Just what he needed when every part of him below the belt was still humming with those naked images of Bailey.

  A bulky thirty-something man with chestnut hair got out first. He was built like a wrestler. No neck and wide shoulders. He shot Bailey and Parker a look, and even though he was across the lawn from them, Parker thought he sensed some disapproval.

  “That’s Tim Penske,” Bailey provided. “He’s my mother’s bodyguard. Very intense guy. Very bodyguardish. I think his muscles have muscles, too.”

  Parker ignored the inside joke and watched as Tim watched back. The man didn’t take his eyes off them when he walked to one of the passenger doors and opened it.

  “He’s worked for your mother a long time?” Parker questioned.

  “All seven years that she’s been governor.” She glanced at Parker and probably noticed the way he was studying Tim. “Why do you ask?”

  Parker shook his head. Best to keep his gut feelings to himself, but it seemed as if Tim Penske took an instant dislike to him.

  Governor Lila Lockhart stepped from the limo, her gaze going straight to her daughter and then to Parker. No instant dislike here. She gave them a brief smile and started toward them. Her hair was blond, like Bailey’s, but was cut short. She was shorter as well, at least five inches shorter than her daughter. The woman wore a perfectly tailored sky-blue shirt suit with matching heels.

  Tim was behind her.

  Lila’s smile faded as she approached the door. “You didn’t answer my calls,” she said to Bailey. “So, despite dinner plans that I had to cancel at the last minute, I came to check on you.”

  “No need.” Bailey straightened her shoulders. “As you can see, the non-Neanderthal bodyguard that you secretly hired is right here. Just as you wanted.”

  “Just as you needed,” Lila corrected. Lila extended her hand to Parker for him to shake. “I apologize if my daughter is giving you a hard time.”

  Oh, Bailey was doing that, in more than one sense of the word.

  “This is my own bodyguard, Tim Penske. I’m not above relying on someone for personal protection.” Lila lifted her hand toward the man, and her shift in position caused the setting sun to catch the facets in her diamond cross necklace around her neck. “Tim, this is Captain McKenna.”

  “Parker,” he offered, though he certainly didn’t see anything friendly in his fellow bodyguard’s eyes.

  “Any word on the car the sheriff is looking for?” Tim asked, sounding all business. He also glanced around the yard as if he expected someone might jump out and attack.

  “No,” Parker and Bailey said in unison, and their gazes connected again. Unlike Tim, Bailey seemed to be bracing herself for another kind of battle. Maybe with her mother? He knew Bailey was still riled about this whole bodyguard thing.

  “Let’s go inside,” Lila said, catching onto Bailey’s arm. “We need to talk. Apparently, I have to eat some crow to get back in your good graces.”

  “Want me to stay?” Parker asked her.

  Bailey shook her head. “Go home to Zach. Basketball camp’s over by now, and he’ll probably be wondering where you are.”

  With everything else going on, Parker was surprised she would remember the basketball camp. “Lock up when your mother leaves,” Parker reminded her.

  “It was good meeting you,” Lila told him.

  “Good meeting you, too.” And he headed out the door and toward his truck.

  Tim followed him.

  Apparently, the man had something to say, and Parker welcomed it. He wanted an explanation as to why Tim was staring holes in him. Parker didn’t have to wait long.

  “I thought you should know that I objected when Governor Lockhart said she was going to hire you,” Tim said. “I told her she should get someone with more experience.”

  Parker just stared back at him. “I did combat bodyguard duty. I have plenty of experience.”

  “Maybe with army types, but Bailey isn’t in the army, and this isn’t a combat field, Captain McKenna.” The muscles in Tim’s face were so tight Parker thought he could have bounced a quarter off them.

  Parker decided to test a theory. “You’re sure this objection isn’t more personal?”

  There. Parker saw it. Tim flinched just a little but enough for Parker to know he’d hit a nerve.

  “What do you mean? Did Bailey tell you that? Did she say something?” Tim didn’t even draw breath during those rapid-fire questions.

  “About y
ou?” Parker didn’t wait for an answer. He just shrugged. “Bailey said nothing, other than you work for her mother.”

  Another slight flinch. Oh, yeah. There was something beneath the surface of Tim’s stony expression. Feelings for Bailey maybe.

  Maybe something more.

  “You want to talk about what Bailey said, or do you have something else on your mind?” Parker demanded.

  Tim had to get his teeth unclenched before he could speak. “My only concern is Bailey and her mother. That means you concern me. Have you made any progress whatsoever in finding out who’s doing these things to Bailey?”

  “Some.” Parker debated how much he should say, but he couldn’t let his dislike for this guy hurt the investigation. Besides, Lila would soon know everything, and she would probably tell Tim. “Bailey’s handyman, Sidney Burrell, stopped by Cradles to Crayons today. He was carrying a concealed weapon. I verified that he does have a permit, but I want to run a background check on him.”

  Tim whipped out a phone from his pocket and punched in some numbers. “Sidney Burrell,” he said to whoever answered. “What can you find out about him?” Tim slipped his hand over the receiver. “The governor’s personal assistant is running a computer check,” he let Parker know.

  Parker expected to have to endure a long wait, but it was only a few seconds.

  “He’s twenty-three,” Tim relayed. “Went to elementary school here in Freedom, but his family moved to a nearby town when he was ten. He has a gun permit and a hunting license. Rents property on one of the farms roads outside city limits.”

  All benign stuff, and it meshed with what Sidney had told him. But then Tim’s eyes widened a little. “What’s the name of the judge?” Tim asked.

  Judge?

  Hell. This probably wasn’t going to be good news.

  Tim’s eyes widened even more, and he snapped the phone shut. “Sidney Burrell has a sealed juvenile record.”

  Parker had braced himself for something worse. “That’s it?”

  “Maybe. But I’m guessing there’s more. He went up in front of Judge Elmore Thompson, and he wouldn’t have been in that court if he hadn’t done something serious.”

  “How serious?” Parker repeated.

  “Probably something violent. It’s definitely something he wants hidden because over the past four months, Sidney Burrell has been trying to have it expunged.”

  Four months. When he started working for Bailey.

  Parker didn’t like the timing.

  “I’ll call Corps Security and Investigations,” Parker insisted. “I want that sealed record unsealed. Sidney Burrell has secrets, and I want to know exactly what they are.”

  Chapter Five

  Bailey heard the laughter. It traveled all the way up the stairs and to her office. That wasn’t unusual. She often kept her door open just so she could hear the sounds of the children. But today she heard a different laughter.

  Parker’s.

  His voice certainly stood out among her female-only staff and the children.

  From the sound of it, he was playing games with the day-care kids. And everyone was having fun. Bailey didn’t begrudge that fun. After all, she’d been the one to insist that Parker not stay right next to her. She had shooed him away when he had tried to help her clean her office.

  She checked her watch. That had been four hours ago. Time apparently flew by when there was a vandalized mess to clean, but it was all finally done. So was the constant stream of daily paperwork needed to run a business. However, she was hungry now. Since Parker had shown up at her house fifteen minutes before she was due to leave, and because the sight of him had disrupted her, Bailey had forgotten to pack a lunch.

  Following the sound of the laughter, she grabbed her purse and made her way down the stairs and across the reception area. She found Parker in the large playroom. He wasn’t standing guard at the window, probably because he’d made sure all the doors and windows were locked and that the security system was turned on. With those measures taken, he was building a block house with Maddie and several of the other toddlers.

  Bailey stood there a moment just watching them. Or rather watching Parker. For lack of a better word, he looked perfect in his butt-hugging jeans and gray shirt that clung to every one of those toned muscles.

  He was sizzling.

  There was no denying that, and despite the fact that Bailey had decided to resist him at all costs, seeing him like this was really wearing down her resistance.

  Parker looked up, snagged her gaze and smiled. He was hot with his usual somber semiscowl, but he was something well beyond hot with that meet-me-in-the-bedroom smile. She was so glad he couldn’t read her mind.

  Maddie tried to pick up one of the blocks and nearly tumbled headfirst into the house. Parker saved the moment by scooping her up. Maddie laughed when Parker goosed her in the belly.

  “Daddy Corps to the rescue,” Bailey joked.

  “Sounds a little less intimating than Corps Security and Investigations, huh?” Parker eased Maddie on the floor, got to his feet and walked to Bailey. “Going somewhere?” He tipped his head to the purse that she had tucked under her arm.

  “I’m headed across the street to the café for some lunch.”

  He waved goodbye to Maddie and the others. “I’ll come with you.”

  Bailey had expected him to say exactly that, and even though she was still riled at her loss of freedom, she was getting used to the idea of having Parker around.

  Now, if she could stop drooling whenever she looked at him.

  “How did the visit go with your mother?” he asked as they made their way out of the building. Parker stayed close and looked around, no doubt for that black car or anything else that was sinister.

  Bailey looked, too, and then put on her sunglasses that she took from her purse. “Her visit was like most of her visits. We argued first about her hiring you, and then we argued about arguing.” There was also a good bit of conversation where her mother emphasized Parker’s drool-worthiness, but Bailey kept that to herself.

  “I was surprised she was in the area,” Parker commented. “I thought she’d be in Austin at the governor’s mansion.”

  “She’s at Twin Harts, our family ranch,” she added in case he hadn’t heard. The muggy July breeze swiped at her hair, sending it into her face. “It’s her sanctuary and where she always goes when she’s mulling something over.”

  “Like running for president?”

  Bailey nodded, not surprised that Parker knew. Her mother’s life was pretty much an open book. “But I think she also wants to keep an eye on me.”

  Her mind was on exactly that when Bailey started to cross the street. She glanced around, but she didn’t see the white Ford Focus that would have mowed her down if Parker hadn’t caught onto her arm the way he’d caught onto Maddie just minutes earlier.

  “Sorry!” the driver called out to her. That was polite since Bailey had been at fault.

  “Thanks,” she mumbled to Parker.

  “Something other than the obvious bothering you?” he questioned. He kept hold of her arm as they crossed the street, and they started the short trek to the Talk of the Town café.

  Since he was touching her, she tried not to stiffen or have another visible reaction. She certainly didn’t want to discuss the little hugging session in the doorway that her mother had witnessed.

  “I was thinking about Tim, my mother’s bodyguard.” And she was, sort of. She had thought about Tim in those moments when she hadn’t succeeded in getting her mind off her own hot bodyguard.

  She felt Parker’s hand stiffen slightly, and she glanced at him, unsure of what had caused his scowl to return. “What did Tim and you discuss before you left my house last night?” Bailey asked.

  Parker did another sweeping look around them. No one was nearby. “I asked him about Sidney Burrell. Your handyman has a sealed juvenile record that I’m trying to get unsealed. Whatever Sidney did, it’s serious. Probably someth
ing violent.”

  Oh, no.

  Bailey shook her head. She didn’t need this on top of everything else. She wanted to give Sidney the benefit of the doubt, but her life was too crazy now to blindly trust anyone.

  “I’ll call him,” she said, “and tell that his services are no longer needed.”

  “I already have.”

  Bailey was in midreach for the café door, but that had her freezing. “You did what?”

  Parker huffed, obviously noting her displeasure. “All I said was that you wouldn’t need him for a while because the bathroom renovations had to be put on hold. You’ll thank me for it later.”

  She whipped off her sunglasses so he could see the glare she aimed at him. “Maybe. But for right now, I’m just a little upset that I wasn’t given the opportunity to do it myself. I’m not an idiot or incompetent, Parker.”

  And since she said that louder than she’d planned, the people inside the café turned to stare.

  “If I hadn’t called Sidney, Tim would have, and he would have been a lot less tactful,” Parker explained, his voice much lower than hers. “In fact, he wanted the sheriff to pick up Sidney for questioning. I talked him out of that. Best not to antagonize a possible stalking suspect unless we have some proof that he’s actually done anything wrong.”

  “Great. Now I have Tim trying to control my life.” Since everyone seemed to be trying to hear their conversation, Bailey threw open the door.

  “Bailey,” the strawberry-blonde behind the cash registry greeted. It was Faith Scott, the owner of Talk of the Town. “Your usual booth is waiting for you.”

  “Thanks.” Bailey didn’t miss the inquisitive smile Faith was giving Parker. All the other diners had their eyes on him, too, so Bailey went for a group introduction. “This is Parker McKenna, my bodyguard. Yes, I did say bodyguard.”

  She braced herself for some ribbing, maybe a comment or two about Parker being her mother’s latest matchmaking attempt. But nothing. Just a few head bobs and mumbles of agreement from the regulars.

  Not good.

  Did everyone in town think she was on the verge of being killed by her office-trashing stalker?