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  Her mother’s life might be an open book, but Bailey valued her privacy too much to be happy about being the subject of the town’s gossips.

  Faith, who was mega pregnant, followed Parker and her across the room to her usual spot. Everything about the café was homey and welcoming, but Bailey preferred the booth because she could still see the day care. She trusted her staff and enjoyed her lunches at the diner, but there was just something comforting about seeing the business she’d built from the ground up.

  “The special today is meat loaf. My grandmother’s recipe,” Faith explained, looking at Parker. “But I’m guessing you’re more of a steak-and-potatoes guy?”

  “The meat loaf sounds good,” he assured her. “I’ll take a glass of iced tea to go with it.”

  Faith smiled, obviously approving. Parker clearly wasn’t going to have any trouble wooing Freedom.

  Bailey ordered the same and waited for Faith to step away before she continued Parker’s and her conversation. “What else did Tim and you come up with in that little chat in my driveway?”

  She expected a quick comeback, maybe a dismissal that they’d discussed anything else. But Parker took a deep breath and stared at her. “How do you feel about Tim?”

  The question threw her, and she studied him trying to figure out where this was going. “I don’t feel much at all about him. Why?”

  “Have you ever dated him?”

  “No.” She couldn’t say that fast enough. “Tim had a thing for me when he first started working for my mother. He asked me out. Called me a few times. But I told him I wasn’t interested. He’s not my type.”

  The corner of Parker’s mouth lifted for just a second. “Too many muscles?” he joked.

  “Too intense.” She paused and ducked down her head a little to keep the eye contact when Parker shifted position. “Why? Did he say something to you?”

  “It’s more what he didn’t say.” He shrugged. “But I’m guessing your mother had him thoroughly checked out before she hired him.”

  “I’m sure she did.” Or she should have. Bailey made a mental note to find out.

  “Two meat loaf specials, two teas,” Faith said, delivering their meal. The plates were filled to the edges with not just the meat loaf but mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans. “And I’ve got peanut-butter brownies fresh from the oven.”

  Faith knew she wouldn’t be able to resist. Peanut butter was her weakness. “Wrap me up one to go,” Bailey told her. “It’ll be my afternoon snack.” And the reason she’d have to spend extra time on the treadmill tonight.

  “Better make that two brownies, Faith,” Stan Lorry, the diner at the counter, called out. He was in his sixties and built like Santa Claus, but there was obviously nothing wrong with his hearing. “I’m betting Bailey’s bodyguard will want a nibble or two, as well.”

  That caused laughter to ripple through the room, and Bailey hated that she felt herself blush. Sheesh. Was nothing off-limits?

  “Some people just like to gossip,” Faith mumbled and strolled away.

  “Yeah,” the young waitress, Molly Allen, agreed. “And most of those some people are sitting right here in this café.” Molly aimed her pointing finger right over Stan’s head and then moved that pointing finger onto Mabel Watson, a retired seventy-something bar owner and Francine Determeyer, her eccentric friend who wore hot-pink spandex pants and rhinestone flip-flops.

  More laughter. Molly continued with her finger pointing joke.

  “Sorry about this,” Bailey mumbled. “Tomorrow, I’ll pack a lunch.”

  “No. It’s all right. You needed to get out of that office.” Parker took a bite of his meat loaf, and made a mmmm sound, but his attention was on the other diners. “Is it always crowded like this?”

  “Always. Faith serves up good food, and it’s a place for people to come, hang out with friends, and…gossip,” she settled for saying.

  “How about strangers? You get many of those in the café?”

  Bailey nodded. “Sure.” She tipped her head to the couple in the first booth. “Never seen them before, but Freedom is a stopover for people on road trips headed to Amarillo. A lot of the temporary-hire ranch hands drop by, too.”

  Parker glanced around again. “I need to tell Bart Bellows about this. I think it’s a good idea to have someone work surveillance here. With all the gossip, there might be talk about who could be responsible for the threats against your mother and you.”

  It was a good idea, and Bailey wished she had thought of it. The letters that her mother had been getting might turn out to be nothing, but in light of what was going on in Bailey’s own life, she couldn’t be sure. The same person who was tormenting her could be responsible for those letters.

  She and Parker tried to ignore the whispers about them that were going around the diner. Mabel apparently thought they were sleeping together. Bailey hoped Parker hadn’t heard that, but one glance at his face let her know that he had.

  He had a knack for smiling without smiling. A sort of sly thing he did with his perfectly shaped mouth. “Well, I did come close to kissing you last night,” he murmured.

  Yes, he had. Bailey had dreamed about it. She’d also dreamed he’d succeeded, that the kiss had happened and her mother and Tim had never shown up to interrupt them.

  “This attraction could turn out to be a problem.” Parker looked at her from over the top of his iced-tea glass.

  Bailey hated the bluntness because now she had to address it. She hated even more that it was true. “If I kiss you, my mother will win,” she said, only partly joking.

  For a moment she thought he was going to continue the little teasing session going on. All the eye contact. The subtle looks. The heat stirring around them. But he didn’t. Parker’s expression shifted, and he was the stern warrior again.

  “My job is to protect you,” he said. It sounded as if he were talking to himself.

  “Plus, there’s Zach.” She didn’t exactly pull it out of thin air, but Bailey thought it might be a good idea to remind herself there were obstacles other than her mother. “He’s had a lot of upheavals recently what with the move and switching schools. He doesn’t need you spending more time or energy on me.”

  Parker made a sound of disagreement, which he didn’t explain. Instead, his gaze shot right past her. To the window.

  “Sidney Burrell,” he spat out.

  Bailey looked up and saw the man making his way across the front lawn of the day care. Oh, mercy. She didn’t want him near the children, not until she had more information about his background.

  Parker got up, and in the same motion he took out his wallet and dropped some money on the table. “We’ll have to come back for that brownie,” he said to Faith who was clearly startled at their hasty exit.

  “You should wait here,” he said to Bailey. “But since I know you won’t, will you at least stay behind me?”

  “I doubt Sidney will do anything crazy in broad daylight on Main Street,” she argued.

  Parker glared at her.

  “But yes, I’ll stay behind you,” she finally conceded.

  Sidney saw them coming because he stopped right at the base of the porch steps and waited. Over the past four months, Bailey had seen him several dozen times, but she had never seen him like this. He’d always shown up to work well groomed and with a pleasant expression, but his expression was anything but pleasant now.

  “Ms. Lockhart.” It wasn’t a greeting, more like profanity, and that attitude didn’t improve when Sidney’s gaze landed on Parker. “I came to talk to Ms. Lockhart alone.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Parker assured him. “Whatever you have to say to her, you can say in front of me.”

  Bailey glanced at the windows of the day care and was relieved that none of the children or her staff were looking outside. She didn’t think this encounter would turn violent, but she didn’t want them witnessing something that could be upsetting.

  She was almost certain th
is would qualify as upsetting.

  Sidney nailed his attention to Parker. “Ms. Lockhart’s the one who hired me, not you, not her mother’s bodyguard either, and I want to hear from her own lips why I’m no longer good enough to work for her.”

  So Tim had contacted Sidney after all. That did not please her.

  “It’s because of your juvenile record,” Bailey admitted. She stepped to Parker’s side, earning her another glare from Parker, but she ignored it and him. Maybe, just maybe, she could defuse this situation and Sidney’s anger.

  “That record was sealed,” Sidney snapped.

  “Yes, but the judge who sealed it only presided over cases of a violent nature,” Parker snapped right back.

  Something went through Sidney’s eyes. Not exactly surprise but something else. It was almost as if he were embarrassed. Humble, even.

  “It was a misunderstanding with an old girlfriend,” he explained, shaking his head. “We got drunk at a party, and when some guy hit on her, I got into a fight and broke the guy’s nose. That was eight years ago when I was fifteen and stupid. And that’s all there was to it.”

  “No,” Parker said almost immediately. “That’s not all there is to it.”

  That wiped out any shred of humbleness. Sidney’s eyes were already dark, but they darkened even more. “You SOB. You got the records unsealed.”

  Parker hadn’t, he’d already let her know that, but he didn’t admit it to Sidney. “I know what you did, and I don’t want you around Bailey or the children.”

  Sidney mumbled some vicious profanity. The muscles in his jaw turned to iron. “This isn’t over,” he threatened.

  Parker reached out, grabbed onto a handful of Sidney’s shirt and snapped him closer. “Yes. It is.”

  Sidney might have been ready to burst with anger, but he slid his gaze over Parker, who was much bigger. Much stronger. And Sidney must have known this wasn’t a battle he could win.

  Not at this moment anyway.

  Sidney looked right at her, those eyes on fire with not just anger but with rage. “I’ll be seeing you around, Ms. Lockhart.”

  And with that, he turned and stormed away.

  Bailey just stood there, watching him leave, and knowing in her heart that she hadn’t seen the last of him. For the first time since all of this had started, Bailey felt something she didn’t feel.

  Fear.

  Not for herself but the children under her care.

  “I have to do something,” Bailey managed to say. She hurried up the steps. She had to get to her office now.

  Chapter Six

  Time was up, and Parker started up the stairs to Bailey’s office. He needed to check on her and make sure she wasn’t doing something they would both regret. Besides, he had some news, and this particular news wouldn’t keep, even if it was going to add to her already stressful situation.

  After the ugly encounter with Sidney Burrell, she’d asked for an hour alone in her office. To compose herself, she’d mumbled to Parker when he’d ask what she planned to do. But Parker hadn’t seen just fear on Bailey’s face, he’d seen a Texas-size dose of anger, too. Sometimes anger could be a good thing, but he wasn’t sure that was the case here.

  Her office door was closed, and Parker knocked once and opened it. She had her elbows on her desk, her face buried in her hands. She looked up, their gazes colliding, and Parker saw then that she’d been crying.

  “I’m still composing myself,” she snapped.

  In other words, she wanted him to leave her alone. But Parker didn’t do that. He stepped inside, shut the door behind him and went to her.

  “You called Tim?” he asked, but he already knew the answer. Bailey had phoned the man and had probably blasted him big-time for contacting Sidney Burrell.

  “Tim said he was only looking out for me.” She drew in a long breath and leaned back in her chair. “I feel as if I’m in kindergarten and can’t tie my own shoes.”

  “Did you yell at him?” Parker tried to keep his tone light, but there was nothing light inside him. There was a fierce storm, and he hated that Bailey had all these other pressures in addition to a stalker. A stalker who might or might not be the handyman who’d just confronted and threatened her.

  “I did some yelling,” she admitted. “I think I clarified that I don’t need or want Tim interfering in my life. Besides, I’m sure he’s reporting every little detail to my mother, and she already has enough on her mind.”

  Yes. Because Lila Lockhart was receiving her own threats. But they were nothing compared to Bailey’s. Lila’s had been confined to some vaguely worded letters, none of which had threatened her safety or her life, but Parker was reasonably sure Sidney had done that to Bailey just an hour ago.

  “I have to shut down Cradles to Crayons,” Bailey whispered.

  That explained the tears. Bailey could deal with Tim’s interference, Sidney’s threats and even the vandalized office.

  But closing this place was like a cut to her heart.

  “I’ve been calling parents,” she continued, her voice clogged with emotion. She had to blink back more tears. “I asked them to make other arrangements for child care until this situation is resolved.” She looked up at him. “Please tell me it’ll be resolved soon.”

  “It will be,” he promised, and that was a promise Parker would keep. He didn’t want Bailey put through any more of this, and there might finally be some light at the end of this particular tunnel.

  “Bart Bellows managed to get Sidney’s record unsealed,” Parker told her.

  Her eyes widened, and she slowly got to her feet. “It’s bad?”

  “Yeah,” Parker confirmed. “Sidney told the truth about getting drunk and the fight with the kid who hit on his girlfriend. But what he failed to mention was that he also assaulted his girlfriend. The attack was serious enough to put her in the hospital.”

  “Oh, mercy.” Since she looked ready to drop back in the chair, Parker slid his arm around her waist.

  “There’s more.” And this was the part he hated to tell her, but it was also the part that might put an end to this. “After his girlfriend was released from the hospital, Sidney stalked her. He slashed the tires on her mother’s car and vandalized her house. He spent a year in juvenile hall.”

  Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. “And this is the man I hired.”

  “You couldn’t have known about the juvenile file. Even if you’d run a thorough background check, it wouldn’t have automatically popped up. Plus, he’s had a clean record since.”

  “Or maybe he just hasn’t been caught doing anything illegal,” Bailey suggested.

  “It’s possible, and that’s the reason Sheriff Hale will have a deputy tailing Sidney. Bart is sending out someone, as well. If Sidney makes one wrong move, then he’ll be arrested.”

  Bailey paused a moment. “Good,” she whispered. And then she repeated it. “But why come after me like this? I’m obviously not his girlfriend, and he hasn’t made any sexual advances toward me.”

  Parker shrugged. “Who knows. He might have interpreted a simple friendly gesture as a come-on and another simple gesture as a rejection. It’s possible he’s not mentally stable.”

  She groaned. “Great. I might have placed the children in danger by hiring a psychopath.”

  “This isn’t your fault,” he reminded her.

  But Bailey shook her head and tried to shake off his grip, too. Parker held on, and when the tears threatened again, he pulled her into his arms.

  She looked up at him at the same moment he looked down at her. Bailey blinked at those tears again, but she did something else. Her tongue flicked over her bottom lip. It meant nothing, he assured himself. Her lips were dry, that was all. She needed some ChapStick and not a kiss. But to his suddenly revved-up body, that little gesture seemed like a big invitation.

  Bailey didn’t take her eyes off him. Didn’t blink. Didn’t move. But something changed.

  Oh, yeah.

  His o
wn body changed, that’s for sure. It started to harden in places it shouldn’t, and despite that, Parker began to ease her closer.

  He leaned down. She came up on her toes. They were moving in on each other.

  Obviously, both of them had lots their minds.

  Bailey could at least blame her mind loss on the danger, but Parker had no excuse. None. All he knew was that his need to protect her hadn’t gotten all mixed up with this other need. The need that caused an ache in his entire body. And it was that ache that made him want to taste her more than he wanted to hang on to his sanity.

  The first touch of his mouth to hers was a jolt.

  Like lightning, except this was pure pleasure. Bailey tasted like birthday cake, Christmas and Fourth of July all rolled into one.

  She made a sound deep in her throat that let him know this was pleasurable for her, too. She lifted her left arm, slid it around his neck and then did the same with her right, all the while nudging him closer.

  Parker got closer, all right. He snapped her to him and kissed her the hard way. The way that would make it impossible for him to ever look at her again and not think of this.

  And that wasn’t good.

  He was her bodyguard. He needed to stay objective, focused, and French kissing her didn’t fall into the objective or focused categories.

  Parker ordered himself to stop.

  That didn’t work.

  Bailey tightened the grip she had on him and did her own part to deepen the kiss. Her body pressed against his, perfectly fitting pieces of a puzzle, with her breasts against his chest. Her stomach against his.

  And other parts, too.

  This wasn’t a kiss. It was foreplay.

  Parker put his hand between them just to give them a little space, and he forced himself to stop the French part of the kissing. What he didn’t do was move back, and there was still a lot of him touching a lot of her.

  “I thought we agreed this wouldn’t be a good idea,” Bailey whispered.

  “It’s not,” Parker concurred. Not easily. Hell, simple speech wasn’t easy for him right now.

  And walking away would be impossible.