Muriel Jensen - His Bodyguard

The Lost Springs Ranch for troubled boys is at stake, and it’s a man’s duty to give back…

…So there’s going to be an auction!

Bachelor #4

Name: Amos Pike, 34

Occupation: CEO of Pike’s Pickled Peppers Toy Company

Biggest Achievement: Smiles on children’s faces

Bodyguard Meg Loria had never before drawn such an assignment from her family’s security firm: successfully bid on a gorgeous guy at a charity auction, hole up alone with him in a secluded cabin so she could protect him from his rivals without his knowledge, and then try—just try!—to keep her mind strictly on her work.

Sugar Spinelli’s

Little Instruction Book

Have to admit, this one has style. The way he has that tux jacket slung over his shoulder…very devil-may-care. And carrying a stuffed toy polar bear dressed in a tux to match his own is a really nice touch!

Says he runs a toy company. That explains the polar bear. And he likes kids. He also likes the redhead in the front row, by the looks of things. Now she seems really determined, but she’s gotta have some stiff competition. Let the games begin!

Dear Reader,

We just knew you wouldn’t want to miss the news event that has all of Wyoming abuzz! There’s a herd of eligible bachelors on their way to Lightning Creek—and they’re all for sale!

Cowboy, park ranger, rancher, P.I.—they all grew up at Lost Springs Ranch, and every one of these mavericks has his price, so long as the money’s going to help keep Lost Springs afloat.

The auction is about to begin! Young and old, every woman in the state wants in on the action, so pony up some cash and join the fun. The man of your dreams might just be up for grabs.…

Marsha Zinberg

Editorial Coordinator, HEART OF THE WEST

His Bodyguard

Muriel Jensen

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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A Note from the Author

I loved Amos Pike the moment I saw his face. I create characters by finding likenesses in a magazine and posting them above my computer. After studying them for a while, I see beyond the toothpaste or designer clothes they were intended to promote and get a glimpse of the person inside.

I found Amos in a dress shirt, slacks and suspenders in a men’s fashion magazine. He looked thoughtful and sexy, and a little bit bored. He didn’t appear to need a bodyguard, but life—and, therefore, fiction—is about getting what you get instead of what you want.

Meg was in a shampoo advertisement, fresh faced and eager, looking as though she needed something to do.

So I put Amos in the arena in the Lost Springs Ranch for Boys benefit auction, and Meg in the crowd with the bidding money in her hands.

Here’s what happened!

Muriel Jensen

P.O. Box 1168, Astoria, Oregon 97103

To Ros and Jon Lund—good companions and great fun!

Muriel Jensen is acknowledged as the author of this work.

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER ONE

“YOU VOLUNTEERED ME for what?” Amos Pike lay sprawled on his stomach on the beige-carpeted floor of his office. He was looking up in dismay from a half-constructed toy lunar module to focus on Jeannette Boradino, his administrative assistant.

She smiled. He always worried when she smiled. She ran the business offices of the Pike’s Pickled Pepper Toy Company with the precision of a military operation and the no-nonsense attitude of a general. Clients loved her because she got things done, employees respected her because they knew where they stood with her, and manufacturers feared her because she accepted no excuses. Tall and statuesque and always impeccably attired in a neutral-color suit, she had the physical presence to back up her approach to business.

At 41, she’d had almost twenty years’ experience in office management, four of them with Amos. She never smiled unless she had something to put to him that she knew he wouldn’t like.

“I volunteered you for a bachelor auction.” She dropped a folder on his desk and tapped it with the tip of her forefinger. “Airline tickets and itinerary.” Then she walked briskly across his office and adjusted the blinds to let in more sunlight. “Don’t forget you have lunch at the Top of the Mark at one o’clock with the Dream Stores people. I have a lunch date myself. I’ll try to be back punctually, but it’s with the headmaster at Kyle’s school, and he does tend to go on.” She headed toward the door.

Amos was on his feet and in her path in one swift, easy move. “Not so fast, Jeannette.” Usually relaxed and unflappable, he did his best to look severe. And when he thought about parading down a runway while women assessed his attributes, looking severe wasn’t difficult.

“I’ve asked you not to commit me to anything without checking with me first.” He frowned down at her. “You’re usually very good about that.”

She cleared her throat and tried to stare him down. “In this case, I thought I’d save both of us a lot of time. It’s a charity event for the Lost Springs Ranch for Boys. I knew if I asked you, you’d say no, then your conscience would plague you because you’ve always contributed to every other fund-raiser they’ve approached you for. Then you’d change your mind when I’d already told them you wouldn’t do it, and I’d have to call back and say you would, and they’d have to readjust their plans. This was easier.”

He stared back at her. “You’re fired.”

She blanched. And blinked. Then her lips parted in disbelief. He saw her struggle against panic.

“I am not,” she said, her voice a little high-pitched.

“All right, you’re not.” He shook his index finger at her. “That was just to remind you which one of us is in charge here. I thought we’d already been through this with the bodyguard thing.”

“A bodyguard is a good idea. You should have let me handle...”

“Jeannette,” he interrupted firmly. “No one handles me. Not bodyguards, not strong women, not competitors out to beat me with trickery rather than talent. I have been looking out for myself for a long time. I’m good at it. Now, would you like to take another approach on this auction thing?”

Amos didn’t know much about Jeannette’s personal life, except that her husband had abandoned her before she came to work at Pike’s, and she had a twelve-year-old son in a private school. He didn’t know whether her tough-as-nails approach had developed before or after her husband left.

He only knew that to prevent her from steamrolling him, he had to be tougher than she was. She seemed to respect that.

She swallowed and put a hand up to smooth her short dark hair. She was herself again. “The Lost Springs Ranch called yesterday while you were in the production meeting and asked if you’d participate in a bachelor auction to raise money to save the facility.”