Nicole Helm - Wyoming Cowboy Bodyguard

Her bodyguard was murdered.

Will she be next?

Following her scandalous divorce, fans turned on country music “bad girl” Daisy Delaney. Now someone wants her dead. But former FBI agent Zach Simmons isn’t letting this violent psychopath get any closer to Daisy. Because the bodyguard will do whatever it takes to protect the bad girl he’s falling for...

NICOLE HELMgrew up with her nose in a book and the dream of one day becoming a writer. Luckily, after a few failed career choices, she gets to follow that dream—writing down-to-earth contemporary romance and romantic suspense. From farmers to cowboys, Midwest to the West, Nicole writes stories about people finding themselves and finding love in the process. She lives in Missouri with her husband and two sons and dreams of someday owning a barn.

Also by Nicole Helm

Wyoming Cowboy Marine

Wyoming Cowboy Sniper

Wyoming Cowboy Ranger

Wyoming Cowboy Justice

Wyoming Cowboy Protection

Wyoming Christmas Ransom

Stone Cold Texas Ranger

Stone Cold Undercover Agent

Stone Cold Christmas Ranger

All I Have

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Wyoming Cowboy Bodyguard

Nicole Helm

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09409-2

WYOMING COWBOY BODYGUARD

© 2019 Nicole Helm

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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For the female songwriters in country music whose

songs make up the bulk of my book soundtracks, thank

you for the inspiration.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Dedication

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 Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Epilogue

About the Publisher

Tom was dead. She’d been ushered away from his lifeless body and open, empty brown eyes thirty minutes ago and still, that was all she saw. Tom sprawled on the floor, limbs at an unnatural angle, eyes open and unseeing.

Blood.

She was in the back of a police cruiser, moving through Austin at a steady clip. Daisy Delaney. America’s favorite country bad girl. Until she’d filed for divorce from country’s golden child, Jordan Jones. Now everyone hated her, and someone wanted her dead.

But they’d killed Tom first.

She wanted to close her eyes, but she was afraid the vision of Tom would only intensify if she did. So she focused on the world out the window. Pearly dawn. Green suburban lawns.

She was holding it together. Even though Tom’s lifeless eyes haunted her. And all that blood. The smell of it. She was queasy and desperately wanted to cry, but she was holding on. Gotta save face, Daisy girl. No matter what. Never let them see they got to you .

It didn’t matter the name her mother had given her was Lucy Cooper. Daddy had always used her stage name—the name he’d given her. Daisy Delaney, after his dearly departed grandmother, who’d given him his first guitar.

She’d relished that once upon a time, no matter how much her mother and brother had disapproved. Today, for the first time in her life, she wondered where she might be if she hadn’t followed in her famous father’s footsteps.

She couldn’t change the past so she held it together. Didn’t let anyone see she was devastated, shaken or scared.

Until the car pulled up in front of her brother’s house. He was standing outside. She’d expected to see him in his Texas Rangers uniform of pressed khakis, a button-up shirt and that shiny star she knew he took such pride in.

Instead, he was in sweats, a baby cradled in his arms.

“You shouldn’t have brought me here,” she whispered to the police officer as he shifted into Park.

“Ranger Cooper asked me to, ma’am.”

She let out a breath. Asked. While her brother was a Texas Ranger and this man was Austin PD, Daisy was under no illusions her brother hadn’t interfered enough to make sure it was an order, not a request.

When the officer opened the door for her, she managed a smile and a thank-you. The officer shook hands with Vaughn, then gave her a sympathetic look. “We’ll have more questions for you, Ms. Delaney, but the ones you answered at the scene will do for now.”

She smiled thinly. “Thank you. And if there’s any break in the case—”

“We’ll let you and your brother know.”

The officer nodded and left. Daisy turned to Vaughn.

“You shouldn’t have brought me here,” she said, peeking into the bundle of blankets. She brushed her fingers over her niece’s cheek. “It isn’t safe having me around you guys.”