Lisa Childs - In The Bodyguard's Arms

“I didn’t fly commercial,” he said. “I didn’t want to waste any time getting here.”

Which had been damn lucky for her if he was telling the truth.

If he was who he claimed he was.

Could she trust him?

“I’m going to check around outside.” He opened and closed the door behind himself before she could protest any further. But through the door, he shouted, “Lock it!”

He was worried about her safety. But what about his own? Not being able to see, he could walk right into danger before he even realized it, kind of like when he had rolled her over and she had pepper-sprayed him.

A pang of regret and concern struck her heart. She wished she hadn’t hurt him. And she hoped he would not get hurt even worse.

“Be careful,” she called out through the door as she locked it. But she suspected that her warning was too late. That he was already gone.

Whatever was going to happen to Jordan Mannes would happen, and even though she wouldn’t be the one doing it this time, it would still be her fault because that madman out there was after her.

Jordan Mannes was only doing his job.

* * *

Over the past few years as a bodyguard, Cooper Payne had heard fear in the voices of many women. Hell, even as a Marine he had heard it—in the voices of friends’ families, in his own family.

He heard fear now in Teddie Plummer’s voice as she spoke through the speaker on his cell phone. “I think he’s been out there too long,” she said. “But I haven’t heard any gunshots.”

“Why would he be shooting?” Cooper asked with concern. “Who would he be shooting at?”

“At the man who attacked me,” she said. “Mr. Mannes went back out to see if he could find him. But he can’t see...”

It was late. And in the UP, it would be especially dark. “He has a flashlight—”

“Yes,” she said. “But he still won’t be able to see.”

Cooper’s head began to pound. Not only was she afraid, but she was also so distraught she wasn’t making sense anymore. “He will be able to with the flashlight—”

“He can’t see because I pepper-sprayed him earlier.”

A curse slipped through Cooper’s lips. What the hell kind of situation had he sent his friend into?

Before Cooper had started his own branch of the Payne Protection Agency, his brother Logan had tried to send him off on an assignment to protect some reality star who claimed to have a stalker. She’d made up the whole thing just to get publicity to launch a film career.

Was that what Teddie Plummer was up to? Theatrics in order to get into the theater?

“I didn’t think he would be here already,” she explained. “I didn’t expect the bodyguard you sent to get here for at least another day or two.”

“He flew in,” Cooper said.

“He got here just in time,” Teddie said, and her breath rattled the phone as her fear increased. “I was coming back from a hike when someone chased me through the woods. He had caught me. If Jordan hadn’t rushed out when I screamed...”

If she was this good an actress, she would not have needed to stage any publicity stunts to break into movies. She couldn’t be faking the terror Cooper heard now.

“He’s been out there too long,” she murmured again. “Can you send someone else up here?”

Cooper knew that Cole would go. He would leave in a minute even though he would have to borrow someone else’s plane since Manny had his. But with the fog that had just rolled into River City, Cooper suspected all flights would be grounded.

“Nobody would get there in time now,” Cooper said. If Manny were in danger right now...

“Then I’ll go out there,” she said. And he could hear the deep breath she drew in to brace herself.

“No!” Cooper said. “The guy already tried to grab you once. If you go back out there...” and if he had already taken out Manny, then there would be no one to protect her.

Damn it, he should not have sent Manny off alone on this assignment. Cooper had had no idea just how dangerous it was. And unfortunately, neither had Manny.

* * *

He had been gone too long. The son of a bitch could have circled around the woods and gone back to the cabin. If she’d been telling the truth, if she had locked the door when she’d left earlier, then the bastard must have a key.

Because the lock hadn’t looked picked. The jamb hadn’t been broken. No. If she had locked the door, then someone had just let himself inside, and he could have done it again the minute Manny had walked out and left her alone and unprotected.

But he’d had to check out the brush he’d seen moving right after Teddie had pepper-sprayed him. He hadn’t found anyone hiding in those trees, not that he was certain he’d searched in the right place. All the damn trees and brush looked the same to him.

What he could see of them...

His eyes kept streaming as the spray continued to burn them. He blinked repeatedly and peered through lids that felt swollen and raw. Damn it.

Everything looked the same. He wasn’t sure where he’d been or even where the cabin was now. A light shone in the distance, beyond the trees in which he found himself. Was that light glowing from the cabin? Or another house?

He hadn’t seen any other homes along this road when he’d driven the motorcycle he had rented from the private airstrip to here. He’d had no idea then if he was heading in the right direction. But her cabin had been the only one he’d found. Not that there couldn’t be others set farther back in the woods.

This was bad.

There were no street lamps here because there were no streets. No sidewalks. He had no idea where he was or how to get back to her. He rubbed his eyes again and tried to focus.

He needed to get back to the cabin. He needed to make sure she was safe. He should have at least left her the gun for protection. She might be able to hit her target. He wasn’t certain that he would be able to.

As Manny moved toward that light, it wavered. Maybe it only appeared that way because of his eyes, though. They continued to burn, but it wasn’t just from the spray anymore. As he walked closer, he realized the light came from a fire burning inside a circle of rocks. He’d stumbled upon someone’s campsite.

He hadn’t walked that far, so whoever was camping here was close to the cabin. Close enough to watch Teddie?

Despite the warmth of the flames, he shivered. Was that where the guy was now?

Nobody sat around the campfire. On the other side of it, a sleeping bag was rolled up next to a knocked-over tent. Had the person been setting up camp or taking it down?

And where the hell was he now?

Manny blinked several times, trying to clear his vision. But the smoke was making it worse. Instead of moving away from the fire, though, he moved closer, circling around it to investigate the sleeping bag and the tent.

Maybe there was a backpack lying there, too. Or at least something that would give him a clue to the camper’s identity. But as Manny stepped closer, he found the only thing that lay atop the collapsed tent was a ski mask—just as she’d described her attacker as wearing.

It wasn’t cold enough for the camper to need the mask for warmth. No. This was the camp of the man who had attacked Teddie. So he must have started the fire. He intended to come back, then.

Should Manny wait for him to return?

Nerves of uneasiness moved through his gut. He was more concerned about where the hell the guy was now than if he would come back here. Had he returned to the cabin?

Was he going to try to attack Teddie again?

Manny had had to carry her into the cabin, she’d been so exhausted from her earlier struggle with her attacker. He doubted she would be able to fight off the stalker a second time.