Nicole Helm - Wyoming Cowboy Protection

He’d suck it up. He might be growly and taciturn, but he wasn’t a bad guy. Not when it came to things like this. She might be related to a Delaney, but he knew what violence could do to a family. Carsons couldn’t help but know that, and he’d promised himself he wouldn’t be like them.

Somehow it had worked out. This generation of Carsons wasn’t half as bad as the last, if a little wild, but he and Grady and Ty stood up for people who couldn’t stand up for themselves. He wouldn’t stop now.

Even if the woman and her baby did have Delaney in their blood.

Noah walked down the hall and into the room where Grady was already setting up all the baby gear for Addie while Laurel cooed over the baby in her arms. Noah gave Grady a pointed look but Grady ignored it.

“Well, we better get going and let you have some settle-in time,” Laurel said, looking around the room as if inspecting it. “You can call me day or night. Whatever you need, or Seth needs.”

“Thanks,” Addie said, and Noah tried not to frown over the tears shimmering in the woman’s eyes. Hell, female tears were the worst thing. Laurel and Addie hugged, the baby between them, before Grady and Laurel left. Laurel paused in front of Noah.

“Thank you,” she mouthed, holding a hand over her heart.

Noah merely scowled, but the annoying thing about Laurel was she was never fooled by things like that. She seemed to be under the impression he was the nicest one of the lot.

Noah hated that she was right.

“So, I’ll leave you to settle in,” Noah offered, not expressly making eye contact considering this was a bedroom. “Need anything, let me know.”

“Oh, but... Shouldn’t I be saying that to you? I mean, shouldn’t we go over duties? Since Laurel and Grady set this up, I...I’m not sure what you expect of me.” She bounced the baby on her hip, but Noah figured it was more nerves than trying to keep the boy from fussing.

He tried to smile, though even if he’d accomplished it he knew it was hard to see beyond the beard. “We can do it in the morning.”

She blinked at him, all wide blue-eyed innocence. “I’d like to do it now. This is a job, and I should be working it.”

“It’s Sunday. Rule number one, you don’t work on Sunday.”

“What do I do then?”

“I don’t care, but I’ll cook my own meals and clean up after myself on Sundays. Understood?”

She nodded. “What’s rule number two?”

Timid. He did not know what to do with timid, but he was being forced. Well, maybe he needed to treat her like a skittish horse. Horse training wasn’t his expertise, but he understood enough about the animals to know they needed a clear leader, routine and the opportunity to build their confidence.

Noah glanced at the hopeful young woman and tried not to grimace.

“I have a checklist,” she blurted.

“A checklist?”

“Yes, of duties. Of things I do for people. When I’m housekeeping. I... You...”

The sinking feeling that had been plaguing him since Grady announced his and Laurel’s little plan that morning sank deeper. “You haven’t done this before, have you?”

“Oh.” She looked everywhere around the room except him. “Um. Well. Sort of.”

“Sort of?”

“I...I can cook, and clean. I just haven’t ever been on a ranch, or lived in someone else’s house as their employee. So that’s, um, well, it’s super weird.” She glanced at the kid in her arms. “And I have a baby. Which is weird.”

“Super weird,” he intoned.

She blinked up at him, some of that anxiety softening in her features. “If you tell me what you want me to do, I promise I can do it. I’m just not sure what you expect. Or want.”

“I’ll make you up a checklist.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. “I’m sorry, was that a joke? I can’t exactly tell.”

Noah’s mouth twitched of its own accord. “Settle in. Get the baby settled in. Tomorrow morning, six a.m., kitchen table. We’ll discuss your duties then.”

“Okay.”

He turned to go, but she stopped him with a hesitant “um.”

He looked over his shoulder at her.

“It’s just, could you give us something of a tour? A map? Smoke signals to the bathroom?”

Noah was very bad at controlling his facial features, half of why he kept a beard, so the distaste must have been clear all over his face.

“I’m sorry, I make jokes when I’m nervous.”

“Funny, I just shut up.”

Those big blue eyes blinked at him, not quite in horror, but not necessarily in understanding, either.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “That was a joke. I joke when I’m nervous, too.”

“Really?”

“No. Never,” he replied, chastising himself for being prickly, and then ignoring his own chastisement. “Follow me. I’ll show you around.”

Chapter Two

September

Addie liked to use Seth’s afternoon nap for laundry folding and listening to an audiobook, then dinner prep. She’d been at the Carson Ranch for a full month now, and while she couldn’t claim comfort or the belief she was truly safe and settled, she’d developed a routine, and that was nice.

She found she liked housekeeping, much to her surprise. As an administrative assistant in the family business—a franchise of furniture stores Grandpa had moved to Boston to run when his father-in-law had died suddenly back in the fifties—she’d hated waiting on people, keeping things and meetings organized. She’d taken the job because it had been expected of her, and she hadn’t known what else to do with her life.

So, the fact keeping everything neat and organized at Noah’s house, making meals and helping the ranch run smoothly felt good was a surprise. Maybe it was the six months of being on the run and not having a house or anything to care for except Seth’s safety.

Maybe it was simply that she felt, if not safe here, like she fit here.

Addie worked on chopping vegetables for a salad, the baby monitor she’d bought with her first overly generous paycheck sitting on the sill of the window overlooking the vast Carson Ranch. She hadn’t needed a monitor in any of the previous places she’d been. They were all hotel rooms or little one-room apartments where she could hear Seth no matter where she went.

Now she had a whole house to roam, and so did Seth. They had these beautiful views to take in. For as long as it lasted, this life was good .

Some little voice in the back of her head warned her not to get too attached or settle in too deeply. Peter could always find her here, although it was unlikely. She hadn’t shared anything with her father since he’d cut off Kelly long before Seth, and she’d been on shaky ground for not cutting Kelly off as well.

As for the rest of her friends and family, she’d sent a cheery email to them saying she’d gotten an amazing job teaching English in China and she’d send them contact information when she was settled.

If anyone had been suspicious, she’d been long gone before she could see evidence of it.

Addie didn’t miss Boston or her cold father or even the furniture store that was supposed to be her legacy. That was also a surprise. Boston and her family had always been home, though not exactly a warm one after Mom had died when Addie’d been a kid. Still, striking out and starting over as a faux single mom had been surprisingly fulfilling. If she discounted the terror and constant running.

But she wasn’t running right now. More and more, she was thinking of the Carson Ranch as home .

“You are a hopeless idiot, Addie Foster,” she muttered to herself.

She startled as the door swung open, the knife she’d been using clattering to the cutting board from nerveless fingers.