Elle James - Deadly Fall

“I’d like you to start your inspection in Leigha’s room,” Andrew said.

“Oh, no, you don’t. You just want me to take care of your kid.” Dix held up her hands. “Just because I’m female doesn’t mean I know what to do with a sick child. She’s your little girl. You fix her.”

A weak cry came from above. “Mrs. Purdy? Mr. Stratford? I don’t feel good.” Sobs followed.

Andrew’s gut knotted. So, he didn’t know how to take care of a sick little girl. He’d wing it. Leaving Dix standing in the entryway, he took the steps upward, two at a time, and entered the third doorway on the right. The room closest to the master suite.

Leigha lay in the queen-size bed, a small figure swallowed by puffy, cotton-candy-pink blankets. Her long blond hair fanned across the pillow and her face was even paler than normal. Brewer lay at her feet, his chin between his paws, his tail thumping against the comforter.

“Hey, Leigha. Mrs. Purdy had to go home.”

She stared up at him, her eyes wide. “Who’s going to take care of me?”

Andrew sat on the edge of the bed and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. His hands felt so big and clumsy next to her delicate features. God, he wished Mrs. Purdy hadn’t left. “I guess you’re stuck with me.”

Footsteps sounded outside the bedroom door.

Andrew shot a glance over his shoulder.

Dix peeked in and added, “And me.”

Leigha’s eyes widened. She reached for Andrew’s hand and whispered, “Who’s she?”

Andrew waved his hand behind him, urging Dix forward. “Leigha, this is Dix. Dix, this is Leigha.”

Leigha’s brows lowered. “What is she doing here?”

Andrew hated lying to the child, but he needed her to trust Dix. “Dix is my friend, and she’s come to stay with us for a little while. I’m counting on you to show her around. This place is so big, she might get lost.”

“I don’t feel like showing her around. My tummy hurts.”

“You don’t have to show me around today, sweetie.” Dix entered the room and came to stand beside Andrew. “Maybe when you get better?” She reached out her hand to the dog. “Is this your dog?”

Leigha nodded.

“What’s his name?” Dix asked.

“Brewer.”

Dix scratched behind Brewer’s ears. “Does Brewer like to listen to stories?”

Leigha frowned up at Dix. “Brewer’s a dog. He doesn’t always understand people.”

Andrew hid a grin. His daughter wasn’t going to give Dix an inch. She’d have to work for a connection.

His new bodyguard walked over to a shelf and thumbed through the colorful books. “I bet he likes it when you talk to him, doesn’t he?” Dix lifted a book off of a shelf. “Do you think he would like it if I read to him?”

The little girl closed her eyes. “He might.” She reached for Andrew’s hand and squeezed it, uncaring that it had burn scars and didn’t feel like a normal hand. She didn’t mind that he wasn’t perfect. She always seemed glad that he was just himself. His heart swelled. This little girl he hadn’t known he had until a year ago was his.

“What would he like to listen to?” Dix asked.

“He likes the book about the island and the blue dolphins.”

Andrew almost laughed out loud. From claiming Brewer was just a dog to admitting the animal would like to listen to the book Island of the Blue Dolphins, Leigha had come full circle.

Score one for Dix. Despite her claim that she didn’t know anything about children, she’d gotten Leigha to come around to her way of thinking without having to order her to do so.

Andrew nodded. “I’ll let you three get to it.” He started to rise but was stopped by the little hand holding his.

“Please stay, Mr. Stratford.” Leigha stared up at him with glassy blue eyes, her face flushed and her body hot.

“Tell you what...” Dix handed the book to Andrew. “Let your father start the story, while I get a fresh cloth to cool your face.”

“But Brewer wants to hear you read,” Leigha said.

“And I will. After I get something to cool you down.” Dix drew an X across her chest. “Cross my heart.”

“Okay.” Leigha turned to her father.

Outmaneuvered by the woman, Andrew opened the book. “Where should I start?”

“At the beginning.” Leigha closed her eyes and lay back against the pillow.

Andrew started reading.

Dix disappeared into the room’s adjoining bathroom and returned with a damp cloth. She folded it several times and laid it across Leigha’s forehead.

Andrew couldn’t help noting how gentle Dix was with his little girl. The woman was a natural with kids. While he read, Andrew studied Dix out of the corner of his eye.

Without makeup and her hair hanging loose around her shoulders, she wasn’t a classic beauty. Her shoulders and arm muscles were well-defined and taut. She didn’t have an ounce of fat on her body. Whatever she’d done before going to work for Fontaine, she’d kept physically fit. No, she wasn’t like Tazer, a woman who could pose for a fashion magazine. Nor was she bone-thin, like so many runway models who looked like they could use a big hamburger or treatment for an eating disorder.

No, Dix was what Andrew would call a healthy, granola girl, adept at hiking up hills without breaking into a sweat. She might even be capable of scaling cliffs with her bare hands.

But at that moment she was showing a side of herself she probably didn’t know she had. A side that made Andrew look at her in a whole new way.

The tenderness with which she applied the cool cloth to Leigha’s brow and cheeks was nothing short of maternal. She moved slowly, carefully patting Leigha’s face as she smiled down at the child.

So engrossed in watching Dix’s movements, at one point, Andrew forgot to read.

“I’m not asleep yet.” Leigha opened her eyes. “Please keep reading.”

“Sorry,” Andrew said, shaking aside his obsessive desire to watch Dix’s every move.

Dix chuckled low in her chest.

The sound made Andrew warm all over and he wanted her to do it again. He jerked his attention back to the book and read each word, without really seeing them or absorbing the story.

As he ended the first chapter, Andrew realized two things.

Leigha had fallen asleep and Dix had chinked away a piece of the wall he’d erected around himself.

That would not do. The woman was a hired hand. A temporary one at that.

The sooner he found a replacement bodyguard, the better.

Chapter 4

Dix smiled down at the little girl with the spun-gold hair splayed out on the pillow. She remembered a picture of herself at about Leigha’s age. Her hair had been long and wavy, and she’d been full of curiosity and mischief. Her mother had never been able to keep up with her. Looking back, she was surprised she’d lived through some of her more dangerous escapades.

If her mother had known where she’d been exploring, she would have had more gray hair. To the young Dix, life had been one big adventure.

Joining the military had been a logical choice for Dix. She related better with men than with women, and she’d always liked getting dirty and shooting guns with her father. In fact, she liked fishing, hunting, yard work and anything her father had liked. Housekeeping, cooking and laundry had been her least favorite things to do growing up. She’d been happiest outdoors in the sunshine.

So why did her heart skip several beats and then tighten in her chest when she stared down at the little girl lying against the cool sheets, her body warm from fever?

Something she’d never felt before welled up inside. A fierce desire to protect this small creature so dependent on adults to keep her well and alive. Was this how parents felt about their children? While her mother had wanted to hold her back, she’d done it out of a desire to keep her safe. Her father, on the other hand, had wanted to share his love of the outdoors with her, to show her some of what she could do if she broadened her mind beyond the walls of their little house in the country.