Diana Palmer - Date with a Cowboy - Iron Cowboy / In the Arms of the Rancher / At the Texan's Pleasure

“I didn’t know I had an appendix until yesterday,” she said wistfully. “They brought me in by ambulance.”

“What about Morris?”

“Mr. Danzetta fed him for me,” she said complacently.

“Cameron’s bodyguard?” He looked strange.

“What is it?” she asked curiously.

“One of our cowboys was driving past your house last night and saw lights on inside. He knew you were here, so he called the sheriff’s department.”

“And?”

“When they got there, the lights were off, the doors were all locked and there was nobody around.”

She pursed her lips, wondering.

“Did you give the bodyguard a key?” he persisted.

She hesitated. “Well …”

Before she could speak, the door opened and Jared walked in. He stopped when he saw Harley and his eyes began to glitter.

Harley had great reflexes. He exercised them by getting out of the chair, wishing Sara well, promising to check on her later. He walked out with a nod to Cameron. He passed by Tony, who didn’t say a word.

“You had company,” Jared said quietly.

She wondered what he was thinking. His face gave little away. “Harley came to tell me about my house.”

He frowned. “What about your house?”

“He said one of the Parks cowboys saw lights on inside and knew I wasn’t there, so he called the sheriff,” she began. “But when the deputy got there, all the lights were out and nobody was anywhere around.”

He managed to look innocent. “How odd.”

He looked too innocent. She frowned. “I didn’t give Mr. Danzetta a key to my house, so how did he get in to feed Morris?”

He sat down in the chair beside the bed, looking thoughtful for a minute. “Tony has some, shall we say, unexpected skills.”

“Like breaking and entering?” she probed with a grin.

“This is a conversation we shouldn’t have right now,” he replied with a quiet smile.

Her eyebrows lifted. “Is he wanted by the law?” she asked, keeping her voice low so that Tony wouldn’t overhear her.

“Only in two countries,” he said absently. “Or was it three?”

She looked shocked.

He scowled at her. “I’m kidding!”

She relaxed. “Okay,” she said. “That’s a relief.”

Outside the door, a tall, dark-eyed man was chuckling silently.

“I talked to Dr. Coltrain,” Jared said. “He told me if you’re still improving like this, you can be released Monday.”

She grimaced. “I’ll miss work.” Her eyes widened. “Oh, gosh. Dee! I didn’t even phone her …!”

“I did,” Jared said lazily. “She’s coming to see you tonight.”

“Thanks,” she told him.

“She already knew, of course,” he added ruefully. “It’s amazing how gossip gets around here.”

“We’re a very small town,” she reminded him.

“You’re a very large family,” he contradicted. “I’ve never lived in a place where people knew so much about each other.”

She smiled. “I know. I love it here. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”

“Well, you’ll be living with me for a few days,” he replied, crossing his long legs. “My attorney’s coming down Monday, so we’ll be chaperoned. Less gossip.”

“Does your attorney come to stay?”

“Only when I have legal matters to discuss,” he said easily. “I’ve had the same attorney for two years.”

She was picturing a tall lawyer like Blake Kemp. Jared must be very well-to-do if he could get a live-in attorney, she was thinking.

“Don’t mention anything about Tony feeding your cat, okay?” he asked abruptly. “I don’t want the police asking any embarrassing questions. I need Tony.”

“Of course I won’t,” she agreed, but she couldn’t help wondering what all the secrecy was about.

“I can’t stay long tonight,” he said apologetically. “I’m trying to do business by phone, fax and modem, and it’s damned hard.”

Her eyes were curious. “Where do you live when you’re not here?”

He smiled. “That’s need-to-know. You don’t.”

“Well!” she exclaimed. “What a lot of cloak-and-dagger stuff!”

“You have no idea,” he replied absently.

The door opened. Tony came in, flipping his phone shut. “Max needs to talk to you again. It’s going to take a while.”

“We’ll go home.” He got up, pausing to smile down at Sara. “Get better. I’ll be back in the morning.”

“Thanks,” she said.

He shrugged. “We’re family.”

He went out with Tony and closed the door behind him.

Max was not happy to learn that Jared was keeping company with some sick girl in the little hick town.

“You need your head read,” she muttered on the phone. “You’ve got enough problems without adding a penniless, clinging cowgirl to them.”

“She’s not a cowgirl,” he replied. “She sells books.”

“An egghead isn’t much better,” she scoffed. “They want you to come back out here and let them give you around-the-clock security.”

“We’ll never catch the perpetrators if we hide in a fortress,” he said. “And we’ve had this damned argument before!”

“Somebody’s getting testy,” she purred. “No pillow talk down there, I guess?”

“What do you want?” he interrupted.

She hesitated. “I wanted to tell you that they’ve tracked three men as far as San Antonio. We’re not sure if they’re connected to the other, or not, but they’re the right nationality.”

“What’s their cover?”

“How should I know?” she muttered.

“I pay you to know everything,” he countered.

“Oh, all right, I’ll ask questions. Honestly, Jared, you’re getting to be a grouch. What’s this girl doing to you?”

“Nothing,” he said tersely. “She’s just a friend.”

“You’re spending a lot of time at the hospital.”

“Neither of us has family,” he said absently. “We decided we’d look after each other if we got sick.”

The pause was heated. “You know I’d take care of you if you got sick! I’d have doctors and nurses all over the place.”

Of course she would, he thought. She’d hire people to care for him, but she wouldn’t do it herself. Max hated illness.

“I’m tired and I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

“I’m flying down there Monday,” she told him. “I’ll bring some contracts for you to look over. Need anything from the big city?”

“Nothing at all. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay. Sleep well.”

“Sure.” He hung up. Max was possessive of him. He hadn’t noticed it before, and he didn’t like it. She was sleek, elegant, aggressive and intelligent. But she did nothing for him physically. He did have occasional liaisons, but never with Max. He hoped she wasn’t going to come down to Texas and upset things. He knew that she wasn’t going to like Sara. Not at all.

Monday morning, Sara was on the mend. Dee had come twice, on Friday night and Sunday afternoon, bearing baskets of flowers and magazines for Sara to read. She absolutely forbade her to come back to work until the end of the next week. That made Sara feel a little better. She knew Dee was shorthanded when she wasn’t there.

Jared had been back to visit, staying for a few minutes at a time, with Tony always in the background. She wondered why he needed a full-time bodyguard. He changed the subject every time she asked.

Dr. Coltrain released her after lunch. She was wheeled out to the hospital entrance, where Jared was waiting in the big black pickup truck. He bent and lifted her like a sack of flour, putting her gently into the passenger seat and belting her in.

She didn’t expect the sudden rush of breath that escaped her lips when he paused in the act of fastening the seat belt and looked straight into her eyes at point-blank range. She felt the world shift ten degrees. His eyes narrowed and dropped to her blouse.