# Clandestine Christmas

Elle James

Sexy cowboy ropes in stunning secret agent!A wickedly handsome billionaire rancher, Chase Marsden is past his dissolute playboy days. With Covert Cowboy's Kate Rivers posing as his fiancée, he's determined to find the culprits trying to murder an old–and notorious–friend many would kill to keep silent.From the moment Chase eyes Kate—beautiful, tough, but vulnerable—he knows she's the one. Kate, a former Texas Ranger, fears nothing but Chase's reckless kisses. As they investigate together, each clue puts their lives further in jeopardy. Will Christmas find them under the mistletoe…or escaping kidnappers and dodging hit men?

## “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll call it a night.”

“Not yet.” Chase reached up and brushed her cheek with his thumb. “I’d give anything to know why you were crying.”

Kate froze. The touch of his thumb on her cheek and the warmth of his hand surrounding hers sent a rush of heat all the way through her body and out to the very tips of her ears and toes.

She tugged at the hand held tight in his.

He refused to let go. “Tell me what made you sad. Please.” His rich baritone wrapped around her like a lush, sexy blanket, warming her in the chill night air.

Her gaze shifted from his eyes to his lips and a new fire burned from the inside. Chase Marsden was a good-looking man with full, sensuous lips that begged to be kissed.

“Let me help you.”

“I’m supposed to be here to help you,” she whispered, feeling herself fall into the man’s eyes.

## Clandestine Christmas. Elle James

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ELLE JAMES, a New York Times bestselling author, started writing when her sister challenged her to write a romance novel. She has managed a full-time job and raised three wonderful children, and she and her husband even tried ranching exotic birds (ostriches, emus and rheas). Ask her, and she’ll tell you what it’s like to go toe-to-toe with an angry three-hundred-and-fifty-pound bird! Elle loves to hear from fans at ellejames@earthlink.net or www.ellejames.com.

This book is dedicated to all my readers.

You make it possible for me to follow my dreams.

I love you all!

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

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

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Chase sat back in his chair at the Lucky Lady Saloon in Fool’s Fortune, Colorado, letting the three-hundred-dollar-a-bottle whiskey and the lilting sound of Sadie Lovely’s voice wash over him.

Today marked the anniversary of his obligation to his grandfather’s will. In order to inherit all of what his grandfather left him, he had to agree to live at the Lucky Lady Ranch for two entire years without leaving for more than one month out of each year.

Finally, he was free to choose wherever he wanted to go, whatever he wanted to do and whomever he wanted to do it with.

But he wasn’t really. In the past two weeks, he’d gone from anticipating leaving the ranch to his overseer to promising to stay until things settled down with Sadie.

Fifteen years older than him, she was a friend from his former playboy life, really an acquaintance who’d saved him from being mugged by thugs and drowning in a gutter when he’d been too drunk and stupid to help himself.

Tough as nails, with a heart of gold, Sadie had held off the thugs with a .40-caliber pistol she kept strapped to her thigh beneath her evening dress. She’d dragged him into her home, sobered him up and asked for nothing in return.

He’d offered her his friendship, and even got to know her grandson, Jake, a cute little boy with curious green eyes. He wasn’t sure what had happened to cause Jake’s mother to crash her car, hadn’t asked and Sadie hadn’t volunteered the information. It was clear she was raising the boy to the best of her ability.

When she’d come to him two weeks ago, scared and in need of his help, he’d opened his doors to her, set her up with a job at one of the businesses he’d inherited from his grandfather and helped her move her and her grandson into his big empty house on the Lucky Lady Ranch until she could get set up in a place of her own.

Sadie ended her song and descended from the stage to sit in the chair opposite Chase. In her late forties, she was still an attractive woman, with smooth curves and a sultry smile. “I’m glad you came.”

Chase sat forward, the mild buzz from the alcohol clearing as he leaned forward. “I came as soon as I got your message. I must say I’m surprised you agreed to perform tonight.”

She shrugged. “I never know when a threat is real or just a threat. All I know is that I can’t live my life like this. I have to work to support my grandson. Speaking of which.” She bit her lip, the lines around her eyes more pronounced than usual. “I want to make sure you’re still good for my backup should anything happen to me where Jake’s concerned.”

“I’m his godfather now. I’d do anything for the kid.”

She reached across the table and touched his arm. “Even raise him as your own?” Sadie held his gaze.

Chase’s chest tightened. “That won’t be an issue. He’s got you.”

“I’m serious. I have a bad feeling.”

“We moved you from Leadville to give you a new start. Hopefully, whoever burned down your house won’t follow you here. You should be okay.”

She smiled. “I have a limited number of skills. Changing my name and hair color hardly constitutes going incognito when all I’m qualified to do is sing and...”

Chase covered her hand. “Look, Sadie, you’re done with that other life. You don’t have to go back to entertaining men. You have a good job here, where all you have to do is sing for a living.” Though he subsidized her earnings, he wasn’t telling her. He owed her his life.

She nodded. “Thanks to you. I’m just afraid my past is catching up to me.”

“Why? What has you scared?”

“I had another empty message on my voice mail. On my new cell phone.” She bit her bottom lip.

“It was a computer-generated sales call gone bad.” Chase shook his head. “What else do you have?”

“I feel like someone is following me. Watching me.” She turned her head and stared out at the practically empty barroom. “Especially today. Every time I turned around I saw nothing, yet I can swear someone is there. Waiting. Watching.”

“Sweetheart, after having a stalker following you around for the past few weeks, you have a right to feel paranoid.”

She pulled her hand away from his. “It’s more than that. When I left my dressing room earlier, I locked the door behind me. I went back because I forgot my throat spray. The door was open. I know I locked it.”

“Perhaps the janitor?”

“He doesn’t come on until after midnight.”

Chase’s anger simmered just beneath the surface. Sadie was his friend and he hated seeing her so distraught. “I placed a call to a man I know of who provides specialized, undercover bodyguards. I asked specifically for a woman to blend in with you and the saloon.”

Tears welled in Sadie’s eyes. “A bodyguard?” Then she shook her head. “I can’t pay you back. Not yet.”

“No need. I don’t like the idea of you and Jake in danger. At least you’ll be safe at the ranch until you find a place of your own. And hopefully, we’ll discover who’s stalking you and nail the jerk before you move back to town into your own place.”

She smiled. “In the meantime, I need to know that you’ll be there for Jake, if anything happens to me. You’re the only one he trusts besides me and the Quaids.” She leaned closer to him. “Chase?”

“Yes, Sadie?”

“If anything should happen to me, I want you to have this.” She pressed something cold and hard into his palm and curled his fingers around it.

“What is it?” He could tell by the shape, it was a key, but to what?

“It’s the key to my safe-deposit box at the First Colorado Bank in Denver. You, me and my attorney are the only ones who have access to the box. He has authority to turn it over to the police should you and I disappear.”

“Which you aren’t, and I’m not,” he assured her.

Sadie took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I haven’t told you everything about me. The safe-deposit box has information in it that would explain a lot. I can’t say that I’ve lived a perfect life. Far from it. Basically, it’s a compilation of my secrets and Melissa’s, Jake’s mother.”

Chase snorted. “As if I would be the one to judge.”

Sadie gave him one of her gentle smiles. “You’ve changed in the past two years, Chase.” Her forehead crinkled. “I’m glad you’re not drinking as heavily, but I think you’ve lost some of your fire.”

It was his turn to smile at her. “The last time you gave me advice, I slowed down. Are you telling me I slowed down too much?”

“You did the right thing. You were on a suicidal path. Your grandfather’s will was just the ticket to get you back on track, not me.”

“I wouldn’t have come back to Fool’s Fortune if it hadn’t been for you.”

Her mouth twisted. “Sure you would have, if for nothing else but to spit on your grandfather’s grave for the way he disinherited your mother.”

“My parents might still be here if he hadn’t been so hard on my mother.”

Sadie clucked her tongue. “You don’t know that.”

“Well, they wouldn’t have been living in New York City. My mother never liked living anywhere else but Colorado.”

“That’s the past. As a wise man once said to me, you have to let go of your past to live in the present or you will have no future.”

Chase sat across the table from Sadie, the woman who, despite her former trade, reminded him of the mother he’d lost six years ago. He pocketed the key, determined to guard Sadie’s secrets. “Thanks, Sadie. Rest assured. I’ll take care of Jake if anything happens to you.”

She nodded. “That’s all I ask.”

“Now let me take you home.”

“I drove my car here. I can drive it home.” She pushed to her feet, a tired smile curving her lips. “I should be okay.”

Chase shook his head. “I won’t take no for an answer.” He, too, rose from his seat. “Besides, I’d like the company on the drive back to the ranch.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind that Jake and I are staying with you at the ranch?”

“The house is too big for just me and the Quaids.” With a smile, Chase added, “Jake should be sound asleep by now. Knowing Frances, she’s plied him with homemade cookies and read him several books by now. Probably let him stay up late, despite his nine o’clock bedtime.”

Sadie’s lips twisted. “I’d be angry at her, but she’s so good with Jake and he adores her. The poor boy needs a mother.”

“He’s got you.”

“And I love him with all my heart. Too bad Melissa didn’t live to watch him grow into a man. Hard to believe she’s been dead almost six months.”

“Still hurts, doesn’t it?” Chase slipped an arm around the older woman and hugged her to him as they walked to the little room behind the stage where Sadie had left her faux fur jacket hanging on a coat rack.

Sadie stopped in front of the coat rack and waited for Chase to gather her coat and hold it out to her. As she slipped her arms into the sleeves, she said, “A mother should never have to bury her own child.”

Jake let his hands rest on Sadie’s shoulders for just a moment. “You never told me what happened to Melissa.”

“She ran her car over the side of a cliff. The police ruled it an accident, but the people who knew her said she’d been acting funny, almost paranoid.”

Jake shrugged into his coat, his eyes narrowing. “Do you think she committed suicide?”

“I wouldn’t put it past her. But then, she exacerbated her problems by continuing to put herself front and center of trouble.” Sadie’s shoulders sagged, making her appear every bit of her forty-something years. “I should have spent more time with her when she was a teen.”

“If she was like every other teen, she wouldn’t have wanted you around.”

“You don’t have any kids scattered across the country, do you?” Sadie pinned him with her stare. “You were the wild one for a while there.”

“No, I was sure to protect the women I’d been with...and any child that might have resulted, from getting a father he couldn’t count on.” Fishing his keys from his pocket he held the door for Sadie.

She touched his cheek as she stepped through the door. “You would make a good father.”

“I don’t know why you think that. My father was never home. He and my mother never settled for long.”

Sadie smiled. “I know because I can see what a good man you are.”

Chase led the way out the back door and around the side of the building onto Main Street. The wind had picked up, sending a chilling blast from the snowcapped peaks surrounding them down to the streets. Bowing his shoulders, Chase did his best to block the wind from Sadie as they crossed Main Street, their feet making sharp clicking sounds on the icy pavement.

“When are you going to find yourself a woman to share your life with?” Sadie asked.

“Again, my parents weren’t the best advertisement for marriage. I’m not the least in a hurry to find a woman to settle down with. I like my solitude and I’m beginning to like the seclusion of the Lucky Lady Ranch.”

At the middle of the street headlights shined in Chase’s eyes. He lifted his hand to block the brilliant glare blinding him. “We’d better hurry.” Chase gripped Sadie’s arm and guided her toward the other side of the street.

Before they reached the sidewalk, tires squealed and the vehicle sped up, aiming directly for them.

“Run!” Chase shouted, shoving Sadie toward the sidewalk, then he turned to face the oncoming vehicle.

* * *

KATHERINE RIVERS BLINKED tired eyes as she entered the outskirts of Fool’s Fortune, the quaint Colorado town in the middle of the Rockies. It was well past eleven o’clock, Texas time, and she’d been on the road since four that morning.

All she wanted was to get to the Lucky Lady Saloon, find a bed to crawl into and save the introductions to her new assignment, Chase Marsden, until after she’d had a decent night’s sleep. She wasn’t even due in until tomorrow. Surely a good night’s sleep would boost her spirits and set her on the right path with this new job and her first CCI assignment.

The streets, cheerfully decorated in bright Christmas lights, were pretty much deserted with the occasional car passing. Small town life would suit her fine after the insanity of Houston traffic and crime.

Her GPS indicated she was two blocks from the saloon on Main Street. She could see the neon lights of a building ahead and presumed it was her destination. Two shadowy figures emerged from the entrance and started across the street. Good. Maybe the place would be empty and she wouldn’t have to speak to anyone but the desk clerk.

Her back ached and the scar on her belly twinged at the enforced inactivity of driving across Texas and New Mexico all day. She needed to move, to perform the stretching exercises the physical therapist had armed her with after her surgery.

She snorted. A broken-down Texas Ranger, medically retired after a shoot-out gone wrong. Some bodyguard she’d be.

Faced with finding a job sitting behind a desk, Kate had been more than happy to accept Hank Derringer’s offer of employment in his supersecret organization, Covert Cowboys, Inc. Although, being female, she wasn’t sure how that worked. Technically, she was a cowgirl, born and raised in the panhandle of Texas on a four-thousand-acre ranch.

She knew her way around horses, cattle and a barnyard. The fourth daughter of a rancher, she had never felt she was a disappointment to her father, who would probably have preferred sons to carry on the Rivers name.

Her father treated her like any other ranch hand, only with a whole lot of love and care. She could ride as well or better than any man on the ranch and she’d done her share of roping, branding and castrating steers. Her sisters had preferred to work in the house, but knew how to ride and feed the animals.

Her father boasted she was as good or better than any son he might have had and he wouldn’t have changed a thing. When she left the ranch to join the Texas Rangers, Kate Rivers wasn’t afraid of anything.

All that had changed in one night, one fateful shoot-out.

Resisting the urge to floor her accelerator and finish this trip, Kate pushed away thoughts of that night eight months ago and maintained her speed, her goal in sight.

A dark SUV darted out in front of her from a side street.

Kate slammed her foot on the brake pedal and skidded to a halt.

The SUV’s tires spun, screeching against the pavement, and then it sped toward the saloon.

Kate fired off a round of curses and hit the accelerator, her adrenaline pumping, angry at the idiot’s disregard for other traffic on the road.

As quickly as her heart leaped, it came to an abrupt halt when she noticed the two people who’d left the saloon running toward the other side of the street.

The SUV driver seemed to head straight for them, increasing his speed instead of slowing to allow them to make it to the other side.

No.

Kate punched the gas pedal, a gasp lodged in her throat as she watched the scene unfold, unable to stop it.

One figure pushed the other toward the sidewalk and then turned to face the oncoming vehicle.

“Fool!” Kate yelled inside the confines of her truck cab. She slammed her hand onto the horn. “Get out of the way!” she screamed.

The SUV swerved at the last minute, ran up onto the sidewalk, clipped the man in the side and hit the other figure head-on.

“Oh my God!” Kate’s stomach lurched.

Thrown by the impact, the figure landed hard on the concrete and rolled to a stop against the front of a brick hardware store.

The SUV bumped back onto the pavement and sped away, disappearing out the other end of town.

Heart rampaging inside her chest, Kate skidded to a halt, grabbed her cell phone and jumped down from her truck.

Dialing 9-1-1, she ran toward the two people on the ground, reliving a nightmare she’d hoped never to experience again.

A dispatcher answered on the first ring.

“We have a hit-and-run on Main Street in front of the Lucky Lady Saloon. Two people down, send an ambulance ASAP!” Kate barked into the phone. Without waiting for a response, she shoved the phone into her pocket and bent to check the first person she came to in the middle of the street.

A ruggedly handsome young man pushed to a sitting position. “Don’t waste your time on me, for God’s sake, check Sadie,” he said, his voice raspy.

Altering her direction, she pushed on, leaping up onto the sidewalk.

An older woman, possibly in her forties, wearing a long faux-fur coat, lay tragically still at an odd angle against the side of a building.

Kate dropped to her knees, swallowing hard on the lump lodged in her throat, her eyes blurring. The last time she’d hurried toward a body, it had been her partner’s.

For a moment, she froze, paralyzed by her memories. She’d thought the nightmares would have stopped by now. But she was awake and she was seeing Mac’s face, his eyes open, his expression slack in death.

Kate closed her eyes for a second and forced herself back to the present and the woman lying in front of her. When she opened her eyes, she reached out and touched her fingers to the base of the victim’s throat. For a long moment, she felt nothing, and her heart sank into the pit of her damaged belly.

Then a slight pulse bumped against her fingertips and a hand reached up to grasp her wrist.

Kate flinched and would have pulled back, but the woman’s eyes opened and she stared up at her. “Jake.”

The man who’d been hit stumbled to his hands and knees and crawled to Kate’s side. “Sadie?” He knelt beside her and took her other hand. “I’m sorry. I should have seen that coming.”

Sadie gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head. “Not...your...fault.” Her fingers tightened on Kate’s hand. “Jake.”

“He’ll be okay,” the stranger stroked the older woman’s hand. “I’ll make sure he’s safe while you’re getting better.”

Sadie shook her head, closing her eyes. “Take care of Jake. He needs a family...to love him.” The last words came out in a rush on nothing but air. Kate had to lean down to hear. The words made a sob rise up in her throat, which she choked back, determined to be strong.

Sirens sounded in the distance.

Kate felt again for the pulse in the woman’s throat, praying for even the slightest tap against her fingertips. “Sadie, hang in there. The ambulance is on its way.”

The woman’s grip on her wrist slackened and her hand fell to the hard, cold concrete.

“Damn it!” Kate eased the woman flat on her back and ripped open the fur coat. Trying to remember all the times she’d trained on CPR, she laced her fingers together, and pressed the heel of her palm against Sadie’s chest, chanting in her head with each compression.

You will live. You will live.

The man kneeling beside her checked Sadie’s pulse and shook his head. “Let me take over.”

“No,” Kate snarled, continuing the compressions as the blaring sirens grew closer.

A sheriff’s SUV arrived first, the deputy leaping out of the driver’s seat. “What happened?” he said as he dropped to the ground beside Kate.

Kate jerked her head to the injured man. “You tell him.” She continued applying compressions, refusing to give up. She’d be damned if someone else died on her shift. Not on her first day on the job.

The next vehicle to arrive was the ambulance.

A sliver of relief washed over Kate, but she wouldn’t give up on the compressions until the EMTs were out of the vehicle, with their equipment and ready to take over.

“We’ve got it,” a uniformed man bagged Sadie and another nudged her arm.

Kate couldn’t stop, afraid that if she did, Sadie wouldn’t live.

“Ma’am, you need to let us take over.” The EMT took her hands and forcibly removed them from Sadie.

More hands locked on her shoulders and dragged her to her feet. “Let them do their jobs,” a man said near her ear, his breath warm on her chilled cheek.

Kate stood on wobbly legs. Her back ached and her arms felt like limp noodles. She couldn’t take her focus off Sadie, afraid that if she did, the woman would die.

The man who’d been hit by the SUV, slipped an arm around her waist. “Lean against me. The medical techs will take good care of Sadie.”

“I have a pulse,” said the EMT forcing air into Sadie’s lungs.

“Thank God.” The one providing the chest compressions eased off. “Let’s get her loaded into the ambulance.”

They eased Sadie onto a backboard, braced her neck and got her onto a gurney.

The man Kate had been leaning on left her side to follow the procession to the ambulance.

Kate wrapped her arms around her middle, for the first time since she’d leaped out of her truck aware of the biting cold and her lack of a warm jacket. She shivered, but didn’t make a move toward her truck, her attention glued to the woman being carried away.

As the EMTs approached the open end of the ambulance, the woman gasped, sucking in a deep breath. “Chase!”

“I’m here, Sadie.” Her companion ran to her side and clasped her hand.

Opening her eyes for only a moment, Sadie said, “Where’s Jake?”

“At the ranch. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him,” the man named Chase said. “You concentrate on getting better. Jake loves his grandma.”

Kate stood to the side, her focus on the woman, heart hurting for her, and the grandson that stood a good chance of losing his grandmother.

When the doors closed on the ambulance, the sheriff’s deputy touched Chase’s arm. “You should ride with her to the emergency room and have the doctors check you over, too.”

“I can’t.” The man shook off the deputy’s concern. “I have to get back to the ranch.”

“Do you want someone to drive you there?” the EMT asked.

“No. I can get there myself.” He turned to face Kate, his face pale and haggard for such a young and vibrant man. “Thank you for doing what you did for Sadie.”

Her body trembling from the cold, Kate forced a casual shrug, ruined by the full-body tremor that shook her to the core. “I’d have done it for anyone.”

“That’s good to know. If you hadn’t come along when you did, no telling what the driver of that SUV might have done next.” He held out his hand. “Anyway. Thank you for saving Sadie. She’s a good friend.”

When Kate clasped the man’s hand an electrical charge zipped up her arms and into her chest. “I’m just glad I decided to push on, rather than stopping back in Albuquerque.”

“Where are you headed?”

She nodded toward the Lucky Lady Saloon, stomping her feet to keep warm. “I’m hoping to find a room at the Lucky Lady tonight. I have a reservation for tomorrow night, but, like I said, I decided to drive through instead of stopping.”

The man’s brows dipped. “Are you here on vacation?”

She glanced around at the Christmas lights and decorations on the buildings and streetlamps. “Though it’s a pretty little town, from what I can see in the dark, I’m here on business.”

“Meeting anyone I might know?”

She shrugged, not sure she wanted to share information with him. Kate figured she’d better jump into her role, the sooner the better. “I’m auditioning for a singing position on the stage at the Lucky Lady Saloon.” Her hand still warmly clasped in his could feel the instant tightening of his fingers.

“Auditioning for who?”

Never having sung on stage in her life, she figured, performers had to be personable and outgoing to attract a crowd. She forced a friendly smile when she’d rather be on her way to her room, a warm blanket and a recharging night of sleep. “I’m meeting with the owner, a Mr. Marsden. Do you know him?”

“I do.” The man’s hand squeezed hers once and he let go, his face grim, his lips pressed tightly together. “What’s your name?”

“Kate Rivers,” she answered.

“Is your talent agent Hank Derringer?”

She nodded, her brows furrowing. How many people in Fool’s Fortune knew she was coming and that Hank Derringer had sent her? Immediately on guard, she sized up the man in front of her. He was tall, darkly handsome, with a face that could have been on the silver screen. “As a matter of fact, Hank is my agent.” Or rather, she was Hank’s secret agent. “Your name is Chase. It wouldn’t be—”

“Chase Marsden.” The man’s lip curled upward on one side, his blue eyes dancing with the reflection of the streetlights. “Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Rivers.”

“Oh, dear.” Her heart fluttered and butterfly wings beat against the insides of her belly. She glanced around as the sheriff’s deputy jotted notes on an electronic pad. Kate lowered her voice. “I guess you needed...a singer more than I realized.”

“I wasn’t the one I was hiring you for. I wanted you to provide backup to Sadie. She’s the star.”

Kate’s eyes widened. “Sadie, the woman on her way to the hospital as we speak?”

He nodded.

“I take it the situation has gotten a lot more dangerous than you’d originally let on.” She glanced around. “Looks as though I’m a day late.”

Chapter Two

Chase had asked for Hank’s help in finding a woman who could blend in with Sadie’s everyday life.

The brown-haired, green-eyed woman standing in front of him was not what he had in mind for blending in with Sadie’s world. Her hair was pulled back in a low, no-nonsense ponytail at the nape of her neck and she wore little, if any, makeup around her brilliant green eyes fringed by thick, naturally dark lashes.

This woman intrigued him. What woman was gutsy enough to take on the job of bodyguard? Especially one who looked as if she could chew nails with her teeth and still have enough warmth in her heart to help a wounded animal. Kate was attractive in a girl-next-door way, not the typical female type Chase usually went for. But then, he’d never dated a woman longer than a month and usually was the one to break it off, finding them boring with only enough ambition to find the next great fashion statement to wear.

Chase tore his gaze away and asked, “Can you even sing?”

Her spine stiffened and she drew herself up to her full five feet eight inches. “I sing in the shower all the time.”

Chase glanced at the saloon and thought better of it. He wanted to get back to the ranch and check on Jake. “Skip the saloon. I know of a place you can stay and not put up with the noise of the bar.” He hooked her arm and started back across the street, sure to look for any oncoming, insane drivers before he took one stop off the sidewalk.

Kate dug her heels into the ground. “If it’s all the same to you, I don’t know you. You say you’re Chase Marsden, but for all I know, you’re someone else.”

Chase dug his wallet out of his back pocket, wincing at the sting of road burn on his palms. He flipped open the bifold and held up his driver’s license.

Kate leaned closer to read the printed name. “Okay, so you are Chase Marsden, the man Hank sent me to meet.”

“I’d take you back into the saloon and fill you in on everything that’s happened, but I really need to get back to the ranch and check on Jake.”

“Jake? That’s the name Sadie called out several times.”

“Jake is Sadie’s grandson. He’s with my housekeeper right now and I want to make sure whoever hit Sadie doesn’t head out to the ranch for Jake.”

“You think someone is targeting Sadie and the child?” Kate asked.

“I moved Sadie and Jake to Fool’s Fortune a couple weeks ago after their house burned down. They narrowly escaped.”

“Accident?”

Chase shook his head. “The fire chief of Leadville said it was arson. They didn’t have anywhere else to go, so I brought them to Fool’s Fortune.”

“Why would someone target Sadie and her grandson?”

“I wish I knew. Then I might have a clue as to who was doing it.”

“All right, we’ll have to do some digging to find out who might be targeting them. In the meantime, let’s get out to the ranch and check on the boy,” Kate said. “We can go in my truck, since it’s right here and you look a little worse for the wear, having been run over by a speeding SUV.”

Chase glanced at the big black truck. “That’s your truck?”

Kate shrugged. “Comes with the job when you go to work for Hank.”

“I don’t mind letting you drive.” He rubbed a hand through his hair and winced. “I must have hit my head harder than I thought.”

Kate tilted her head toward the truck. “Get in.”

Chase climbed into the passenger seat while Kate slid behind the wheel. “The roads can be tricky at night in the Rockies.”

“Then you’ll have to stay awake long enough to guide me.” She shifted into Drive and pulled away from the curb. “Which way?”

Chase got her going on the correct highway. He dug his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the hospital before they got completely out of town and lost cell phone service.

Sadie had arrived at the county hospital and the doctor was working with her. So far she was holding on, but she hadn’t woken up since she’d last spoken with Chase. Because of sketchy vital signs and possible internal injuries, they’d intubated her and placed her in a medically induced coma.

With the connection crackling in his ear, Chase thanked the informative nurse and rang off.

“How is Sadie?” Kate asked.

His jaw tightened and he stared straight ahead. “They’ve intubated her and she’s in a coma.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Kate glanced his way. “Are you related to Sadie?”

“No, why do you ask?”

“Most hospitals won’t give out that much detailed information about a patient unless it’s to a close relative.”

Chase shrugged. He’d donated a considerable amount of the fortune he’d inherited from his grandfather to the little hospital to give the locals a place they could trust for their medical needs. Everyone in the hospital knew that. “Sadie gave the hospital and her primary care physician a medical power of attorney for me to inquire about her medical conditions and needs. I’m the only family she has.”

“Everybody needs somebody,” Kate muttered.

“What did you say?” Chase asked, sure he’d heard her, but giving her a chance to expand.

“Nothing.”

“Hank told me he was sending a former Texas Ranger to help out.”

“And he did.” Kate’s gaze never left the road in front of her. She wasn’t offering much in the way of information. If he wanted to learn more, he’d have to drag it out of her.

Chase had the advantage, sitting in the passenger seat. “Why did you give up the Texas Rangers?”

“It wasn’t my choice,” she said, her voice flat, unemotional.

“Were you fired?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Then what happened? Surely they aren’t downsizing like so many corporations in America.”

“No.” She let out a long breath. “I was medically retired from injuries received on the job.”

Chase nodded. He’d noticed a little hesitation when she’d risen from Sadie’s side, but had attributed it to the situation.

Having been in several car wrecks during his younger, more daredevil days, he knew the pain of old injuries.

Kate shot a narrow-eyed glance his way. “If you’re worried I can’t handle the job, don’t. In hand-to-hand combat, I can still take down a man twice my size and I fired expert on Hank’s range using the .45, nine millimeter and .40-caliber handguns.”

His lips quirked and he couldn’t contain his smile. “That’s all good to know. Have you ever worked undercover?”

She didn’t answer at first. “No, but I’ve worked on SWAT-type ops several times, infiltrating and neutralizing several large meth labs.” Her fingers gripped the steering wheel so tightly, her knuckles turned white.

“Is that where you were injured? On one of those missions?” he asked softly.

For a long time, she didn’t answer, but the tightness of her lips gave her away.

“In another mile you’ll turn off the main highway onto a small road. There will be two big stone columns with a sign arched over them in wrought iron.”

Kate slowed the car, turning in at the gate to the Lucky Lady Ranch.

For a gate that had stood for almost one hundred and fifty years, it was still in good shape with a coat of black paint applied every other year to the ironwork. The only change had been the addition of an automated gate opener with a keypad.

Had Chase thought ahead, he’d have grabbed his remote control from his truck before they’d headed to the ranch. He gave Kate the code, trusting her from the moment she’d thrown herself into saving Sadie’s life.

After she punched the number in, Kate waited for the gate to swing open. “To answer your previous question, yes. The last meth lab sting was also my last mission as a Texas Ranger.”

The drive up to the ranch house was completed in silence. As they cleared the twisting mountain road and emerged on the hilltop, the moon overhead shone down on the mansion his great-great-grandmother had built from the proceeds of the Lucky Lady Gold Mine before it had run dry.

The huge structure loomed three stories above them with its colonial-style verandas and double layered porches wrapped around the entire house. The only concession to the deep snow and frigid winters of the high country in Colorado was the steep roofline. Though the original roof had been of split shingles made of hardened hickory, the new roof his grandfather had installed consisted of highly polished aluminum. The snow never stuck, simply sliding off.

Frances Quaid opened the front door and Barkley bounded out. The giant black-and-tan Saint Bernard raced across the ground to the truck.

Kate remained in the driver’s seat, the door closed. “Yours?” she asked.

“That’s Barkley. He’s friendly as long as you don’t try to attack me, the Quaids or Jake.” He climbed down from the truck and braced himself.

Barkley reared up on his hind feet, standing nearly as tall as Chase and weighing almost as much. He planted his paws on Chase’s shoulders and gave him a big sloppy kiss.

“Okay, okay, you’ve said your hellos. Behave yourself now, or you’ll scare Ms. Rivers away.”

Kate stepped down from the truck and rounded the front.

Barkley dropped to all fours and loped over to sit at her feet, his big tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. He barked once, the sound deep and booming. Then he nudged her hand with his nose. At first stiff, Kate reached out a hand, allowing the dog to sniff. When Barkley nudged her again, she ruffled his ears, a small smile curling her lips.

Chase watched in amazement as her expression transformed. From tense, almost pinched features, her entire face lit up as she smiled down at the dog.

Seeing her happy for the first time, tugged at Chase and made him look at her in a different light. Not as an agent sent by Hank, but as a beautiful woman who stirred his blood and made him want more than he should from a bodyguard.

“He’s not shy, is he?” she asked.

“Not in the least. And he knows what he wants, which is more than I can say about most people.”

Kate bent to run her fingers through the dog’s long coat and to scratch his head. “Not much of a watchdog, are you?”

“On the contrary, Barkley would lick any intruder to death before they could get to the front door.”

The big dog proved Chase’s point by laying a long wet tongue along the side of Kate’s cheek.

“Ugh.” Kate straightened and scrubbed the dog slobber from her skin.

“Consider yourself initiated into the family.” Chase dragged his gaze away from Kate and glanced up at the porch where Mrs. Quaid stood.

“Mr. Marsden, Jake refused to go to sleep until you got home. Will you come in and tuck him in so that he can finally close his eyes?”

Chase nodded. “I’ll be right in. Seems Jake will be staying with us longer than we first thought.”

Mrs. Quaid frowned. “Is everything all right?”

“No. But we’ll discuss it after Jake goes to sleep.” Chase hooked Kate’s elbow and leaned close. “I’d rather no one but you and I knew why you’re really here. I’d like to initiate the undercover op now.”

Kate ground to a halt. “What do you mean?”

“Go along with what I say.” He tugged her arm, escorting her up the stairs. “Mrs. Quaid, I’d like you to meet someone special.”

The older woman turned a welcoming smile on Kate.

Chase performed the introductions. “Mrs. Quaid is my housekeeper, and in charge of keeping me sane. Her husband is my foreman-overseer and my right hand when it comes to all things to do with the ranch. I inherited the Quaids when I inherited the Lucky Lady Ranch from my grandfather. And believe me, they were the best part of my inheritance. Without them, I would probably have sold the Lucky Lady.”

Mrs. Quaid’s cheeks pinkened. “Oh, go on, Mr. Marsden.”

“I really wish you’d call me Chase. You’re more like family than just a housekeeper.” Chase faced Kate. “Speaking of family... Mrs. Quaid, this is Kate Rivers...my fiancée.”

* * *

KATE NEARLY TRIPPED on the step she had been climbing when Chase announced her as his fiancée. Chase had invoked the undercover op, but playing the part with his own employees seemed to be overkill. Kate struggled for something to say when her tongue was tied with the surprise of her engagement. “Mrs. Quaid, happy to meet you.”

The older woman gripped both of her hands in her own and grinned. “Oh, my. And I didn’t know Mr. Marsden even had a girlfriend. How did you keep this from us over the past two years?”

Chase smiled and circled Kate’s waist with an arm, cinching her snugly to his side. “You know all those monthly trips I took to Denver?” He tipped his head toward Kate. “Let’s just say, I wasn’t alone.”

What the hell was he trying to prove? If these people were as close as family, he’d just lied to them.

“What a surprise. I can’t believe our own Mr. Marsden is engaged.”

Mrs. Quaid pressed her hands to her cheeks. “When did you arrive in town?”

Kate leveled her gaze on Chase. “I came over from Denver today for the first time and bam. I’m just as surprised as you.” Which wasn’t far from the truth. Mrs. Quaid seemed like a nice lady, but Chase must have his reasons for lying to his housekeeper.

“I’m so happy for you both.” Mrs. Quaid touched Chase’s arm. “But you better check in on Jake. He’s missing his grandma. I’ll put on a kettle for tea. When’s Ms. Sadie coming home?”

“She’s been in an accident. She’s in the hospital.”

Mrs. Quaid pressed a hand to her chest. “Oh, dear. Is she going to be all right?”

“I hope so.” Chase touched her arm. “Jake only needs to know she’s staying in town for a few days.”

The older woman nodded. “Understood. If there’s anything I can do for her...”

“There’s not much any of us can do for her. She’ll have to get well on her own.” Chase glanced around. “Where’s Mr. Quaid?”

“He’s checking on the horses. He thought he heard something. He should be back by the time you tuck in Jake.”

“Good. I need to talk to you two about some issues that have arisen.” He grabbed Kate’s hand. “Come on, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

Her heart thundered in her chest and her belly clenched, the scar tissue seeming to tighten around a wound that would never heal. “No, really, I can wait in the kitchen with Mrs. Quaid.”

“It will only take a minute and it will be worth it. I promise.”

The big warm hand holding hers, tugged her toward the staircase.

Once out of earshot of Mrs. Quaid, Kate asked, “Was it necessary to introduce me as your fiancée?”

He didn’t let go of her hand as he climbed the stairs. “I thought it might make it easier for you stay here and be seen with me and not generate more questions.”

Kate trudged up the steps, her breathing abnormally fast for the little amount of exertion. She had already worked back up to her usual three-mile jog every day. A few stairs shouldn’t have had a debilitating effect on her lungs. As much as she’d like to blame it on the stairs, she knew it was the thought of tucking a little boy into bed that had her breaking into a cold sweat and struggling against the desire to run right out the front door and all the way back to Texas.

She thought she was ready to face the world. But she really wasn’t. Sure she could fire expert, shoot a perp and perform physical training all day long, but being around a child was beyond her endurance.

At the top of the staircase, Chase made a left turn and hurried down the hallway to the second door on the right. He pushed the door open and peered into the shadowy interior. “Jake?” he whispered softly. “Are you asleep?”

Chase let go of her hand and opened the door wider, allowing a beam of light to cross the bedroom floor to the full-size bed in the middle.

“No, I’m awake,” a small voice called out. “I was waiting for you and Grandma.”

“You gotta stop doing that. Young bodies need sleep to help them grow.” Chase entered the room and settled on the side of the bed. He brushed his hand across the boy’s forehead, pushing back a swath of dark brown hair, almost the same color as Kate’s.

Kate fingered the long ponytail over her shoulder, her heart gripped in her chest. She didn’t want to move into the room, afraid the walls might close in around her.

Barkley the Saint Bernard pushed past her and sprawled on the floor at the end of the bed.

“Where’s Grandma?” Jake leaned up on his elbow and stared straight at Kate. “Who are you?”

Ignoring his first question, Chase answered the second. He held out his hand to Kate, an invitation to step into the room. Somehow, she managed to move one foot in front of the other until she stood beside the bed and glanced down at a little boy with green eyes, who looked entirely too small to sleep in such a big bed by himself. “Hi,” she said.

Chase clasped her hand and drew her closer. “This is Kate Rivers. She’s coming to stay with us for a little while.”

Jake smiled and settled back against the pillow, a huge yawn splitting his little face. “Are you staying for Christmas?” he asked, his eyelids drifting closed.

Kate shook her head, but the boy didn’t see her through his closed eyes. She shifted her gaze to Chase, trying not to stare at Jake, his little body buried beneath the sheets and a thick goose down quilt.

Despite being a tomboy from the moment she could strut around in her own cowboy boots, Kate had pictured herself with a big family of her own, she’d wanted half a dozen boys for her dad who’d gotten stuck with three froufrou girls and a tomboy.

The day the meth lab sting went down, she’d lost not only her partner, but she’d been shot in the gut, the bullet damaging both her uterus and ovaries. Having been a Texas Ranger from the time she’d graduated college with a degree in criminology, she’d hardly slowed down long enough to consider what she wanted next in life. In the back of her mind, she’d always known she eventually wanted kids.

After her last botched mission with the Texas Rangers, Kate’s injuries had cut off any chances of her ever having children. Those kids she’d pictured having would never be.

“Miss Kate will be here through Christmas,” Chase assured the boy. He let go of Kate’s hand, pulling her back to the present, and brushed the hair out of Jake’s face once more, then stood.

Jake’s eyes opened. “Grandma always kisses me good-night. Where is she?”

“She had to stay in town for a few nights.” Chase leaned over the child and pressed his lips to the boy’s forehead. “There, that will have to do for now.”

He blinked his eyes open again, his gaze shifting from Chase to Kate. “Can’t Miss Kate kiss me, too?”

Chase turned to Kate, his brows raised. “It’s totally up to Miss Kate.”

Kate took a step backward, ready to make a run for the door.

Jake captured Kate’s gaze with his own green-eyed one. “Please.”

Frozen to the spot, she couldn’t leave. Not with that trusting gaze gluing her to the floor. She wanted to run, but couldn’t. Her feet carried her forward to the bed, where she leaned over the little boy.

He closed his eyes, a smile curling his sweet lips.

Her pulse pounding in her ears, Kate had to follow through. She brushed his forehead lightly with her lips.

“You’re pretty, Miss Kate,” Jake said on a sigh.

Kate straightened, the warmth of the little boy’s skin seemingly imprinted on her lips. How could one little boy have so much impact on her?

She opened her mouth to tell Jake good-night, but a lump the size of her fist lodged in her throat and her eyes blurred.

Chase shot a glance her way.

Kate turned, hoping he didn’t see her moment of weakness.

“Good night, little buddy.” Chase tousled the child’s hair and reached over to switch off the lamp on the nightstand.

Glad for the darkness, Kate gulped to force the lump back down her throat. She nearly stepped on a teddy bear lying on the floor. With a sob rising up in her chest, she bent, retrieved the bear, crushed it to her chest and ran for the door.

What was wrong with her? She hadn’t cried when she’d bent over her partner’s inert body, performing CPR while she bled from her own wounds. Nor had she cried when the doctor entered her hospital room after they’d performed surgery on her, only to tell her Mac had died on the operating table in the room next to her, despite all his efforts. She hadn’t cried when the doctor told her she’d never have children.

In the shadowy room, her eyes swimming in unshed tears, she didn’t see Chase until she crashed into the solid wall of muscles.

His arms came up around her and he steadied her. Glancing over her shoulder at the boy, he hooked an arm around her waist and guided her through the door.

Barkley lumbered to his feet and started to follow them out of the boy’s room.

“Stay,” Chase said, his voice gentle, but firm.

The dog dropped to his belly on a rug, laying his chin between his two front paws.

Chase closed the door halfway. Without saying a word, he led Kate down the staircase, grabbed their jackets and ushered her out the back door onto a wide, wooden porch.

Outside, she broke free of his grasp and walked to the steps leading down, wondering if she could make it to her truck without being stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Chase asked, his voice so close, he had to be standing behind her.

She shook her head and brushed a hand across her eyes, realizing she still held the worn teddy bear in her other hand. Swallowing hard, she pushed the lump in her throat back and half turned, shoving the toy toward Chase. “Could you take this to Jake? He might be missing it.” Her voice sounded gravelly to her own ears. She hated that she was showing emotion when she was sent to be a bodyguard, not a basket case. Kate should have known it was too soon after all that had happened.

“He was half-asleep before we left the room. I’ll take it to him later.” Chase reached for her empty hand and held it. “Do you want to talk about what happened in there?”

“No.” Kate turned her back to him, staring out into the darkness. “Look, Mr. Marsden—”

“Call me Chase.”

“Chase,” she said. “I can’t work for you.”

“Why?”

Kate shook her head. “I’m not the right person for this job.” Hank had assured her she was ready, and that she could handle the assignment. He’d been wrong. Had he told her a child would be involved...then what? Kate wouldn’t have thought she’d react so strongly to Jake’s request for a kiss. But it hit her like a punch to the chest.

Kate would never have children of her own to hug and kiss good-night.

She dug her cell phone out of her back pocket and stepped down off the porch. Swiping at more tears forming in her eyes, she punched Hank’s number and walked toward the barn.

As was typical of Hank Derringer, he answered as if they were continuing a conversation. “Oh, good, you made it there.”

“Hank, my body to guard is in the hospital.”

“What happened?” he asked.

She filled him in on the details and added, “Marsden wants me to stay on, even though Sadie is in the hospital.”

“I think you should. Perhaps you can figure out what’s going on.”

“That’s just it.” She screwed up the courage to back out of her first assignment. “I don’t think I’m the right person for this job.”

“Kate, darlin’, I wouldn’t have sent you if I didn’t think you could handle it. You’re the best shot, and you know how to defend others as well as yourself.”

“You recruited me and sent me here because I’m female,” she stated, her tone flat. “Don’t you have someone else who could take my spot? I’d rather chase down drug cartel members or serial killers.”

“I’m limited on female agents right now. Maybe if you tell me what’s wrong about the job, I can help you figure out a way to handle it.”

Her hand shook as she held the phone, trying to think of the words to describe all that was wrong with this assignment. None of the words she came up with sounded nearly convincing enough in her head. She stared down at the teddy bear she still held in her other hand. “I just can’t.”

“Well, do me a favor and stay on the job for at least a couple days while I see who I can pull to take your place.”

She wanted to wail and gnash her teeth. A couple of days might as well be a lifetime. The more she was around these people, the more she’d be reminded of what she no longer could have.

“Kate, I’m counting on you,” Hank said softly. “And so are they. Do this for me until I come up with a plan.”

Her shoulders sagged. Short of quitting her job working with Covert Cowboys, Inc. she had to do as asked. “Okay. I’ll do what needs to be done.” She sucked in a breath and let it out. “But only until you find a replacement.”

“Tell him to send someone to guard Sadie,” Chase said from behind her.

“I heard,” Hank acknowledge. “I can get one of the cowboys up there tomorrow, but getting a female to take your place will be trickier.”

“Do what you can.” Kate ended the call and stared out at the snowcapped mountains and clamped her teeth together.

Chase placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her toward him. He stared into her eyes, the starlight reflected in his blue eyes. “Are you leaving us?”

Kate sighed and faced the man. Though her first instinct was to run as far and as fast as she could, she had to say, “I’m staying. For now.” She had no choice, other than to quit. And Chuck Rivers didn’t raise a quitter.

Hank’s offer had been the only one she’d gotten in the past six months. Who else wanted to hire a broken former Texas Ranger?

Chase let out an abrupt sigh. “Good. With Sadie in the hospital, I could use all the help I can get. Jake lost his mother not long ago. He needs to know he has people who aren’t going to leave him.”

Guilt settled like sour milk in the pit of her belly. “I said I’m staying,” she snapped, angrier at herself for her desire to leave Chase and the boy behind.

“Thanks.” Chase tugged her hand, bringing her closer.

Kate staggered forward frowning. “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll call it a night.”

“Not yet.” Chase reached up and brushed her cheek with his thumb. “I’d give anything to know why you were crying.”

She froze. The touch of his thumb on her cheek and the warmth of his hand surrounding hers sent a rush of heat all the way through her body and out to the very tips of her ears and toes.

His cool blue eyes seemed to burn a hole through the wall she’d so carefully constructed around her emotions. The same wall that had taken a direct hit when a little boy asked her to kiss him good-night. A moan rose up her throat and out her parted lips before she could stop it. She tugged at the hand held tight in his.

He refused to let go. “Tell me. What made you sad, please.” His rich baritone wrapped around her like a lush, sexy blanket warming her in the chill night air.

Her gaze shifted from his eyes to his lips and a new fire burned from the inside. Chase Marsden was a good-looking man with full, sensuous lips that begged to be kissed.

“Let me help you.”

“I’m supposed to be here to help you,” she whispered, feeling herself fall into the man’s eyes.

He bent and lightly swept his lips across hers, the touch so soft, at first Kate thought she’d imagined it. Then he crushed her to him, his arms clamping around her waist pressing her body against his, his mouth coming down over hers.

The second time his lips touched hers, she had no doubt she was being kissed.

When his tongue slipped between her lips, she opened to him, allowing him to delve into her mouth and caress her in a long, warm, wet glide.

Kate leaned into him, her knees suddenly too weak to hold her steady. Her arms rose to lace behind his neck as the hard evidence of his desire nudged her belly.

For a moment she lost herself in a kiss that should never have happened.

Eventually, they surfaced to breathe. At that point, a rush of awareness slammed her feet back to the cold hard earth and she tugged against his grip. “I can’t do this.”

“Do what?” he breathed against her mouth and traced her lips with his tongue.

She wavered, her body swaying toward him. “I can’t. Do. This.” Finally, she planted the teddy bear against his chest and pushed back. “This is wrong.”

He let her step back, but retained his hold on her wrists. “Please. Don’t go. I promise not to ask you to do anything you’re not comfortable with. All I ask is that you stay and help protect my friends. They need you.” His gaze burned into hers and she could feel herself melting.

“I told you I’d stay.” She finally pulled free of his hold, and pressed the teddy bear to her chest, holding it like a shield to guard her from a man who had heartbreak written all over his face. “Now, if you have a blanket, I can sleep on the couch.”

“As far as my housekeeper and foreman are concerned, you’re my fiancée and my guest. I have plenty of bedrooms. You can sleep in one of them. I’ll have Mrs. Quaid prepare one for you. Shall we step inside before we freeze out here?”

Feeling the cold for the first time since she stepped outside, Kate preceded Chase into the house. His hand rested on the small of her back, reminding her of how dangerous it would be to like this man. He was a job, nothing more.

Even if his touch sent tingles across her skin and filled her chest with a sense of anticipation.

Chapter Three

Chase rose before dawn, a terrible habit he’d picked up when he’d moved to the Lucky Lady Ranch. This far out in the mountains, when the sun went down, there wasn’t much to do but sleep.

All the years of late-night partying with beautiful women and staying up until dawn had taken their toll. The thought of going back to that lifestyle held no appeal to him. After a year on the ranch, he’d become accustomed to the slower pace and the clean, fresh air. After two years breathing clean mountain air, smoky bars would kill him.

He’d started getting up early when William sprained his ankle jumping down from the loft in the barn. He’d been forced to either take over the farm chores or hire out the work. Since he valued his privacy at home, he chose to take over some of the chores, rather than hiring additional ranch hands. Chase discovered a love of working with the animals. Even mucking horse stalls was a balm to his wayward soul.

For the two years he’d been forced to stay at the ranch his grandfather left him, he’d focused on the end of that time frame, thinking he’d leave when he’d served his sentence. Now he knew he couldn’t leave. He loved the place. William and Frances had become family to him and he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

As he crawled out of bed, he could feel every bruise and strained muscle he’d suffered from the bump he’d endured by the runaway vehicle the night before. He’d called the hospital before he’d gone to bed and learned Sadie was holding her own, but that she was still unconscious in the chemically induced coma.

How he’d break it to Jake that his only living relative was laid up in the hospital and they didn’t know when she’d come home, he wasn’t sure. First he had to help William take care of the animals.

Pulling on an old pair of jeans and his cowboy boots, he dressed in a chambray shirt and a sweatshirt, shoving a hand through his hair. He was long overdue for a haircut, but he hadn’t made a special trip to Fool’s Fortune during the day to take care of it. At the ranch, no one cared if his hair grew long. Reporters didn’t follow him around here. In fact his paparazzi days seemed to be over, for which he was eternally grateful. There was something to be said for becoming a hermit and guarding his anonymity.

He paused as he passed the room across the hall from his.

No sounds came from inside. Kate was probably still asleep, dressed in her oversize T-shirt and gym shorts. How a woman could make sloppy clothes look that sexy was a mystery to him. One he would love to explore, inch by incredible inch of her body.

He’d caught a glimpse of her crossing the hallway from the guest bathroom. The sight of her long, beautifully defined legs was enough to keep him awake until midnight, imagining what those legs would feel like wrapped around his waist.

Chase’s initial impression of Kate had been one of a take-charge woman who lived, worked and breathed her job as a protector and bodyguard.

He hadn’t been prepared to see her nearly break down when Jake had asked her to kiss him good-night. The tough-girl facade crumbled in that moment, and he saw the real Kate between the cracks in her wall. A soft, caring, heartbroken Kate. He wondered what had caused her so much pain that a child’s plea would carve a huge chink in her armor?

At the top of the stairs, he heard the faint sounds of pots and pans clanking and dishes being stacked as well as the murmur of voices.

Frances always rose with William and cooked the men a hardy breakfast.

As he descended the stairs and headed to the back of the house to the kitchen, Chase was surprised to see Kate gathering flatware while Frances cracked eggs into a skillet. William sat at the roomy kitchen table, pulling on his boots.

Frances turned with a spatula in her hand and a smile on her face. “There you are. Grab yourself a cup of coffee, the eggs will be done in a minute.” She returned her attention to the skillet and the bubbling eggs. “We were just getting to know Kate. She says she grew up on a ranch in the Texas panhandle and she learned how to ride practically before she could walk. She’ll get along fine around here.”

Chase frowned. Frances already knew more about Kate than he did. “She’s a woman with many talents.” And secrets. His gaze met hers as he passed the table to reach the coffeepot.

Frances cast a smile over her shoulder at Chase. “Now that you’re here, tell me how you two met. I’m sure it was purely romantic.”

Chase’s hand froze on the handle of the coffeepot. When he’d come up with the idea of Kate going undercover, he hadn’t completely thought through the entire story, and that he’d have to play it out with his most trusted employees and friends.

He knew how much Frances liked to gossip with the quilting ladies in Fool’s Fortune and word would get out quickly that way, cementing Kate’s story.

“Well?” Frances shot another glance over her shoulder and then flipped the eggs in the skillet.

Kate’s cheeks reddened. “I’ll let Chase tell the story. He’s so much better at it.” Her brows rose in challenge, her gaze pinning his.

Chase took his time pouring his coffee, while he scrambled to come up with a plausible story. “We met outside a bar.”

“A bar?” Frances grimaced. “Was it at least a swanky bar?”

Chase shrugged. “It was nice enough.”

“What did you do to get her attention?”

Chase chuckled and took a seat at the table, wrapping his hand around the coffee mug. “She barely even acknowledged my existence at first. She was busy helping someone else.”

“What was your first indication she might be the one for you?” Frances asked.

William frowned. “Frances, the kids might not like answering all your questions.”

“Oh, shush, William. I live vicariously through Chase. He’s had a much more interesting life than we have.” She scraped scrambled eggs onto several plates and set the skillet aside. Grabbing two of the plates loaded with eggs, toast and bacon, she carried them to the table. “Go on, Chase.”

“Well, you could say I fell for her the first time we met.” Chase caught Kate’s attention. “How could I not? I mean look at her. She’s beautiful, confident and capable of just about anything.”

“What about you, Kate?” Frances persisted.

Kate had pulled a chair back, a smile tugging at her lips over his responses when Frances hit her with the question. Chase fought the urge to laugh out loud at the way her smile faded when Frances addressed her and she grappled with an answer.

She looked up, her brows puckering. “I wasn’t sure what to think about him. He kind of bowls a woman over.”

“He does, doesn’t he?” Frances gave Chase an affectionate smile and returned to the counter for the other two plates. “Guess that’s why he could have had any girl he wanted.” She turned a grin at Kate and carried the plates to the table. “I’m glad he picked you. You seem so much nicer than the women he had all those pictures with in the tabloids. He was quite the ladies’ man before he came to live at the Lucky Lady Ranch, weren’t you, Chase?”

Kate’s brows rose again, questioningly. “He does have a way of making me do things I wouldn’t normally do.”

“Tell me about the proposal.” Frances pulled up a chair and sat next to her husband.

“Now, that’s enough. We need to eat and get outside to tend the animals,” William said. “Save some of the stories for the evening when we sit in front of the fireplace.”

Frances pouted good-naturedly. “Spoilsport.” Then she waved at Chase and Kate. “Please, eat. We can chat later.”

Chase spent the next few minutes shoveling his food down his throat. The sooner he got outside, the better. He and Kate needed to get their stories straight if this ruse was going to work. He debated telling Frances and William the truth about their engagement, or lack thereof, but he knew Frances. She couldn’t keep a secret to save her life. And he didn’t want to burden her with the responsibility.

In record time he polished off the eggs, bacon and toast, pushed his chair back and stood. “Take your time, William. I can get started.”

“I’ll help.” Kate had finished as well, eating heartily, unlike the women Chase had dated who picked at their food and wasted more than they ate, claiming they were always on a diet. Kate didn’t have a spare ounce of flesh on her bones, probably from working out.

“No need for you to get all dirty,” William said, pushing his half-eaten plate away. “Chase and I can do this.”

“I know my way around a barn, and Chase can tell me who gets what. Besides, I’d like to get to know the place.” She touched the older man’s shoulder. “Finish eating. Chase and I can handle this.”

William frowned. “Don’t seem right. You’re a guest.”

Frances chuckled. “Let the two young folks take care of the animals. Can’t you see? They’d like some time alone.”

The older man’s eyes widened and he harrumphed. “Well, then, I guess I could have that extra piece of toast.” He reached for the stack of bread in the middle of the table. “I feel like I’m playing hooky from school,” he said, shaking his head.

“You do more than your share around here,” Chase assured him. “It won’t hurt for you to take your time eating breakfast.” He grabbed a heavy jacket hanging from a hook near the back door and handed it to Kate. “Frances, do you mind if Kate wears your jacket until I can get her one she can work in?”

“I have my own coat,” Kate protested. “It will only take me a minute to get it.”

“No, honey,” Frances interjected. “Wear mine and save yours. No use getting it all dirty. And wear my mud boots. It gets pretty sloppy around the barn when it snows.”

“Thank you.” Kate pulled on the boots Frances indicated and shrugged into the jacket Chase held out to her. He handed her a knit cap and a scarf, pulled on his own coat, and they left through a mudroom off the kitchen.

Clouds choked the sky, hovering low enough to smother the mountains from view and it smelled like snow. The first snows had already melted and Christmas was just around the corner. Ski resorts were hurting—the owners, ski instructors and lodge workers all prayed for snow. Chase liked it when fresh snow covered the ground and made everything look clean and new.

The only time he didn’t like snow was when they still had cattle scattered in the upper pastures. Fortunately, they had herded them to the lower pastures before the first snows fell. Even the few stragglers had found their way down the mountainside in time.

Chase was thankful his animals were all accounted for. With the attack on Sadie last night, he had other concerns more pressing.

Once outside, Kate pulled the collar up on her jacket and adjusted her scarf around her neck.

“It’s a little colder in the high country than in Texas,” Chase noted.

She nodded, stuffing her hands into her pockets. “Why did you feel it necessary for me to do this job undercover? Especially around your employees?”

Chase expected the question and answered with, “I love Frances and William, but I don’t want to burden them with secrets I don’t want the rest of the town to know.”

“And why do we need to keep it from the rest of the town that I’m here to protect you, Sadie and Jake? For that matter, who am I protecting? If it’s Sadie, I should be at the hospital.”

“They have a security staff at the hospital. I’m certain no one will be able to get to her in the ICU.” Chase reached for the handle on the barn door and opened it, holding it for Kate to enter.

She paused on the threshold, face-to-face with Chase. “People have ways around loose security.”

Chase’s heart thumped hard against his chest at her nearness and he struggled for a moment to focus on her words. “We don’t know if last night’s incident was related to Sadie’s suspicions. Once we’ve taken care of the animals, we’ll go into town and check on Sadie. It should be visiting hours by then.”

Kate entered the barn and glanced around the dark interior. “Did Sadie say who she thought might be following her or why?”

“No. But she did tell me that she was afraid someone was watching her.” Flipping the light switch next to the door, Chase followed Kate inside and grabbed a bucket hanging on the wall. “I moved Sadie and Jake here when their house burned to the ground in Leadville. She and Jake didn’t have anywhere else to go.” He handed the bucket to Kate and pointed to a bin against the wall. “Half a bucket per stall.”

Kate nodded, her brows drawing together as she bent to fill the bucket with grain. “Her house burned. You said the fire department ruled it arson?” She crossed to the first stall and opened it to a sorrel mare. The animal whinnied, tossed her head and stamped her hooves, as Kate dumped the feed into the horse’s trough.

Kate reached up and stroked the horse’s neck, neither affected by the size and strength of the animal, nor the attitude the mare gave her.

Chase grinned. “Penance isn’t usually so easy to get along with.”

Her brow rising, Kate glanced back at the horse. “That’s the best you could do for a name for this poor creature?” She ran her hand along the mare’s neck and across her back as the animal munched on her feed. “No wonder she’s full of spit and vinegar.”

“She’s always been a bit high-strung. But she has a comfortable gait and she’s good at herding and cutting.”

Kate studied the horse. “Her confirmation is good and she seems sturdy enough for a work animal on hilly and rocky terrain.”

“I’m glad you like her. She’s yours to ride while you’re here.”

Her hand stilled on the mare’s neck. “Thanks, but I doubt I’ll be here long enough to take advantage of the offer.”

“I told you, I need you here. I want you to stay until well after Christmas, if Hank can spare you that long.”

Kate returned to the feed bin and scooped another bucketful of sweet feed, her gaze on the task. “Even if we resolve the issues sooner?”

“Yes. At this point, the less upheaval in Jake and Sadie’s lives, the better.”

“So what was the cause of Sadie’s fire?”

“Her house burned because of a gas leak. Fortunately, Sadie and Jake weren’t inside the house when it happened because they were late getting home. Had they been on time, they would have been caught in the middle of a terrible explosion.”

“Where is Jake’s mother?”

“Died in a car wreck six months ago.”

“Any connection to last night’s attack?”

“Not that I could tell.” Chase led a horse out of the second stall and tied it to the opposite wall. He reached for a pitchfork and entered the vacated stall. “You were behind the car that hit us last night. What did you see?” He scooped soiled hay from the floor of the stall and deposited it into a wheelbarrow.

“I would have gotten a license plate number if I’d known the vehicle was going to plow into the two of you.” Kate straightened from the feed bin, the full bucket dangling from her hand. “It happened so fast. One minute I was headed to the saloon to get a room for the night, the next, the SUV whipped out in front of me and then went all kamikaze. I thought the driver would swerve away from you at the last minute—instead he turned toward you as if aiming to hit you.”

Chase stabbed the pitchfork into the ground, his body aching with the residual effects of the hit. “Was the driver aiming for me or for Sadie?”

Kate shrugged. “I would think whoever was hurt the most was the target, if the driver was in fact sober.”

Chase returned to cleaning the stall and Kate went about distributing feed to the rest of the horses in their individual stalls.

“I’d like for you to go to the hospital with me today to check on Sadie.”

“Should someone keep an eye on things around here?” Kate asked.

“I’ll have William and Frances keep a close eye on the boy. I want you to go with me. Two heads are better than one and I might make a trip into Denver after the hospital.”

“Why Denver?”

Before he could answer, the dog let out a string of deep-throated woofs alerting Chase to the arrival of visitors to the ranch.

Chase leaned his pitchfork against the stall, wiped his hands down the front of his old blue jeans and stepped out of the barn into the gray light of morning.

“Expecting guests?” Kate asked, following him out of the barn.

“No.” After all that had happened the night before, he hurried around the house, determined to head off anyone who might be there to hurt the Quaids or Jake.

Kate kept pace, half walking, half jogging beside him.

Barkley had beat them to the front of the house where a truck pulled up in the driveway and parked. A man wearing a cowboy hat eased out of the driver’s seat and limped to the back door of the four-door truck. Barkley stopped barking and ran to greet the visitor, bumping his nose against the man’s leg.

No sooner had the man opened the rear door then a tiny pair of jean-clad legs appeared below the open door and a little boy dropped to the ground. He rounded the side of the truck, a huge grin on his face.

“Mr. Marsden, we came to play with Jake. Mrs. Quaid said it would be all right.” The little boy ran to Chase.

Chase dropped to his haunches and almost fell back when the boy flung himself into his arms. “Hey, there, Tad.” He chuckled. “You’re in good spirits.”

“Mom said I could stay all day if you’d let me. Angus is going to stay, too.”

Chase rose with Tad in his arms, his gaze meeting the cowboy’s. He held out his hand. “Good to see you, Angus.”

The cowboy took it in a firm grip. “Had word from a mutual friend you could use a little temporary help on the ranch.” His gaze shifted to Kate and he stuck out his hand. “Name’s Angus Ketchum.”

Kate took his hand. “Kate Rivers.”

“My fiancée,” Chase added.

Angus nodded toward Chase, the corners of his mouth lifting. “Congratulations. Reggie will be excited to know there will be another female close by.” To Kate he said, “Welcome to the high country. It has a way of growing on you.”

“That mutual friend you mentioned wouldn’t happen to be a guy by the name of Hank?” Chase asked.

Kate’s held out her hand. “Hank mentioned you. It’s good to have another CCI agent out here.”

Angus nodded. “I agree. But I’m only here to help for the short term. I have to be back at the Last Chance this evening. Reggie’s got me meeting with her and the contractor rebuilding her house since the fire.”

“You know you’re welcome to stay here until the house is complete.”

“Thanks, but Reggie and I don’t want to be a bother to anyone. The folks of Gold Rush Tavern have been good to us during this whole ordeal and we’ll be moving into a rental house in town just before Christmas. We’ll be all right there until the construction is complete.”

“The offer’s open if your plans fall through.”

Angus tipped his head. “In the meantime, Tad’s been champing at the bit to get together with Jake since he heard someone his age moved in nearby.”

Chase’s lips curled. “News travels fast around here.”

Angus grinned. “I’m sure your engagement has hit the grapevine by now.”

The boy in Chase’s arms squirmed. “Can I go play?”

“Of course. I’ll bet Jake’s awake and eating breakfast. If he isn’t, wake him up. He’ll be happy to have someone to hang out with.”

“Can I pet the bear?” Tad asked.

“Sure.” Chase set Tad on the ground and he was off like a shot.

Once the boy entered the house, Chase faced Angus. “Thanks for coming. I didn’t like the idea of leaving Jake. The Quaids don’t know that Kate is a bodyguard. I fed them the line that she’s my fiancée. I love them and trust them, but Mrs. Quaid has a hard time keeping secrets. I didn’t want to put her in the position to keep any more than she has to.”

“Understood.” Angus turned to Kate. “Hank wants you two to send any information you can find on the vehicle that hit Sadie and any clues big or small that come up. He’ll get his computer guy, Brandon, to dig into anything and everything he can. He already has him looking into Sadie’s and her daughter Melissa’s background to see if anything pops up.”

“Good.” Chase let out a long, slow breath. “In the meantime, Kate and I will be paying a visit to Sadie in the hospital. From there, we might take a drive up to Denver. I have something I need to check on.”

“I understand Sadie’s house burned down.” Angus snorted. “Seems like too much of that going around.”

“I only got involved in this when Sadie called in a favor. We got confirmation from the Leadville fire chief that they’d ruled the cause of the fire to be arson.” Chase’s lips thinned. “Had I suspected it was more than an accidental fire, I’d have called Hank sooner.”

Kate weighed in, “The sooner we figure out who started the fire and tried to make roadkill out of Sadie, the sooner Sadie and her grandson will be safe.”

Chase nodded. “You’re right.”

“I can help with the chores if you want to get to the hospital,” Angus offered.

“Thanks. We got a start, but there are more horses needing to be fed. William can help.”

“We’ll take care of it and I’ll keep an eye out for Jake and Tad,” Angus said.

Chase led Angus to the barn and showed him the chores needing finished.

William joined them. “We’ve got it covered. You two go check on Sadie. Frances is worried about her.”

“Thanks.” Chase met Kate’s gaze. “Ready to clean up and head to the hospital and then Denver? There’s something there I want to check on as well.”

She nodded.

He grabbed Kate’s hand and left the barn. She’d been quiet through it all. When they were alone between the house and the barn, she pulled her hand free.

“If Hank has Angus here, there’s no need for me to be around.”

“You heard Angus—he’s only temporary to help us out while we do some digging of our own.”

She hesitated. “Okay, but I just don’t think I’m the right person for this job.”

When she started for the house, Chase stepped in front of her. “Why do you think that? You were fine with it until we kissed Jake good-night. What happened in there?”

“It’s nothing.” Kate tried to step around him, but he refused to let her past.

“How can it be nothing when you want to run as fast and far away from here as you can? What is it that has you wound up tighter than a rattlesnake with a new button on his tail?”

“I’m not running and I’m not wound up,” she said, her voice rising. “We’re wasting time.” She turned away, her body shaking.

He gripped her shoulders and forced her to face him again. “It’s not a waste of time if I can get to the bottom of what’s eating at you. Maybe I can help.”

“You can’t,” she said, her shoulders sagging. “Nobody can.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Please leave me alone,” she whispered.

“At least tell me what it is.” He cupped her chin, brushing his thumb across her cheek. When her bottom lip trembled, it was all he could do not to lean forward and capture it between his teeth.

“It’s none of your business.” A single tear slipped from the corner of her eye. “It doesn’t matter, anyway.”

He pressed his lips together, fighting the urge to pull her into his arms. When the tear reached his thumb, he caught it. “Let me be the judge.”

“I don’t like to be around kids.” She jerked her chin away from his hand. “There. Satisfied?”

Chase shook his head. She wasn’t telling him something important and he refused to let go of her until she gave him the whole truth. Even if he had to kiss it out of her.

Chapter Four

Kate wanted to run, to hide from the truth. If she just told him, she’d be done with it, but she couldn’t. Because saying it out loud made it too permanent, too real.

She shrugged, trying to shake loose from Chase’s grip, but he wasn’t letting go. Short of taking him down like a perp, she was stuck with him.