Read Online The Bodyguard's Return by Carla Cassidy - Free Book Online Page A

gaze shot to her, as if her unvarnished reply had surprised him. “There’s some women in thistown who would probably be flattered if I told them I wanted to spend time with them.”
    “Yeah, well I’m not some women and I know a load of crap when I hear it. Now, are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
    He leaned back against the porch railing and ripped a hand through his dark hair, a frown creasing his forehead. “I’ve just been thinking about what happened last night and I think maybe it wouldn’t hurt for me to keep an eye on you until we figure out if the shooting really was an attempt to warn you off your current path.”
    “So, you’re offering to what? Be my personal bodyguard?”
    “In an unofficial capacity,” he replied.
    She’d managed to minimize the danger of last night since she’d awakened this morning, but his offer of bodyguard services put a new spin on things.
    “Are you sure that’s necessary?” she asked.
    “No, I’m not sure about much of anything. But I’ve always thought it was better to be safe than sorry.”
    “If we’re talking about my safety, then I like the way you think,” she said with a touch of dry humor. She wasn’t sure what made her more uncomfortable, the way her heart pounded at the thought that she might be in danger, or the beat of her heart as she thought of having Joshua at her side for the next couple of days.
    “Okay then.” He gave a curt nod of his head as if satisfied with this new turn of events. “If you’ll justwait here, I’ll get my keys and things and I’ll follow you back into town.”
    As he went back into the house, Savannah leaned against the porch railing and drew several breaths in an attempt to gain control of her racing heart.
    He might not want to work for the family business, but obviously the family business was in his blood. She had to remember that he hadn’t offered to spend time with her because he found her witty and charming, but rather because he thought she might be in some kind of danger.
    She’d risk her life to get her story, but she certainly wasn’t fool enough to risk losing her heart to a man like Joshua West.
     
    Joshua followed behind Savannah’s car in his pickup. He wasn’t thrilled by his decision to act as bodyguard to her, but his personal moral code made it impossible for him not to. If he had brought danger to her, then he was responsible for keeping her safe.
    It was ironic that he suspected it was possible that just by being seen with her he might have made her a target. It still stunned him, that a jilted lover could become a psychotic danger not just to him, but to a woman whose only mistake had been to be seen in his company.
    He wasn’t sure if he was putting Savannah into more danger by continuing to be in her company, but he was concerned that the damage had already beendone. If Lauren had followed him from New York and had seen him with Savannah, then she might be in danger anyway. By playing bodyguard Joshua might make things worse, or he might just be in the right place to keep danger away from Savannah.
    He patted his jacket and felt the bulk of his shoulder holster and gun beneath. He hadn’t worn a gun since he’d left Cotter Creek one and a half years before. His conceal-and-carry permit was still good, and it vaguely surprised him that the weapon felt as if it belonged resting against his body.
    He frowned and tightened his fingers on the steering wheel. It would be so much easier to decide on his next course of action if he knew for sure who had shot at them last night and why.
    After Clay had left that morning, Joshua had gotten on his cell phone and tried to call the woman who had made his last few weeks in New York a living hell. He’d wanted to make sure she was still in New York and that she hadn’t followed him here to continue her reign of torment.
    Unfortunately Lauren hadn’t answered the call. That didn’t necessarily mean she had left New York City. She might be