* *
By the time she dressed, Colton was on the front porch in one rocker, a mug of coffee in his hand. Laura spotted a well-worn leather Bible in his lap. He placed it aside as she stepped outside. The dogs lazing at his feet lifted their heads to her curiously.
“Afternoon. How’d you sleep?”
“Good. Too good. Why didn’t you wake me sooner?”
“What for? I guessed you could use some catching up on your sleep. I made breakfast. Nothing fancy, just eggs and bacon. I saved you some.”
“Thanks, but I’m not hungry.” She sat in the opposite rocker and one of the dogs—a brown mutt—moseyed over and sniffed around her. Laura held out her hand to him, then reached down and petted him.
“That’s Milo.” He pointed out the other dogs one by one. “This is Freddie, Rowdy and Miss Roxie.”
Laura scratched behind Milo’s ear. “How are you, boy?” In response, he jumped up onto her lap. “What kind of dog is he?”
“He’s just a run-of-the-mill mutt. All of them are. No thoroughbreds here.” He gave her a wry look. “I hope you like animals because I have a mess of them. The dogs are good for alerting when someone is approaching the house.”
“I heard them last night, but I didn’t see them.”
“I had them penned up.”
“I love animals,” she confided. “I have a cat. Misty. When I was younger, I always dreamed of becoming a veterinarian.”
His eyes alight with interest, he asked curiously, “What happened to that dream?”
She sighed. As with most other things, her father’s gambling had stolen another dream from her. “Life happened.”
He must have sensed her reluctance to talk about it because he set aside his Bible as he stood.
“I thought we would go into town and see about getting you some clothes and such. But first I want to give you the layout of the ranch.” He walked to the front door and she saw a small box mounted on the wall. “I always keep the alarm set. The passcode is 824. It’s set to ring to my cell phone if it’s set off. I also wanted to show you this.” He moved through the house to the kitchen and into the laundry room, but it wasn’t just any laundry room. He pushed open a closet to reveal what appeared to be a weapons arsenal.
He reached for a handgun. “Have you ever fired a gun?”
“No.” She knew many men in this part of the country hunted, but her father had never been one of them. Guns cost money and he’d preferred spending that money at the casinos.
Laura stared at the incredible display of weapons, some small handguns and some larger. She didn’t know much about weapons, but she knew not all he had were for recreational use. “Do you really know how to shoot all of these?”
“Each and every one. I wouldn’t have them if I didn’t know how to handle them.”
He set the handgun back into its place and closed the door. “You should know, too, that I almost always have a gun on me.” He opened his jacket to reveal a gun and holster. “The Rangers are an infiltration group. It was our job to go into an area and clear it of enemy risks. It was a dangerous job, but we got it done and it taught me to never be afraid. Fear of the unknown is often your worst enemy when you’re doing battle.”
She stared up into his handsome, now clean-shaven face. It seemed to her that he must not fear anything or anyone. He’d swooped in to save her, staring down the barrel of a gun just to protect someone he didn’t even know.
She suddenly felt a rush of gratitude wash over her. So much for keeping a level head around him. She stared up at him. “Thank you for helping me, Colton. I don’t know what would have happened to me if you hadn’t shown up when you did.” Tears pricked behind her eyelids, but she willed them away, not wanting to appear weak in front of him.
He bent and locked gazes with her, his warm, brown eyes assuring her it was okay to be scared. “I will keep you safe, Laura,” he told her. “I promise I will keep you safe.”
How long had it been since she’d been able to trust a man, any man?
She wanted so badly to believe in this one.
* * *
Laura had fled River City with only the clothes she’d been wearing from her shift at the hospital. He’d loaned her one of his T-shirts to sleep in while she’d washed and dried her scrubs and she was stuck wearing them again today. But women needed things besides clothes, so they were off to town. Compton didn’t have big-name shops or fancy restaurants, but the town had the essentials.
As they drove, Colton tried to reassure Laura that finding the ranch would be difficult for anyone who didn’t know where they were. They’d come in last night when it was dark, so she hadn’t noticed the acres of land surrounding them. “We don’t have a lot of traffic on this road anymore, so I don’t have many close neighbors,” he said.
In fact, his closest neighbor had recently moved away. She was an elderly widow who had run a drive-in movie theater with her husband back when the highway was a main thoroughfare. Once the interstate rerouted traffic from the highway, the drive-in had faltered and eventually closed. However, the widow had lived on the grounds until she’d moved to live with her daughter. The screen was in disrepair but still standing in the middle of a field, which he thought was cool.
He drove to a large retail store off the interstate that was central to three adjoining towns. If anyone saw them that he didn’t know, they would still have a difficult time pinpointing where Laura was staying.
To his surprise, Colton ran into someone he knew soon after they entered the store. He heard his name being called, then looked up to see Miranda Ryan heading their way. She was pushing a buggy loaded with groceries. Miranda was engaged to his friend and former army ranger friend Blake. “Miranda, hi.”
“Colton, I’m glad to see you.” She gave him a hug, then glanced curiously at Laura. “Who is your friend?”
“Miranda, this is Laura Jackson. I’m working a protection detail for her.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Laura said graciously.
“You, too,” Miranda responded. She was obviously intrigued about seeing Colton with an unknown woman, but she didn’t question him about her. “Blake has been trying to call you for days. He’s nearly ready to send the Rangers out looking for you.”
He knew what that meant. He was worried about where he was and what he was doing. “I’m okay. I’ll call him.”
“Good.” She started to push her buggy away, then stopped and gave Colton a knowing wink. “She’s cute.”
“It’s not like that, Miranda.”
She didn’t seem convinced. “Whatever you say, Colton.” She turned to Laura. “It was nice to meet you.”
“You, too.”
He envied what his friend Blake had with Miranda.
Compton had become a safe haven for Colton since leaving the Rangers. The quiet, laid-back lifestyle suited his needs. He had nearly everything he needed here, except someone to share it with. He was ready to settle down and start a family, and had been thinking about it more and more lately. But he doubted that would even be possible given his past.
He watched as Laura sorted through clothes on the rack. She was just the kind of woman he would choose to fall for if he could. She was beautiful and smart, and she was compassionate, too. He’d seen it when he’d trailed her, noticing her kindness toward her elderly neighbor. Even the way she’d bent and rubbed his old mutt this morning on the porch had touched his soul. Laura was a good person, a giver. And too many people had already taken more from her than she had to give.
She