Page 54 of Taylor’s Warrior

He’d listened, all right—he’d listened very closely and liked none of it. Objectively, the plan sounded feasible, but objectivity didn’t come into play when it was his woman putting herself in the line of fire.

“For your information, fy nghariad, I listened to it, analyzed it, and dissected it, and I still don’t like it.”

“I don’t like it, either,” Nick concurred. “We can only hope the field office in Las Vegas comes up with something from that end.”

Before they’d left the meeting, Livingston had assured them he would be liaising with his counterparts in Nevada, offering a glimmer of hope that the perpetrators could be apprehended before their efforts to trace Charles Markham’s daughter brought them to Texas.

“Then they’d better come up with it quickly,” Rhys growled. “And until this is over, you’d better get used to having me around, because I’m not leaving you alone for one moment.”

Taylor’s eyebrows arched. “Have you thought that statement through, genius? It could get embarrassing.”

His ability to be embarrassed had been surgically removed during basic training. “I don’t think so. Nothing you could say or do would ever be embarrassing… for me.”

Taylor pinched her lips and snorted. “That’s what you think. Challenge accepted.”

And with that, she lifted her chin and deliberately turned her gaze to the scenery speeding past the window.

He wasn’t about to let her get away with that. Rhys reached across for her hand.

She turned back to him and directed a pointed look at their hands. “You think that’s going to work on me?”

He shrugged. “Won’t know unless I try.”

“And God loves a trier.” Taylor sighed and managed a smile. “Good thing I do, too.”

Sporadic bursts of conversation peppered the remainder of the journey back to Honey Fields as they discussed other aspects of the meeting, mainly around Livingston’s decision to assign a local FBI presence to be on the spot when Taylor went to check her mailbox. Logically, Rhys understood why the agency had to be there—but viscerally, there was no way he was entrusting the safety, the life, of the woman he loved to anyone else, because not one of them would be prepared to go to the lengths he would to keep her safe and alive.

CHAPTER 16

Taylor was a hot mess. She was supposed to be working on the project plans for the next phase of accommodations being built on the ranch, but instead, she was preoccupied with wondering if there’d been any progress in the investigation into her father’s abduction. Apart from a phone call from Special Agent Livingston to confirm the Las Vegas field office was now on the case, she’d heard nothing for over forty-eight hours. She couldn’t even scratch the itch she had to check the mailbox—if anything did arrive for her, the USPS would contact Livingston first, then he would let her know, so she could collect it under the watchful eye of his team.

She took a deep breath and blew it out, hoping to clear her mind.

“That was a big sigh—I swear I heard it in the corridor.”

Her gaze swung from the computer screen to the doorway of her office, her mental load instantly eased by the sight of Rhys standing there, looking eminently edible in a short-sleeved shirt and jeans. Butterflies looped-the-loop in her stomach, their acrobatics enhanced by his bare forearms. Not to mention how those arms had held her after they’d made love the previous night. Her man had the stamina of a Triple Crown winner.

“That doesn’t surprise me. My concentration is shot, and I have to get this order for the new cabins finalized. I’d like to complete the job today.”

Rhys pushed away from the door frame and in three long strides covered the distance between them. “Does it have to be done today? Could it wait until tomorrow?”

“It could,” she admitted. “I don’t really have a deadline for it. I just want it off my plate as soon as possible, because there’s still a lot to do and⁠—”

“And why don’t we take a break?” He held out his hand.

Oh, she was so tempted. Taylor’s gaze swung from Rhys to the computer screen, then back to Rhys. “What did you have in mind?”

“How about a drive down to the creek, sit in the shade for a while, and I’ll do my best to distract you? It’s nearly lunchtime anyway.”

Taylor stood and stretched, feeling the nag of muscles that had been stuck in one position for too long. She looked down at the monitor, watched the file she’d been working close safely, then locked the screen. “Okay, you convinced me.”

Not that she needed too much convincing. Advice from the FBI had been to remain on the ranch property, to avoid becoming an unwitting target for anyone sent to do her harm. Taylor was already getting stir-crazy.

Rhys held her hand as they made their way through the ranch house and out to the pickup. She couldn’t help but sneak the odd glance at him under the cover of her sunglasses. The handsome Welshman had ended up stealing her heart, so when she thought about how they’d been at daggers drawn from the moment they met, she couldn’t help but smile to herself.

Life was full of surprises.

After holding the door for her and settling her into her seat, Rhys went around to the driver’s side and got behind the wheel.