Page 13 of Cowboy Mountain Man

I cross the room and pick it up. The screen is black. A folded piece of paper is tucked beneath the case. I remove it and open it, finding four words, written in thick black marker:

LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE.

Hope comes close enough that I feel her sleeve against my arm and the heat beneath it. She reads it.

For a moment, neither of us speaks.

Then she lifts her chin. “Well,” she says, her voice a little thinner than before, “that’s going to make the inventory awkward.”

I look down at her. She’s pale. Frightened. Still trying. Something settles hard beneath my ribs.

I fold the note. “We’re leaving.”

This time, she doesn’t argue.

At the front door, I stop and look across the yard. The red barn’s window reflects a slice of gray sky. Whoever wrote that note saw her working, watched her leave, and then put it where she’d find it when she came back.

I place my hand lightly at the center of her back. It fits in a way it shouldn’t. “Straight to the truck.”

Hope goes. I follow close enough to catch her if she stumbles, watching the trees until she’s inside.

She locks her door before I close mine. Good girl.

I start the engine.

“Am I done with the job?” she asks.

“For today.”

“And tomorrow?”

I look at her. “Tomorrow, you’ve got me.”

Chapter

Three

HOPE

“Tomorrow, you’ve got me.”

Apparently, I have the big, burly cowboy bodyguard today, too.

Harlan makes it halfway down the driveway before his phone rings. He answers through the truck’s speakers, and a man introduces himself as Alden North, owner of Equinox Protection Group.

I side-eye him as he talks, attempting not to drool. But from his large, work-hardened hands to his corded forearms, thick biceps, and broad shoulders, it’s impossible. He easily stands six foot three or more, and well-fit Wranglers are a crime on him. Dark brown hair and a beard, a square-cut face and angular jaw, and sculpted lips have me wanting to experience him with all five senses.

God, Hope. What is wrong with you?

“I’ve spoken with the owner,” Alden says. “She wants coverage through the rest of the assignment.”

Harlan looks at me with those piercing dark eyes of his, and I melt a little more inside. I pull my eyes away, determined to keep this professional, staring down at the folded note in the clear plastic sleeve he retrieved from his glove compartment. The only safe place to keep my eyes and my thoughts.

LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE.

Four words.

Somebody watched me work, followed me into town, and then went back inside to leave me a message.