Under His Protection

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Epilogue

Prologue

“You’re getting married?”

“When?”

“You can’t! We haven’t even met Rainey yet!”

“You’ll get your chance when you come for the wedding,” Buck said with a chuckle. “The wedding’s a week from Saturday.”

Dropping that little tidbit of information into the four-way transcontinental conference call to England, Buck watched the clock, counting the seconds as he waited for his sisters’ reactions. He didn’t have long to wait.

“You can’t be serious!” Elizabeth retorted.

“You’re darn right he’s not serious,” Priscilla growled. “That’s what? Ten days?”

“No one in their right mind can plan a wedding in ten days,” Katherine added. “He’s joking.”

On the extension, listening to the entire conference call, Rainey laughed softly. “No, he’s not. We’re getting married a week from Saturday. I know it’s short notice, but Buck wanted to get married on your parents’ anniversary. So if we don’t get married in ten days, we have to wait another year.”

“That isn’t even an option,” Buck growled. “We’re not waiting.”

“Don’t get testy,” Elizabeth teased. “No one’s asking you to wait.”

“Just so we understand each other,” he replied. “We want the three of you here for our wedding.”

“Then we’d better get off the phone and see about lining up airline tickets,” Priscilla said. “I don’t even know if my passport’s current.”

“In a minute,” Buck replied. “We need to discuss the honeymoon. Rainey and I are going to Alaska. Who’s available to stay at the ranch while we’re gone?”

His answer was met with dead silence. “C’mon,” he groaned. “You can’t do this to me! You can’t expect me not to go on a honeymoon. One of you has to take my place here at the ranch while I’m gone.”

“What ranch?”

“I don’t know anything about a ranch.”

“Did somebody say something about a ranch?”

Buck grinned. “Cute. Wait until the three of you want to get married. We’ll see who’s laughing then.”

“C’mon, Bucky, don’t be that way.”

His teeth ground on the hated nickname. “Don’t call me that!”

Elizabeth clicked her tongue. “Touchy, touchy.”

“You know we’re just teasing,” Priscilla said. “We’ll be there for you.”

Despite their teasing, he knew he could count on his sisters. Especially when it came to the Broken Arrow Ranch in Colorado, which the four of them had inherited from their distant American cousin, Hilda Wyatt. The inheritance had come out of the blue. They were the last of the British branch of the Wyatts and had never even met Hilda, the last of the American Wyatts. She’d wanted the ranch to go to family, but the inheritance came with strings. One of them had to always be present at the ranch for twelve months. They could be absent for one night, but not for two in a row, or the deed to the ranch would go to an unnamed heir.

Until now, that hadn’t been a problem. Buck had spent the last four months at the ranch without needing any of his sisters to substitute for him, but it hadn’t been easy. He’d been harassed and threatened, the ranch had been attacked and vandalized, and Rainey had nearly been killed. He still didn’t have a clue who was responsible—it could have been any one of his neighbors or someone in the nearby town of Willow Bend, Colorado—but their motive was painfully clear. If they could scare the Wyatts away from the ranch before the year was out, the ranch would be theirs…if they were the unnamed heir.

“So who’s available?” Buck asked. “We’re just going to be gone a month.”

“A month!” Elizabeth blurted out. “Are you serious?”

“I’m only getting married once, sis. I want us to have a honeymoon we’ll remember the rest of our lives.”

Elizabeth blinked back tears at his words. Did Rainey have any idea how lucky she was to have found Buck? He was going to make a wonderful husband, a fantastic father, and Elizabeth wasn’t surprised that he wanted to do everything in his power to make sure Rainey had a honeymoon she would never forget. He was that kind of man.

For the span of a heartbeat, Elizabeth felt the tug of envy—she hoped the man she married would be as thoughtful as her brother. Then she remembered Spencer and the roses he’d sent her every day for the past four days, a dozen for every week they’d been dating. He, too, was going to make a wonderful husband, she thought with a grin. And he was already talking marriage. Maybe by this time next year…

“So do I have a volunteer or not?” Buck asked. “Surely one of you has some time in your schedule.”

Snapping back to attention, Elizabeth didn’t hesitate. “I’ll do it. Priscilla has a show to prepare for, and Katherine’s in a wedding two weeks after yours, so neither of them can stay. That leaves me.”

“What about Spencer?” Katherine asked. “Weren’t you going to Germany with him for the football tournament?”

“Yes, but he knows about the ranch and the terms of Hilda’s will. I have to do my part. He understands that. And since you two are busy and I’m not, it looks like I’ll be staying in Colorado for a while.”

“I’ve hired a new foreman,” he assured her, “so you don’t have to worry about being there by yourself. He’s tough. He’ll take good care of you.”

“I’m sure he will, but I don’t want you to worry about me on your honeymoon. I can take care of myself. And if things get really bad, I’ll do what I have to to hang onto the ranch, Buck. You can count on me.”

He hesitated, then smiled. “I guess I’ll see the three of you next week. Don’t forget the cowboy boots you bought when you were here last. You’re going to need them.”

Chapter 1

Ten days later Elizabeth was in no mood for a wedding. She no longer believed in fairy tales, and that’s all love was…one big, fat fairy tale that was invented by writers and poets and songwriters. Only a hopeless romantic could actually believe that a man and woman could love each other for a lifetime. She knew better. It only lasted until the love of your life went to Germany for an international soccer tournament and met a blond bimbo.

“You’re thinking of Spencer again, aren’t you?” Katherine said as she stepped forward to zip her dress for her. “You’ve got that look on your face…”

Glancing over her shoulder at her, Elizabeth scowled fiercely. “What look? I’m perfectly fine.”

“Yeah, right,” Priscilla drawled as she stood before the mirror and gave her makeup a last check. “The last time you looked like that, you murdered my doll.”

Elizabeth didn’t want to laugh, but it gurgled up inside her and escaped before she could stop it. “I did not! You’re the one who wanted to see if her head would come off. I just accommodated you.”

“You put the thought in my head!”

“No, I didn’t. It was Katherine.”

“It was not!” Katherine objected. “I didn’t even know about it until you had the funeral.”

Quietly pushing open the door of the bedroom that had been set aside for the bridesmaids’ use, Rainey grinned as her soon-to-be sister-in-laws traded quips back and forth. “Buck must have had his hands full, growing up with you three,” she told them with a chuckle. “I’m surprised he wasn’t part of the beheading.”

“Of course he was part of it,” Katherine laughed. “He organized the funeral.”

“I should have known,” Rainey laughed. “That’s the man I’m going to marry.”

“And have children with,” Elizabeth pointed out with a grin. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Love softened her face and lit up her smile. “Oh, yes. I can’t wait!”

Watching her, Elizabeth blinked back tears. She hoped with all her heart that things worked out for Rainey and Buck, but she didn’t think she’d ever be able to take that risk herself. Not after the way Spencer had betrayed her. And the way she’d found out! She’d been at Heathrow with her sisters, waiting to board the plane for the States and Buck’s wedding, when she’d picked up a copy of one of London’s most notorious tabloids. And there on the cover, for all the world to see, was a picture of her boyfriend with a blond bombshell plastered all over him.

Even now she didn’t want to believe that he’d cheated on her with some tart who couldn’t count to four. But when she’d called him to question him about the picture, he hadn’t bothered to deny the fact that he’d taken the woman with him to Germany. He hadn’t even understood why she was upset—the woman was nothing but a groupie and didn’t mean a thing to him. What was the big deal?

Elizabeth still couldn’t believe he’d had the nerve to ask her such a thing. Of course she knew about groupies, how strange women threw themselves at him and his teammates all the time. After all, he was an international soccer star, and she’d seen for herself how he couldn’t go anywhere without women he didn’t even know flirting with him. She hadn’t liked it, but she’d learned to live with it.

The woman in the picture, however, wasn’t someone wanting a hug and an autograph. She’d slept with him. He hadn’t said as much in so many words, but he hadn’t had to. The truth had been right there in the picture, in his eyes, in the blonde’s, in the intimate smile they shared.

She shouldn’t have been surprised. She’d known in her heart that he was the kind of man who had no use for faithfulness. She’d just convinced herself he loved her enough to change. So much for fairy tales.

“It’s going to be okay, Elizabeth,” Rainey said quietly, breaking into her thoughts. “You just need some time.”

“And another man,” Priscilla added, wrinkling her nose at the thought of Spencer. “The best way to get over one man is to get another. Get yourself a cowboy.”

“Oh, no!” she said quickly, grimacing. “I don’t want a cowboy or anyone else, thank you very much. I’m done with men.”

“That’s what I said,” Rainey told her, grinning. “And now I’m marrying your brother. C’mon. We’ve got a wedding to go to.”

Looping her arm through Elizabeth’s, she tugged her out into the hall and laughed as Priscilla and Katherine took positions behind them and gently pushed them down the hall toward the stairs. As the grandfather clock in the front entry struck 8:00 a.m., Rainey laughed. “I can’t believe I’m getting married at eight in the morning!”

“What’s with that, anyway?” Priscilla asked. “Why so early in the morning?”

“We wanted to start the first day of our marriage as soon as possible,” she said simply, grinning as they all spilled into the limo waiting for them in the drive. “So it was either 8:00 a.m. or dawn. We picked 8:00 a.m.”

“Thank God!”

Ten minutes later they arrived at the church and Elizabeth fought the need to cry. She loved her brother and Rainey, but she really didn’t want to do this. Unfortunately, she couldn’t back out without looking like a complete idiot. So she pasted on a smile, and no one knew just how much it cost her as she stepped out of the limo.

Then she walked into the old wood-frame country church that the Wyatt family had attended for over a hundred years, and stopped with a gasp of surprise. If she hadn’t known better, she would have sworn she’d stepped back in time.

Although the church had been wired for electricity nearly a hundred years ago, Rainey had chosen to use candles instead. They were everywhere, casting a golden glow over the guests that filled every pew. The sound of violins floated on the hushed, fragrant air, and just that quietly, the ceremony began.

Priscilla started down the aisle, then Katherine. Waiting her turn, Elizabeth was caught off guard by the emotions that tugged at her heart at the sight of her brother waiting at the altar for his bride. Elizabeth liked Rainey, loved her, in fact, but ever since Buck had informed Elizabeth and her sisters that he was getting married, she’d been afraid that he was rushing into a mistake. After all, just last year, he’d been engaged to someone else. But as she watched him smile at Rainey and she caught the look of love that passed between the two of them, she knew that she’d never seen him so happy.

Just that easily, she realized that nothing else mattered. Locking her own heartache away, she started down the aisle, and for the first time since she’d seen the picture of Spencer in the tabloids, the smile that curled the corners of her mouth came straight from her heart.

After that, the morning couldn’t have been more magical. Rainey looked like a fairy princess as she started down the aisle toward Buck, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the church as they exchanged their I do’s. Then they rushed up the aisle, glowing with love, and laughingly led their guests back to the ranch for breakfast, then, later in the day, an old-fashioned barbecue and barn dance.

Buck and Rainey had invited not only their friends from both sides of the Atlantic and around the world, but they’d also decided to include the local ranchers and most of the inhabitants of Willow Bend. It was a risky move, but they’d both felt it was better to keep their enemies close at hand than plotting in the shadows, and Elizabeth had to agree with them. If there was anyone there with ulterior motives, they kept them well hidden. Everywhere she looked, people were smiling and laughing and enjoying themselves.

“It’s quite a turnout, isn’t it? How many do you think are packing guns?”

Surprised, Elizabeth turned to John Cassidy, the Broken Arrow’s new foreman. Buck had introduced him to her and her sisters when they arrived the day before yesterday, but there’d been little time to talk to him, let alone get to know him. He’d been busy running the ranch while Buck took care of the last-minute preparations for the wedding and entertained his guests.

And even though Elizabeth had never seen a cowboy, let alone a ranch foreman, before visiting the United States, she had to admit that John Cassidy had the look of a man who could handle just about anything life threw at him. Tall and lean, with a body that was rock hard and a chin that could have been chiseled out of the granite mountains that formed the western boundary of the ranch, he had tough written all over him.

And for some reason, that set her teeth on edge. It was the hard glint in his eye, she thought. That I don’t give a damn look that a lot of women found impossible to resist. She wasn’t one of those women.

“I realize I’m not familiar with the local customs,” she retorted, “but do people usually bring guns to a wedding in Colorado?”

“That depends on who’s getting married and why,” he replied dryly. “They’ve been known to take them to funerals, too.”

Not believing that for a second, Elizabeth sniffed, “I wasn’t born yesterday, Mr. Cassidy. Just because I was born and raised in England doesn’t mean that I don’t know a line of bull when I hear it.”

“Really?” The corner of his sensuous mouth curling with mocking humor, he lifted a dark male brow at her. “Then maybe you’d care to tell me what that bulge is under your brother’s tuxedo jacket?”

“What bulge?” she demanded. “What are you talking about? Buck wouldn’t wear a gun to his own wedding!”

“Then he’s got a tumor under that jacket,” he said. “And so does just about every man here. Didn’t you notice? Or did you think we’re all nothing but a bunch of hicks in bad suits?”

“No, of course not! I’m not a snob, Mr. Cassidy. I’ve been too busy circulating to notice how anyone was dressed.”

“For your own safety, I suggest you keep your eyes and ears open whenever you’re around your neighbors, Miss Wyatt. They’re not your friends.”

“I’m well aware of that,” she said stiffly. “I know all about the attacks on the ranch. As far as I’m concerned, my brother and sisters and I can’t trust anyone.”

“Including me?”

“Including you,” she retorted honestly, then graciously added, “At least for now. I know Buck has a great deal of faith in you and that you passed a background check with flying colors. For what it’s worth, I hope you do turn out to be as trustworthy as you claim to be. It would be nice to know that there’s at least one person outside the family we can trust.”

John had to give her credit. He didn’t know another woman, short of his mother, who would have looked him right in the eye and given him such a straight answer. “Trust takes time,” he said flatly. “Luckily I’ve got plenty of that.”

He had, in fact, nowhere else to go, and he was pretty damn sure that Elizabeth Wyatt knew that. If Buck had told her everything, then she knew that his past was less than stellar. Oh, he’d been a Navy SEAL, and he’d been damn good at it. But then he’d made a mistake—just one—and a man had lost his life.

How many years had he punished himself for that? Three? Five? His commanding officer, the base psychiatrist, even the chaplain, had assured him that everyone made mistakes—it could have happened to anyone. Nothing they’d said, however, had helped. Because he’d killed his best friend, and the memory of that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

He’d tried to forget. But years of drinking hadn’t dulled the images from the past—just destroyed his life. His wife had walked out on him, he’d lost his ranch, his self-respect, everything he cared about. And it was all gone forever. When he’d told Elizabeth he had nothing but time, he hadn’t lied. He had nowhere else to go, and nothing to do but lose himself in work.

“Just for the record,” he added, “I’m not interested in getting my hands on your land. I just want to do the job I was hired to do. That means taking care of the ranch…and you and your sisters when Buck’s not here.”

For a moment, he didn’t think his words registered. Then her sapphire-blue eyes flashed indignantly. “Take care of me and my sisters? You think that was the job you were hired to do?”

“I know it’s one of them,” he retorted. “If you don’t believe me, ask Buck.”

“Don’t worry. I will.” Lifting her chin, she stormed off to find her brother.

She found him almost immediately, but it quickly became obvious that she wasn’t going to get a chance to talk to him in private. The dancing started, and almost immediately a cowboy asked Elizabeth to dance, grabbed her by the hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor before she could even think to object. Luckily, she’d worn her cowboy boots, just as Buck had suggested. After that, she was on the dance floor for what seemed like hours.

Breathless, she finally escaped with the excuse that she needed something to drink, but then the photographer snagged her and the other bridesmaids and the single women in the crowd so Rainey could throw her bouquet. No one was more surprised than Elizabeth when it fell right into her hands.

“Oh, my God!” she gasped, blanching. “Rainey, you threw that at me deliberately!”

Grinning, she didn’t deny it. “You’re the oldest. Your turn’s next.”

“Oh, no, it’s not!”

“You’ll be married by next year,” Priscilla predicted with dancing green eyes.

“I will not. I’m not even dating anyone.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Katherine chuckled. “Everybody knows not to catch a bridal bouquet. Those things are deadly.”

Rainey chuckled. “You ain’t seen nothing yet. Buck hasn’t thrown the garter. Today could be your lucky day.”

The words were hardly out of her mouth when Buck threw the garter and hit an eighty-year-old widower right in the chest. The older man had no choice but to catch it.

“That-a-boy, Marlin!” someone in the crowd crowed. “You’ve been pining for Ludie Morgan all these years. Now she can’t say no when you ask her to marry you!”

“Forget Ludie,” a cowboy at the back of the crowd advised over the laughter of the crowd. “Elizabeth’s prettier!”

Hot color stinging her cheeks, Elizabeth had to laugh. She was saved from having to make a response when Timothy Reynolds, Buck’s best man, announced that the bride and groom would soon be leaving for their honeymoon. Friends and family pressed forward, heading for the barn, and as Elizabeth waited with them, she knew that even if she had a chance to talk to Buck for a few minutes, she wouldn’t tell him about her problems with John Cassidy. This wasn’t the time to burden him with any strife between her and his foreman. And it wasn’t as if she couldn’t handle the man. She was an owner; he was an employee. End of story.

“Are you sure you can handle everything here by yourself?”

“Maybe we should stay. I could work on my designs here, and Katherine can take some time off from work. Her boss won’t mind.”

Fighting tears as her sisters tried to talk themselves out of leaving the next morning, Elizabeth hugged them both fiercely. “Don’t be silly. You’ve got your show to work on and Katherine has to be home for Tracy Lawrence’s wedding. And you don’t need to stay. I’ll be fine. Quit worrying.”

“Easy for you to say,” Katherine retorted. “What if someone tries to kill you the way David Saenz did Rainey?”

“David’s dead—”

“So?” Priscilla said. “Somebody hired him to blow up the mine, and whoever it was is pretty damn desperate to drive all of us away so he can get his hands on the ranch. That’s the person you need to be worried about. We don’t even know who he is!”

“You know I won’t take any chances,” she replied, hugging them each as the cabby put their luggage in the boot. “And John Cassidy’s here. The man’s tough as nails. He’s not going to let anything happen to me—Buck would have his hide. So quit worrying. I’ll be fine.”

Katherine and Priscilla looked far from convinced, but the meter was running and they had a flight to catch. “I don’t like it,” Katherine said huffily. “But I don’t know what else we can do about it.”

“Watch your back,” Priscilla warned. “Don’t trust anybody!”

“I won’t,” she promised, hugging them both one more time. “I’ll see you in a month. God, I’m going to miss you!”

“Keep in touch! We expect an e-mail every other day.”

“You, too,” she said, forcing a bright smile as they slipped into the cab. “I want to know all the little details—where you’re going, what you’re doing, who you’re seeing.”

“Oh, no!” Priscilla said with dancing eyes. “I don’t kiss and tell!”

Grinning, Katherine pushed her into the cab. “We’ll call every Sunday,” she told Elizabeth.

“Good. Be careful! I love you.”

They waved all the way down the drive, until the cab disappeared around the first curve and they were lost to view.

Later, Elizabeth couldn’t say how long she stood there, staring at the empty drive. Silence enveloped her, broken only by the sigh of the wind as it whispered through the pines. Hugging herself, she was surprised when tears suddenly spilled into her eyes. She’d thought she was prepared for her stay at the ranch. But already she could feel the loneliness creeping in on her, chilling her.

It wouldn’t be so bad, she told herself. This was now home. Granted, it didn’t feel like it yet, but she was sure it would eventually. It just took time. And it wasn’t as if she was locked in a cave somewhere. She was free to leave, even be gone overnight. But just for one night at a time, she reminded herself. And that was okay. She’d take day trips, explore Colorado, e-mail her sisters and friends and keep in touch with what was going on in London. And since Spencer had betrayed her, she’d been rethinking her plan to open a dress shop with Priscilla in London after she finished her internship. Maybe Colorado would be better. She’d check out possible shop locations. So she had plenty to do. She’d be fine.