If he decided he wanted her baby boy, she knew hed find a way to get him.
Chapter 1
Janette blinked and stared up at the man in charge of the Cotter Creek bus station. She straightened in her chair as she realized she must have dozed off. She wrapped her arms around her still sleeping son and gazed at the man with confusion.
Excuse me? she said.
The bus. Its not coming. Its been held up by weather.
By weather? Dulled by sleep, she stared at him as if he were speaking a foreign language.
He nodded. Ice. He pointed out the window. Janette followed his finger and gasped in surprise as she saw the icy pellets falling from the sky. The ground was already covered with at least an inch.
Where had it come from? When shed arrived at the bus station two hours ago the skies had been thick with gray clouds, but there hadnt been a hint of snow. Of course the last thing on her mind when shed left Sandstone had been the weather forecast.
She looked back at the man and tried to swallow against the sense of panic that had been with her since shed packed her bags and left Sandstone that afternoon. A friend of her grandmothers had driven her the thirty miles to Cotter Creek, where a bus to Kansas City ran every other day. It was supposed to run today.
felt a panic attack coming on. The palms of her hands grew slick with sweat as her throat seemed to constrict. She closed her eyes and drew in deep breaths, forcing the attack away. She didnt have time to be weak now. Sammy needed her, and she needed to get him someplace safe for the night.
She opened her eyes once again. The clouds and ice were creating an early twilight. She straightened as she saw a light shining from a window of one of the storefronts in the next block.
Where there was light there might be somebody who could direct her to a place for the night. She checked to make sure her coat was securely fastened to keep Sammy as warm as possible, pulled up her hood and tied it beneath her chin, then stepped out of the phone booth and into the wind that had begun to howl with fierce intensity.
She kept her gaze focused on the light, a beacon of hope. It didnt take long for her gloveless fingers to turn numb and her cheeks to burn with the cold. Ice pellets pinged on the sidewalk and her bare skin.
She walked slowly, carefully, not wanting to fall on the slick walkways. Before she reached the radiating light, she saw the shingle that hung above the doorway. West Protective Services.
She knew that name. She frowned thoughtfully, then remembered. There had been an article in the paper not too long ago, a human interest story about the family who owned and operated a bodyguard business. The article had described the family as honorable, trustworthy people who put their lives on the line for their clients.
If she remembered the article correctly, they had been instrumental in cleaning up Cotter Creek when a development company had tried to take ranch land and had hired people to kill the ranchers.
You have to trust somebody, a little voice whispered in her head. She had no other choice. Once again she felt her throat closing up, a quickening of her heart and a sense of doom that portended one of her panic attacks.
Not giving herself a chance to second-guess her decision, she started for the door. She reached for the door handle just as a man barreled out and into her.
He bumped her with just enough force to cause her to lose her footing on the slippery sidewalk. She felt herself careening backward, but before she could fall, two big strong hands grabbed hold of her shoulders and steadied her.
Sorry. Are you all right? His deep voice was nearly carried away by the wind.
She looked up into the greenest eyes shed ever seen. In an instant she assessed him. Shockingly good-looking, bold features, tall, with broad shoulders beneath a thigh-length black coat. He looked at her as if she were an apparition blown from the North Pole.
She had no idea if she could trust this man or not. Under any other circumstances she would never ask a stranger, particularly a man, for help. But she was out of options. PleaseI need help.
All Dalton West wanted was to get home and out of the snow. Hed been absorbed in paperwork and hadnt noticed the weather until hed gotten up to stretch and had realized the forecasted storm was upon them. Hed hurriedly shut down the computer and turned off the coffeepot, his only goal to get to his nearby apartment. The last thing he wanted was to be snowed in at the office.
But with this woman looking at him with eyes the color of a summer Oklahoma sky, eyes that were filled with both desperation and wariness, he reopened the office door and ushered her inside. She swept past him, pulling a large suitcase behind her as she entered.
As he stepped back inside she turned to face him. Iyou protect people, right?
He nodded, wondering what she was doing out in the snow. Thats my job.
I want to hire you for the nightto protect me.
Protect you from who? he asked.
She gave a nervous laugh. Not whowhat. I need you to protect me from the weather. I arrived here in Cotter Creek a couple of hours ago to catch the bus, but it seems the bus isnt coming this evening. I need a place to stay for the night, but the motel is all booked up. At that moment the sound of a crying baby came from beneath her coat.