CHRISTMAS AT THUNDER HORSE RANCH (6 page)

The way she stumbled over the last word made him think back to the trailer when her soft curves had pressed against his hard body. In an instant, he was hard all over again.

Her cheeks flamed and he could swear she was there with him.

“Please.” He hooked her hand through the crook of his arm. “Let me play bodyguard for a little while. You won’t regret it.”

She sucked in a deep breath and let it out. “Do you really think I could be in danger? Me? I live the most boring life imaginable. How could I be a threat to anyone?”

“You saw his face.”

“Surely whoever it was will assume we died in the trailer,” she argued.

“When he discovers the fact that we didn’t, he could come back to finish the job.”

“I
barely
saw his face.”

“He doesn’t know that. He would only know that you and I are still alive, and we could possibly identify him.”

Emma heaved another sigh. “Okay. I’ll let you play bodyguard, but only for a couple of days. Surely by then they’ll find out who started this whole mess.”

Satisfied that he had her agreement to keep an eye on her, Dante didn’t tell her that the shooter might never be found. He’d take one day at a time until his leave ran out. Maybe he was overreacting. If he did nothing and something happened to Emma, he’d never forgive himself.

* * *

T
HE
AIRPORT
WAS
several miles away from the city of Grand Forks. As they stepped out into the bitter wind, Emma looked around, gathering her coat around her chin. “Are we taking a cab back to Grand Forks?”

“No.” Dante guided her toward the parking lot. “I parked my Jeep out here.”

A shiver shook her from the tip of her head to her toes and left her teeth chattering. “By chance does it have heated seats?”

He pulled his key fob out of his pocket and hit a button. “As a matter of fact, it does.”

“Thank God,” she said through chattering teeth.

“And even better, it has a remote starter and should be warming up by the time we get to it.”

A dark pewter Jeep Wrangler with a hard top and raised suspension roared to life a hundred yards from where they stood.

“Yours?” Emma nodded toward the sound of the engine.

“Mine.” He shrugged. “I always wanted one. I’d been saving for it since I got back from the sandbox.”

Emma glanced up at him. “Sandbox?”

“Afghanistan.”

She pulled her collar up around her ears to keep the wind from blowing down the back of her neck. “Were you a pilot in the war?”

He nodded, his gaze on the car ahead.

That explained his nightmare when she’d woken him in the trailer. At first she’d thought it was from having crashed in the helicopter, but it had seemed even more deep-seated. He’d said he’d been shot at before. It had to have been then.

She wondered what scars he carried from his time on active duty. Did he have post-traumatic stress disorder? Had he watched members of his unit die?

Clouds had moved back in to cover the warming sun, and the north wind blew hard enough that Emma had to lean into it to get to the Jeep. Windchill of minus thirty was hard to take even when one wasn’t tired and worn down from trudging for miles in the snow and cold. By the time they reached the Jeep, she practically fell into its warmth.

The drive into Grand Forks was conducted in silence. As Dante turned left when Emma would have turned right to go to her apartment, she remembered she hadn’t given him directions. “I live in an apartment close to the university.”

“And I live in an apartment on the south side of town.” He shot a glance her way. “I thought we’d stop there first so that I could collect some clothes that fit and a few items I’ll need.”

“Need for what?”

“To stay with you.”

“With me?”

“Well, yes. I thought we had this all settled. I’m your bodyguard for the next few days.”

“But that doesn’t mean you’ll be staying with me.”

“How else am I supposed to guard your body if I’m not in the same building with you?”

“But...” She bit down on her lip and stared out the window. “My apartment is really small.” The thought of the hulking Native American in her apartment threatened to overwhelm her. And they weren’t even in her apartment yet.

“We could stay in my apartment, but I thought you’d be more comfortable in yours.”

She searched for the words she needed to set her world back to rights. Emma Jennings lived an ordered existence. Ever since a certain helicopter had crash-landed close to her dig, her life had been anything but ordered.
Chaos
was the word that best described the world she’d been thrown into.

“We’ll stay in my apartment,” she snapped. “But that’s as far as it goes. You can sleep on the couch.”

Dante sat in the driver’s seat, his lips quivering on the corners.

If he smiled, she’d...she’d...ah hell, she’d probably fall all over herself and drool like a fool. The man had entirely too much charm and charisma for a lonely college professor to resist.

I’m doomed.

Dante glanced her way. “Did you say something?”

“Not at all,” she squeaked and clamped her lips shut tight. Just because they’d made love once, didn’t mean they’d hop right back into the sack at her apartment. He wasn’t into commitment, and making love more than once would be too much like commitment to Emma. No, she couldn’t take it if she made the mistake of falling for the handsome border patrol agent. No, he wasn’t the kind of guy to stick around. The men in her life had a way of disappearing just about the time she started to think they might stick around.

It would be better to keep her distance from Dante and save herself the trouble of a broken heart.

She swallowed a groan. How the hell was she going to keep her distance when he would be camped out in her apartment?

Chapter Six

“I’ll stay here in the Jeep while you collect your belongings,” Emma offered when they pulled up outside Dante’s apartment building.

“Sorry.” Dante tilted his head toward her. “What kind of bodyguard would I be if I left you out here in the cold, alone? Bundle up. You’re coming in with me.”

Emma didn’t know what she expected when she entered Dante’s apartment. As good as he’d been to her since she’d defended him against the shooter, she didn’t know much about him. She expected his apartment to reveal something about his life. Instead, it was as stark and impersonal as a doctor’s office.

Dante went to the kitchen first and grabbed a cordless phone. “I need to check in with my family in case they got word of my crash.”

Dante headed for the bedroom, speaking into the telephone as he went. Apparently he got an answering machine. “Mom, it’s Dante. In case you’ve seen the news reports about the helicopter crash involving a border patrol agent, I’m okay. Yes, it was mine, but I’m not hurt. Call me when you get a chance. Love you.”

While Dante was leaving the message and packing his bag, Emma studied what little there was in the living room and kitchen.

The furniture was plain and functional with a brown leather couch and lounge chair and a rather plain coffee table and television. On the bar that separated the kitchen from the living area were two framed photos. One was of a family of six. Four brothers and their mother and father. All the men were like Dante, swarthy, black-haired and built like brick houses.

Emma peered closer. The second man from the left had to be Dante several years ago. It was him, with a few less creases around his eyes and a happy, carefree smile.

Emma found herself wishing she’d known that happier, younger Dante before he’d been jaded by a war half a world away.

“Dante, is this picture in the kitchen of your family?”

“Yes,” he called out from the bedroom.

“How old is this photo? You look so much younger.”

“It was taken about four years ago, when my father was still alive.”

So his father was dead. Another detail of Dante’s life she was learning. “I’m sorry.”

“We were, too.” Dresser drawers opened and closed and a closet door was opened.

Emma set the frame on the counter and lifted the other.

The other photo was of Dante in a flight suit, standing with a couple of men and one woman in desert camouflage uniforms. Dante had his arm around the woman. She wore her hair pulled back in a tight, neat bun, her makeup-free face smiling into the camera. Sandy-blond hair and light gray-blue eyes, she was a woman men could easily fall in love with. She had one of those sweet, outgoing, girl-next-door faces with an added dose of steel. She’d have to have been tough enough to handle the ten-to-one men-to-women ratio in the desert.

Emma admired women who volunteered for armed services. She herself had tried to go into ROTC, but an injury to her shoulder as a child had kept her from passing the physical.

Emma stared down at Dante’s arm draped over the woman’s shoulder. In her heart she knew this woman had meant something to Dante.

“What are you doing?” Dante demanded.

Emma jumped and dropped the photo frame back on the counter. She’d been so engrossed in the two photographs she hadn’t noticed Dante had returned to the living area carrying a duffel bag and wearing freshly laundered jeans and a blue chambray shirt. He was even sexier in clothes that fit.

A guilty flush burned her cheeks at being caught snooping about his private life. But she refused to ignore the picture, wanting to know more about this man she’d made love to. “Who is she?”

He started to walk by, headed for the door, but stopped beside her instead. “Someone I used to know.”

Lifting the frame again, she stared across the floor at him. “She’s very pretty.”

Dante’s gaze went to the photo, his eyes staring as if looking back in time, not at the paper picture but at the memories it inspired. “Samantha made the desert bearable.”

Something in his voice made Emma’s heart squeeze in her chest, but she couldn’t stop herself from observing, “She has a nice smile.”

He nodded. “Everyone at Bagram Airfield loved Samantha.”

Emma studied Dante’s face, her heart settling into the pit of her belly. “Did you love her?”

His gaze shifted from the photo to Emma. “What?”

“Did you love her?”

“Yes.”

“And do you still?” Emma asked quietly.

His lips thinned, his dark green eyes unreadable. “Yes.”

Emma glanced around the sterile apartment. There were no signs of the woman. Surely he wouldn’t have taken Emma out to have coffee if he was still involved with her. “What happened?” she dared to ask, the question burning in her heart.

“She died in an IED explosion while visiting an Afghan orphanage outside the wire.”

A heavy lump settled in the pit of Emma’s gut as she stared down at the beautiful face, so happy and alive. “That’s terrible.”

“Yeah,” he said, the word clipped and as emotionless as the room they stood in. “Ready?”

Emma nodded and set the frame on the counter. “I’m sorry for your loss. She must have been a very special woman.”

“She was.”

And there she had it. Samantha was a very special woman. How could Emma compete with that? No wonder he’d had coffee with her one time and walked away without calling again. Emma didn’t measure up to Samantha’s perfection.

Her heart fell even farther, landing somewhere around her shoes. And he’d made love to her only to find out she was a pathetic virgin. Heat burned her cheeks and she ducked her head to hide her shame. “I’m ready to leave.”

She led the way through the door and stopped on the threshold. “I really wish you’d just drop me off and forget about this bodyguard gig.”

Dante frowned. “Why are we arguing about it again? I thought we’d settled this. I’m going to stay with you for a few days. I promise not to get in your way.”

How could he not get in her way? Dante Thunder Horse was larger than life and had given his heart to a dead woman.

Emma had to remind herself that Dante wasn’t providing her protection to get closer to her. Why should he? He’d had perfection. Making love to Emma had probably been just something that had happened to keep them warm.

Pushing all thoughts of sex with Dante to the back of her mind, Emma squared her shoulders and nodded. “You’re right. It’s only for a few days. Then you’ll be on your way home to your family and I’ll go back to my work as a professor.” Spending Christmas by herself as usual. How pathetic was that?

Because her mother had died and she hadn’t spoken to her father since, she had no one. Christmas was one of those holidays she dreaded each year. This year would be no different.

Dante threw his duffel bag into the back of his Jeep and opened the door for Emma. She slid past him, careful not to touch him and set off all those errant nerve endings that jumped anytime he was near. He might not see her as a potential sexual partner, but Emma’s body sure couldn’t forget her first time making love. The man had been amazing. Her foot slipped as she stepped up on the Jeep’s running board and she crashed back into Dante.

His arms surrounded her and he crushed her to his chest.

Emma’s heart thundered against her ribs. His arm crossed her chest beneath her breasts, one of his big hands covering her tummy. Even through her thick winter coat, she could feel his warmth.

In that instant, in his arm, her thoughts scrambled. For a moment, she imagined him holding her because he wanted to, not because she’d practically thrown herself at him. Accidentally, of course.

Once she had her feet under her, she tried to push out of his arms.

“Steady there,” he said. “That running board can get slick in the icy weather.”

Now he tells her
. “I’m okay. I’ll be more careful next time.”

“Oh, I didn’t mind. I just want to make sure you’re not hurt.”

“Thanks.” As she scrambled into the Jeep, she felt his palm on her rear, making certain she didn’t fall back this time.

Embarrassed by her clumsiness and her body’s instant reaction, she settled into the leather seat and turned her face away from Dante as he climbed into the driver’s seat. She gave him the directions to her apartment and sat in silence as he drove across town.

She tried not to look his way, but she couldn’t help it. The man had the rugged profile of his ancestors, complete with chiseled cheekbones and a strong jaw.

Several times he glanced into the rearview mirror, his brows furrowing.

“What’s wrong?” Emma finally asked as they approached the street to her apartment complex. When they passed her turn, she swiveled in her seat. “You missed my turn.”

“I can’t swear to it, but I think someone was following us.”

Emma spun to look behind her. “In Grand Forks?”

“I know it’s a small city by most standards, and there aren’t that many places for people to go, but the vehicle behind me has been on my tail since I left my apartment.” Dante relaxed. “Good, he turned off.” Dante sped up and turned at the next corner, going the long way around to circle back to her apartment complex.

“It could be my imagination, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.” He pulled into the parking lot and parked the Jeep on the far side of a trash bin, out of visible range of the street.

Emma thought he was taking his job as a bodyguard to the extreme, but didn’t say anything. This was Grand Forks, North Dakota, not Chicago or Houston.

As soon as he put the Jeep in Park, Emma unbuckled her belt and carefully climbed out to stand on the ground. She didn’t want a repeat performance of her earlier awkward actions.

“I’m on the second floor.” She led the way up the outside staircase to the entrance of her apartment and bent to retrieve her spare key from beneath a flowerpot with a dead plant covered in a dusting of snow.

“You really shouldn’t leave a key to your apartment out here. Anyone could get in.”

“I’ve been living by myself for years.”

“I know, but still, it’s not safe.”

“Well, since my purse is in my crashed truck at the dig site, I’m glad I had a key beneath the flowerpot. It’s almost impossible to catch the apartment manager in his office on a weekend.” She unlocked the door and entered, switching on the lights.

Nothing in her apartment had changed. After all that had happened, it seemed both anticlimactic and reassuring at the same time. “You can set your bag by the couch,” she said. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have a lot of groceries. I had planned on stocking up when I got back from the dig site.”

“We can go to the store when you want.”

“I need to call my insurance agent and deal with my truck and I guess the state police to report the accident.” She turned toward him shaking her head. “I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to do.”

“I’ll take you down to the state police station and we can give a statement. My supervisor should already have given them a heads-up. That should get the ball rolling. They might want to bring in the Feds since it was attempted murder and an attack on federal property.”

“And a federal agent,” Emma reminded him. He seemed more concerned about the helicopter than his own life.

He shrugged and continued. “The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the downed helicopter. And the Department of Homeland Security will also want to get involved as it could be considered a terrorist attack since the man used a Soviet-made RPG to shoot me down.”

A tremor shook Emma. “We’re in North Dakota, not Afghanistan.”

Dante’s face grew grim. “And the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon were here in America.”

“It’s hard to accept that nowhere can be considered safe anymore.”

A vehicle alarm system went off in the parking lot below her apartment, making Emma jump. She laughed shakily. “Guess I’m getting punchy.”

Dante strode to the window, glanced out through the blinds and shook his head. “That’s my Jeep. I guess someone bumped into it accidentally. The alarm is supersensitive.”

Emma joined him at the window and stared down at his SUV. The lights blinked and a siren wailed.

Digging his key fob from his jeans pocket, Dante aimed it at the vehicle. The alarm and blinking lights ceased and it grew quiet again.

Emma hadn’t realized just how close she was standing next to Dante until she turned to face him at the same time as he faced her.

“Better?” he asked with a smile.

She nodded, her tongue suddenly tied, words beyond her as she stared at those lips that had kissed her senseless.

He reached out to cup her cheek. “I promise I’ll do my best to protect you.” Then ever so gently, he brushed his mouth across hers.

Emma exhaled on a sigh, her body leaning into his as if drawn to him of its own accord.

He slipped a hand around to the small of her back, and the one cupping her cheek rounded to the back of her neck, urging her forward as he returned for a longer, deeper kiss.

His tongue thrust between her teeth, sliding along hers in a sensuous caress that left her breathless.

The hand at her back slipped beneath her sweater, fingers splaying across her naked skin.

She wished she was completely naked, lying beside his equally naked body. Though she was unskilled in the art of making love, she’d follow his lead and they’d—

A car door slammed outside, breaking through her reverie.

Dante lifted his head and glanced out the window. “I’m sorry. I promised you wouldn’t even know I was here. That kiss was uncalled for.”

“That’s okay.” She wanted to tell him that she’d liked it, but didn’t want to sound too naive or desperate. Though every ounce of her being wanted him to pull her back into his arms and kiss her again.

Dante’s hands fell to his sides and he stuffed them into his pockets.

Emma couldn’t move away, afraid her wobbly knees wouldn’t hold her up. Instead, her gaze followed his to the parking lot below where backup lights blinked bright and a truck eased out of the parking space beside Dante’s SUV.

Emma tensed. The driver was turning too sharp and his tires didn’t seem to be getting enough traction to straighten the vehicle.