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Wyoming Cowboy Bodyguard
Nicole Helm
Her bodyguard was murdered. Will she be next? Following her scandalous divorce, fans turned on country music “bad girl” Daisy Delaney. Now someone wants her dead. But ex-FBI agent Zach Simmons isn't letting this violent psychopath get any closer to Daisy. Because this bodyguard will do whatever it takes to protect the bad girl he's falling for.
Her bodyguard was murdered.
Will she be next?
Following her scandalous divorce, fans turned on country music “bad girl” Daisy Delaney. Now someone wants her dead. But former FBI agent Zach Simmons isn’t letting this violent psychopath get any closer to Daisy. Because the bodyguard will do whatever it takes to protect the bad girl he’s falling for...
NICOLE HELM grew up with her nose in a book and the dream of one day becoming a writer. Luckily, after a few failed career choices, she gets to follow that dream—writing down-to-earth contemporary romance and romantic suspense. From farmers to cowboys, Midwest to the West, Nicole writes stories about people finding themselves and finding love in the process. She lives in Missouri with her husband and two sons and dreams of someday owning a barn.
Also by Nicole Helm (#uc870f4cf-38a7-5ab8-929d-cd1e776c95e5)
Wyoming Cowboy Marine
Wyoming Cowboy Sniper
Wyoming Cowboy Ranger
Wyoming Cowboy Justice
Wyoming Cowboy Protection
Wyoming Christmas Ransom
Stone Cold Texas Ranger
Stone Cold Undercover Agent
Stone Cold Christmas Ranger
All I Have
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Wyoming Cowboy Bodyguard
Nicole Helm
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-09409-2
WYOMING COWBOY BODYGUARD
© 2019 Nicole Helm
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Note to Readers (#uc870f4cf-38a7-5ab8-929d-cd1e776c95e5)
This ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings:
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Text to speech
For the female songwriters in country music whose
songs make up the bulk of my book soundtracks, thank
you for the inspiration.
Contents
Cover (#u57f5ca76-7e17-5c5e-a4e0-71945dfad6c2)
Back Cover Text (#uf3a55e8c-7bc5-5d20-8d60-09f889df61c3)
About the Author (#udf4ba2f4-0473-5cfc-977a-8fd3585fbb52)
Booklist (#uf777c893-9267-5863-8446-752e16acbef5)
Title Page (#u49271a76-e103-5896-a24d-155f5a9cf3a4)
Copyright (#uf36fe7c1-2089-539b-961e-c38e2e1aeada)
Note to Readers
Dedication (#u42801664-020b-5a46-81d8-9f20ec6e7535)
Chapter One (#ufe33b007-5615-5f79-92ef-707cfecf5886)
Chapter Two (#ucaca15fe-95e2-5c17-aa2a-fa598f5209b5)
Chapter Three (#ud990573e-9be7-594d-963e-86d743213ef3)
Chapter Four (#u62dbf3c6-f3c4-59bd-a9d3-58c83212beda)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#uc870f4cf-38a7-5ab8-929d-cd1e776c95e5)
Tom was dead. She’d been ushered away from his lifeless body and open, empty brown eyes thirty minutes ago and still, that was all she saw. Tom sprawled on the floor, limbs at an unnatural angle, eyes open and unseeing.
Blood.
She was in the back of a police cruiser, moving through Austin at a steady clip. Daisy Delaney. America’s favorite country bad girl. Until she’d filed for divorce from country’s golden child, Jordan Jones. Now everyone hated her, and someone wanted her dead.
But they’d killed Tom first.
She wanted to close her eyes, but she was afraid the vision of Tom would only intensify if she did. So she focused on the world out the window. Pearly dawn. Green suburban lawns.
She was holding it together. Even though Tom’s lifeless eyes haunted her. And all that blood. The smell of it. She was queasy and desperately wanted to cry, but she was holding on. Gotta save face, Daisy girl. No matter what. Never let them see they got to you.
It didn’t matter the name her mother had given her was Lucy Cooper. Daddy had always used her stage name—the name he’d given her. Daisy Delaney, after his dearly departed grandmother, who’d given him his first guitar.
She’d relished that once upon a time, no matter how much her mother and brother had disapproved. Today, for the first time in her life, she wondered where she might be if she hadn’t followed in her famous father’s footsteps.
She couldn’t change the past so she held it together. Didn’t let anyone see she was devastated, shaken or scared.
Until the car pulled up in front of her brother’s house. He was standing outside. She’d expected to see him in his Texas Rangers uniform of pressed khakis, a button-up shirt and that shiny star she knew he took such pride in.
Instead, he was in sweats, a baby cradled in his arms.
“You shouldn’t have brought me here,” she whispered to the police officer as he shifted into Park.
“Ranger Cooper asked me to, ma’am.”
She let out a breath. Asked. While her brother was a Texas Ranger and this man was Austin PD, Daisy was under no illusions her brother hadn’t interfered enough to make sure it was an order, not a request.
When the officer opened the door for her, she managed a smile and a thank-you. The officer shook hands with Vaughn, then gave her a sympathetic look. “We’ll have more questions for you, Ms. Delaney, but the ones you answered at the scene will do for now.”
She smiled thinly. “Thank you. And if there’s any break in the case—”
“We’ll let you and your brother know.”
The officer nodded and left. Daisy turned to Vaughn.
“You shouldn’t have brought me here,” she said, peeking into the bundle of blankets. She brushed her fingers over her niece’s cheek. “It isn’t safe having me around you guys.”
“Safety’s my middle name,” Vaughn said, and there wasn’t an ounce of concern or fear in his voice, but she could feel it nonetheless. Her straitlaced brother had never understood her need to follow their father’s spotlight, but he’d always been her protector. “You didn’t tell me you’d come back to Austin.”
She’d thought she could keep it from him. Keep him and Nat from worrying when they had this gorgeous little family they were building.
Daisy had been stupid and foolish to think she’d be able to keep anything from Vaughn. She couldn’t afford to be stupid and foolish anymore. Though she’d lived in fear for almost a year now, she’d believed it would remain a nonviolent threat. Her stalker had never hurt her or anyone she’d been connected to.
Now he’d killed Tom. The man Vaughn had hired to protect her. It wasn’t her own failure. Rationally, she knew that, but kind, funny Tom, who’d done everything in his power to protect her, was dead.
“Come inside, Lucy.” Vaughn slid his free arm around her shoulders and the first tear fell over onto her cheek. She couldn’t let more fall, and yet her brother’s steadiness, and the name only he and Mom called her, was one of the few things that could undo her.
Well, that and murder, she supposed. “Tom...”
“We’ll handle the arrangements,” Vaughn said, squeezing her shoulders as baby Nora gurgled happily in her daddy’s arms. “He was a good man.”
“He shouldn’t have died protecting me.”
“But he did. He signed up for that job. You’ll have time to mourn that. We all will, but right now we need to focus on getting you somewhere safe.”
She wanted to say something snotty. Vaughn could be so cold, and though she knew it was his law-enforcement training, it grated. Except he held his baby like the precious gift she was, and Daisy had watched years ago as his voice had broken when he’d made his vows to his wife.
