The Protectors: Defending His Own / Guarding Jeannie

“Yeah, his family’s been in the business for several generations.” Ashe glanced around Deborah’s office. “Kind of like the Vaughns have been in real estate for three generations.”

“Don’t assume that I’m taking the threats lightly,” she said, her hand on the doorpost. “I’m shaking in my boots. But I have a business to run, people who count on Vaughn & Posey for their livelihoods. And I have a mother who’s in bad health and a ch…a brother who’s only a child.”

“Who has access to your business cards?”

“What?”

“Could just anybody get one of these cards?” Ashe waved the envelope in the air.

“Oh, yes, anybody could get one.” Deborah walked into the outer office. “Megan, we’re so glad you stopped by. Who’s got Katie? Come on, Helen, give her to me.”

Ashe stood in the doorway, watching Deborah hold her secretary’s baby. She looked so natural, as if cuddling a baby in her arms was something she did all the time. Why wasn’t she married, with children of her own? A woman like Deborah shouldn’t be single, still living at home with her mother and little brother. She should be hustling a pack of kids off to school and baseball games and cheerleader practice. She should be holding her own child in her arms.

Ashe didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but when Megan pulled Deborah aside into the corner near her office, he remained standing just behind the partially closed door.

“I want to thank you again for the bonus you gave me,” Megan said. “Bennie is so proud, he would never have accepted the money if you hadn’t convinced him it was a bonus and that Mr. Posey had given the same amount to his secretary. Annie Laurie even went along with our little fib.”

“It was a bonus,” Deborah said. “A baby bonus. I think every baby should have a fully equipped nursery.”

“We could never have afforded everything without that bonus. And after that, you didn’t have to bring another gift to the hospital.” Megan looked down at the pink-and-white ruffled dress her daughter wore. “It looks beautiful on her, don’t you think?”

Ashe closed the door. Still the do-gooder. Still the tenderhearted pushover. No, Deborah hadn’t changed. She was older, more beautiful, more experienced and certainly more sophisticated. But she was still the girl he’d considered his friend, the girl with whom he would have trusted his soul.

Was it possible that she had no idea what her father had done to him? Had he misjudged her all these years? Maybe she hadn’t run to Wallace Vaughn and cried rape. But even if she hadn’t falsely accused him, she’d still told her father that the two of them had made love. Surely she would have known how her father would react.

Even after Ashe had left town, Wallace Vaughn had slandered him. It had become public knowledge that Deborah’s father had run Ashe McLaughlin out of Sheffield.

All the old feelings came rushing back, bombarding him with their intensity. All the love, the hate, the fear and the uncertainty. Maybe Carol Vaughn had been right. He hadn’t returned to Sheffield before now because he was afraid to face the past, to find out the truth, to confront Deborah and Whitney.

But he was back now, and there was no time like the present to meet the ghosts of his past head-on.

Chapter Four

Charlie Blaylock had been a friend of her father and Deborah suspected he’d always had a soft spot in his heart for her mother. He asked about Carol every time he ran into Deborah, and his concern certainly seemed a bit more than neighborly.

Deborah tried to relax as she sat in Charlie’s office listening to him explain the details of the Lon Sparks case to Ashe, and exactly what he could and could not do to protect Deborah against Buck Stansell and his bunch of outlaws.

“When Carol asked my advice about hiring a private bodyguard for Deborah, I was all for it.” Charlie gazed out the window that overlooked the parking area. He moved with a slow, easy stride, all six feet five inches, three hundred pounds of him. “We don’t have a smidgen of proof that Buck and his boys are involved in the threats Deborah’s been receiving. If we had any proof, we could make a move to stop them. But even if we caught the guy who’s making the phone calls, Buck would just have somebody else take up where he left off.”

“I’m planning on paying a visit to Lee Roy and Johnny Joe.” Ashe stood, walked across the room, and stopped at Charlie’s side. “I want you to have one of your men stay with Deborah while I drop in on my cousins.”

Charlie lifted his eyebrows. “When were you planning on visiting the Brennan brothers?”

“Tomorrow. Bright and early.”

“I’ve tried to tell Ashe that I’ve survived for a couple of weeks now without his constant protection.” Deborah squirmed around in the uncomfortable straight-back chair in which she sat. “I’ll be perfectly all right at the office for a couple of hours.”

“I’ll have somebody stop by the house around seven in the morning and stay with Deborah until you finish your business and get back to Sheffield.” Charlie laid his big hand on Ashe’s shoulder, gripping him firmly. “I was surprised when Carol told me she was hiring you. Last I’d heard, you were still in the army. The Green Berets, wasn’t it?”

“I left over a year ago.” Ashe looked down at Charlie’s hand resting on his shoulder, all friendly like.

Ashe figured Charlie Blaylock knew exactly what his old friend, Wallace Vaughn, had done to him eleven years ago. Although Charlie had been sheriff even then, Wallace had brought the district attorney with him when he’d had his little talk with Ashe. And Sheffield’s chief of police had been waiting right outside the door, waiting to arrest Ashe if he hadn’t agreed to leave town and never return. But Charlie would have known what Wallace had been up to, perhaps had even given him a little advice on how to get rid of that white trash boy who had dared to violate Wallace’s precious daughter.

Charlie gave Ashe’s shoulder another tight squeeze, then released him. “Carol wants you here. She’s convinced herself that nobody else can protect Deborah. I’ll do everything I can to cooperate with you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Removing the most recent threatening letter from his coat pocket, Ashe dropped it on Charlie’s desk. “You might want to have this examined, but I’d say it’s clean.”

“Another one?” Charlie asked. “This has become a daily occurrence, hasn’t it?”

“I expect you’ll notify the big boys, keep them informed on every detail. Let them know that I’ve arrived, if you haven’t already called them.” Walking across the room, Ashe held out his hand to Deborah. “Let’s go get a bite of lunch.”

Deborah started to take his hand, then hesitated when Charlie spoke.

“What makes you think anybody else is involved in this case?” Charlie picked up the envelope from his desk, glancing at it casually as he turned it over.

“Buck Stansell has the drug market cornered in this county. And if Corey Looney’s death was drug related, the DEA is already unofficially involved.” Ashe dropped the hand he’d been holding out to Deborah.

She glanced back and forth from Charlie’s flushed face to Ashe’s cynical smile. The big boys? The DEA? No one had told her that Corey Looney had been executed because of a drug deal.

“What are y’all—” Deborah began.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Charlie laid the envelope on his desk, rested his hand on the back of his plush leather chair and looked Ashe straight in the eye.

“My boss is a former agent,” Ashe said. “All Sam Dundee had to do was make a phone call. I know everything you know, Blaylock. Everything.”

“Stop it, both of you!” Deborah jumped up, slammed her hands down on her hips and took a deep breath. “I have no idea what y’all are talking about, but I’m tired of you acting as if I’m not in the room. I’m the person whose life is in danger. I’m the one who should know everything!”

Ashe grabbed her by the elbow, forcing her into action as he practically dragged her out of Charlie’s office. “I’ll tell you whatever you need to know at lunch.”

“Whatever I need to know!” She dug in her heels in the hallway.

Ashe gave her a hard tug. She fell against him and he slipped his arm around her. “It’s a beautiful fall day. Let’s pick up something and take it down to Spring Park for a picnic.”

Deborah jerked away from him. She couldn’t bear being this close to him. Despite their past history, she could not deny the way Ashe made her feel—the way no other man had ever made her feel.

“What was all that between you and Charlie?” Deborah stood her ground, refusing to budge an inch, her blue eyes riveted to Ashe’s unemotional face. “For a minute there I thought he wanted to take a punch at you.”

Ashe glanced around the corridor, listening to the sound of voices from the adjoining offices. “This isn’t the time or the place.”

“Just tell me this, is the DEA involved in this case?”

“Unofficially.” Ashe grabbed her by the arm again. “Come on. We’ll get lunch, go to the park and talk.”

“All right.” She followed his lead, outside and into the parking lot.

She didn’t resist his manhandling, macho jerk that he was. Ashe’s brutally masculine qualities had fascinated her as a teenager. Now they irritated and annoyed her. Yet she had to admit, if she was totally honest with herself, that she couldn’t imagine any other bodyguard with whom she’d feel more secure.