The Colton Bodyguard

She breathed in the fresh morning air as she walked briskly to the corral, telling herself that the article and photo didn’t really matter. But she was surprised to find herself hurt by Mark’s betrayal, if, indeed, he was responsible for the picture and the column of gossip.

When she reached the corral, she remained outside the wooden enclosure. There was no way she could go in and begin to introduce herself to Sugar until she relaxed herself. The horse would immediately pick up on any anger or anxiety Greta carried with her, and at the moment Greta had both bubbling hot inside her.

A short dark-haired man came out of the barn to greet her. He introduced himself as Raymond Edwards. “Yes, Tyler told me you’d be around,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Greta Colton.”

“I know who you are, Ms. Colton. I know of your work,” he said respectfully.

“Please, make it Greta,” she replied and turned her attention to the horse backed against the far railing. “And I don’t know if Tyler told you or not, but from here on, that horse’s name is Sugar.”

Raymond grinned. “If you can make that filly sweet as sugar, then I’ll know your reputation as a miracle worker with horses isn’t overblown.”

“Time will tell,” Greta replied. The two chatted for a few minutes, talking about rodeos they had both attended and mutual acquaintances in the horse business, and then Raymond returned to his work in the barn, leaving her to sort out her mood.

The photo had been such a shock. Why would Mark want to do something like that? Why would anyone do that? Something so ugly? Why make her out to be some kind of a slut when he was the one who had left her to languish in a jail cell while he wined and dined old girlfriends?

It was mean-spirited and so unfair, and it only made her more grateful than ever that the wedding had been called off before she’d married such a man.

Did Tyler possess that kind of mean streak, too? That was the problem. She didn’t know him well enough to discern all of the facets of his character.