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  Leaning toward the senator, Gage flipped up his palm in inquiry. “Can you be more specific?”

  Hank sighed. “Look, Gage, I know you’re just trying to do your job, but…I didn’t hire you. Dylan did. I’m not happy with the idea of being here. It smacks of hiding from the press and the women who’ve come forward. I hate looking like a coward. I have important matters to tend to—both personal and business—but for reasons I don’t care to elaborate on, I’m here. Do your babysitting thing, if you must—”

  Gage ground his back teeth at the man’s derogatory characterization of his job.

  “—since that’s what you’re being paid to do, but I’d prefer to keep my private concerns private. No offense intended.”

  Hank raised a highball glass to lips, and while the senator drank, Gage met Bart’s eyes. The subtle flicker of impatience and disgust in his colleague’s expression mirrored the frustration bubbling inside Gage—a feeling he determinedly quashed. Emotions had no place in his line of work. He simply needed to do his job.

  As Gage shoved to his feet, ready to leave the protection of the senator in Bart’s hands until his shift started in the morning, Hank released a weary sigh and muttered, “They kidnapped my daughter.”

  Gage hesitated, not certain he’d heard correctly, then lowered himself back onto the suede couch. “Excuse me?”

  Bart circled the chair where the senator sat and settled next to Gage.

  “My daughter, Lana, was kidnapped a couple of days ago.” His tone was hushed, defeated. “Her kidnappers called me and made it clear her release was contingent upon my cooperation with their demands.” A muscle in his jaw twitched. “I’m being blackmailed.”

  Gage battled down the kick in his pulse. Now they were getting somewhere. “Have you notified the authorities?”

  The senator’s gaze darted up to his. “No. And neither can you. I was warned not to contact the police or the FBI if I wanted Lana to live.”

  “A common enough threat, but the FBI needs to—”

  “No!” The senator’s eyes flashed. “This is my problem, and we do things my way. Period. It’s imperative that I not give these people reason to retaliate.”

  “What people?” Bart asked.

  Hank’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “I…can’t tell you. It’s complicated.”

  “If your daughter’s life is at stake—”

  “I have my own resources. I’m looking into ways to facilitate a rescue but…I need time to plan. I’m still trying to determine where they’re holding her.”

  Gage flopped back on the couch, staring at the senator, trying to keep the sour words that sprang to his tongue in check. He thought of Cole’s parting shot about what the senator’s selfishness had cost his family and understood better the depth of the son’s animosity.

  Now Hank Kelley, U.S. Senator from California, was jeopardizing his daughter’s life in order to cover his political ass. Or at least that’s how it appeared. Whatever dirt his enemies had to blackmail him with couldn’t be as important as saving his daughter from her kidnappers. Yet to appease his enemies, Hank refused to contact the FBI. Gage’s low opinion of the senator dropped another notch.

  “Sir, while I don’t know all the particulars of the situation,” Bart said, “I’d be remiss if I didn’t encourage you to contact the authorities immediately and tell them everything you can about the kidnap—”

  “I said no,” Hank growled. “Case closed. I’ll handle this my way.” The senator slammed down his glass and shot to his feet. “I’m going to bed. I’m not to be disturbed before 8:00 a.m.”

  Bart stood quickly and followed their charge.

  Gage opened his mouth to tell the senator what the housekeeper had said about the 5:00 a.m. breakfast but decided not to waste his breath. If the senator missed his last chance to speak to his son before Cole headed out for roundup, it was none of his business. Family matters were a distraction Gage didn’t want to involve himself in. His job was to keep the senator safe, and that was what Gage intended to do.

  Broken bodies littered the earth. Blood ran through the dust in tiny rivers. Moans of the dying assailed his ears. Gage staggered through the wreckage of Humvees and dead soldiers. Disoriented. Confused. Grieving. Where had the attack come from? The road had been clear and then…

  He spotted Mike, his best friend in the unit, staring sightlessly into the gray day. And there was Gunner. So young. So cocky. So dead. Further down the convoy, his CO lay with his arms still clutching the wound in his gut. Dead. They were all dead.

  A sob lurched from Gage’s chest. Dark despair. Loss. Guilt.

  The road had looked clear. He’d told them to proceed. Sweat mingled with his tears as he stumbled down the rutted road. The eyes of his dead unit followed him. The hands of slaughtered soldiers reached out to grab his ankles. Murderer. You failed us.

  The breath in his lungs weighted him down like the cold boulders lining the road. He wheezed, choked on the fumes of leaking fuel.

  Darrius. Frank. Jimmy B. His head spun as one face followed another. Gone. Bloodied. Broken. Walt. Mad Dog. Ronnie. And…

  He froze. His gaze fell on the new face.

  Blood streaked her creamy skin. Dust dimmed her golden highlights. Death stole her sunny smile. Kate.

  Gage jerked awake, gasping. Sweat bathed his skin, and horror knotted his gut. His gaze darted around the unfamiliar dark room, searching…

  No dead soldiers. No dusty road. No Kate.

  Nightmare. Again. He muttered a foul curse. Curling his fingers into his sheets, he fought to gain control over his ragged breathing. The rapid-fire beat of his heart.

  His bedding had twisted around his legs as he thrashed. With jerky tugs, he freed his feet and swung them to the floor. He lifted his watch from the bedside table and checked the time. Oh three hundred. He had to be up in three hours, ready to guard a selfish senator whose enemies had kidnapped his daughter. A cushy assignment compared to being deployed in Afghanistan.

  Gage gritted his teeth. He didn’t deserve cushy. He deserved to have been brought home in a casket like his friends. Protecting the convoy had been his job, and he’d let his unit down.

  Why had God spared him? Maybe the nightmares were his punishment. An ongoing reminder of his failure. As if he’d ever forget.

  Gage choked back the fist of grief that rose in his throat with the bitter taste of bile.

  The dream had changed tonight. What did it mean that Kate was now among the dead?

  Why, sir, are you flirting with me?

  Gage shuddered and tried to block the image of her lifeless, bloody face. Kate had no place in his nightmare. But maybe that was the point—a stark reminder that he was damaged. That his world was no place for Kate, with her sunshine laugh and blushing innocence. He was only passing through town. As soon as the senator moved on, so would Gage.

  Kate might be a breath of fresh air in the dank cave of his life, but he had no room for distraction. And she didn’t need his black cloud obliterating her light.

  Chapter 3

  “Get down, you mongrel!” Hank snarled when Ace greeted the senator by planting his muddy paws on the man’s Italian suit.

  Gage stepped forward and whistled for the border collie. “Ace. Here, boy.”

  Obediently, Ace walked slowly over, wagging his tail, and Gage scratched the elderly dog’s head. Across the yard, the outbuildings seemed eerily quiet compared to the activity just last night. A dry wind blew the scent of manure up from the stables, and Gage could almost imagine a tumbleweed rolling through the deserted ranch. Poor dog was probably lonely, what with everyone, including the other dogs, gone on roundup.

  “Stupid dog,” Hank grumbled, swiping mud from his pants.

  Grouch, Gage thought, opening the back door of the Lincoln Town Car for the senator. What kind of man doesn’t like dogs?

  Already, after barely twenty-four hours in Montana, Hank had grown tired of sitting around the ranch’s main house and decid
ed to get lunch in town—contrary to Gage’s advice to stay put and keep a low profile.

  “That’s why I have you for protection,” Hank had countered. “So I can go places and do things with you to watch my back.”

  So they were headed into Maple Cove for lunch at Ira’s Diner, and Gage was trying not to think about seeing Kate again. His stomach knotted when he remembered her face as it had appeared in his nightmare. Still. Blood-streaked. Lifeless.

  “From now on, when we go anywhere, you keep that mutt away from me.” Hank frowned at Gage before he climbed into the back seat. “I don’t need any more suits ruined.”

  “Yes, sir.” Gage gave Ace another furtive pat before sliding behind the steering wheel. Good dog.

  Hannah Brown appeared at the back door and called to Ace. The dog’s ears perked, and he trotted off, following the sound of her voice.

  Gage drove north into Maple Cove, listening to the senator grumble in the back seat about the spotty cell phone reception for his BlackBerry. When they reached the small town, Gage parked in front of Ira’s Diner, and anticipation jangled his nerves as though he were a grunt on his first day of basic training. Get a grip, soldier.

  “Nothing’s changed.” The senator’s voice dripped with condescension. “I’ve been gone more than thirty years, but nothing ever changes in the booming metropolis of Maple Cove, Montana.”

  “We could always go back to the ranch,” Gage suggested. Coward.

  “No. Let’s go.” The senator opened his door and climbed out before Gage could reply. Before he could do a visual sweep of the street for any potential threats.

  Gage scowled. “If I’m going to do my job, Senator Kelley, I need you to follow my directions without question. If I say jump, you’re to jump immediately. No questions asked. Understand?”

  The senator shot him a dirty look as he headed into the diner. “Not even to ask how high?”

  Gage paused on the sidewalk and braced his hands at his waist, glaring at the senator. A cool October wind, laced with tantalizing scents from the diner, ruffled his hair and stung his cheeks. “A sniper’s rifle can fire a bullet at upwards of three thousand feet per second. If you took the time to question my order, you’d be dead before the words left your mouth.”

  Hank hiked up his chin, but his face paled. “No need to get testy.”

  “I just want us to be clear. I can’t protect you if you don’t follow my directives.”

  His expression contrite, Hank turned to gaze down the street. “Fine. But I’m used to giving orders, not taking them.”

  “Understood. And I respect the authority of your office. But Bart and I need your full cooperation to keep you safe.”

  Hank straightened his tie and nodded tightly. “Got it.” He turned on his heel and marched into the diner, leaving Gage to follow.

  “Rule one,” Gage mumbled, repeating the terms he and Bart had laid out days ago when they’d first taken the assignment of protecting Senator Kelley, “I enter a building first.”

  Stepping into the diner, Gage hesitated by the door, letting his eyes adjust to the dimmer light and sweeping an encompassing gaze around the room. He was not looking for Kate, he told himself. Just getting a feel for the lunch crowd and the mood of the room as the newly notorious senator from California entered the diner.

  Heads swivelled to stare. Conversations died. A murmur flowed around them as recognition dawned on the other patrons.

  When an older woman with her hands full with takeout boxes approached the exit, Gage opened the door and held it while the lady toddled out.

  “Hello, Senator Kelley,” a bright voice said. “Welcome to Ira’s.”

  Gage’s heart missed a beat as he turned to find Kate setting out clean utensils at the table behind them.

  She flashed the senator a bright smile before aiming the full wattage on Gage.

  Steady, boy.

  “Back so soon, Gage? You did like my pie, then, didn’t you?” She added a wink, and Gage’s breath stuck in his chest. God, she was even prettier than he’d remembered. Today she wore her wheat-blond hair pinned back with barrettes shaped like butterflies, giving him an unimpeded view of the sparkle in her blue eyes.

  He clenched his teeth long enough to catch his breath and form a reply that didn’t sound like the babbling of a lovestruck sap. “The senator had cabin fever.”

  The teasing light in her face dimmed slightly, as if his response disappointed her. Mentally he kicked himself. Yes, Miss Rogers, I enjoyed your pie a lot. I’m looking forward to another slice for dessert. Yeah, that might have been more what she was looking for.

  Gage scowled, frustrated with his schoolboy jitters and took a seat at the table next to Senator Kelley.

  Kate handed them each a menu as another waitress brought glasses of ice water to them. “This is Ms. Emerson. She’ll be your server today.”

  “Howdy, folks,” the brunette with sprinkles of gray at her temples and a pencil stuck over her ear said. “Our special today is roasted chicken and rice.”

  Kate walked back to the counter as the waitress, whose name tag read Laurie, recited the soups of the day. Gage listened with only half interest, while another glance around the restaurant located Janet. Even from this distance, Gage could see the bruises on Janet’s arm and the shadow of a black eye under her makeup.

  Fury roiled in his blood toward the man who’d inflicted the wounds. He could only imagine how frustrated Kate must be trying to free her sister from the abusive marriage.

  “What’ll you have, honey?”

  Called from his musings by Laurie Emerson’s question, Gage jerked his attention back to his table. “The special is fine.”

  “Good choice.” Laurie winked, then cast her gaze in the direction he’d been staring. “Sorry, partner, Janet, over there, is married. Don’t get any ideas.”

  Gage opened his mouth to deny Laurie’s assumption, but she swished away with their order before he could speak. He shot a look at Hank, who was busy scoping out the other diners and the Western-themed decor of the small-town establishment. Gage took the opportunity to study Kate, who laughed as she talked to an older gentleman seated on a stool at the long lunch counter. She opened the pastry cooler and removed a pie with a fluffy meringue, and her customer patted his heart and nodded.

  “I’ll have some of that if you’re serving, Kate,” another man called across the diner.

  “Hold your horses, Gene!” she called back with a beatific grin. “There’s plenty!”

  And so it went for the next several minutes as Gage and Hank ate their lunch, exchanging only occasional small talk. Kate chatted amiably with the ranchers and other townsfolk, serving up cake, pie and other pastries with an unfailing smile. Every few minutes, she would glance in his direction, and Gage made no secret of the fact that he was watching. He’d nod or raise his eyebrows in acknowledgment, and Kate would flash a quick grin and flush to her roots, then busy herself with some trivial task.

  Meanwhile, Janet, between serving bowls of chili and stew, cast her sister hooded glares. When Kate would get especially chatty with one of the younger men lunching at the counter, Janet invariably stalked over with some terse comment that would send Kate off to the kitchen or another customer.

  Gage folded his arms over his chest and pondered his observations. Janet seemed unwilling to let her sister enjoy the easy rapport she had with the customers. She seemed…jealous of the attention, the compliments and the laughter Kate received. Especially from men.

  When Hank answered a call on his BlackBerry, Gage faced the senator with a curious lift of his brow.

  The senator blanched, clearly rattled by whoever was on the phone. “Oh my God! Where are you?” he gasped, then rose quickly and carried the phone to a far corner of the diner, plugging one ear with a finger.

  Gage stood, as well, prepared to follow the senator if he left the room. As long as he stayed in sight, Gage allowed Hank privacy for his call. With his attention riveted on his client, he di
dn’t see Kate approach his table with a white pastry box in her hands.

  Kate tried to squash the girlish flutter in her stomach as she set the box on the table and tapped Gage on the shoulder. He turned with a startled jerk and a frown. His stern expression almost deterred her from pursuing any conversation with him. Didn’t the man ever smile? But she recalled how he’d held the door for Mrs. Bradshaw earlier and, coupled with his willingness to defend her and Janet against Larry the night before, that simple courtesy gave her hope that a good-hearted and gallant man resided beneath his dour yet handsome facade.

  “These are for you.” She nodded toward the box. “To say thank you for stepping in last night to help out with Larry. Not many men in this town are willing to tangle with my brother-in-law.”

  Gage glanced at the box, then redirected his penetrating gaze on her. Those cool, deep blue eyes had followed her movements around the diner since he’d arrived, and she’d felt the weight of his stare like a physical touch. Intimate and personal. Distracting.

  She worked to hide the nervous twitch in her grin as she laid a hand on the box. “They’re eclairs. Chocolate. I made them this morning. For you.”

  Dear heavens, under his unnerving stare she couldn’t even form a whole sentence. She sounded like a babbling idiot!

  He covered her hand with his, scooting hers aside so he could lift the box lid. “You made these?”

  She shrugged. “No big deal. I was already doing the day’s baking and…well, I just wanted to thank you. You do like chocolate, don’t you?”

  He nodded once. “Thanks.”

  Abruptly, Gage’s attention darted across the room to the senator, who was still deep in conversation on his cell phone.

  Had she imagined the chemistry she’d experienced with him last night? He seemed distant today, despite his piercing gaze. “Well…enjoy them,” she mumbled awkwardly. “And thanks again.”

  “Kate.”

  She faced him again, her heart tapping with a schoolgirl’s hope and anticipation. “Yeah?”