Free Her Rancher Bodyguard by Brenda Minton

understand. How would it feel to have someone tell her they believed her?
    â€œMy dad and I are going to have to talk. We’ve been sweeping things under the rug for so long. And now it looks as if someone is going to force us to face this.”
    â€œTalk to him, then. Whatever it is, the power these blackmailers have over him is the secrecy and obviously the lack of trust between father and daughter. Take that advantage away from them and they fail.”
    â€œYou make it sound easy.”
    â€œTell Samantha. She can help you.” He pulled the truck up behind her sister’s truck.
    Sam waved from the arena where she was working her barrel horse. She’d tried to teach Kayla to ride. It had not been a great experience. But she thought she might like to try again. Because riding meant trusting.
    If she could trust a thousand-pound animal, maybe she could trust her father. She could trust Boone. She could trust her heart.
    * * *
    Boone watched from a distance as the sisters talked. They were full of smiles and hugs. Then they walked together, the horse trailing behind them. From a distance he saw Kayla run her hand down the neck of the horse. He smiled. Maybe he’d give her riding lessons. That would be a way to pass some time.
    His phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and he wasn’t surprised that the call was from Kayla’s father. He answered.
    â€œDid my daughter get a text?”
    Hello to you, too. Boone grinned at his own humor. “Yes, sir, she did. She isn’t in the mood to talk about you or to you. I think that’s a mistake. These blackmailers know your secrets. Or at least they think they do. I know the goal is to catch them and put a stop to this. But as long as you’re keeping your secrets, they have all the power.”
    A deadly silence hung between them for a long minute.
    â€œDon’t tell me about power, Mr. Wilder. I know all about power. And don’t tell me what I already know about my daughter.” There was a break in either the connection or the other man’s voice.
    â€œI’m just saying...” Boone began. But then he didn’t know how to continue. Everything sounded like an accusation, and that wasn’t a bodyguard’s place.
    He glanced in the direction of the corral, where the sisters were talking. This simple babysitting job was taking on levels he hadn’t expected, and didn’t want.
    â€œI’m going to hunt these men down,” Mr. Stanford was saying. “I’m going to make them pay.”
    â€œIt sounds as if you might want to deal with a few other things first. What is it you didn’t believe?”
    Mr. Stanford said a few choice words followed by, “Do your job, Wilder. You were hired to be a bodyguard, not a family counselor.”
    Boone brushed a hand through his hair and let out a long breath. “I’m sorry, that was uncalled-for.”
    â€œYou bet it was. If you don’t want to lose this job, remember who is paying your salary.”
    Boone nodded and kept the phone to his ear. Because the salary was important to him. As much as he didn’t want the money to be important, for his family and for the Wilder ranch, it was. They had medical bills to pay and kids to put through college. His career was the only thing between them and financial ruin.
    â€œI’m protecting your daughter. I’ll leave it to you to find the people threatening her life.”
    â€œI expect you to keep Kayla safe, out of trouble, and get her to my town hall meeting in San Antonio this Friday.”
    â€œWe’ll be there.”
    The call ended. Boone shoved the phone into his pocket and headed for the corral and the horse that Kayla was climbing on top of. Keeping her safe meant keeping her from falling off that crazy animal of Sam’s. The horse was sidestepping, aware of the novice crawling on his back as if she was hanging on to a high wire and about to