Christmas Bodyguard (12 page)

She wouldn't go there again. She couldn't lose herself as she had with Bryan—actually had all her life until five years ago. Uncle Joshua had shown her the way to stand on her own two feet. She couldn't let herself forget that.

As the dress rehearsal wrapped up, Abbey stepped back to let the cast stream off the stage. Abbey came off last after
talking with the director, Mr. Greenly. There would be only one performance, tomorrow evening, Saturday. The cast and crew had been invited back to the ranch after the play for a late celebration. It had been planned for a month, and Slade had hated to cancel something that meant so much to Abbey. Joshua had hired a few extra guards to cover the grounds and house while Elizabeth wouldn't let Abbey out of her sight.

She wasn't looking forward to tomorrow evening. It would be a long night. One she would be glad to see over.

“What did ya think?” Abbey said, her excited voice in contrast to the tired lines on her face.

The past several nights Elizabeth had heard Abbey up until late—sometimes practicing her lines, other times receiving texts and calls until all hours. “You're gonna be good. Laura is a perfect role for you.”

The teen beamed. “I get her. Her parents didn't understand her. Couldn't relate to her. She felt stifled by them.”

“Until she left and discovered the world.”

“Well, I haven't done that yet.” Abbey weaved her way through the props and cast to the dressing room she shared with the other females in the play. “You will.”

“Not soon enough for me. There's so much I want to do. I wish I was graduating from high school like Brody is this year.”

“You like him, don't ya?” She didn't need the teen to answer her—the evidence spoke for itself. Every lunch this past week, Abbey and Brody had eaten together. Several times during the school day they'd met in the hall and talked for a few minutes until they had to get to class—usually with Abbey jogging to make it on time.

“Well, he's cute. Sweet. And he's great with a horse. I think he's gonna follow in his brother's footsteps with the rodeo.” Abbey removed her costume and changed back into her jeans and blazer. “Let's go. I can remove my makeup at home.”

Elizabeth called the security guard parked outside to let him know that they were coming out. He would pull the car around to the side door, which was only five feet away from the curb. Once they left the auditorium the press of people thinned. Only two other kids were in the corridor that led to the east exit. Elizabeth kept an eye on the two teenage boys down at the end of the hall, at the same time aware of her surroundings and anything that might be unusual.

The two teens turned down another hallway at the other end, leaving Elizabeth and Abbey totally alone. Elizabeth's gaze swept the empty passageway, where only some of the lights were on. Three more feet and she and Abbey would be outside in the armored plated SUV and heading home. After she stopped Abbey so she could check the exterior, Elizabeth pushed through the door and scanned the dark parking lot, where there were a half a dozen vehicles.

Where was the guard with the car?

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as though an electric shock had passed through her body. She stepped back into the building and pointed toward the far wall, away from the glass in the doors. “Stay there.” Then she retrieved her cell and made a call to the security guard. “Where are you?”

He snorted. “Some moron cut me off. I'm almost there. Twenty seconds.”

“Did you get the license number of the car?”

“Yep. I'm here.”

Elizabeth clicked off and stuffed her phone back in her pocket. “Let's go.” She stepped outside first and checked
the area, then hurried Abbey to the SUV with bulletproof glass.

Once inside the vehicle Elizabeth didn't stop her vigil but kept panning the traffic around them. She called in the license number to Joshua to run down, then said to the driver, “Make sure our route is different from yesterday.”

Abbey angled around to see the school disappearing from her view. “What happened back there?”

“Probably nothing, but someone cut off Kurt when he was coming to pick us up.”

“Why's that a big deal? People do it all the time.”

“As I said, probably nothing, but I'm paid to be suspicious about everything.”

“I'd hate living my life not trusting anyone.”

Abbey's comment made Elizabeth pause. When she was working, not trusting anyone was part of her job, but it didn't stop when she was off the clock. She lived her life like that, but it wasn't her job that caused it. Her past relationships with her father and Bryan had driven that point home to her. Now, she protected herself, stayed safe—but the cost was never feeling close to anyone. Was that really how she wanted to live her life? “Are your friends still coming over on Sunday afternoon for another tae kwon do lesson?”

“Yeah, Lily even wants to go riding again. She and Lindsay have been my best friends for years.”

Elizabeth's life wasn't conducive to having many friends, and there were times she missed that. “Maybe we can do both.”

“I haven't gotten to ride all week with play practice right after school. Brody told me Sassy misses me.” Abbey leaned her head back against the cushion. “I think I'll text Brody to bring Sassy in from the pasture and put her in her stall. After dinner I'll go down to see her and hopefully ride
her in the morning. It'll help me forget the play is tomorrow evening.”

“We'll see.”

Abbey threw her a frown. “I shouldn't have to run everything by you.”

“I know this is hard for you.”

“Has anyone ever curtailed your activities when you didn't do anything wrong?”

“Yes,” Elizabeth murmured, then wished she could snatch the word back.

“Who?”

She didn't want to have this discussion but Abbey's gaze drilled into her, demanding an answer. “My father. I didn't date until after I graduated from high school. He told me that was for my protection. He rarely let me go over to a friend's house unless their parents were friends of his. My day usually consisted of going to school, then home. I didn't do many extracurricular activities.” She wouldn't get into the fact that she'd married a man like her father who had to control her every move.

“Oh. At least Dad never did that until now.”

“And you know why he's doing it. He loves you and wants to make sure you're safe.”

“Like your father?”

“He's nothing like my father,” Elizabeth said with such force even she was surprised by the vehement tone.

“Then tell me why my father is always working. I've seen more of him in the last couple of weeks than in months. His usual routine is to go to work early and come home late.”

“Why don't you ask him?”

Abbey's eyes grew round. She stared at Elizabeth for a long moment, then turned her head and looked out the window.

For the rest of the ride to the ranch silence ruled, and
Elizabeth was glad. Why was she being forced to talk about her father after all these years?
What are You trying to get me to do, Lord?

She didn't have an answer to that question twenty minutes later as they pulled up to the main house at the ranch. Both Elizabeth and Kurt got out first and looked around before she waved for Abbey to exit the SUV. The teen slung her backpack over one shoulder and rushed to the front door, which opened before she reached it.

When Elizabeth entered a few seconds behind her, both Slade and Joshua stood to the side as Abbey took the stairs to the second floor two at a time.

“Did anything else happen?” Slade asked, watching his daughter vanish down the upstairs hallway.

“No, the ride here was uneventful.” If you called telling Abbey more than she intended uneventful. “Did you find out who the car belonged to?” Elizabeth asked Joshua, troubled by Slade's assessing gaze as if he were delving into the secret places in her heart.

“Yes. The man doesn't appear to be connected at all to Slade or Abbey. He's an electrician but has never done any work here or at DDI. So he was probably just an irate driver hurrying to get home.”

Elizabeth exhaled a deep breath. “Good. I don't think Abbey would be too happy if she couldn't do the play tomorrow night and have the cast party here.”

“I thought you were against the party,” Slade said as Joshua proceeded to lock down the house, a routine he did each night when everyone was home.

“I am. If I had my way, I'd put my client in a locked room reinforced with steel with no windows and no visitors.”

“Solitary confinement. That would go over well with Abbey.”

“She could text or chat on her cell.”

“Oh, then that would make everything better.” A twinkle gleamed in his eyes.

“Fair warning. She wants to go to the barn and see Sassy tonight after dinner.”

“I don't see why we can't take a walk down there if she wants. None of the guards patrolling the ranch have seen anything out of the ordinary in the past week.”

“So you think the guy has given up?”

“Maybe.” He peered at her. “Okay, probably not, but I can wish.”

“He's just waiting for you to let down your guard. Tomorrow night would be a good time for him to strike.”

“Everyone attending the party has been checked out. Joshua has doubled the detail for the event. Since Mary has had to cancel our Christmas open house, she's using this as a holiday celebration.”

“So everyone is happy.” Elizabeth started for the stairs, needing a little down time before their late dinner.

“What happened? Did Abbey give you a hard time? Or did something go wrong at school that I should know about?”

“No, nothing happened at school. Abbey still isn't thrilled to have me trail her around, but her friends seem to accept me. In fact, I think another friend is going to join us on Sunday for the self-defense class.”

“So the pain I see in your eyes is from nothing?”

How did this man get to be so perceptive? Most people she'd worked for never bothered to ask questions about her personal life, her feelings. Often she'd felt invisible in their homes, which had been fine with her. But here she wasn't invisible, and she was having a hard down shutting down her emotions. “We talked a little bit about feeling confined. She challenged me when I told her I knew how she felt. I
ended up telling her a little about my relationship with my father.”

“What did she say to that?”

“She shared with me some of your relationship with her.”

“Ouch.”

“Why do you say that?” She needed to keep the focus of the conversation on him, not her.

“Our relationship hasn't been good lately, and I'm to blame for that.”

“Have you told her recently that you love her?” As a teen she'd kept hoping to hear those words from her father. He never said them.

Slade thought for a moment. “No, not nearly enough.”

“That would be a start.” Elizabeth mounted the first step, still needing that down time to piece together the armor she wore to keep herself apart from others. Obviously she wasn't doing a good job if Slade could read her like he did.

When he followed her up the stairs, she sent him a questioning look.

“There's no better time than now to talk to Abbey. Mary said dinner will be—” he looked at his watch “—in twenty minutes.”

At his daughter's room, he rapped on the door and waited for her to open it. Elizabeth went into her bedroom, but Abbey didn't appear. After knocking again, he thought a moment about trying the handle. What if something was wrong? Yes, the house was secure, but…

He grabbed for the knob at the same time Abbey pulled the door open. He quickly dropped his hand to his side.

She frowned. “I was in the bathroom.”

Censure in her voice challenged his intentions for being there. “Can I come in?”

“It's your house.”

“It's yours, too,” he said as he moved into the middle of the room.

“Not really. If I had a choice, I would be living closer to town, nearer my friends.”

“I thought you loved this ranch.”

The frown still firmly fixed on her expression, she plopped down on her bed and sat cross-legged on it. “When I was little, I did. There isn't much to do here.”

“You love to ride.”

She shrugged. “It's okay.”

When did this all change? What had he been doing? Working. “Why didn't you say anything to me?”

“Because you and Mom loved it here. And now that she's gone…” Abbey swallowed hard. “I never see you.”

He took a step toward her. “Honey, I'm sorry. We used to be so close, and I pushed you away after Mom died.”

She shut her eyes for a long moment. When she reestablished visual contact, tears pooled in her gaze. “Why? I needed you.”

A huge knot in his throat prevented him from replying for a long moment. He swallowed several times. “I know I let you down. I was too caught up in my own grief to see anyone else's. I thought if I worked hard I could forget and everything would be all right. It isn't.”

He sat on the bed, wanting to draw his daughter into his arms, but she scooted back against the headboard, curling her legs up against her chest and clasping them to her. The barrier might as well be a high, thick, stone wall separating them.

“If you want to move closer to town when this is all over, we will,” he finally said, not sure how to mend the damage his grief had caused in their relationship.

“But you love the ranch. It has always been your dream.”

“But my dreams have changed since I grew up. What I want more than anything now is for us to be a family again.”

The doubt in her eyes stared back at him. “I want to go down to the barn after dinner to see Sassy. Can I?”