Page 17 of Guarded Hearts

Now he wasn’t sure if they everwerea thing.

“That’s over, Colt. Just examine every photo in her phone. If you see a person more than one time, check them out.”

“Will do. Don’t…uh…work too hard.” Amusement trickled into Colt’s tone.

He grunted, a noise that people who knew the Malones all claimed they had mastered as their own language. “You might only be five years younger than I am, but those five years of life experience mean I have superiority.”

“Maybe you should talk to the therapists at the Lodge about these delusions.”

Carson issued a chuckle. Colt followed with his own, and they ended the call on a brotherly note.

Layne’s raised voice projected from across the house. “Faye? Is that grilled cheese I smell?”

He intercepted Faye in the kitchen, taking the tray of food from her. She offered him a wink as she relinquished the tray.

The hallway was paneled in dark wood, and no family photos graced them. Instead, expensive art was showcased with gallery lighting. Mr. London always did love a good oil painting.

Layne stood in her bedroom doorway, the glow of light behind her casting her warm brown hair with an amber sheen.

When she saw him coming with the tray, she squared her shoulders and gave that sharp little tilt of her jaw. “What’s that?”

“Our supper.” He walked right by her and entered her bedroom.

She rushed in after him, gawking at the tray. “It reallyisgrilled cheese! Why would Faye make me that? She knows I don’t do carbs.”

He fixed his gaze on her, aware of the way hers darkened as her pupils dilated. “You know what burns a lot of carbs?”

A pink flush spread across her cheeks. “Um…”

Forget the grilled cheese. He wanted her. On this bed. Now.

He had a job to do. It wasn’t fucking around with his ex.

He plucked up a triangle of sandwich. “Fear burns a lot of carbs. Eat the sandwich, Layne.”

* * * * *

Layne didn’t wake with the sun on her face. She rolled over and opened her eyes, eyes slit in a glare at the closed curtains. No beautiful vistas today.

Everything about this was weird. It left her feeling…unsettled.

She’d come to Golden Horizon for a break, but this was far from the retreat she was hoping for.

The deep timbre of Carson’s voice broke into whatever pleasant haze she might have actually possessed before her world was completely screwed up.

She strained to hear what he said, but it came out muffled. Then she caught Faye’s familiar lilting laugh. The one that made everyone smile.

Layne bit off a groan. The man was cordial to her father and warm to her housekeeper. With Layne, he acted cold and at times, almost hostile.

Though she’d only been in his company for a few hours, she needed a break from Carson too.

After a quick shower, she donned her typical country uniform of a denim skirt and a flannel shirt knotted at her navel. Slipping her arms into the worn flannel was like getting a big, warm hug—something she needed right now.

Her mind flashed with visions of Carson’s muscular arms and chiseled chest. She snorted. With all that muscle the military had put on him, he probably wasn’t even alittle bitcomfortable to hug.

She fluffed her hair over her shoulders and added her favorite set of earrings—silver horseshoes studded with diamonds, a gift from her father for her eighteenth birthday.

She reached for her sunscreen and uncapped it, prepared to squirt a dollop into her palm to apply to her face.

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