Page 15 of Overprotective Cowboy

Chapter Five

Ted had no idea what was going on, only that something bad was happening. Emma looked one breath away from pure panic, and Ted knew what that looked like. He’d helped a couple of newboots when they’d come to River Bay, and Raymond had suffered a complete panic attack his first night.

It had been as scary for Ted as Raymond, and they’d been friends until the day Ray got to walk out, a free man.

Emma was about to lose it, and Ted stepped closer to her as a sob came out of her throat. He gathered her tight, because he knew more now than he had when he’d attempted to help Raymond.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he said. “You’re okay. You’re right here.” He held her tightly against his chest, and he couldn’t complain when her arms came up and around him too. She clung to him as if she needed him to stand, which was actually fine with Ted.

Strangely enough.

“Just take a breath,” he said. “Okay? In with me, Emma.” He drew in a long, deep breath, but she ignored him completely. “And out,” he said anyway, releasing his breath. He did it again, and this time, she matched her breath to his.

“Tell me what’s in your head,” he said.

“I can’t.” Her voice was thick as honey and filled with misery.

“Who was the man that was here earlier?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “That’s the problem.”

Ted didn’t quite get how. “You didn’t talk to him?’

“No, I assumed he was the pest guy, because he had that truck with the grasshopper.” Her breath was hot against his chest, but she’d started to calm.

“You thought he was checking the meters?”

“Yes.”

“Or was the pest guy.”

“Yes.”

“But he wasn’t either of those.”

“I don’t think so.”

Ted didn’t either, but he wasn’t sure why it mattered. Emma didn’t seem like the type of woman to be scared by her own shadow, even though she had screamed when she’d seen him earlier that morning.

So why would she literally fall apart over a man coming to the house? Surely they had dozens of people coming and going around this ranch. One dude in a blue truck shouldn’t send her into a frenzy.

Unless she has something to hide, Ted thought, and he realized he’d just hit the nail on the head. Hard.

Emma had something to hide. Something big, and with someone new on the ranch, asking questions, she was afraid…of something.

Ted couldn’t even imagine what, but he knew he’d seen her somewhere, and his guess was in a file for one of the cases he’d worked at his law firm, many years ago. He’d doubted himself for a few hours last night, but this morning, looking at her again in the barn, and then again just now in the house, and he knew.

He’d definitely seen her face before, either in person or in a picture.

“Ted?”

Ted released Emma, but she didn’t move very far from him. Ted stepped to the corner of the house and waved to Nate. “We, uh, need a second.”

“Need a second for what?” Nate started striding toward them, and Ted ducked back around the corner.

“He’s coming.”

Emma wiped at her face, but she’d done a number on her makeup. Her perfectly swept on eyeliner had smudged, and she had streaks down her cheeks. “I’m fine.”

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