Page 28 of Cowboy Under Siege

“That sounds acceptable to me,” he said with a nod to Modeen.

The man gave him a chin-lift of acknowledgement. “Get the keys off Corrine. It should be stocked with everything you need.”

And by “stocked,” Modeen meant all the supplies they’d need to hole up for a month if necessary, as well as weapons and ammo to properly defend heranda five-star stay.

Ross pushed back his chair. “It’s settled. Jaren will take Trinny to the lodge and the rest of you assholes will be his backup.”

Jaren shoved to his feet, ready to get away from his brothers’ shit-eating grins. Of course they caught up to him before he reached the door.

“Make sure you’re stocked up on condoms, bro.” Jace bumped shoulders with him.

He let out a noise of warning. “I can be professional.”

That had Judd and Jace laughing.

He narrowed his eyes at them. “Just because we were raised together, work together and live together doesn’t mean you know everything about me. This is serious shit. We were both almost killed. Everything she had with her was in that truck, and I lost my fuckingbike.”

Hell, he might even shed a damn tear over it later.

The mention of his Harley sobered his brothers. Thankful that he finally managed to shut them up, he walked out of the room.

When he entered the main office, his gaze landed on Trinny—officially his new ward—standing at the window. Just the sight of her gazing out, arms folded and her head tipped to the side, sent a jolt to his core that made him wonder if his brothers weren’t actually right about his reason for wanting this job.

Then she turned, her eyes seeking him out, and he knew without a doubt that it was the right thing forher. Nothing else mattered in the world. He could check his hunger for her and bury it in the name of duty.

Or he could bend rules like he always did and claim they were lovers before she ever hired him to protect her.

He walked over to Corrine. “Your husband said we can use your lodge.”

She didn’t even look surprised by Modeen’s offer. “Sure. Let me give you a key.”

As she located her purse and rummaged around its contents, Jaren swung to look at Trinny again. She’d drifted a few feet from the window, looking so damn lost and alone that his chest squeezed.

“Here you go. I’ll text you the alarm code.”

He dragged his stare off Trinny and turned his attention to Corrine. She slapped a key into his palm.

“Thank you.” He closed the key in his fist. “Shit. I just remembered my truck’s still at my house.”

“Take mine. I won’t be needing it for the next week. Besides, it will look better ifmytruck’s atmyhouse.”

He tapped a finger to his temple. “Always thinking, Corrine. This is why they pay you the big bucks, right?”

She let out a huff of laughter. “As if.”

He threw her a smile and crossed the room to his ward. “Ready?”

Trinny tilted her head back to look at him. The depths of those hazel eyes swirled with trepidation. “I don’t have any choice, do I?”

“Sure you do. But I’ll argue with you if you try to go against me.”

Irritation washed over her face. Good—he’d rather her pissed off at one of his dumb remarks than trembling with fear.

He waved a hand for her to precede him out, and it was impossible not to note the small bounce in her step or the way her cute ass twitched.

Damn, he wasn’t trained for battling this attraction to his ward. This job was going to test his limitsfarmore than his skills.

ChapterSix

---