Bodyguard Under the Mistletoe by Cassie Miles

regretted the distance between them, she was also relieved. With her long-suppressed hormones raging, she wasn’t able to think straight. “Did you live there, too?”
    â€œI’m a city kid. We lived in Denver. My mom isn’t Navajo, but she wanted me and my sister to know and appreciate our heritage. She sent us to live with our grandparents every summer.”
    â€œAnd was she right? Did you learn to appreciate that life?”
    â€œProbably more than the kids who grew up on the rez. Our time there was limited and special. We were hungry for knowledge, fascinated by the old ways and rituals. And we knew we could always return to our urban life. My sister said we had the best of both worlds.”
    â€œAre you close to her?”
    â€œElena is the office manager for Longbridge Security.”
    He seemed to be devoted to his family. That was a check mark on the plus side. “You haven’t mentioned your father.”
    â€œHe was in the marines. He died when I was seven. I hardly remember him.”
    â€œI’m sorry,” Fiona said.
    â€œMy mother remarried a couple of years after he died. My stepfather is a good man, a good provider.”
    His mother—a widow like her—managed to find love again. Not an unusual situation. Lots of people had second chances. There wasn’t a rule that said Fiona had to live the rest of her life alone, draped in widow’s weeds. She just wasn’t accustomed to thinking that way.
    â€œMy grandfather,” Jesse said quietly, “passed away a few years ago. Sometimes, he seems to be with me.”
    â€œI understand. His memory lives through you.”
    â€œIt’s something more,” he said. “When I was in the hospital, they said that I died on the operating table for a few minutes. I saw him. My grandfather.”
    Many people talked about seeing a white light and beingreacquainted with others who had passed away. “Did he say anything?”
    â€œHe was there to welcome me,” Jesse said. “But I wasn’t ready to go with him. Not yet. There’s something more I need to do with my life.”
    Had he come back from death to be with her? Were they both being given a second chance? “What is it, Jesse? What do you need to do?”
    â€œI’ll wait and see. And trust that I’ll recognize the true path when it appears before me.”
    She wanted to walk beside him on that trail. No matter where it led. Their brief kiss had been the first step. She could hardly wait to see what came next.
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    P ETE R ICHTER WATCHED as the lights inside the widow Grant’s house were turned off one by one. From where he was standing in the forest, he couldn’t actually see inside because the curtains were pulled. But the glow at the edges of the windows went out until only one lamp in the living room was still lit.
    Richter figured the bodyguard would station himself there, near the fireplace. Even though no smoke rose from the chimney, the thought of a warm blaze made him feel even colder. It was below freezing out here. He needed to act soon before he turned into a damn icicle.
    The widow’s bedroom was at the end of the cabin, far away from the front room. He could break through her window and grab her, but he wouldn’t be able to haul her away before her security man responded. It might be smart to kill him first.
    But the curtains were drawn. Richter couldn’t see to get a clear shot at the son of a bitch who, by all rights, should already have been dead.
    Walking carefully so he wouldn’t make any noise, he tried to come up with a plan. There had to be a way for him to get to the widow—another way into her house.
    He’d find it soon enough. Then he’d make her tell him where she’d hidden his money.
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    W ITH F IONA SAFELY TUCKED into bed, Jesse sat in a wooden rocking chair beside the fireplace with his gun resting on the table beside him. Though he