is ours. She needs you. We need you.”
Donovan didn’t doubt for a second that he could protect her, but was he prepared to spend a month with her? The lady was a handful—and she didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him. If he was dumb enough to do this, he knew she’d make his life a living hell.
“No,” he said firmly. “I’m not a babysitter. That wasn’t part of the deal.”
“You’ll be doing a hell of a lot more than babysitting,” Buck told him. “I don’t have time to go into everything right now—my flight back to the States has just been called—but the bastards who kidnapped her are bound to be watching the airports, hoping to get their hands on her a second time. And if they do, they’ll kill her this time. That’s how badly they want the ranch.”
“Which is why you need to get her out of the country as soon as possible,” Donovan pointed out.
“I realize that, but it’s not that easy, dammit. I’ve dealt with this for nearly a year, and it’s like trying to catch a ghost. We don’t know what the enemy looks like. It could be anyone, including the baggage clerk at the airport, which means Priscilla’s not safe anywhere…except with you.” He exhaled. “You’re damn resourceful—you found her when no one else could. You’ll be able to keep her safe until you can find a way to get her out of England. I don’t know anyone else who can do that.”
At a loss, Donovan hesitated. Did Buck know what he was asking of him? “I don’t know, Buck…”
“I’ll double your fee.”
Donovan liked to think he wasn’t a fool, especially when it came to money. A job was a job. And he could handle little Miss Priss. “All right,” he said. “But you can tell her. She’s not going to be happy about it.”
“I can’t,” he said. “We’re about to take off—we’ve just been told to turn off all electronics. Tell Priscilla I love her and I’ll see her in a month. Keep her safe. I’m counting on you.”
“Wait a minute. What if—” That was as far as he got before the line went dead. Swearing, Donovan snapped the phone shut and tossed it into a cupholder. “Great! This is just great!”
Beside him, Priscilla eyed him suspiciously. “What is? What am I not going to be happy about? What did Buck say?”
“He’s pretty sure the airports are being watched,” he said bluntly, “so leaving the country, at least for now, is out of the question. He thinks you’ll be safer with me, anyway.”
“What?! Oh, no. I’m going home.”
“Not right now you’re not,” he informed her. “He just hired me to watch over you for the next month.”
“The hell he did!”
A grin propped up one side of his mouth. So the fireworks were about to begin. “He doubled my fee, sweetheart,” he chuckled. “Like it or not, it looks like you’re stuck with me.”
“For a month? You’re out of your mind. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not a child.”
Appreciation glinted in his eyes. “Oh, I noticed, all right.”
She gave him a withering look. “Stuff it, Mr.—” Trying to remember his name, she frowned. “What the devil is your name? Dirk? Darryl?”
“Donovan Jones,” he said with a grin. “But you can call me Mr. Jones.”
“In your dreams,” she snorted. “Keep this up and I’ll call you—”
“Wonderful…studly…Superman—”
“Irritating…obnoxious—”
“George.”
Surprised, she blinked. “George?”
“Clooney.”
Caught off guard, she laughed. “You must be joking.”
For a moment, she thought she’d insulted him. Something that looked like hurt flashed in his steely blue eyes. Then she saw his lips twitch, and alarm bells went off in her head. He was, she realized, far more dangerous than she’d first suspected. He was one of those men who was far too sure of himself, who knew how to set a woman’s heart pounding with just a smile and a twinkle in his eyes. And she had to spend a month with him? No way!
“I’m calling Buck,” she told him, snatching up his phone. “I don’t need anyone to take care of me.”
“You’d have a better argument if I hadn’t just rescued you from those two thugs,” he pointed out dryly, “but go ahead and call him. It’s not going to do you any good. He’s already on a plane back to the States.”
She didn’t believe him. Lightning quick, she punched in Buck’s cell phone, but it never rang. Instead, it went straight to voice mail. Swearing, she hung up. “How much is he paying you?” she demanded. “Whatever it is, I’ll double it.”
He grinned. “Really? What is it with you people? First your brother, now you. You do realize, don’t you, that you’re quadrupling my original fee without even knowing what it is?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she snapped. “I’ll come up with the money someway. Are you accepting my offer or not?”
“It depends on what you want me to do,” he said simply.
“Take me to Heathrow.”
“Forget it!” he said quickly. “That’s out of the question.”
“Then take me to Bristol or Liverpool.”
“Nope. It’s too dangerous.”
“You don’t know that.”
“The hell I don’t. Buck told me all about the problems your family is having in Colorado. Someone wants the ranch, sweetheart, and it sounds like they’re willing to commit murder to get it. In case you missed who their intended victim is, it’s you.”
A cold shiver skated down her spine. Hugging herself, she stared out the van’s passenger window as they raced across London in the fog at a frightening speed. “Oh, no,” she said huskily. “I knew. I was hoping they were just trying to scare me.”
“Did it work?”
Her throat dry, she nodded. “That’s why I ran when you broke in. I knew it was the only chance I was going to get.”
“And you still want me to take you to the airport? Are you crazy, girl? Buck was right—they’ll be watching the airports. You’d be running right into a trap.”
“Not if we got there before they did,” she pointed out. “They don’t know where we’re going—”
He laughed without humor. “Of course they know where we’re going! It’s the only way back to the States, sweetheart, unless you’re going to take a slow boat to China.”
“But
