Her Bodyguard: Mason Security

By Cynthia D'Alba

This is a REPRINT from 2018, originally title Texas Ranger Rescue.

A simple favor can turn everyone's life upside down. Best to hang on tight.

"Hell no." That's what retired Army Ranger Chase Adams should have said when he was asked to do a favor for a friend. "It'll be easy," his friend had said. "No danger at all."

After his run-in with an IED in Afghanistan leaves Chase Adams badly scarred, he comes home and takes a job that will use his brain and computer skills instead of his brawn. When his boss's wife asks for a favor, how can he say no? So he's off to Texas to help his favorite audiobook narrator with her latest project, the woman whose sultry voice got him through months of painful rehab. No bodyguard duties involved, or so he was told.

After an accident twenty years ago left Fiona Samuels legally blind, she has found critical and financial success as an audiobook voice actress. When her producer/audio engineer retires unexpectedly, her friends send a retired Army Ranger/computer whiz to help.

Long days of work become long nights of attraction. Chase never thought he'd find a woman who would see past the scars to the man beneath. He prays he will be there to protect her from the enemy they can't see.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Riante, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201757007

Book preview

Chapter One

Chase Adams adjusted the Bluetooth earpiece and clicked the start icon on his computer. Fiona Samuels’s honeyed voice filled his ear and flowed through him, acting as a potent drug to his agitated state. Closing his eyes, he leaned back in his chair and allowed her voice to stroke him like the softest, smoothest length of silk. Whatever the story she was telling didn’t matter. He simply needed to hear her soothing tone to take the edge off his current pissed-off mood.

But, before Fiona’s voice could work its magic, his doorbell rang. He thought about ignoring it. He did that a lot—ignoring the door—but then his phone flashed with a text message.

Open the door. It’s Trevor.

Chase groaned. Trevor Mason had been like a brother to him, both in war and now back in the states. He pretty much owed his life to the man. The fact he did computer intelligence for Trevor’s company might also have played a factor in his pushing up from his comfortable seat.

Coming, he called.

He stopped the audiobook and let his screen saver take over his monitor. An unexpected smile twisted his lips when he opened the door. Trevor was there, but so was his lovely wife, Risa.

You didn’t say Risa was here. You, I can ignore, but never Risa.

Risa Mason smiled, her personality as beautiful as her face. Ah, Chase. You say the nicest things. She rose on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. It’s good to see you.

You, too. What’s going on?

Can we come in? Trevor asked.

Sorry. Come on in. Can I get you a drink? Beer? Water?

Both Masons declined and followed him into his tiny living room.

Not that I’m not happy to see you, but I know you two. You’re wanting something, so just spill it. He looked at Trevor with an arched brow.

Risa sat next to Chase on the sofa and draped an arm around him. I need a favor.

And that’s how Chase had found himself on the road driving to Big Branch, Texas. He’d been played by Risa Mason. No doubt about it. Only his friend’s pretty wife could present the situation in such a way to convince Chase that he was, in fact, the ideal man to help Risa’s friend.

The fact that her friend in need was audiobook narrator Fiona Samuels, and that Chase was a huge fan, didn’t hurt her case.

And yeah, it was a helluva drive from Montana to Texas. A little under eighteen-hundred miles, it’d take him a couple of long days of driving, but he didn’t really mind. He liked the solitude. He loved listening to his audiobooks. Well, actually, he ran Fiona Samuels books the entire way when he wasn’t on his phone. He’d listened to all of them before, but this time, he really concentrated on her voice. How her tone modulated. How clear it was. How well she enunciated her words. The way she employed different voices for the various characters.

He knew from his own experience that as her producer and audio engineer, he had the power to tweak the recording to make her sound awesome, or screw it up and make her sound like a chipmunk.

Trevor had come through with the phone number for Fiona’s previous producer, Harold Byrd. He’d been a fountain of information about the equipment—top notch—how much he had to correct—very little—and how hard Fiona worked. He was mum on the narrator herself, only saying, She’s unique and a real gem. I think you’ll like her.

He hoped he did. How many times were people disappointed when they met someone they admired?

He rolled into Big Branch late in the afternoon, his route taking him straight through the town square. The center was dominated by a stone-constructed courthouse that he would bet was at least a hundred years old, if not older. Not in a hurry to find the Best Quality Inn and Suites, where he’d live until the project was done, he circled the square a couple of times to see what was there. A number of mom-and-pop shops, two cafes and one after-five restaurant. Being after five—almost seven, actually—he parked, entered T-Bone’s Place for dinner, and ate the finest steak he’d had in years.

T-Bone’s would have a repeat customer in him.

Fiona Samuels winced as the doctor sewed the last stitch. He placed a soft, sterile pad over his work, and then pressed a fat width of tape over it to hold the covering in place.

This may ache a little when the local wears off, the doctor said. I can write you a script for pain if you need something.

Fiona shook her head. I’ll be fine.

Ignore her, Lori Wood said. Give me the scripts and I’ll make sure they are filled.

Lori— Fiona begain.

Don’t start with me, Fiona’s assistant said. I’m getting the antibiotics and we might as well have the pain med filled at the same time. If you don’t need it, great. But if you do, I’d hate to be headed out in the middle of the night to find a pharmacy.

Meet my assistant, Fiona said to the doctor, her tone dry. She runs my life.

Someone has to, Lori joked.

The dermatology clinic nurse came in with discharge instructions about caring for the small surgical site on Fiona’s back and then she was released. Fiona unfolded her cane and tapped the tip to the floor.

You want my elbow? Lori asked.

I’m fine. Lead on.

As the two women made their way to the car, Fiona could feel Lori’s presence, as well as smell her perfume, so she was fully aware that her assistant was walking at her side and probably signaling everyone out of Fiona’s way. She loved Lori, but she could be a little overprotective, not that Fiona really minded that much.

Fiona had lost most of her sight almost twenty years ago in an auto accident. She carried the diagnosis of legally blind, but it wasn’t as if she saw only a black slate. She had some vision, but it was so poor that she mostly saw slight shadows and wavy shapes, and only in gray shades. She missed seeing colors, especially this time of the year when the few Texas trees that underwent autumn change wore their finest fall foliage. Living in Big Branch, there wasn’t much color. One year, before she’d lost her sight, her parents had taken her south to the Texas Hill Country so she could really experience the full fall foliage. That remained one of her favorite visual memories.

However, since her accident, she’d also developed an extreme sensitivity to bright lights. Very dark glasses gave her a modicum of relief, so anytime she left the house—and until the sun went down—her eyes were covered, as they were at the moment. Her doctor had given her an explanation about cones and rods, but she’d never understood and hadn’t spent much time worrying about why her eyes were sensitive because it didn’t matter. Understanding all the medical jargon wasn’t going to bring back her vision. She didn’t like the diagnosis of legally blind, but she accepted it.

Until her mother’s death last year, Fiona had lived in the family home with her. But Fiona needed someone to do her shopping, help pay her bills, even do the laundry from time to time. A team of house cleaners came in weekly, but in between, she needed a little assistance, and so she’d hired Lori Wood to serve as her eyes.

Having Lori as an assistant was like having a bossy, older, protective sister who was also her closest friend. Now that Fiona had no family left, it was nice to have someone she knew she could rely on in