The Protectors: Defending His Own / Guarding Jeannie. BEVERLY BARTON

memories of his old man cursing a blue streak, slapping his mother around and passing out drunk. Yeah, Ashe knew all about the low-class people he’d come from and had spent a lifetime trying to escape.

      “Go tell Lee Roy his cousin wants to see him,” Ashe said.

      The woman’s smile wavered, her eyes darting nervously from Ashe to the trailer. “Yeah, sure. He heard you was back in these parts.”

      Ashe didn’t move from his propped position against the hood of his car while Lee Roy’s wife went inside the trailer. Three pairs of big brown eyes peered out the back window of the Ca-maro. Ashe waved at the children. Three wide, toothy smiles appeared on their faces.

      “Hey, cousin. What’s up?” Lee Roy Brennan stepped out onto the wooden porch connected to his trailer, his naked beer belly hanging over the top of his unsnapped jeans.

      “Just paying a social call on my relatives.” Ashe lowered his sunglasses down on his nose, peering over the top so that his cousin could see his eyes. Ashe had been told that he possessed a look that could kill. Maybe not kill, he thought, but intimidate the hell out of a person.

      “You run them kids on to school, Mindy.” Lee Roy swatted his wife’s round behind.

      She rubbed herself against the side of his body, patting him on his butt before she sauntered off the porch and strutted over to the car. She gave Ashe a backward glance. Although he caught her suggestive look in his peripheral vision, he kept his gaze trained on Lee Roy.

      “Come on in and have a cup of coffee. Johnny Joe just got up. He’s still in his drawers, but he’ll be glad to see you.”

      Standing straight and tall, Ashe accepted his cousin’s invitation. Lee Roy slapped Ashe on the back when they walked inside the trailer.

      “Didn’t think I’d ever see you around these parts again. Not after the way old man Vaughn run you out of the state.”

      Ashe removed his sunglasses, dropped them into the inside pocket of his jacket and glanced over at the kitchen table where Johnny Joe, all five feet eight inches of him, sat in a wooden chair. Swirls of black hair covered his stocky body, making him look a little like an oversize chimpanzee.

      “Heard you was back. What the hell ever made you agree to hire on as a bodyguard for that Vaughn gal?” Johnny Joe picked up a mug with the phrase Proud to be a Redneck printed on it. “I figured you wouldn’t have no use for that bunch.”

      Lee Roy wiped corn flake crumbs out of a chair, then turned to lift a mug off a wooden rack. “Have a seat. You still like your coffee black?”

      “Yeah.” Ashe eyed the sturdy wooden chair, a few crumbs still sticking to the side. Sitting down, he placed his hands atop the table, spreading his arms wide enough apart so that his cousins could get a glimpse of his shoulder holster.

      Lee Roy handed Ashe a mug filled with hot, black coffee, then sat down beside his brother. “You’re working for some fancy security firm in Atlanta now, huh? Got your belly full of army life?”

      “Something like that,” Ashe said. “And private security work pays better, too.”

      The brothers laughed simultaneously. Ashe didn’t crack a smile.

      “You bleeding old lady Vaughn dry?” Johnny Joe asked. “After what her old man almost did to you, I figure you got a right to take ’em for all you can get.”

      Ashe glared at Johnny Joe, the hirsute little weasel. He hadn’t taken after the McLaughlin side of the family in either size, coloring or temperament. No, he was more Brennan. Little, dark, smart-mouthed and stupid.

      “Shut up, fool.” Lee Roy swatted his younger brother on his head. “Ashe wouldn’t have come back to take care of Deborah Vaughn just for the money.”

      “You doing her again, Ashe?” Johnny Joe snickered.

      Lee Roy slapped him up side his head again, a bit harder.

      “What the hell was that for?” Johnny Joe whined.

      “Don’t pay no attention to him.” Lee Roy looked Ashe square in the eye. “It’s good to see you again. We had some fun together, back when we was kids. You and me and Evie Lovelady.”

      “Yeah, we had some good times.” Ashe had liked Lee Roy better than any of his McLaughlin relatives and the two of them had sowed some pretty wild oats together. Fighting over Evie Lovelady’s favors. Getting drunk on Hunter McGee’s moonshine in the backseat of Lee Roy’s old Chevy. Getting into fights with Buck Stansell when he cheated at cards.

      Another life, a lifetime ago.

      “This ain’t just a social call to get reacquainted with relatives,” Lee Roy said. “Spit it out, whatever it is you come here to say.”

      “I understand you two are working for Buck Stansell. Is that right?”

      Johnny Joe opened his mouth to respond, but shut it quickly when his older brother gave him a warning stare.

      “Buck took over the business when his old man died a few years back.” Lee Roy picked up his coffee mug, took a swig, then wiped his mouth with the back of his big hand. “Our old man and yours both worked for Buck’s daddy.”

      “I know who my daddy worked for and what he did for a living,” Ashe said, laying his palms flat on the table. “I’ve chosen to work on the other side of the law. And right now, my main concern is Deborah Vaughn’s safety.”

      “I see.” Lee Roy studied the black liquid in his mug.

      “She ain’t in no danger as long as she keeps that pretty little mouth of hers shut,” Johnny Joe said.

      “Dammit, man, you talk too much.” Lee Roy turned to Ashe. “You ought to stay out of things that ain’t none of your business. What happens to Deborah Vaughn shouldn’t be your concern.”

      Ashe leaned over the table, glanced back and forth from one brother to the other, finally settling his hard stare on Lee Roy. “Deborah Vaughn is very much my concern, and what happens to her is my personal business.”

      “Are you saying that there’s still something between the two of you? Hell, man, I’d have figured—”

      “I will take it personally if anything happens to her. If one hair on her head is harmed, I’ll be looking for the guy who did it. Do I make myself clear?”

      “Why are you telling us?” Lee Roy asked.

      “I’m asking you to relay the message.” Ashe shoved back the chair and stood, towering over his seated cousins. “Tell Buck Stansell that Deborah Vaughn is my woman. She’s under my protection. This isn’t just another job to me.”

      “You sure you want to tangle with ol’ Buck?” Johnny Joe grinned, showing his crooked teeth, three in a row missing on the bottom.

      “I’ve trapped and gutted meaner bastards than Buck Stansell, and you can tell him that. Buck and his friends don’t want to tangle with me. If I have to come after them, I will.”

      “You sure do talk big,” Johnny Joe said. “But then you always did. Just ’cause you been in the Green Berets—”

      “Shut up!” Lee Roy said.

      “I know that the local, state and federal authorities would all like to see Buck behind bars.” Ashe walked toward the door. “So would I. But you tell him that my only interest in him and his business is my woman’s safety. If he leaves her alone, I’ll leave him alone. Pass that advice along.”

      “Yeah, I’ll do that,” Lee Roy said. “Can’t say whether or not Buck will take the advice, but it’s possible that whoever’s out to get Deborah Vaughn might listen. Her being your woman just might make a difference. To certain people.”

      Ashe smiled then, nodded his head and walked out the door. He’d bet money that before he was halfway back to Sheffield, Lee