.

you get a name?” Dillon asked.

      “Lloyd. Daisy called him Lloyd,” Nicolette replied, the tremor back in her voice.

      “That has to be Lloyd Green. He’s the only Lloyd around,” Lucas said and then looked at Nicolette. “Why didn’t you tell me about all this when we met in town after lunch?”

      She pointedly glanced down at the boy who, despite all the excitement, had the droopy eyelids of exhaustion. “I didn’t think it was the time or the place.”

      Dillon frowned. “Lloyd is definitely a hothead, but I can’t imagine him taking any grudge to this kind of a level. Still, I’ll check him out, see what he has been up to tonight.” He gazed at Nicolette and then back at Cassie. “Anyone else giving you any problems?”

      “No, like you said before, we’ve scarcely been in town long enough to meet anyone.” She looked at Adam. “And I don’t think we’ve made anyone angry here at the ranch.”

      “It wasn’t one of our men,” Adam replied firmly. “Nobody here would want to bring harm to Cassie or Nicolette or Sammy. We’re all trying to rebuild things since Cass’s death, not destroy them.”

      “I just want to know that my son is safe,” Nicolette said softly. In the past few minutes Sammy had drifted off to sleep, and she gently stroked his dark hair from his forehead.

      Lucas found himself wondering what her touch would feel like across his forehead, what it would be like if she were his woman, if Sammy was his child. He focused back on Dillon, knowing his thoughts were about to take him into dangerous territory and there had already been enough of that on this night.

      “I’ll have my men check the window upstairs,” Dillon said. “And if it’s any consolation, I wouldn’t assume that whoever was at the window intended harm for your boy. It’s more likely it was just a matter of chance that that particular window was used.”

      “I hope you’re right about that,” Nicolette replied.

      “I’m going upstairs to check out the window, and I know your men and mine are combing the area, but I think the excitement is probably over for the rest of the night.”

      As Dillon went upstairs, Nicolette shifted the sleeping boy in her arms and Lucas sat on the sofa next to her. Adam stood at the side of the chair where Cassie sat clad in a blue lightweight robe, her eyes still filled with fear.

      “You don’t have to worry,” Adam said to her. “I’ll have a man patrol the perimeters of the house for the rest of the night.”

      “And you also won’t have to worry because I intend to move in,” Lucas added. “I can bunk in with Sammy during the nights until Dillon gets this figured out, and that way nobody will be able to get past me to hurt anyone.”

      Nicolette stared at him in obvious surprise, but he also saw a hint of relief in the green depths of her eyes. “You don’t need to do that,” she said, but it was only half a protest.

      “Maybe I don’t need to, but I want to,” he replied. He looked to Cassie, who he knew would have the final say in the matter.

      “You could at least stay in the extra bedroom in a queen bed rather than bunking in with Sammy on a twin,” Cassie replied.

      He looked at the kid, his handsome little face a picture of innocence in slumber. He’d been sleeping when his mother had screamed. He’d heard about a man at his window. He’d probably be afraid to sleep alone in that room ever again.

      “I’d rather sleep in the small room with Sammy. He might need a roommate for a few nights after all the trauma,” he replied.

      He would have slept on a cow patty on a wintry night to receive the soft, grateful gaze that Nicolette gave him. What was wrong with him? He had never felt this protective surge for anyone except Cass, who had saved his life, his very soul by having him come to this ranch.

      He would have died for Cass, and it shocked him that in the brief time he’d known Sammy and Nicolette he was starting to feel the same way about them. It didn’t make sense, was completely irrational considering how little he knew about Nicolette, but it was there, nevertheless.

      “While Adam and Dillon and his men are here, I’ll just go get some things from my bunk,” he said, suddenly feeling as if he needed some distance from the very scent of her, from the emotions she evoked in him.

      As he stepped out the front door and headed around the house where the ladder still stood leading up to Sammy’s bedroom, a new fiercely burning knot formed in the pit of his stomach.

      He dismissed his crazy thoughts about Nicolette and instead his mind filled with all kinds of questions. Had the incident in the café with Lloyd Green prompted some sort of crazy attempt at retribution?

      Everyone knew Lloyd was a mean soul, but a little milk on his jeans didn’t warrant this kind of reaction. Still, with Lloyd and his group of buddies there was no telling for sure. He might have just thought it would be fun to terrorize Sammy and Nicolette.

      Lloyd worked for Raymond Humes on the ranch next to Cass’s. Throughout the years there had been plenty of bad blood both between Raymond and Cass and the cowboys who worked for each of them.

      Lucas’s feelings toward Nicolette and Sammy were definitely confusing, but the ladder against the house felt ominous, and as he reached the bunkhouse, he smelled more than a hint of danger in the air.

      * * *

      Dillon and his men finally left. By the time they did Nicolette had laid Sammy on the sofa and she was pacing the floor, trying to wrap her mind around that unexpected and frightening face in the window.

      Cassie and Adam were in the kitchen seated at the table and talking about rotating men outside the house each night for the next couple of nights or until Dillon came up with a guilty party and a reason for the ladder.

      Nicolette heard only the murmur of their voices as she was mentally focused on the vision of that ski mask and those eyes that had appeared to hold such glittering malevolence.

      Who could it have been and what had he wanted? Was it just an accident that he’d been about to enter the room where her vulnerable son was soundly sleeping? Dillon had told her the window was still closed, but that didn’t mean if Nicolette had been three minutes longer climbing up the stairs the man wouldn’t have been through the window and into the bedroom.

      And then what? She couldn’t imagine, for everything she thought of was too terrifying to contemplate.

      She stopped pacing as Lucas came in the front door, carrying an oversize duffle bag and a sense of security she welcomed. The only thing better than the sight of him would have been if he’d cradled her in his arms to steal away the cold wind that had blown through her since the instant she had seen the man at the window.

      As if reading her mind, he dropped his duffle bag to the floor and stepped forward, his arms open to welcome her. She didn’t hesitate. She ran into his embrace, a sob escaping her the instant he enfolded her tight.

      His body was hard against hers, yet seemed to meld around her. He stroked her hair with one hand while his other slowly rose up and down her back in an obvious effort to comfort her.

      “I was so scared,” she whispered.

      “There’s no reason to be scared anymore,” he replied.

      She buried her face in his chest, breathing in the scent of night and the faint fragrance of a spicy cologne. She told herself it wouldn’t matter whose arms she was in, as long as they were big and strong, but she knew that wasn’t true. She needed his arms, Lucas’s arms around her.

      She’d known him for only three short days, but it didn’t matter. Already he’d become safety and security for her and her son.

      She didn’t know how long they stood together, locked in an embrace, before she realized the cold that had been inside her was gone and she wasn’t just warmed, but