by Sylvia McDaniel
Book Blurb:
The Bodyguard, The Actress, and the Matchmaking Ghost
Texas billionaire Tucker Burnett keeps his internationally acclaimed security business and personal life separate even when he’s protecting the world’s most beautiful women. When his client is almost killed, he takes her to the only place where he knows she’ll be safe – his family’s ranch – and hopes his ancestral ghost behaves herself.
Kendra Woods is the biggest star in Hollywood, but she’s got a secret. Someone wants her dead. When her handsome bodyguard whisks her away to the boonies, she’s more than a little miffed. Especially, when he gives her exactly what she needs.
When she leaves the lure of Hollywood behind, the Burnett ghost insists that Kendra can have the family she’s always longed for with the man who would lay down his life for her, but can she give up the life of luxury and fame to be a rancher’s wife?
Does their love have a ghost of a chance?
Excerpt:
Tucker Burnett stared across his desk at his favorite employee at Burnett Security. Damn, he had to fire him and he hated that.
But Tucker was a rule follower and if you broke a rule, you suffered the consequences.
Quinn had broken a very important rule. One that everyone in the company knew you’d receive your walking papers for committing.
In some ways, Tucker felt like their Aunt Rose trying to rein in his brother Tanner and now wife, Emily, which caused Aunt Rose more problems than it had been worth. He hoped it wasn’t the same for him.
At least he didn’t have a video of them having sex in the kitchen.
But losing his best employee would make his life harder. A good employee was difficult to find, and over the years, he’d built a good team. Right now, he trusted his men. Until he learned what his best guy had done.
“Look, boss, I know what you’re going to say. But hear me out.”
Oh, he’d hear him out, all right, and then walk him right out the door. Lives could have been lost. He’d put the entire operation at risk. Not to mention they had lost the account. A very lucrative account.
“You broke the rules. How can our clients depend on us if we don’t follow our own regulations? Not to mention that you endangered the client and yourself. Your emotions got involved and when that happens you don’t make rational decisions. Especially when your dick is inside a beautiful woman.”
The man shifted uncomfortably in his chair staring at him. “You’re right. But nothing happened. I didn’t plan on falling in love with the hottest model in the world. In fact, I ran away from those feelings. I refused to acknowledge them until…”
Tucker felt his insides tighten. “Until what?”
“Until she asked me to spend the night in her bedroom. She was scared. I slept in there for five nights sitting upright in a chair, then one night after the stalker tried to attack her, I caved. When she threw her arms around me and pressed her sweet body against mine, it was over.”
This kind of disobedience he had to squash right now. If he let Quinn get away with having sex with the client, then the others would begin to think of him as soft. And Tucker was anything but soft.
In fact, he was known to his employees for being a hard-ass. And that’s the way he liked it.
“And what was this client known for?”
The man sighed and licked his lips nervously. “Sex parties. Do you know how many of those damn events I had to stand there and watch? Disgusting.”
A shudder went through Tucker. That right there was enough to turn him completely off sleeping with the client.
“No, but I would think it would make you reconsider where you’re going to put your dick.”
The man shook his head. “I tried. I don’t like sharing a woman with anyone. But those damn models would come up to me and rub all over me. They would tempt and tease me and then Sasha…”
Before Tucker accepted the job, he knew it would be a difficult assignment, so he’d given it to his strongest man. The person he trusted to keep his dick in his pants and he’d failed. Failed miserably.
In some ways, this was his own fault for taking on this client. It was for the best that she had fired them.
“Did you ever think that the stalker might have paid the models to tempt you, so he could slip away with Sasha? While they were rubbing on you, he was pursuing our client.”
The man sighed. “I didn’t sleep with anyone but Sasha. No one. I stood like a soldier with a stiffee at those ridiculous parties. They’re sick and twisted, man. Nothing that I ever want to see again.”
Tucker sighed and leaned back in his chair. He had no choice. No one slept with the client. No one. Not even when you were comforting them.
Not even when the client’s friends were tempting you to join them.
Not even when the client was a beautiful model who tempted you with her body. Never. Just never.
Shaking his head he stared at his employee, a big burly guy with bulging biceps. “This assignment was given to you because I believed in you the most. We talked about how the stalker was probably at one of these wild parties she liked to attend. That he was probably a rejected lover. And yet you failed to keep your head out of your ass.”
The man sighed and shook his head. “No, not at the parties. Never at the parties. Just with Sasha at her home.”
Why he thought that made it better, Tucker didn’t know.
“This is strictly against our standard operating practice. I have no choice but to fire you.”
The man put his face in his hands. “I know. You’re right. When you called me in, today, I thought I would be fired. And you proved me right. I was wrong and I hoped when I admitted my mistake, you would give me a pass this time. After what’s gone down, I can promise you it would never happen again.”
This sucked. But the rules were there for a reason. A good reason.
“For your sake, I hope she’s stopped attending these wild parties and you’re happy,” Tucker said. “Because she just cost you your job.”
The man leaned back in his chair. “Hell, she dumped me. It was nothing more than a one-night stand. We’re not compatible is what she told me. I’m not the rich playboys she likes to hang with. I’m a working-class guy. She wanted a rich leading man or another supermodel.”
Tucker sighed. He’d lost his best man because of this selfish bitch. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, she fired us this morning. Breach of contract for getting sexually involved. This is why I insist no sexual involvement.”
The man’s eyes widened and he clenched his fist. “She came on to me. She begged me to go to bed with her. To hold her and then she got naked.”
Some women liked to tempt a man as far as they could. And many men took the bait and then were sucker punched. Quinn had just been sucker punched.
“I need your badge, your revolver, and the company car you drove,” Tucker said. “I’ll give you two weeks’ severance pay.”
Quinn sighed and slowly stood. “This job is tough. Especially tough when a sexy woman is tempting you. It was a fun job and I must say she was good. Next time, you protect a beautiful, sexy woman who keeps coming on to you, let’s see how well you stand up against the constant temptation. The manipulation.”
Staring at Quinn, Tucker knew he’d made his own mistake in giving him the job. Maybe Tucker should have taken on the job. Hell, he was a damn eunuch, only he still had his balls.
“Get out,” Tucker said, “before I take away your two weeks’ severance pay.”
The man smiled. “I’m going. But when was the last time you were with a woman? I bet you wouldn’t hold out for long. You’ll crater, just like I did. And when you do, think of me.”
The man turned and walked out the door.
With a sigh, Tucker leaned back in his chair. It had been years since he’d been with a woman. Years. But he was building a business and there was no time for women. And no, he was not into one-night stands, even though he’d convinced his brother Tanner.
In today’s world, people needed protection from criminal elements. He’d learned that the hard way. Only an inch had separated him from death. And now he lived his life protecting others.
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