Page 83 of Her Rugged Guardian

“He knows things about me, including about Stephen and my life in DC. He also said that you killed someone in a fire. I know he was just trying to get under my skin. Unfortunately, he did. What does he want other than the winery?”

I’d never seen the expression on Jake’s face before. It was at that moment I knew he was capable of killing Malcolm just for threatening me.

“Stay right here,” he said. “Take the keys and lock yourself inside.”

“Oh, no, you don’t. He’s not worth it.”

“You have no idea how much power he holds in this town. I’ll protect you, but he won’t stop at threatening you inside a restaurant. This shit will escalate. He should have been taken off his pedestal years ago.”

“Don’t let him have that power over you, Jake.”

He remained bristled, scanning the parking lot in his attempt to protect me. “He’s not going to do this to you.”

“Is there any truth to the fact my mother didn’t die from the horrible disease?”

The tension remained in the man and after he took a deep breath, he peered down at me, cupping my face. “I don’t know, Cinnamon Girl. I’m not going to lie to you that I had suspicions.”

I clung to his arm, my heart aching more than it did the day I learned of her death. “Why? And why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t tell you because there isn’t a single person in town who would believe me, and you didn’t need that baggage. The reason I don’t buy her sudden death was that we were together the day before. She was fine. She made me lunch. We shared a scotch after I was finished with work. She had plans for the future. Hell, she was going to try and get you to come out for a week or so. But there was something she was holding back from me. I could sense it. She was tense, constantly looking out the window.”

“Maybe he’d already threatened her.” I looked down, struggling so much with the fact I’d allowed distance to get between us.

“Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve had this nagging since she died but even my buddy the sheriff thinks I’ve lost it.”

“Given what he just said to me, I would buy it. What am I going to do?”

“What you’ve been doing. Building her legacy, the one she wanted you to have. She adored you, Cass. You need to know that.” Jake’s words and the tone of his voice were comforting, but I remained sick inside, furious with myself for wasting so much time. He leaned down, pressing and keeping his lips against my forehead. I kept my fingers tightly woven around his long-sleeve shirt, fighting the hatred and guilt.

“Well. Well. If it isn’t the happy couple.”

I knew instantly it was the sound of Malcolm’s voice. So did Jake. Before I had a chance to prevent Jake from doing something stupid, he pulled away from me, charging the man who’d accosted me with complete rage.

“Jake!” I yelled, but it was too late, his brutal swing connecting, Malcolm going down hard against the pavement. “No. No!”

Jake jerked the man up by fisting his shirt, yanking him to his feet. “You motherfucker. You threatened her.” He issued two savage punches, one to the jaw and one to the man’s gut. After another punch, he tossed Malcolm onto the ground.

“No. Jake. Stop!” My screech was heard by other people leaving the restaurant, several customers running in our direction. I tugged his arm, using all my upper body strength to keep him from killing the asshole. “You can’t do this.”

Malcolm lay moaning on the ground, both hands surrounding his nose.

“Get up, you fuck!” Jake roared, not paying any attention to what I was saying.

“Jake. Don’t. Stop it,” someone from the crowd yelled as he raced toward us.

“You broke my nose!” Malcolm shouted for effect, the bastard. I’d seen shit like this before and it never ended well. “You’ll pay for this.”

“Yeah? You keep threatening me. Go ahead. But you won’t threaten Cassandra ever again!”

When Jake started to reach for Malcolm once again, the unknown man kept him from doing so.

“Jake. Listen to me. That’s what Mr. Robinson wants,” the customer said quietly in Jake’s ear.

Jake’s chest was heaving, his jaw clenched. “Yeah? Well, the fucker deserves it and a lot more.”

Two other customers helped Malcolm to his feet while the first man remained between the two.

“Stop it. Just stop it!” I snapped. “Don’t you see? That’s what he wanted.”

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