Page 43 of July’s Cowboy Dallas

Her smile slipped just enough to show me the woman underneath all that polish. “He’s emotionally unstable.”

“So is half this town,” I said. “That doesn’t mean I’d let them corner me.”

Her eyes narrowed. Not much. Just enough. Good. Fear looked wrong on her. Irritation suited her better.

The goat bleated again and took two steps toward the door.

The junior contestant gasped.

That was when I moved. I stepped between the goat and the open doorway, crouched slightly, and held out one hand. The animal stopped, his nostrils flaring. I waited, giving him time to decide I wasn’t a threat. Then I caught the loose lead rope trailing from his halter and straightened.

I handed the rope to the junior contestant. “Walk him around for a few minutes. He’ll settle.”

The girl took the rope with shaking hands and led the goat outside.

When I turned back, the woman in the crown was watching me. She’d stepped out from behind the barrel, her posture straight again, chin lifted, that smile sliding back into place like armor. Her hands were tucked behind her back like she was holding something she didn’t want me to see. Probably her phone. Probably another threat she wanted to keep to herself.

That tightened something in me all over again.

“You’re not with the livestock crew,” she said.

“No.”

“Are you a sponsor?”

“No.”

“An angry parent?”

I almost laughed at that. The thought of me being someone’s dad deserved a minute I didn’t have. “Not today.”

Her smile widened, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Then who are you?”

“Braxton James.”

Her smile stayed perfect on the surface, but everything behind it changed. I watched her cycle through a few emotions… recognition, then frustration, and finally fear. And damn me, I hated seeing that last one on her.

“You’re my security problem,” she said.

“I’m your security solution.”

“That’s exactly what a security problem would say.”

I didn’t smile, but she did. Brighter now. Too damn bright.

I’d spent too many years watching people pretend not to be scared. Addison Blake was all shine at first glance, the kind of woman who knew how to walk into a room and make everyone look where she wanted them to look. She had the crown, the smile, the perfect posture, and the polished voice.

But her hands were shaking. Not much. Not enough for anyone else to notice.

It was my job to notice.

She checked the doorway without meaning to. Just a flicker of her eyes, fast and automatic, like she’d been doing it all morning. She had put herself between a crying child and a loose animal without hesitation, but now that the danger had shifted back to her, she was pretending it didn’t exist.

I cataloged all of it in three seconds… the fear, the stubbornness, and the way she made me want to close every door, block every window, and keep every stranger on these grounds ten feet away from her until I knew which one had been watching.

That was a problem.

I didn’t get possessive over clients. I didn’t get distracted by green eyes and dusty boots and a woman who smiled like she’d rather bleed than admit she was scared. And I sure as hell didn’t have feelings.