On the ride home, Shannon opted to sit up front with Lucas, even though the rear seats were comfier. He was sitting up front, and with the mysterious Mr. Verrick riding alongside on a coal-black horse, she didn’t want to sit alone. Thankful for the small bench, she pressed the side of her leg against her husband, and took comfort in his strong presence.

She wasn’t sure why Lucas had hired a gunslinger, and that’s what worried Shannon. Oh, she’d heard of Verrick—Who hadn’t? He was notorious, and not just for his kills. Her brothers used to talk about him as if he was some kind of devil, one who would kill a man as soon as look at him. They said the man was equally fast with either hand, and could carve a man to pieces with the large knife she’d seen strapped to the back of his belt.

And they said he was available for hire to whomever had the money.

Looking at him now, from the corner of her eye, Shannon could believe Joshua and Caleb’s claims. Verrick was everything her brothers had said, and more. His golden eyes were hard, exactly the way she imagined a killer’s would be, and his face never betrayed any emotion. In the time she’d been watching him, he hadn’t smiled or frowned, or even twitched an eyebrow.

He was like some kind of clockwork machine, and he gave Shannon the willies. She pressed against her husband’s side, despite the heat, and wondered what trouble he could possibly be in which required hiring such a man. No matter what her husband claimed, Shannon was certain Pierce was doing more than just offering to buy the land.

Why else would Lucas take a chance like hiring Verrick? Surely having America’s most infamous killer on the ranch was going to be even more dangerous than any threat from Pierce.

With all of these thoughts swirling around her head, it was a good thing the ride back to the ranch didn’t take too long. It seemed as if she’d barely had a chance to come to terms with the gunslinger’s presence, before they were pulling up in front of the house.

Cora was on the front porch, despite the heat. She’d claimed one corner for her own, and Lucas hadn’t objected to her setting up her easel and painting supplies where she could see the mountains. When she saw the carriage approaching though, she put down her brush and ambled over to the steps.

“Hello there! Did you have a nice time in town?”

Cora’s smile was teasing, and Shannon might’ve blushed, had she not been so distracted by other worries. She’d confessed her excitement about spending so much time with her husband, and knew Cora would want to hear all about their time in Black Aces. But right now, all Shannon could think about was the fact her husband was in some kind of danger and hadn’t shared the truth with her.

When all she offered was a sickly smile in return, Cora’s expression grew serious, and Shannon saw her gaze dart across to Lucas. “Is everything alright?”

“Everything’s just fine.” Lucas’s claim was less reassuring than he’d probably hoped, and Shannon wondered how he was planning on explaining Verrick’s presence.

He apparently wouldn’t need to. The gunslinger swung down off his horse and looped the reins around the porch railing just inches from where Cora’s hand rested. The older woman didn’t gasp or jerk back to Shannon’s surprise.

As Lucas lifted her down out of the carriage, Shannon found herself watching her sister. Verrick ducked under his horse’s neck and climbed the few steps to the porch. He stood in front of Cora, and Shannon saw those disconcerting pale eyes of his raking her from head to knee.

And then, again to Shannon’s surprise, Cora did the exact same thing. Her entirely too-bohemian sister gave Verrick—a truly dangerous man—a complete inspection in return, and from the way one corner of her lips pulled up, must have appreciated what she saw.

“I’m Cora Montgomery, Shannon’s sister.” She stuck her hand out, as if expecting the gunslinger to shake it.

Instead, Verrick merely looked down at it, then back up at her. Without changing his expression—did the man ever change his expression?—his gaze flicked down to where Lucas and Shannon stood, Lucas’s hands still on her waist, then across the yard.

It wasn’t until his cat-like eyes swept across the rest of the property that Shannon understood; the man was looking for danger, even now. Did he not rest? Was he always expecting danger?

She sighed as Lucas herded them all indoors. If her husband was somehow in trouble from Mr. Pierce, then it was probably best to have someone like Verrick on their side. Someone who was constantly alert for trouble, and who had the experience to protect Lucas.

Having him stay on the ranch was going to be uncomfortable, but it wasn’t as if they had to like the man. He didn’t look like the kind of person who made friends easily…or at all.

Still, when Shannon met her sister’s eyes, Cora smiled and raised one brow. Oh sure, Cora would see the west’s most notorious gunslinger as a challenge, wouldn’t she?

Shannon sighed and grabbed her sister’s hand to pull her inside after Verrick. It was somehow up to her to be a good hostess, and explain to her sister who their new guest was.

And enlist her help in praying Lucas hadn’t just invited a world of pain into their home.

“Lucas! Lucas? Lucas, you’d better come quick!”

Lucas looked up from where he was helping Sam and Lefty re-wire the fence, searching for the direction of the calls.

His foreman came tearing over the hill, tugging on the reins of a spare gelding. Lucas immediately straightened, pulling off his gloves. What was so bad that Blake hadn’t wanted to take the time to wait for Lucas to fetch his horse? Was it Shannon? Was she hurt?

He was already jogging toward the direction of the house when Blake pulled his animal to a stop.

“What’s wrong?” he asked his foreman, dreading the answer.

“Pierce is here, asking to speak with you.”

A cold dread settled in Lucas’s stomach. “Where’s Shannon?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I came to find you.”

Lucas cursed. That was exactly what he’d been afraid of. He took the reins from Blake and swung into the saddle, sending a look back at Sam, who nodded and pulled at his hat.

“We’ll be fine t’ finish up here, Mr. Ryan.”

Lucas nodded, then kicked the borrowed horse into a gallop, Blake pounding along behind. Shannon was alone with Pierce? Why did that worry him so much?

Because Pierce couldn’t be trusted, and he wasn’t sure the man wouldn’t harm her. He’d hired a gunslinger to intimidate Lucas, after all; there was no telling what he’d say to Shannon.

Lucas swallowed. Surely Pierce wouldn’t invite Two-Grins Baker to this “neighborly” visit? Or was Lucas’s wife even now serving tea to a gunslinger?

Lucas cursed again and willed the horse to run faster. He had to reach her, had to make sure she was safe.

The ranch was deceptively calm when he and Blake reined their sweating animals in front of the house. Lucas tossed his foreman the horse’s reins and took the stairs up to the porch three at a time. He burst through the front door and into the parlor where Shannon and her sister enjoyed their afternoon tea, then rocked to a stop.

Joseph Pierce was sitting on a couch, his hat beside him, impatiently strumming his fingers on his knee. Shannon was nowhere to be seen, and Lucas forced himself to swallow down his thankful sigh. But standing behind Pierce was the man Lucas had come to dread.

Two-Grins Baker’s smile was just as chilling as Lucas had heard, and made the man instantly recognizable. Pierce had brought the devil himself into Lucas’s home?

“Lucas!” Pierce stood up, slapping his hat against his thigh. “Where’s that pretty new wife of yours? I didn’t see her at church last week.”

“That’s because you weren’t there.” Lucas kept his voice hard, determined not to show his father’s old partner he was nervous. “What do you want?”

Pierce tsked. “That ain’t very polite, boy. I came by to be neighborly. And to get to know Shannon a little better.”

Was it Lucas’s imagination, or was Pierce only a few heartbeats away from licking his lips when he’d said her name? Hands clenching into fists on each side, Lucas forced himself to remain calm. Instead of answering, he raised one brow.

Pierce’s disappointed expression was obviously faked. “Very well. I guess there’s some people who just don’t know how to be gracious. Come on, Two-Grins.” He gestured to the other man, as if they were getting ready to leave, but then stopped suddenly. “Oh, I don’t believe you’ve met my associate, Two-Grins Baker? I hired him to take care of some of my problems.”

Lucas snorted. Problems? The man was a vicious gun-for-hire, and his presence had resulted in Verrick being at Sunset Valley too. And just where was Lucas’s hired bodyguard? Hopefully protecting Shannon, wherever she was, because he sure as hell wasn’t here protecting Lucas.

Pierce watched him carefully, probably looking for signs Lucas was worried. But Lucas kept his expression blank—ironically, trying to mimic the way he’d seen Verrick look over the last week—and Pierce’s cruel grin faltered slightly.

The older man turned to his gunslinger, pretending as if everything was hunky-dory. “Two-Grins, this is Lucas Ryan. That problem I was telling you about.”

Well, hell. The man all but admitted he’d hired a gunslinger to “take care of” Lucas in Lucas’s own home? “I’m not selling you the land, Pierce.”

“Oh, that offer’s not on the table anymore, boy.” The older man wasn’t pretending to be polite anymore. “But I will get that land.”

The significant look Pierce sent in Baker’s direction left no doubt in anyone’s mind what he’d meant. Lucas’s refusal to sell the land was a “problem,” and Baker had been hired to fix it. And Two-Grins Baker only knew one way to solve a problem.

Baker was here to kill Lucas, and Verrick wasn’t even around. What the hell kind of bodyguard was he, anyhow? Lucas swallowed and shifted, setting his feet firmly and wondering if he was about to be killed in his own home.

Pierce must’ve seen that his intimidation worked—apparently Lucas wasn’t as good as Verrick was about keeping his thoughts hidden—because his lips twitched once before he pulled his hat back on his head.

“Give my regards to your wife, won’t you, boy?”

“I’m not ever going to let you near her, Pierce, you’ve gotta know that.” He hadn’t even told her how much trouble Pierce could be; like hell would he have her meet the bastard.

“Oh…” Lucas’s gut clenched at the way Pierce drew out the syllable. “I’m not the one she’s got to worry about meeting, am I?”

It wasn’t until he’d breezed past Lucas, and Baker had grinned that horrible grin of his, then followed his boss out the door, that Lucas understood what he’d meant.

“Son of a—!” He actually took a step toward the door, wondering if he could go out there and challenge Baker, before realizing how stupid that would be. He was unarmed—he’d been fixing fence, for God’s sake—and had no idea where his wife and sister-in-law were. Better make sure they were safe.

He hissed another curse, and slammed his fist into his palm. That bastard had actually suggested Baker would go after Shannon! What good would that do?

“You showed restraint. Good.”

At Verrick’s monotone, Lucas whirled. His bodyguard was no longer absent, but currently standing in the shadows on the far side of the room. Had he been there throughout the meeting? Lucas wracked his memory; surely he would’ve noticed the other man?

He was startled, and still angry at Pierce, and said the first thing that popped into his head. “Where the hell have you been?”

Then he winced, wondering if it was smart to offend someone like Verrick.

But the gunslinger’s expression didn’t change. “Watching. I thought it best if they didn’t see me and realize you hired your own protection.”

Slowly, Lucas nodded, seeing the wisdom in the other man’s words, even while wishing Pierce knew Sunset Valley had a protector. “And where’s my wife?” he asked instinctively.

“With her sister upstairs.” The older man paused, his expressionless gaze flicking towards the ceiling once. “I convinced them it would be best to retreat when Pierce arrived.”

Lucas stared at the other man a long minute, wondering what a man like Verrick could do to convince two ladies of anything. He didn’t want to offend, but he had to know. “Are they alright?”

Verrick’s gaze snapped back to his, and he blinked. “I have no way of knowing. But I heard your wife’s sister say something which resulted in giggles from Shannon.”

“Giggles?” It wasn’t a word Lucas had expected the gunslinger to know.

“It wasn’t laughter. More feminine, perhaps?”

Did the man really not know how to identify different kinds of laughter? “You’re odd as hell, Verrick.”

In the shadows, the man’s blonde hair seemed to shine as he stared at Lucas. After a long moment, Verrick nodded, once. “Yes.”

With that agreement, all of the air whooshed out of Lucas’s lungs, and he collapsed into one of the chairs. He was in so much trouble. Pierce wasn’t even hiding the fact he was threatening Shannon, and all Lucas wanted to do was lock his wife in the house.

“What do you think he meant, about Shannon meeting Baker? He’s not actually talking about hurting her, is he?”

Verrick settled back on his heels and clasped his hands behind himself, in as close to a resting position as the man got. “I suspect he is.”

In the week the gunslinger had been on the ranch, Lucas had explained everything he knew about the dangers Baker represented. But this was a new one. “Why?”

“Because he wants the ranch. And if you have an heir, the babe’s existence will hardly stop him.”

The truth slammed into Lucas so hard, he gasped. “You think he’d kill Shannon? Kill our child, if she’s carrying?”

Verrick stared at him, and Lucas willed the older man to admit he was merely guessing. That he didn’t know for sure Shannon was in danger.

But when he spoke, his monotone was hardly encouraging. “Why not? He is willing to kill you to get what he wants.”

At the impassive agreement, Lucas knew the truth. His mother’s scheme to save the ranch was useless. Having an heir wouldn’t discourage Pierce; it would just be another person for him to kill to get the land. A tiny, helpless, innocent person. One who wouldn’t even exist if Shannon were to die.

“Oh God!” He threw himself from his chair, intent on rushing upstairs and doing whatever he could imagine to protect her, but Verrick startled him yet again when the other man appeared between him and the door without seeming to move.

“Calm yourself. You hired me to protect you, and I extend that same protection to your wife as well.”

“Forget me!” Lucas began to pace, wondering if it was too early in the day to fetch that bottle of his father’s whiskey from the dining room. “She’s more important. I can’t let anything happen to her!”

Verrick just watched stoically, as Lucas ran his hands through his hair, then groaned.

“God forgive me! I married her, I dragged her out here, and now she’s in danger?” He resumed his pacing. “I thought by marrying her I was removing Pierce’s threat, but it’s really the opposite. I just multiplied the number of people in danger!” Lucas felt as if his heart was trying to drop into his stomach. How could he do this to her?

“Agreed.” Verrick moved toward the small table and sat in the wooden chair beside it. “That was not well-thought-out of you.”

“It was my mother’s idea.” Even as he said it, Lucas knew it made him sound like a petulant child.

But to his surprise, Verrick met his eyes and nodded once. “Yes. She did not think her ideas all the way through either.”

Opening his mouth to defend his mother, Lucas paused. He had to admit in this case, Verrick was right. His mother’s plan was seriously flawed, and if Lucas had really considered what he knew of Pierce’s character, he would’ve realized a wife and baby wouldn’t stop the man. Maybe Mother had just been desperate for a grandchild and had used Pierce as an excuse.

When Lucas didn’t respond, the older man nodded once, then removed a piece of paper from his vest pocket. Unfolding it, he beckoned Lucas closer.

The hand-drawn map he smoothed out on the table was a remarkable representation of Sunset Valley. It wasn’t until Verrick removed a pencil from his pocket and began to label one of the property borders—the Pierce spread, in fact—that Lucas realized the gunslinger had been the artist.

“These are the most likely routes for Baker to take, were he to come directly from Pierce’s property.” He marked paths on the map as Lucas pulled out a chair to join him. “If he were to come from town, then these are the routes he would take. I propose we—”

“He’s been camping out on my land. Not since you got here, but I think it’s likely he’ll just keep watching and waiting for a chance to strike from here.”

Lucas pointed to one of the spots he remembered finding a campsite a few weeks back. To his surprise, there was a notation there already. Curious, he checked on the other locations of Baker’s known campsites. They were all marked, as well as others Lucas and Blake hadn’t noticed. Suspicious now, Lucas met Verrick’s golden gaze across the table. “These were Baker’s campsites.”

“No, they were not.”

Lucas worked his jaw. “They were yours.”

It wasn’t a question, but Verrick nodded once.

“You spied on my property for weeks before you made yourself known to me?” Why in the hell would a man who was interested in making money do something so time-consuming and worthless as that?

The other man didn’t respond, but just stared impassively back, refusing to explain. The muscles in Lucas’s jaw ached to yell, to lash out at someone. But the part of him that recognized danger also knew this man wasn’t Pierce, wasn’t Baker. In the week he’d been working for Lucas, Verrick hadn’t done anything to threaten the Ryans. He must have his own reasons for spying on them—maybe he collected information on all of his clients before he agreed to accept the jobs?

Finally, Lucas exhaled and sat back in his chair. “I knew Pierce had hired Baker, and when we found the campsites, we assumed Baker was keeping an eye on us. It was one of the reasons I sent that second telegram.”

“I never received it.”

One side of Lucas’s mouth pulled upward in a wry grin as he raked his hand through his hair. “Obviously. Because you were already here.” He focused on the map once more. “If those weren’t Baker’s campsites, then maybe things aren’t as dire as I’d thought?”

“Unlikely.” Verrick placed the pencil down, aligning it precisely with one edge. “But Pierce is the greater threat.”

“What do you mean?”

“Baker is being paid by Pierce. The man only works for cash, so if Pierce were no longer a threat to you, then Baker would not be either.”

That was a reasonable explanation, and Lucas had to admit he’d had the thought in the past that, if Pierce were to die somehow, all of Lucas’s worries would disappear. But Lucas wasn’t the kind of man to wish ill on someone else; all he wanted was to work hard and build his ranch up. He had no plans to threaten Pierce, hence hiring Verrick for protection against Baker, who Lucas still considered the bigger threat.

So he narrowed his eyes. “How do you know so much about Two-Grins Baker?”

Verrick hesitated—out of character for him—and then said only, “We have had some contact in the past.”

“’Some contact?’” One of Lucas’s brows rose. “Did you give him that big scar on his throat, his second grin?”

“Yes.” That was all Verrick said, before picking up the pencil once more. “Do you wish to hear my suggestions for defense of your home?”

Lucas sat forward once more, his finger on the map where the ranch house sat. “First, promise me you’ll protect Shannon. She cannot be hurt in this, no matter what Baker tries to do to me.”

Slowly, Verrick’s intense gaze climbed up Lucas’s finger and arm until the older man was staring into his eyes. His expression gave nothing away, no indication of what he was thinking, and Lucas swallowed, wondering what it was about his request that caused such focus.

Finally, Verrick spoke. “You love her.”

It wasn’t a question, but Lucas took a deep breath and nodded. “I didn’t expect to, when I sent for a mail-order bride, but she’s just about perfect. I know we’ve only been married a month, but I can’t imagine living without her or that wild sister of hers.” He sat up straighter, feeling somehow freer with the admission. “Yeah, I love her, and I’d do anything to keep her safe.” He met the older man’s eyes once more. “So you have to promise me you’ll protect her.”

Something he’d said had gained Verrick’s approval, apparently. The gunslinger nodded once. “Agreed.” And then he placed the tip of the pencil to the map and raised one brow, which was practically a speech from him.

Nodding in response to the unasked question, Lucas bent over the map. “Show me what we need to do then.”

And as Verrick outlined his theories on how Baker would attack, Lucas tried to focus. But all he could think about was that he’d put Shannon in danger. He’d been the one to bring her here, just to get an heir. But now, her becoming pregnant would put her in even more trouble. Everything he’d prayed so hard for would just be reason for Pierce to hurt her. To kill her.

And here was Lucas putting all of his faith in a gunslinger he barely knew. Verrick was Shannon’s best hope now, because Lucas couldn’t lose her. He couldn’t lose her laughter, her comfort, her beauty. Couldn’t lose his wife.

Couldn’t lose the woman he loved.