By
Em Petrova

Boone Wynton is one of the top bodyguards on the WEST Protection team and in the country. So taking a job to protect the wife of a billionaire oil tycoon seems like a breeze—until he learns he can’t get near the possessive man’s wife unless he’s married. His only option? A coworker who hates him. Maybe she is kind of pretty, and her lips drive him crazy—as long as she isn’t speaking.

Cyber-security guru Lauralee Sheldon has worked at WEST Protection all of a month—exactly long enough to learn she can’t stand Boone Wynton. The only way she’ll act as his fake wife is for the sake of protecting a vulnerable woman, and even then on one condition—that Boone never lays a hand on her, even if they are big and perfectly rough.

When fighting turns into foreplay, Boone changes the rules of the game, blurring the lines between real emotions and deception. And with dangers flying at them from all directions, it’s hard to know who to trust. Is it the man Lauralee never believed in?

WEST Protection has been hired to help a billionaire’s wife escape from captivity. Not just any captivity, she’s being held hostage by her husband. In setting up their way in, they find the position of Head of Security is open, only whoever fills this spot has to be married. This is to be Boone’s assignment and in spite of the fact there are plenty of women who would marry him, none of them would be willing to divorce him when the case is finished. So who is Boone going to marry?

Lauralee Sheldon is new to WEST, she’s a cyber specialist and very good at her job. She gets along well with everyone, but Boone really pushes her buttons, and not in a good way. When confronted with marrying him and saving a trapped woman or them having to pass on the job, she agrees with the understanding she’s hands off.

She’s a bit shocked when she discovers the rings Boone obtained are real, but goes with the flow throughout the ceremony and the getting to know you chat on the way to the Black Ranch.

The interview with Black was interesting to say the least especially the plans for Lauralee.

This is a favorite scene.

Thornburne gave Black a nod and then led him away from the office. In the hall, they found Lauralee seated on the bench, hands clasped in her lap. Her pink cheeks told him she was still seething over Black’s misogynistic comment. Wait until she learned she was now going to be scrubbing Black’s floors or pressing his shirts.

He’d tell her later. Didn’t seem to be much point in rocking boats right now.

He caught her by the hand. The feel of her fingers entwined with his was beginning to feel more natural, which was good for their cover.

“First, you can bring in your bags. Then I’ll show you to your quarters,” Thornburne told them.

In silence, they made the turns to exit the same way they’d entered and collected their bags. On the way to their quarters, he memorized the layout of the house, even though soon enough he’d get a good read on it via video surveillance. As they moved past closed doors, he couldn’t help but wonder which one housed Black’s wife, assuming she’d be kept near Black.

A few turns later, Thornburne stopped before a nondescript door in a hallway full of them. “This is you. You’re lucky—there’s a private bathroom. The rest of the employees share, and the maids sleep two to a room.”

He looked down at Lauralee. She was oblivious to his meaning, but Boone knew this package deal had been decided long before they’d entered that office. No deal had been made—he’d been simply told what to do, and now they were going to obey orders.

For now.

“I’ll leave you to unpack. I’ll return in twenty minutes to show you around, Marks.” Thornburne once again looked down on Lauralee. “You can start immediately.”

She opened her mouth to question him, but Boone quickly opened the door and ushered her inside. He barely got the door closed and his back firmly against it to keep her from bolting out when she rounded on him.

“What is going on? What does he mean, start immediately? What am I starting?”

Judging by those silvery sparks in her gray eyes, he was in for a wild time once he told her.

He struggled to find a way to break the news to her that she’d be setting aside her hard-won skills to push a mop bucket. His guard training didn’t give him any answers, so he turned to what he knew of women. His momma and sister Corrine liked to be told something good before the bad. He’d seen his father do it with both women. Supper sure was good, honey, but we won’t be having any more beans this season because the rabbits ate the entire crop.

Lauralee waited, impatience burning in her eyes and fists balled at her sides. “Boone?”

“You’d better start thinking of me as Brodie.” He pitched his voice low. The walls didn’t look very thick or soundproof.

“Fine,” she whispered hotly. “Brodie!”

“Well, Lara, Black was very impressed with you.”

She rolled her eyes.

“So impressed, actually, that he would like to hire you too.”

Her eyes popped. “Running security?”

Knowing he had to crush the hope he saw in her face brought him down another couple pegs on the enthusiasm scale. “As a maid.”

“A what!” Her outburst was loud enough to surely be heard throughout the wing of the rambling ranch.

He stepped toward her and grasped her shoulders. “We’re a package deal.”

“Did you know before you dragged me into this?”

“No, but clearly it was planned out.” He nodded his head toward the foot of the bed, where a maid’s uniform was neatly folded.

Her gaze landed on the uniform, and her lips curled in outrage. “I’m a maid? And I have to wear that thing? I look horrible in that shade of blue! Oh. My. God.” She pulled free of his grasp, walked to the bed, picked up the uniform and unfurled the dress with a sharp flap of her hands.

For three full heartbeats, she stared at the garment with its ruffle around the neck. Then she did something he would never, ever have expected from his new, very controlled, studious bride.

She hurled it down to the floor and stomped on it. When she whirled on him, her eyes blazed. “You wear it! I’ll head the security.”
Em Petrova. GuardedbytheCowboy (Kindle Locations 668-704). Kindle Edition.

Finding where Mrs. Black is being kept is quite the obstacle until Lauralee volunteers to take a tray up when the assigned maid doesn’t show.

Boone also discovers Black has more than a few enemies and it’s apparent they need to get the wife out as soon as they can.

Lots of suspense as Boone and Lauralee not only make plans for the rescue but also find they really don’t dislike each other at all. Some fun as well as seriously sizzling scenes.

5 Contented Purrs for Em!

Em Petrova

Em Petrova was raised by hippies in the wilds of Pennsylvania but told her parents at the age of four she wanted to be a gypsy when she grew up. She has a soft spot for babies, puppies and 90s Grunge music and believes in Bigfoot and aliens. She started writing at the age of twelve and prides herself on making her characters larger than life and her sex scenes hotter than hot.

She burst into the world of publishing in 2010 after having five beautiful bambinos and figuring they were old enough to get their own snacks while she pounds away at the keys. In her not-so-spare time, she is fur-mommy to a Labradoodle named Daisy Hasselhoff and works as editor with USA Today and New York Times bestselling authors.