Secret Seduction by Lori Wilde

Rodriquez?”
    “I told you. Carlo Vega was released from prison yesterday. The man is a cold-blooded criminal. I fear he’s going to come after her for putting him away.”
    “And she testified against him?”
    “Correct.”
    “She witnessed him murder a man in a fit of rage, right?”
    “Yes. Vega went up on second degree manslaughter.”
    “How did all this come about?”
    “Look, is this really important? All that matters is that Vanessa stays safe from Vega.”
    “You’re sure he’s going to come after her?”
    “He threatened her fourteen years ago and now he’s out of prison.”
    “That’s just it.” Tanner clenched his jaw. “Why do you care about Vanessa Rodriquez so much that you’d foot the bill for her personal bodyguard?”
    “It’s none of your concern.”
    Tanner placed a palm to the back of his neck. Maria had loved and admired her uncle Robert. As far as Tanner knew, he was a good man, but something about this whole thing didn’t add up. He swung his gaze around to take in Amanda, the senator’s wife. She was a slender woman, still quite lovely in middle age. Her skin was well pampered. She possessed almond-shaped brown eyes and a short cap of curls highlighted with stylish streaks of red and gold.
    “Are you having an affair with her? Is that it? Is Vanessa Rodriquez your lover?” The thought made him sick to his stomach, but he had to ask the question.
    “No.” Robert growled. “God, no. Why would you even think that? I love my Amanda. I would never cheat on her.”
    Relief coursed through Tanner at the senator’s denial. It was bad enough that Tanner had slept with the woman he was supposed to be guarding, but to know that she was also Robert’s mistress…well that would have been too much for him to handle. “So why the interest in her?”
    Robert swallowed. “Let’s walk.”
    “Where are you going, honey?” Amanda called out to them.
    “To show Tanner the koi pond.” Robert raised a hand. “Could you keep an eye on the steaks?”
    “Will do.” She smiled gaily.
    They walked toward the back of the senator’s five-acre lot, flush with native trees—pecan, red oak, elm and cedar. The pathway was made of quaint cobblestone, and around the perimeter of the place stood six-foot-high privacy hedges.
    “Vanessa is from my hometown,” Robert said when they were out of earshot from the house. “From my old neighborhood. I knew her family, her mother, but Vanessa doesn’t remember me. She wasn’t even born when I left El Paso.”
    “Why don’t you want Vanessa to know you hired me to guard her?” Tanner asked.
    “Because after what happened with Carlo Vega, I paid for Vanessa’s way to medical school. I felt sorry for the poor kid. She needed a break and I could give it to her, so I did. No one knows about it. Not Amanda, not Vanessa. Only you.”
    “Why the secrecy?”
    “It’s not an altruistic act if people find out about it, now is it?” Robert asked.
    They came to a halt beside the elaborate goldfish pond. It was a fair argument, and Tanner wasn’t sure he believed that explanation, but he let it go. “Whatever your reasons are for wanting to protect Vanessa from this Vega character, I don’t think I’m the right man for the job.”
    “Now who’s hiding secrets?”
    Startled, Tanner met the senator’s gaze. “What do you mean?”
    “It’s not like you to renege on an agreement.”
    “I’m not reneging. The truth is I think I might have blown my cover.”
    The senator put his hands behind his back and leaned against the trunk of an impressive old oak tree. “What makes you say that?”
    “She went to a bar last night. I followed her, but I stood out in the place. She spotted me. She came over. We danced.”
    And we did a lot more than that.
    “But that’s good,” Robert said.
    “How do you figure?” To avoid the senator’s probing glance, Tanner bent to pick up one of the flat red river rocks landscaping the area and skipped it across