“But won’t the bride’s family and friends know you’re not a relative or close friend?”
“Hey, Mom, I’m a retired FBI Special Agent. I can go undercover with the best of them. I can make up an alias and backstory. That will be part of the fun. In fact, I have my first client for this May. In Florida, where Granny Zaida lives. I’ll hang with Granny and drink margaritas on the beach for a while, too.”
Mr. Romano crossed the room to scoop Chloe into his arms. “I think it’s a wonderful idea,” he whispered into her ear. “Your mother and I will support you in anything you want to do.”
Her mother’s eyes grew moist. “That’s a beautiful way to honor and remember Jenna. I know you miss her dreadfully. We all do. She was always a fixture in the house, and she always brought sunshine with her.”
“Thanks, Mom and Dad,” Chloe said, wrapping her arms around them both.
Liam’s Epilogue
Inch by inch, Liam Esposito rolled out of the hospital bed, wincing with every tiny move he made. The skin grafts were the worst. Red and ugly and oozing infection.
At least he’d only required five surgeries instead of the dozen Agent Burrows, the SWAT leader, had to endure.
Together, the two of them had rescued everyone in Jax Kowalski’s house after it was raining fire and shrapnel. The most despicable part was knowing the man had gotten out in time. He was underground, and now they had to wait until he resurfaced again sometime, somewhere.
Maybe the crook had skipped the country. If he had, Liam was glad, although it would be nice to see him rot in prison. Dale Holmes had come to visit to tell him they’d brought in Jax’s wife for questioning, but she had an alibi and even passed a lie detector test, so they couldn’t hold her.
If only Jenna Fielding had survived. But she was at the epicenter of the bomb that literally exploded that entire evil-filled house. He was surprised she’d survived at all, let alone a week. Even a coma-induced week.
When he heard of her death after a week in ICU at Johns Hopkins, he’d wept. Something he’d never done as an agent. Liam couldn’t stop the heartache spilling into his gut, knowing he’d never see Jenna again. She’d been an incredibly good agent, too.
He could only imagine the torment and grief Chloe was going through. He imagined her sitting vigilantly at Jenna’s bedside with Jenna’s family and fiancé. The anger of it all was enough to make Liam want to put his fist through a wall or two.
“And only a week before her wedding,” he muttered, trying to bend over to put his slippers on and hit the bathroom.
By the time he was coherent himself, almost two months had passed. Three weeks of drug induced nightmares, surgeries, and a recovery so painful there were days he wanted to die. In fact, he was on medical leave for another three months before he could return to the field office—if his doctor even allowed it then.
Shuffling around his hospital room for the first time, he searched for his cell phone, but it was nowhere to be found. He wanted to shake a fist at the heavens and curse the fact that he knew nothing about Chloe. He missed her like a dying man craved water. But there had been no phone calls, no messages, no visits.
Liam tried to rationalize it. She was with Jenna. She was in South Carolina at the funeral. She was helping Jenna’s mother. Cleaning out the apartment she shared with Jenna, canceling the wedding.
Falling back on his pillow, Liam let out a burst of frustration. What an ordeal for Chloe, for all of them.
He had to talk to someone, so he called Agent Holmes again and asked him to come visit.
That evening, the big burly bear of a guy strolled through the door.
“Nice evening we’re having,” Dale said with a belly laugh. “Such savory smells in the hospital. All that gourmet food tickling the taste buds.”
“Oh, shut up,” Liam said with a small laugh. Not too much laughing. It hurt his stomach. “Hey, thanks for coming, Dude.”
“What’s up?”
“No more beating around the bush. Tell me what’s up with Agent Romano.”
Dale Holmes’ eyes twinkled. “You mean Chloe?”
“Where is she? Why hasn’t she ever called? She wasn’t hurt, was she?”
“I told you a month ago she wasn’t hurt. And a month ago, you told me not to tell her you were at Mercy Hospital.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yeah, you did. Maybe you didn’t mean to in your drugged-out incoherence, but you didn’t want her seeing you like this. I figured you’d call her when you returned to the land of the living.”
“Did she ever ask about me?”
“The night of the bomb she did. I think she has the idea that you deserted everyone. Saved yourself and left Jenna behind.”
An explosive curse word left Liam’s lips.
“What do you hear about her? Give me something, man! I can’t find my phone. Maybe it fell that night of the bomb and melted in the aftermath.”
A lightbulb went off in Dale’s head. “That probably explains it. Chloe was upset that you never called her. To see if she was okay. And you were both at different hospitals.”
“And maybe she tried my phone, but it only went to voicemail. Or it was dead. Literally.
She must think I deserted her.”
“That’s what I hear through the grapevine. Heard something else, too.”
Liam’s eyes jerked up to Dale’s face. The guy was looking weird. Like he didn’t want to tell him something important. “She’s okay, isn’t she?”
“I believe so, but she moved back to South Carolina. And I hear that she plans to resign.”
“From the bureau?”
Dale pressed his lips together and gave a grim nod.
“It’s been too long since everything happened. Would she talk to me if I called her?”
“I’m sorry to say she’d probably ignore the phone. She’s angry, and she feels betrayed. Not just over Jenna. But personally.”
Liam stared at his long-time friend and informant. “I get it now. She thinks I don’t love her any longer. I broke her heart.”
He laid back against the stack of hospital pillows and groaned, running his hands over his bristly face. The one that hadn’t been shaved in a week or two. He must look a wreck. He felt like a wreck.
And yet, every night he wasn’t stuffed full of sedatives for the excruciating pain, he dreamed of Chloe.
“What a mess,” he said, wanting to throw a few things.
“What are you going to do?” Dale asked, leaning over to pick at Liam’s uneaten dinner on the tray.
Liam sighed, turmoil rolling through his pitiful brain. Chloe probably hated his guts. And he didn’t blame her. She’d been through hell and back.
“I’m going to get healthy again,” he vowed. “Get my strength back. Get back to work. And then I’m going to find Chloe Romano and win her back if it’s the last thing I do.”
Epilogue
- Eighteen Months Later -
Chloe glanced up to see her mother, Diana Romano, striding out of the First Lady’s office at the South Carolina’s Governor Mansion. She clicked her heels on the parquet floor in an annoyed manner, her cool green summer dress swaying around her knees.
“Is Mom okay?” Chloe asked her father as he let out a sigh.
“I told her she couldn’t be a part of our upcoming meeting,” Albert Romano said, reaching out a hand to lift Chloe to her feet. “I know you’re busy, sweetheart, but it’s time to stop stalling. I need to leave for the capitol, and I’m taking precious time away for this.”
Chloe hurried after him. “You’re being so mysterious.”
“We have thirty minutes before tourists descend,” the governor said, giving her a quick smile. “So let’s make this quick.”
Down the hallway with its polished, gleaming tile floor, Mr. Smith, the governor’s private secretary, opened a door that led to the carpeted library filled with antique furniture and shelves of ancient tomes of the history of Charleston.
�
�Hello, Agent Esposito,” she heard her father say to the male figure standing at the window with his back to the room.
Chloe staggered against the doorjamb. Her stomach dropped clear to the basement with a queasy sensation.
“No,” she whispered, staring at the tall, well-built man who was gazing down at the mansion gardens below.
When the FBI agent turned toward them, the morning sun slanted across his face so that Chloe was blinded for a moment. But she was not blinded by who he was.
Memories rushed at her fast and hard, as though she was being attacked by the past she had desperately tried to bury over a year ago.
A thousand emotions streamed through her body while she pressed a hand to her head. The room whirled so badly, Chloe thought she might get sick.
“Hello, Chloe,” he said in that dazzling voice she remembered so well, including the pair of deep brown eyes that sent quivers rolling like a lightning storm through her.
Fight or flight were two options she’d been trained for during her time as a rookie FBI agent at Quantico when confronted by a threatening situation.
Assess, evaluate, calculate, and then employ the appropriate action or maneuvers.
Most of the time it meant the first option—confrontation, which often included fighting.
Chloe chose the second option. She was so out of here.
* * *
READ THE SEQUEL TO THE FBI BRIDE — THE UNDERCOVER BRIDESMAID RIGHT NOW!
Click this link and dive right back into Chloe and Liam’s story in the aftermath of the deadly bombing and Chloe’s resignation from the FBI!
Dear Romance Lover
* * *
I hope you enjoyed reading The FBI Bride! I love writing sweet romance that sweeps me into new and wonderful worlds.
I spent a lot of time doing the intriguing research New Agent Trainees (NATs) receive during their time at The FBI Training Academy at Quantico outside of Washington DC. I read accounts by current and former FBI agents, which I tried to include in the various scenes and experiences depicted in The FBI Bride.
Thank you for reading, and please check out my other romance novels on Amazon, including all 6 titles of my Secret Billionaire Romance Series. They’re all FREE on Kindle Unlimited, too.
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xo,
~Kimberley Montpetit
P.S. I will be eternally grateful if you have a moment to write a quick review of THE FBI BRIDE on Amazon. Reviews help other readers find enjoyable sweet romance, plus it helps me to be able to keep writing new books! A thousand thanks!
About the Author
* * *
Kimberley Montpetit once spent all her souvenir money at the La Patisserie shops when she was in Paris—on the arm of her adorable husband. The author grew up in San Francisco, but currently lives in a small town along the Rio Grande with her big, messy family.
Kimberley reads a book a day and loves to travel. She’s stayed in the haunted tower room at Borthwick Castle in Scotland, sailed the Seine in Paris, ridden a camel among the glorious cliffs of Petra, shopped the maze of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, and spent the night in an old Communist hotel in Bulgaria.
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Also by Kimberley Montpetit
A romantic & bestselling series set in Snow Valley:
Risking it all for Love
Romancing Rebecca
Sealed with a Kiss
Unbreak my Heart
The Secret of a Kiss
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A Secret Billionaire Romance series has launched!
The Neighbor’s Secret
The Executive’s Secret
The Mafia’s Secret
The Owner’s Secret
The Billionaire’s Christmas Hideaway
The Fiancé’s Secret
The Undercover Bridesmaid
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Keep reading for a sneak peek at the first chapter of The Neighbor’s Secret and The Executive’s Secret, Book 1 and Book 2 of Kimberley’s Secret Billionaire Romance series!
* * *
THE NEIGHBOR’S SECRET: A Secret Billionaire Romance
By Kimberley Montpetit
It was the perfect day for a wedding. After months of trying on wedding gowns, ordering invitations, and searching every bridal boutique in Toronto for the perfect shoes, Allie Strickland was ready to walk—maybe even run—down the aisle of the church and into Sean Carter’s waiting arms.
She’d licked stamps to post the more than one hundred announcements until her tongue was dry. She’d suffered through at least that many long-distance phone calls with her mother that sometimes ended in arguments and tears.
If she didn’t stop weeping, Allie’s mother joked, their tiny town of Heartland Cove was going to flood over. The calls and planning were finally over, and Allie’s wedding day was here.
That morning she’d taken her big fat red marker and made an X on the calendar.
“Mrs. Sean Carter, here I come,” she whispered as she capped the pen and tossed it inside a packing box.
During their five years of dating, she and Sean had gone through grad school together, first jobs, and now Sean was climbing the ladder to become a partner with Learner & Associates Law Firm.
Tonight she’d be with the man of her dreams forever. No more work interruptions. No more hurried lunches. No more agonizingly long street car rides to get to one another’s apartments. Lately, they’d just meet somewhere for a late dinner.
Tomorrow, new renters were moving into her apartment on Bloor Street. When she and Sean returned from their honeymoon to the Bahamas, Allie would unpack the boxes sitting inside Sean’s apartment and officially move in.
Allie’s stomach jumped as she checked the time on her phone. Her wedding began in ninety minutes and it would take at least half of that just to get through Toronto traffic.
She sent a text to Sean and then tried to take deep breaths in an effort to settle her nerves while staring at tightly packed buildings and Roger’s Stadium glinting in the late afternoon sun.
With her brother Jake at the wheel and the car full of her mother, sister, and best friend Marla on their way to the Episcopal Church, Allie’s brain went over her luggage packed for fun, sun, and the beach.
Three bikinis; red, black, and purple.
Slinky dresses for candlelit dinners.
Five pairs of shoes, including a pair of running shoes.
Lingerie and toiletries.
She couldn’t wait to get on that plane tomorrow morning and leave work and stress and family behind.
Seven perfect days with Sean. Finally, finally, finally.
“I don’t think Toronto has ever looked lovelier,” Allie sighed happily, pressing her nose against the window glass like a kid.
She was excited, anxious, and terrified all at once—and missing Sean. She hadn’t seen him in three days due to his working overtime so he’d have a few days off for their honeymoon.
“I promise we’ll have a longer honeymoon when I’m finished with this current trial,” he’d said last week. “A cruise of the Greek Islands in autumn.”
“You know all my dreams,” she’d told him, throwing her arms around his neck and feeling the beat of his heart against hers.
Pulling her arms down, Sean had given her a peck goodbye. “You know I have to be in the court
room at seven a.m., Allie.”
She’d frowned, turning away to stare out the window of her apartment. It was a spectacular view of downtown and the lake. She’d been lucky to get this flat a year ago and hated to let it go, but Sean had a bigger place so she’d reluctantly given up her dream apartment.
“That case has taken over your life. Our lives,” she said, trying not to whine. “We haven’t been out in ages. We’ve hardly kissed in months.”
“But we’re getting married in a few days, Allie. Be a grown-up and get used to the hectic life of a criminal defense lawyer.”
She despised those moments when he treated her like a child. But all she could say was, “But I miss you. Don’t you miss me?”
As soon as she spoke the words, Allie chomped down on her tongue. Sentiments like those merely underscored his assessment of her as a petulant child.
“Your dress!” Mrs. Strickland suddenly shrieked from the front passenger seat, motioning to Jake that there was a red light before throwing a glare at her daughter in her wedding finery.
“These darn no left turn streets,” Jake muttered, braking so hard they all lunged forward. “Traffic is horrible. They’ve got the next two streets blocked off for a 10K run.”
Quickly, Allie hitched up the beaded satin wedding gown around her to prevent wrinkles on the back end.
“You simply can’t have wrinkles when you walk down the aisle,” her sister Erin said with a dose of sarcasm. “It would be, like, a crime or something.”
Mrs. Strickland gave her youngest daughter a second glare and then silently held out her palm when Erin snapped her gum.
The FBI Bride: An Undercover Bridesmaid Romance Page 13