“Oh.” Jake mentally kicked himself for the idiotic monosyllabic reply and the disappointment he couldn’t keep from his tone. He shuffled stiffly back to the bed and sat down. “Going home, huh?”
“We’d already stayed in Lagniappe longer than we intended, but I couldn’t leave until I knew Paige was home and safe.”
Jake nodded awkwardly, staring at the floor. “Then she’s okay?”
Holly moved farther into the room. “She’s home and safe. But she’s anything but okay.”
Jake jerked his head up. “Wh-what’s wrong with her?”
Crossing her arms over her chest, Holly stepped closer and scowled. “She’s heartbroken, dummy. She told you she loves you, and you sent her packing!”
Guilt sluiced through him, congealing in his gut as a cold lump of regret. “I never wanted to hurt her.”
Holly’s expression softened. “I know that. And I know how confusing and complicated relationships can be. Matt and I had our share of issues to work out before we married. What matters is that you don’t give up. If you love my sister…and my dad thinks you do—”
Jake stiffened. “Your dad?”
“He was here, remember? He saw the little exchange between you two and read between the lines.”
Feeling a bit queasy, he leaned back against the stacked pillows at the head of the bed and groaned.
“Yeah, kinda overwhelming sometimes, isn’t it? The whole family knowing your business and adding their two cents?” Holly rested her hip on a corner of the bed and chuckled. “Well get used to it, Jake, because Paige comes with the whole Bancroft brood. Sisters, parents, brother-in-law and kids…”
Holly placed a hand on her belly in a protective gesture, and Jake lifted a corner of his mouth. “Congratulations, by the way. Paige told me you were expecting.”
Holly beamed. “Thanks.” Then her face sobered. “So this is why I’m here… From the minute Paige got back to Lagniappe with Dad, she’s been chomping at the bit to fly back here to be with you. She says she loves you, and she belongs at your side.”
Warmth seeped through the cold knot in his gut, buoying his hope.
“She told me about your hang-ups regarding commitment and family, too. Which is why I’ve spent the last three days finding ways to detain her.”
Jake frowned. “Detain her?”
“Yeah. I’ve done everything I could think of to keep her in Lagniappe. Well, the police helped. They’ve had lots of questions for her. But I even faked premature labor, the lowest kind of deception, so that she wouldn’t jet off to be with you.”
Jake stared at Holly, stunned.
“Don’t you want to know why?” she asked, flipping up a palm in query.
“Because I hurt her. Because you don’t think I deserve her.” Statements, not questions.
“Wrong! Because she deserves to know how you really feel. You pushed her away, so it is your obligation to be the one to fix this. You have to go to her.”
Jake sat taller, squared his shoulders. “And say what?”
Holly rolled her eyes. “I love you would be a good place to start.” She paused, angled her head. “Assuming you do.”
His nostrils flared as he filled his lungs. “More than anything.”
Holly flicked a hand. “Well, there you go. I took the liberty of arranging the Bancroft Industries jet for your convenience. It’s waiting at an airstrip in Marietta for you.” Holly hiked her purse strap on her shoulder and turned toward the door.
“Wait! I—”
She turned and gave him a patient look. “What?”
“Just because I love her doesn’t mean I’m cut out for marriage and family and…and—”
Holly stepped to the edge of the bed and met Jake’s gaze with eyes the same shade of jade as Paige’s. “No one knows the future, Jake. Giving someone your heart is risky, yes. Scary, sure. It takes a blind leap of faith. But you’re not going into this alone. That’s the beauty of a marriage. You work at it together. You both give your best, and forgive each other’s faults. You’re a team. A team cemented by love.” She paused and furrowed her brow. “Okay, that sounded corny, but you get the point, right? If you love Paige and can deal with the idea of me—” she struck a pose “—as your sister-in-law, then I suggest you get your ex-SEAL butt to Louisiana and tell my sister how you feel.”
She finger waved as she sauntered out of the room. “Gotta run. Matt and the kids are waiting downstairs.”
Jake stared at the empty door for long seconds after Holly left. Then laughed.
Paige loved him. Despite all the ways he’d messed up, let her down.
You’re not going into this alone. You’re a team.
He just hoped Paige would see it that way.
Paige hurriedly tossed the last of the clothes she’d laid out into her suitcase and zipped her luggage shut. If she rushed, she could catch the commercial flight from Lagniappe to Atlanta that left in just over an hour. After innumerable delays, from the FBI questioning her to Holly’s false-alarm miscarriage, she was determined to get back to Atlanta, to Jake, today. Now! Enough delays!
But when she’d called the Bancroft hangar to arrange the company jet her father had promised, she’d learned the jet was out on some mysterious errand, not due to return until later today. Thus the commercial ticket. She was tired of waiting.
When her doorbell rang, she considered ignoring it. She didn’t have even a few spare minutes to get rid of a salesman, another reporter or a busybody neighbor. But the ring was followed by an insistent pounding. The urgency of the loud knock gave her pause.
Lugging her suitcase with her, she trooped down to the front door, answered the increasingly insistent summons.
And caught her breath.
Jake’s gaze drifted from her face to her suitcase and back. “Going somewhere?”
When she still couldn’t find her voice amid her shock and the rush of emotion, she shook her head slowly.
He lifted a corner of his mouth. “Can I come in?”
Holding the edge of the door for support, she nodded and stumbled back to let him in. “A-are you all right? Your injury—”
“Is healing well. It’s my heart that’s hurting. That’s why I’m here.” He held her gaze but wiped his hands on his jeans, his jaw tight and tense.
“Wh-why are you here?” she finally managed to rasp.
“Because you are.”
A desperate hope swelled painfully in her chest, and the sting of tears pricked her sinuses. “I—I was just on my way to Atlanta. To be with you.”
“I know. I talked to Holly earlier today.”
She blinked her surprise. “You did?”
“She stopped by to see me at the hospital on her way home.”
Paige’s breath backed up again. “And?”
“She helped me see a lot of things from a different perspective.” He rubbed the generous stubble on his jaw, stubble that made him look ruggedly dangerous. An image completely contradicted by the wistful, vulnerable expression in his eyes. “I thought that we were too different to find any common ground for a future. But Holly helped me think in terms of what we could be as a team.”
A tremble started in her chest and spread through her limbs. Moisture blurred her vision, and she swiped at her eyes. “A team?”
“With the SEALs, I learned that the best teams use the strengths of all the members to build a stronger whole…like at Gates’s.”
Her body tensed. Guilt for second-guessing Jake flowed through her like tar in her veins.
He shuffled his feet as if he was nervous. “When the situation started getting out of control, when my bag of in-the-moment tricks was running low, your contingency plan saved the day.”
She frowned. “What? But I betrayed you. You asked me to trust you and I—”
“Did what I was too thickheaded and stubborn to do. You’ve been a valuable part of this team,” he said, waving a hand between them, “all through this ordeal. Our differences balance eac
h other. You made the right call at Gates’s, Paige. I’m the one who failed you.”
She stiffened her spine and narrowed a sharp look on him. “Jake McCall, I’m about sick of hearing you talk about how you’ve failed me, failed Brent, failed…your aunt Petunia!” She stepped forward and poked him in the chest with her finger. “You saved my life on my wedding day. You were up against hugely lopsided odds, and you did what you had to do to protect the most lives. You gave one-hundred-and-ten percent to stop the people bent on weaponizing a deadly virus, and you kept your word to Brent by keeping me alive throughout this ordeal. You are a hero, not a failure. You’re…” She paused to swallow hard when a lump clogged her throat. “You’re my hero.”
Jake stared at her, his eyes suspiciously damp. “I’d rather be…your husband.”
Paige drew a sharp breath.
“If you can forgive me, for pushing you away. For letting my fear get in the way of telling you how much I love you when I had the chance. Because I do love you, Paige.”
Tears flooded her eyes, joy filling her chest until she could barely speak. But her father’s wisdom whispered to her. She squared her shoulders, lifted her chin. “Unconditionally?”
Jake wrinkled his brow in question and stepped back, staring at her with a puzzled frown.
Paige’s heart cramped. If he didn’t give his heart freely, without strings, than was it really love?
Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, but was in reality just a few nerve-racking seconds, Jake’s confusion seemed to melt away. A knowing grin spread across his face, and he caught her hand to pull her close. “Completely. Deeply. And unconditionally. I want our marriage to be a partnership where we both are heard, both compromise, both share the best of ourselves…and the worst. Your opinion matters to me, Paige. In fact, I didn’t bring you a ring today because I want you to pick the one you like.”
She tugged a grin. “Any ring without a secret nanotube in it works for me…as long as it’s from you.”
Jake drew a deep breath, his eye brightening with expectation. “Does that mean yes? That you’ll marry me?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” With a laugh that bubbled from an overflowing heart, Paige launched herself into his arms.
“Ah, ow!” he rasped, bending at the waist and clutching his stomach. “I think you busted my stitches.”
Paige jerked back with a gasp, horrified. “Oh no! Oh, Jake, I’m sorry! Do you need a doctor?”
He reached for her, flashing a bright smile, and drew her close again with a satisfied sigh. “No, sweetheart, I have all I need right here in my arms.”
As Paige angled her head to accept Jake’s kiss, her heart whispered its assurance that she was finally where she belonged.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6908-2
THE BRIDE’S BODYGUARD
Copyright © 2010 by Beth Cornelison
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*The Bancroft Brides
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
The Bride's Bodyguard Page 21