by Lisa Childs
“No, you’re not,” Nikki said. She’d acted faster than she had. And Nikki was a trained bodyguard. Megan Lynch had great instincts.
“I could have gotten us both killed.”
“You did everything right,” Nikki assured her. “You disarmed her without anyone hearing anything. You’re awesome.”
A giggle, albeit a little hysterical, slipped from Megan’s lips. “I just really don’t want to go through with this wedding.”
Nikki laughed, too. She’d loved growing up with all brothers, and always wanting to be one of the guys, she hadn’t ever yearned for a sister. Now she had sisters-in-law and some great female friends. For the first time, she wondered what she might have missed if she’d had a sister, one as kick-ass cool as herself or Megan Lynch.
“I thought you just wanted out of that damn dress,” she teased. “But now I see how desperate you are to cancel this wedding.” She shuddered at the thought of being a bride herself. “Not that I blame you.”
The woman murmured and shifted on the floor as she began to regain consciousness. Megan hadn’t knocked her out nearly hard enough. She still posed a threat. But she wasn’t the only one. The dressing room door began to open. Nikki grabbed for the woman’s gun and turned toward that opening door with the barrels of that gun and hers pointing at the intruder.
* * *
Gage cursed. “What the hell!” He’d known he might have been walking into a dangerous situation when he entered the dressing room. He hadn’t thought the women he’d left there earlier would pose the threat, though. “Don’t shoot me.”
“You keep surprising me,” Nikki said, as if it was all his fault. But then that was what Richard thought, that Gage had orchestrated the whole scenario. Nikki shook her head. “You’re just like your best friend.”
“Best friend?” Megan asked from where she lay on the floor. Half of her thick dark hair had tumbled down around her thin shoulders.
“My brother—Nicholas Rus,” Nikki replied.
Gage swallowed a gasp, still surprised that Nikki had finally accepted her illegitimate half brother.
She smiled. “I’ve almost shot him more times than I can remember.”
“I’m not entirely sure that was by accident, though,” Gage said. “What the hell happened here?”
He doubted it was an accident, either. His heart beating fast with the fear he’d felt that Megan might be in danger, he stepped closer to her. That was when he saw the blood—on her hand and smeared on her dress. He dropped to his knees beside her. “Are you all right?”
She nodded. But her usually tan complexion had paled, making her dark eyes look even bigger and more vulnerable. He’d been so furious with her for so long. His anger now dissipated, leaving only concern and something he refused to acknowledge.
“She’s great,” Nikki said. “She took down this bitch who had a gun pointed at us.”
Gage felt all the blood drain from his face.
“You wouldn’t let me use the scissors on the dress,” Megan said. And there was that little teasing lilt in her voice—the one she used to use when she’d flirted with him.
The blood rushed lower in his body. Then he realized what they were saying. “You two overpowered her?”
“No,” Nikki said. “It was all Megan. She’s a badass.”
Megan smiled with a pride Gage had never seen in her before. Then the smile dimmed as the woman moaned and shifted on the floor again. “I didn’t want to hurt her, though...”
Seeing that Nikki had her hands full with the two guns, Gage grabbed the measuring tape that either Mrs. Payne or a seamstress must have left in the room. He bound the woman’s hands and ankles. Then he reached for something to use as a gag. Her eyes were beginning to flutter. She would be fully conscious soon and probably screaming.
But Megan tugged the gauzy fabric from his hands. “You can’t use that,” she said. “That’s my veil.” Then she gasped as she glanced down at the blood she’d smeared on it.
“Why do you care?” he asked. It wasn’t like she was going to be able to wear it.
“Use this,” Nikki said. She’d put down one of the guns on the vanity table and had found a roll of duct tape. “I think Mom keeps a roll in every room, here and at home.”
Gage ripped off a piece of tape and fastened it over the woman’s mouth just as her eyes opened fully. Her eyes widened as she stared up at him in shock.
“What the hell did she want?” he asked. “To stop the wedding?”
“Just the opposite,” Nikki replied. “She wanted to make sure it happened as if nothing was wrong.”
“Why?” Maybe he shouldn’t have put the tape over her mouth. But he doubted she would willingly give up her reason, especially with her cohorts free and able to carry out whatever their plan was.
“There’s only one way to find out,” Megan said while trying to wipe the blood from the veil and her hand.
Gage’s blood chilled as he noticed the expression on her beautiful face. Her chin was pointed, the skin taut over her cheekbones. It was her stubborn look. And he knew from experience that there was no changing her mind when she was that determined.
He hated to know but he had to ask, “What?”
“I get married exactly as planned.”
His stomach lurched. “No, no. It’s too dangerous...”
“She’s right,” Nikki said. “I have to tell my mom and Woodrow that we have no time to waste. The wedding’s supposed to start soon.” She pulled the door open a crack, peeked out—then opened it fully and stepped out, closing it behind her.
“You really want to do this?” he asked Megan. “You really want to marry Richard?”
She glanced down at the woman who struggled against the measuring tape binding her wrists and ankles. “She’s still bleeding,” she said with concern and guilt.
Gage pulled the torn edges of her jacket away from her wound. “It’s shallow,” he said. He ripped off another piece of tape, squeezed her skin together and pressed the tape over it. And as he did it, the woman thrashed around in pain. “That’ll stop it from bleeding.”
For extra reinforcement, Gage wound a length of duct tape over the measuring tape bindings—to make sure she couldn’t get free—because from the way she was glaring at him, with such hatred, he knew he wouldn’t be safe from her wrath.
But she was the least of his concerns.
He reminded Megan, “You didn’t answer my question. You really want to do this?” Marry another man?
“I have to do this,” she said. “Please go get my dad for me.”
“So he can give you away?” He shook his head. “It’s not going to happen.” There was no way that Woodrow Lynch would willingly put either of his daughters in any danger.
Megan reached for him, her small hand clasping his forearm. “It has to happen.”
“I don’t understand why you’re so determined.” Did she love Richard? Just because she hadn’t really loved Gage didn’t mean that she wasn’t capable of love. She and Richard had much more in common than Gage and she had ever had.
Her hand slipped from his arm, and she pointed at the woman. “She is. She threatened that if the wedding didn’t take place as planned, that nobody would get out of the church alive.”
Gage uttered a ragged sigh. He’d thought the gunmen were there to stop the wedding, not make sure that it took place without a hitch. Apparently, he was the only one who didn’t want Megan to marry Richard.
“She’s hardly in a position to carry out that threat anymore,” Gage pointed out. He had made certain that she wasn’t able to get free.
Megan shivered. “You already know and she admitted that she’s not here alone.”
He glanced down at the woman again. She glared back at him. It might help things if he questioned her. He reached for the tape over her mouth, but Megan caught his hand.
“Please, get my father,” she urged.
“And leave you alone?” He shook his head. “Look what happened
the last time I left you alone.” He pointed at the woman now.
“And like Nikki told you, I took care of her.” She reached for the gun Nikki had left on the vanity table. “And with this, I can take care of myself.”
She could shoot. Woodrow had bragged about how good a shot his youngest daughter was. Or maybe he’d only done that because he’d been warning Gage to stay away from her.
It was a warning Gage should have heeded.
“Please,” she implored him. “Get my father for me.”
Was it Woodrow she wanted? Or Richard? After her close brush with death, had she realized she couldn’t live without her groom?
“We already told Richard that the wedding is canceled.”
She gasped. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“You told me to,” he reminded her.
“I told you to check on him,” she said.
And Gage had to know. “Does he mean that much to you?”
She glanced at the woman who stared hatefully at them. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” Megan said.
He snorted in derision. She’d hurt him—like hell. But apparently she’d forgotten all about that. “You’re right,” he said. “You can take care of yourself.” He headed toward the door.
But she reached for him again. Her hand grasping his arm, she swung him back around to her.
“What do you want, Megan?” he asked her.
“Gage...”
“You don’t want me,” he said. “You made that clear months ago. And you’ve made it very clear today. I’ll go get your father for you so you can marry the man you really want.” But before he could turn back to the door, she stepped forward and closed the distance between them.
With her free hand, she tugged his head down, and after rising up on tiptoe, she pressed her mouth against his. She kissed him deeply, sliding her lips back and forth across his. He wanted to grab her and jerk her body up tightly against his. But he resisted the urge and kept his arms at his sides. Finally she stepped back, her breasts pushing against the bodice of that sparkling dress as she panted for breath.
He’d stopped breathing entirely. He wasn’t even sure his heart was still beating.
She said nothing.
Was that kiss supposed to be a message for him? Was he supposed to think that he was the man she wanted? He knew better. She only wanted him to do as she’d asked: bring her father to her so Woodrow could give away the bride.
* * *
Derek “D” Nielsen felt sweat trickle down the back of his neck to run between his shoulder blades and soak into the waistband of his dress pants. The suit was hot. But that wasn’t why he was sweating.
Andrea had been gone too long. Since his escape a few days ago, she had rarely left his side. So she would have been back...if she was able.
Had something happened to her?
Of course she could have just been checking in with the other members of the crew she had put together. She was determined that nothing go wrong with the plan. She wanted this wedding to take place probably more than the bride did.
Derek understood how important it was for every element of a plan to come off precisely. The prison break had been his plan—plotted from the inside—but Andrea had made certain that plan had been carried out exactly as he’d ordered. If it hadn’t been, he would still be behind bars.
More sweat trickled down his back. He didn’t want to go back to prison. Ever.
But it wasn’t like anyone would expect an escaped convict to show up here. Except maybe one person.
If he’d heard about the escape...
But Derek suspected he’d been a little preoccupied lately. Right now he was preoccupied himself.
“Andrea,” he murmured. “Where the hell are you?”
He needed to check in with the others to find out if they’d seen her or if she’d used her walkie-talkie to contact any of them. But before he did that, maybe he needed to check first where he’d seen her last, heading through the vestibule to the back of the church.
The guy with the military haircut, scars and attitude had just been back there again. He also had a gun. Derek had seen the bulge of it beneath his tuxedo jacket. That guy wasn’t the only one armed in the wedding party. The gray-haired guy had a gun, too, and at least one of the guests.
More and more people had permits to carry concealed weapons. But Derek suspected something else was at stake, that these guys weren’t just carrying because it was their constitutional right to bear arms. They weren’t civilians who’d taken a weekend firearms class. These guys were trained. And they wouldn’t be easy to take down.
Andrea had hired all those reinforcements for them. Derek felt he would need every one of them. Most of all, he needed Andrea. If anything had happened to her, the plan be damned. He would finish this now, and he didn’t care who died in the cross fire when he went down shooting.
Chapter 9
Nerves fluttered in Penny’s stomach. It wasn’t just because of the people with guns who’d crashed the wedding. It wasn’t just because of the danger they were all in. It was because of Woodrow Lynch.
He had looked like he was in such a hurry when he’d started down the church aisle a short time ago. After speaking with one of the guests, he’d joined her in the vestibule where she was checking the basket for programs and making sure the flowers weren’t wilting yet. Then he’d guided her through the door leading into the coatroom off the vestibule. It had a stained glass window dividing it from the church. But she doubted anyone could see them through the colored glass.
“Where were you going?” she asked, keeping her voice low in case the stranger with the gun was hovering nearby yet. “I saw you following Gage from the groom’s dressing room.” Maybe the better question was: “Where was he going?”
“Like you need to ask,” he said.
And she smiled. “To Megan.” Gage hadn’t been able to stay away from her since finding out this was her wedding. Maybe the gunmen and the danger were just an excuse. “I’m proud of you for letting him talk to her alone.”
“I doubt he’s talking,” Woodrow said then shook his head when her smile widened. “That’s not what I meant. I’m not matchmaking. He thought she might be in danger and wanted to make sure she was safe. And there was no way to stop him.”
“We didn’t need his help,” Nikki said as she joined them inside the coatroom. She must have seen Woodrow guiding her mother through the door. Hopefully, she hadn’t overheard them because then someone else—like one of the gunmen—could have as well. “Megan and I overpowered the woman.”
The color drained from Woodrow’s handsome face, and he sputtered, “Wh-what? Overpowered what woman?”
“The one who forced her way into the bride’s dressing room with a gun.”
Penny reached out and clasped Woodrow’s arm for support, since he looked like he was about to keel over with shock and fear. “She’s all right.” She turned toward her daughter and scanned her. Not even a curl was out of place, which was unusual for Nikki when she hadn’t been in a fight. “You’re both all right?”
“Yes,” Nikki said. “Thanks to Megan. She’s amazing. She took the bitch out with the scissors before I even had a chance to pull the trigger of my gun.”
Penny had hoped Nikki and Megan might bond. But she hadn’t wanted it to be over an encounter with a dangerous woman with a gun. She wasn’t even sure why she’d wanted them to become friends. It wasn’t like they would see each other again. Nikki lived here in River City and Megan lived in Chicago. She had only decided to get married in Penny’s chapel because her dad had suggested it.
Why had he?
Sure, Penny had done a few weddings for his agents. But this was his daughter whose special day he’d entrusted to her. And she was failing him.
Why hadn’t Penny realized she would need more security? Woodrow had been a lawman for so long that he must have made enemies—criminals who wanted revenge for their incarcerations.
“Is
Megan really all right?” her father anxiously asked.
“She’s fine,” Nikki assured him. “She’s very smart and strong. She’s also determined to go through with this wedding.”
“That’s out of the question,” Woodrow said. “I won’t allow it.”
And Penny couldn’t help but think that was what he should have done from the beginning instead of bringing Megan to her to plan this wedding. He should have told his daughter that marrying someone she didn’t love was out of the question. She must have let out a soft snort or something, because Woodrow looked at her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. From the way his dark brows lowered, he wasn’t pleased.
“If you won’t allow it,” Nikki said in a tone her mother knew too well, a mixture of stubbornness and defiance, “then you’ll be getting everyone killed.”
“Nikki!” Penny admonished her daughter.
“Hey,” her daughter replied. “That’s what the woman swore would happen if Megan canceled the wedding.”
Woodrow looked at Penny again, his blue eyes wide with alarm. Penny’s heart began to pound quickly and heavily, too. “No. There has to be another way.”
“There isn’t,” Gage said as he stepped into the coatroom doorway.
Woodrow glanced around Gage, and his voice sharpened with concern when he asked, “You left Megan alone?”
“She’s not alone,” Nikki said. “The woman’s with her.”
“She’s tied up,” Gage said. “And Megan has her gun.”
Obviously unappeased, Woodrow shook his head. “You still shouldn’t have left her.”
Penny silently agreed. How could Gage and Megan realize that they still loved each other if they kept running from each other?
“She won’t be alone long,” Gage said. Maybe he intended to return to her immediately. Then he added, “She wants to see you.”
Woodrow’s face paled. “Of course after what she’s been through...” A girl would want her father.
Penny glanced at Nikki. She’d been so young when she’d lost her dad that she’d never looked for him to comfort or rescue her. She’d never looked to anyone for comfort or rescue. Not her three big brothers or even her mother.