by Lisa Childs
She could only guess. “Gage and Woodrow.”
A gasp of shock slipped out of Richard’s lips. Had he forgotten about his best man and the father of the bride?
Nikki hadn’t. She was counting on them. But of course she knew their primary focus was Megan, as it should be.
“They would die before either of them would let something happen to her,” Nikki said. “She will be okay.”
For a moment Nikki envied the other woman. Unlike Megan, Nikki had no father to protect her. No old lover to jump to her defense. But she did have her brothers, and she had no doubt they would get inside the chapel. She just hoped they made it in time.
The woman approached again and swung the barrel of her long gun toward Nikki’s face. “What are you talking about?” she asked.
Nikki shrugged. “I’m trying to convince him it isn’t bad luck to have our wedding hijacked.”
“This is not your wedding,” the woman said impatiently. “You were not the one in the gown when I went into the bride’s dressing room.”
Nikki shrugged. “I’m in the gown now.” The gown she’d vowed never to wear. But knowing what it meant to her mother, she’d been careful to get no blood on it when she’d tended to the wounded agent.
Derek had joined them, his gun trained on her, as if he considered her the greatest threat.
She felt a flash of pride. But of everyone left in the church, she probably was, and he didn’t even know she was armed. The agent drawing his gun had distracted D from searching all the other guests. He had visually inspected everyone, though. But he couldn’t see her weapon, strapped to her thigh beneath her dress.
“Who are you?” he asked her.
“Nikki Payne,” she answered honestly. She didn’t admit to being a bodyguard. Instead she said, “My mom owns the wedding chapel.”
He snorted. “I doubt providing a bride is one of her services.”
Nikki chuckled. “You’d be surprised.”
His eyes narrowed into cold slits, he studied her face as he had earlier. “Oh, I am...”
And he shot a glance at Andrea. He had apparently realized that he didn’t know his partner any better than he knew Nikki. “Why did you really switch places with the bride?”
Nikki nodded toward his lady friend. “Because of her.” A muscle twitched along his cheek as he clenched his jaw. He was angry with Andrea—maybe angry enough that Nikki could drive a wedge between them. “I know she intends to hurt Megan.”
Andrea laughed. “Hurt? You have no idea.”
“Why?” Nikki asked. Because of Woodrow? She doubted that or Derek wouldn’t have been surprised when he had learned the father of the bride was an FBI bureau chief.
No. Whatever they wanted had nothing to do with Woodrow Lynch.
Gage?
She turned back toward the sniveling groom. Had he put his bride in danger? She nearly laughed at the thought. It was more likely the other way around. Megan must have made enemies of her own.
* * *
“They want me,” Megan said as guilt overwhelmed her. She never should have agreed to Nikki Payne taking her place. She never should have put anyone else in danger like that, no matter how much Nikki had insisted she could handle it.
What would they do to her when the fake waiter didn’t deliver Megan like they were expecting? Would they do to her whatever they had intended to do to Megan?
Torture her? Kill her?
Nikki wasn’t the only one in danger—the other guests were, too. Just because they hadn’t heard any more shots didn’t mean some hadn’t been fired. Andrea’s gun had a silencer.
Shivering with fear for what might have already happened, she said, “I need to go up there.”
The others stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. Her father shook his head.
“Maybe they would leave,” she said. And then everyone else would be safe.
“They probably would leave,” Gage agreed, “either with you—or after they kill you.”
She shivered again despite the warmth emanating from his body so close to hers on that couch in Penny’s office. Until then she hadn’t realized that she’d been leaning against him. Pride had her stiffening her backbone and pulling away from him.
“We’re not going to let anything happen to you,” her father assured her.
“What about everyone else?” she asked. Her concern wasn’t for herself, not anymore. When she’d broken up with Gage all she had worried about was getting hurt, and because of her selfishness, she’d hurt someone else.
She had hurt Gage. And even if he was able to forgive her, she wasn’t certain she would ever be able to forgive herself.
“We’re working on a plan,” Woodrow told her.
She loved her father and appreciated how protective he’d always been, but even so, he hadn’t been able to stop her and Ellen from getting hurt. They’d been heartbroken when they’d lost their mother. Maybe that was why he had gone overboard, spoiling and coddling them.
She bristled now at his almost dismissive tone. Her father had treated her like a child long enough.
“No,” she told him. “I’m part of this, too. You’re not excluding me.”
“That’s why I’m excluding you,” Woodrow said. “Because it’s all about you...”
Her stomach lurched. Feeling like she might be sick, Megan jumped up and ran for the door.
“Megan!” her father called after her, his voice sharp with alarm.
She didn’t want him to follow her. But she knew that someone had. And she knew who before she even turned around to face him. Instead she stared down at the body lying at the end of the hallway.
Gage had done that. He’d killed a man, for her. To protect her.
It had to stop. The danger. The death. It had to stop.
“You have to let me go,” she told him.
His breath shuddered out in a ragged sigh. “I would like nothing more...”
* * *
His heart pounding with fear, Woodrow started after his daughter. “Stop,” a soft voice said. Penny’s voice was as delicate sounding as she was delicate looking. She wasn’t strong. Physically.
Emotionally and mentally he suspected he had met no one stronger than she was. Sure, he’d had to stop her from charging into the chapel to save her daughter earlier. But she’d summoned control now. Control that awed him.
“I have to stop her,” he said. “She’s going to run up there and offer herself as a sacrifice. I can’t let her do that.”
He flinched as he realized what he’d said. He heard his own hypocrisy.
“You won’t let your daughter do what you let mine?” she asked, her voice sharp now with bitterness.
He turned around and reached for her, his hands closing over her shoulders. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s too late now,” she said.
He knew she was right. It was too late—for whatever they might have had between them. He’d destroyed any chance he might have had with her, if she ever would have given him a chance. Everyone thought she’d never remarried because she was still in love with her late husband. Just like everyone thought Woodrow was still in love with his late wife.
He figured the same thing that had held him back had probably held Penny back. Fear. He hadn’t wanted to get hurt again. He suspected neither had she.
But he had hurt her.
“The damage is done,” she continued. “My daughter has already been taken hostage.”
“Your daughter is a trained and armed bodyguard,” he reminded her. “Nikki’s tough. She’s strong. And more importantly, she’s smart.” Even though she was fearless, she would be careful. “She’s like her mother.”
Woodrow had never met a more impressive woman than Penny Payne. She was as brilliant as she was beautiful. He’d thought so on the other occasions they’d met, at the weddings of his agents. That was why he’d reached out to her for Megan’s wedding.
Maybe he’d even used it as an excuse to see her again. I
t wasn’t as if he’d really wanted Megan to marry Richard. But he’d thought marrying her friend might keep her safer than risking her heart again.
He’d never imagined how wrong it would all go...
“Megan’s not like you,” he said.
“No,” Penny agreed. “She’s like you.”
He wished she was. But she wasn’t his. Not biologically. When he hadn’t been around to pay attention to his young wife, she’d sought attention from other men. Blaming himself, Woodrow had forgiven her, and he loved the daughter she’d made with another man as if that daughter was his own.
Penny had to realize that Megan wasn’t really his. She’d mentioned how Megan had showed her a picture of his late wife. His youngest daughter looked nothing like him or like her mother. She must have looked like her biological father, whoever he was.
“You’ve taught her well,” Penny said. “She’s every bit as strong and smart as you are. She also has your overdeveloped sense of responsibility.”
He groaned, but he didn’t argue. Even though she didn’t have any of his DNA, Megan was more like him than his biological daughter. Because Megan knew they wanted her, she would go—she would give up her life for the lives of others.
He turned back to the door. “I have to stop her.”
“Gage already has,” Penny assured him. “He would never let her put herself in harm’s way.”
That was true. Despite everything he’d been through, or maybe because of it, Gage was the best man to protect Megan. And Penny.
“When they come back,” he said. If they came back...
Maybe Gage had already dragged her out through the passageway. He’d never seen a man as tormented as Gage had been, watching the fake waiter threaten Megan. He’d been more upset than Woodrow—because Woodrow had known they would save her.
“You and Megan will leave through the passageway,” he said, “just like we originally planned.”
She snorted. And he knew why. They hadn’t stuck to the original plan.
“Gage and I will go back upstairs,” he promised. “We’ll rescue Nikki and the others.”
She shook her head. “No. We tried your plan,” she said. “It didn’t work. We’ll switch to my plan now.” She grabbed a bag and filled it with the guns and walkie-talkies she’d put on her desk.
“Penny!” He reached for her, trying to stop her as she passed him on her way to the door. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
He could imagine her trying to pull a Dirty Harry or a Rambo, taking on all the gunmen by herself. For her daughter, she would do anything—except trust him. She would never forgive him for not making sure Nikki stayed safe.
“I’m going to end this,” she said. “It’s gone on long enough. It’s time to take back my chapel.” Her voice cracked with emotion. “And save my child.”
And his heart ached. “You intend to do that alone?”
She shook her head. Tears glistening in her eyes, she admitted, “I can’t...”
He suspected it was the hardest admission Penny Payne had ever made. She was fiercely independent and protective of her family.
“I will help you,” he promised her. He only hoped that they wouldn’t be too late.
What had happened to the substitute bride when the fake waiter hadn’t brought up Megan as they’d ordered?
Had they already killed Nikki in her place?
Chapter 17
“I wish I could let you go,” Gage admitted. But he’d held on to her since that first day they’d met in her father’s house. Even after she’d dumped him and broken his heart, he hadn’t been able to let her go. During all those months of captivity, he’d been tortured more by her than by anything his captors had done to him.
He’d been tortured by memories of her, of her shy smile. Of how it brightened her eyes before curving her lips. He’d been tortured by memories of her hair, curling wildly down to her shoulders as it was now that it had freed itself from the knot into which she usually bound it. He’d remembered how it had felt against his skin, how her skin had felt against his...
Like warm silk.
His body hardened and heated with desire. He wanted her. He’d wanted her then. And he wanted her now.
“You can let me go,” she said.
But he ignored her comment, and despite the heavy dress, he swung her up easily in his arms and carried her toward Penny’s open door. Penny and Woodrow had left, probably for the chapel. Andrea and D would be wondering why Ralph hadn’t brought up Megan yet.
They would know something had gone wrong. And they might react by getting rid of the hostages.
Penny’s arsenal of guns and the walkie-talkies was gone, too. She’d emptied her secret closet, which stood open like her door had. She and Woodrow had gun power. But they needed him, too. They must have thought he’d stopped Megan and gotten her to safety. He needed to bring her to that secret passage where no one could find her.
But he was torn. She felt so good in his arms, against his body that ached for hers.
“You have to let me go,” she murmured as he laid her down on the couch they’d been sitting on moments ago.
He shook his head. “I tried...” And he followed her down, covering her squirming body with his.
She moved beneath him, her breasts pushing against his chest, her hips against his. But then a soft moan slipped from her lips. “Gage...”
She tensed.
He forced himself to draw in a breath. But it didn’t ease his desire. He could smell her now, the sweet scent that was hers alone. He could almost taste her, too.
“I’ve been wanting to ask you something,” she said. And the shyness he’d known and loved was back in her husky voice.
“What?” What might she want to know? She could probably tell, from the erection straining against his dress pants, that he still wanted her.
“Did you reenlist because of me?”
The question caught him off guard, and he wasn’t certain how to answer. He didn’t want to make her feel guilty or bad. It wouldn’t do any good. It wouldn’t change what had already happened.
“You promised that you would never lie to me,” she reminded him.
“Yes,” he agreed. “But you didn’t believe me.”
“I should have,” she admitted. She stared up at him with tears glistening in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
He closed his eyes, unable to bear the beauty and the guilt on her face. “Megan...”
“Tell me,” she prompted him. “Tell me the truth you promised me. Did you quit the Bureau and reenlist because of me?”
He had promised her honesty, and he had broken none of his promises—no matter what she had believed at the time. He wouldn’t break any now, either. He opened his eyes and focused on her beautiful face. “Yes.”
She gasped as if he’d struck her. “I had hoped that it wasn’t my fault.”
“It wasn’t,” he said. “You didn’t tell me to do it. It was my choice.”
“To leave a job you loved?”
“I didn’t love it as much...” As he’d loved her.
Hell, he still loved her. That was why he had to stay away from her. He had nothing to offer her anymore.
The tears glistening in her eyes spilled over, sliding down her cheeks. He wiped them away with his thumbs.
“I’m so sorry,” she murmured. “I was such a fool. I never should have listened to what people were saying.”
“People?” He hadn’t realized anyone but Tucker Allison had thought that he’d been using her.
“Tucker wasn’t the only one,” she admitted.
“Who else?” he asked. Had his friends betrayed him? Had they doubted him like she had?
Nick wouldn’t have. No one knew him better than Nick, not even his sister. Annalise knew he’d loved Megan, though.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Nothing matters but that I believed them. And I shouldn’t have. I should have trusted you. I should have trusted what we had.�
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Feeling as if he was the one who’d been punched now, his breath shuddered out. “Maybe we didn’t have what we thought we had. Maybe it wasn’t real.”
That was what he’d tried to convince himself of the past several months, but he had failed.
She reached up and skimmed her fingertips along his face. “It was real,” she said. “It was...” She tugged his head down to hers and pressed a soft kiss against his lips.
He’d already wanted her. He’d never stopped wanting her. But the desire intensified. He kissed her back—deeply—passionately. His lips skimmed across hers then nibbled. Using his teeth, he gently bit the fullness of her bottom lip.
She moaned and opened her mouth for him. He slid his tongue inside, and she touched it with hers shyly before retreating. He kissed her again and again.
He wanted to take her right there on the couch in his boss’s mom’s office. But as he skimmed his fingers over her curves, the rhinestones on the dress scraped his skin and brought him to his senses.
She was wearing a wedding gown. She was another man’s bride.
Not his.
She would never be his again.
But the least he could do was protect her. From the armed gunmen. And from himself.
“Gage,” she murmured in protest when he pulled away. He easily tugged her off the couch. She turned her back toward him, as if she expected him to finally be able to get those little buttons free.
But he didn’t want her free. He wanted her where she could get in no trouble, where she would be in no danger. Penny’s bookcase stood open yet. Gage led Megan to it, passing the desk on which the wedding planner had laid out her arsenal. She’d missed a zip tie. It might have held something together. Or she might have intended to use it as Gage did. He wrapped it around Megan’s wrists and pulled it tight.
She gasped in protest. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“Protecting you from yourself.” And maybe he was protecting himself from her. But he was too proud to admit that, to admit to how close he had come to losing control and taking her.
He pushed her inside the secret closet. She was small enough to fit beside the glass cabinet that had held Penny’s arsenal. It was all but empty now. Just a couple of guns left inside.