by Lisa Childs
Gage had been through some epic battles in his life. But no one had ever fought him as hard as Megan was. He tightened his arms around her, lifting and carrying her away from the security panel.
“You can’t keep me here,” she shouted at him as she pummeled his shoulders with her small fists. “You can’t treat me like a prisoner.”
He had said those same words himself before, so he knew exactly how she was feeling. His heart ached with sympathy for her. He didn’t want to hurt her—like he’d been hurt. He only wanted to protect her. “I can’t let you leave until we know where the hell Richard is.”
“Richard won’t hurt me,” she said.
Gage wasn’t so sure.
She must have seen the doubt on his face because she insisted, “He won’t. He just wants the diamonds.”
“Why did he sew them on to your dress?” Gage wondered.
“What was the reason?” Megan shrugged. “I don’t know. And at the moment, I don’t care. I just want to see my dad.” Her voice cracked with emotion, and tears shimmered in her dark eyes.
“You will see him,” he promised. “We’ll leave as soon as my backup bodyguards arrive.” But even then he wasn’t certain it was a good idea to take her out of the safe house. Nobody had any idea of what Richard was capable. And Gage couldn’t figure out why the hell he’d had the diamonds sewn on to Megan’s dress. What was the purpose of that?
No, it was too risky, and Gage wasn’t willing to take any chances with Megan’s life. Refusing to bring her to see her father would be taking a chance with his life, though. She might kill him.
“You’re lying to me,” she accused him. “You have no intention of bringing me to see him.”
“It’s too dangerous,” he told her.
She shook her head. “No, it’s not. But what does it matter if it is? Why do you care?”
She was asking something else—something else he couldn’t answer honestly. He couldn’t tell her how he felt. He couldn’t burden her with his feelings because there were too many now—too many nightmares—too much damage.
So he reminded her instead, “It’s my job. Protecting you is my assignment.”
She sucked in a breath. “That’s all I am to you?” She glanced over his shoulder to the bedroom where they’d made love.
“That was a mistake,” he told her. “I crossed the line. I shouldn’t have.”
“Do you do that on all your assignments?” she asked.
He thought of his first one, of the elderly lady with Alzheimer’s and nearly smiled. “No...”
But he couldn’t let her think that it meant something that he had with her. He couldn’t let her think they might have a future together. After what he’d been through, he couldn’t offer anyone a future.
“It didn’t mean anything,” he said. “I could never be with you again.” Because he had nothing to offer her...but nightmares and uncertainty.
She flinched and nodded. “I knew that. I knew that you would never be able to forgive me.”
“Megan...” She broke free of his grasp and ran to the control panel again.
He gave her a moment to figure out she couldn’t escape, just like his captors used to give him...until the day he’d proven them wrong. But security in the Kozminskis’ condo was high. You didn’t need the code just to get in; you needed it to get out, too.
When she began to type in numbers without hesitation, Gage realized she’d watched him enter the code and she’d remembered it.
Cursing, he rushed forward just as the metal door began to open. She slipped through the narrow space and ran out. What the hell did she think, that she was going to walk to the hospital? Hail a cab? She had no car keys, no money for a cab.
“Megan!” he called after her. “Come back here! You can’t leave.”
She ran faster, turning the corner of the warehouse without so much as a glance back at him. Even if she had money for the fare, there were no cabs or buses running in this area of town. Once industrial, it was mostly abandoned now but for the warehouse Milek Kozminski had converted into the condo and art studio space.
“Megan!” he yelled.
But she didn’t answer him. He figured she was just being stubborn until he turned the corner. Then he saw why she hadn’t answered.
There was a hand clasped over her mouth and a gun pressed to her head. Richard had caught her—right next to the open door of a black sedan.
Gage hadn’t drawn his gun, but he wore his holster. All he had to do was reach for it. But would Richard shoot before he could?
“Let her go,” Gage advised him.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Richard asked, his voice full of resentment. “You stole her from me once, but you’re not stealing her again.”
“You love her that much?” Gage asked hopefully. Richard wouldn’t hurt her if he loved her.
The other man laughed. “Love? I leave that for fools like you. I don’t love her.”
“Then let her go.” Because Gage loved her. Losing her once had nearly destroyed him. Losing her again...
He couldn’t imagine it. It would be a nightmare beyond any he’d endured.
“I need her!” Richard said.
“But you said you don’t love her.” Then Gage realized why the other man claimed to need her—because he needed what he thought she had. “She doesn’t have the diamonds anymore.”
Richard’s face flushed. “What? Where are they?”
“In the condo,” Gage said. “Or they were.”
“What do you mean?”
“I left the door wide open. Anyone could have walked off with them now.” And Gage couldn’t have cared less. Money mattered nothing to him.
“You better hope not,” Richard said. “Or I will pull this trigger.”
Megan’s eyes widened with shock. Obviously, she had never considered her fiancé capable of such violence. But then neither had Gage.
“You don’t want to hurt her,” Gage said. “Or you won’t live to see those diamonds again.”
Richard’s face flushed an even darker shade of red. “You tough guys...” He shook his head. “Like Derek. He thought he was tougher than me, too. He thought he could break me. But I broke him. I sent him to prison and he didn’t even know.”
“Because you did it behind his back,” Gage said. “You were underhanded, just like you were with Megan, hiding who you truly were from her.”
Richard chuckled. “It was easy to fool her, thanks to you.”
“Me?”
“You distracted her for me so she didn’t ask too many questions. Then she felt so guilty about dumping me for you that I could manipulate her into doing whatever I wanted,” he boasted.
“Like wearing that ugly damn dress.”
“That dress is worth millions,” Richard said. “Maybe even billions!”
“Then let her go,” Gage said. “And get your damn diamonds.”
“Oh, I’ll get them,” Richard assured him. “But first I need to do this.”
Gage didn’t know what he was going to do, but that it would be bad. So he reached for his weapon. But he couldn’t draw it fast enough.
Richard pulled his trigger first, firing the bullet right into Gage. Then he chuckled and asked, “Was that straightforward enough for you?”
* * *
Megan screamed so loudly it either penetrated Richard’s hand or knocked it away from her mouth. Gage lay facedown on the sidewalk in front of her. Richard had just shot him—in cold blood.
How had she never realized how cold-blooded he was? She’d thought the reason she had felt no passion with him or from him had been her fault. Now she knew. He was a heartless monster.
“Should I make sure he’s dead this time?” Richard asked as he lowered the barrel of his gun toward Gage’s head.
She screamed again and did what she should have moments ago—she grabbed his arm. He fired anyway, but the shot missed Gage. Or at least she hoped it did. She saw no blood spread across his
back. But his sweater was black. Maybe he had been struck.
Richard was stronger than she’d known. He easily pulled free of her grasp and turned on her with the gun. “You can’t help him,” he said. “But you can help yourself.”
She didn’t care about herself, not if she lost Gage. And she might have already lost her dad. “You’re crazy if you think I would help you!” Then she saw the madness in his eyes and realized that he was crazy.
“You were going to help me,” he said, “before he came back from the dead.” He pointed his barrel at Gage again.
“No!” she shouted at him, to draw his focus back to her. “I would have never helped you with anything illegal.”
He grinned, a mocking grin. “By marrying me, you were going to help me get those diamonds out of the country.”
“But I didn’t even know you had them.”
“You had them,” he said. “And you would have worn that dress through airport security.”
She never would have worn that dress on a plane. The minute she’d put it on she had changed her mind about marrying him at all, even before Gage had appeared in her dressing room. “They would have found them then.”
“You think airport security would have searched the daughter of an FBI bureau chief?” And he would have made damn certain they knew she was. He chuckled. “Never.”
“That’s the only interest you had in me,” she realized. “My father.”
He didn’t even bother denying it. In fact he uttered another mocking little chuckle that confirmed it.
“He might be dead,” she said. “Andrea might have killed him.”
He cursed. “That stupid bitch. She’s an idiot. She screwed everything up with her petty jealousy. She just had to see the woman I was marrying.” He shook his head in disgust.
“She’s dead,” Megan informed him.
“The cute little brunette killed her?” he asked.
Megan nodded.
“Figured Andrea was too stupid to let that go.”
“Let me go,” Megan urged him. “Just get in your car and drive away.” Then she could get help for Gage. Maybe he hadn’t been injured too badly. But he lay so still on the pavement.
“Not without the diamonds,” Richard said. “We’re going to get those and then maybe I’ll think about letting you go.”
She didn’t believe him. Finally, she recognized when someone was lying or telling the truth. Too bad she’d figured it out too late to listen to Gage. If she hadn’t left the condo, they would be safe inside it. Together. He wouldn’t be bleeding on the concrete. This—like everything else—was all her fault.
Actually, it wasn’t all hers. It was Richard’s. He had manipulated her long enough. If only she could get to Gage’s gun.
But it must lie beneath him. She couldn’t see it. There were other weapons back inside the condo, though. Payne Protection had an arsenal there.
“Then let’s get the diamonds,” she urged him.
His hand on her arm, he jerked her forward so that she nearly stumbled over Gage’s body. Her heart lurching, she stepped over him. Richard kicked him as he crossed his body. Gage didn’t move or even grunt in pain.
Tears stung her eyes. She’d lost him again and this time for good. She wanted Richard to pay for that, for taking the life of a good man.
He dragged her along the sidewalk back to the condo. The metal door stood open, how Gage had left it. He hadn’t cared about the diamonds lying just inside on the couch. He’d cared only about her, about keeping her safe. Of course it had been his job to protect her. It was her fault that she’d kept making it so hard for him.
But that was really the only thing that was her fault. Everything else was on Richard, on his treachery and greed. It gleamed in his eyes as he caught sight of the wedding dress spilling out of the box on the couch.
“There they are, just like he said.” He turned back and pointed the gun at her face.
“You need me,” she reminded him. “You need the bureau chief’s daughter to help you out of the country.”
A smirk spread across his face. “Yeah, right. Like you’d help me...”
“I would,” she said. But she had never been a very convincing liar. Why had Gage believed her when she’d told him she’d never loved him? Maybe he’d had some of the same insecurities she’d had.
“I can’t fly out of the country,” he said.
“Why not?”
“That little brunette, she overheard me and D talking,” he said. “She knows.”
“Then you’re trapped.”
He gave her another condescending smile. “With this much money, I can get my hands on anything I want. You were only my plan A.”
He would have a plan B. He was brilliant. It was one of the things she’d admired about him, his intelligence and how understanding he’d been when she’d dumped him for Gage. But he was so smart that he’d intended to manipulate her the entire time.
“I don’t need you anymore.” He turned the gun barrel toward her.
“Richard...”
“I’m doing you a favor,” he said. “This way you don’t have to mourn Gage Huxton all over again. You can be with him—for eternity.”
Megan squeezed her eyes shut just as the shot rang out.
* * *
No matter how many painkillers they’d pumped through his IV, Woodrow had found no relief. He couldn’t sleep, not without Penny by his side. She had been gone too long.
He was only allowed one visitor at a time, so she’d been giving everyone else a turn. Ellen. His son-in-law. The only exception had been Nick. He’d been allowed to bring in his newborn son with him.
“Why the hell did you saddle him with a name like Woodrow?” he’d teased his best agent as the guy had cradled his baby in hands that were nearly as big as the infant himself.
The only man who could have been a better agent had quit before he’d had the chance to prove himself. He’d proved himself at the church, though.
Where the hell was Gage?
Hopefully, keeping Megan safe. He knew Gage would give up his life before he’d let anything happen to the love of his life. Fortunately, he’d found her when they were young. They would have a long life together.
It had taken Woodrow too long to find Penny. And getting shot had proved to him that he couldn’t waste another minute. Sure, he’d been hesitant to say anything to her until they knew everyone else was safe. But it didn’t matter.
It wasn’t like he was going to wait until Richard was caught. The guy was smart. He could elude the authorities for years. And Woodrow wasn’t willing to wait years. Not now that he’d finally found his true love.
His door creaked open, and he turned toward it with a reassuring smile. He’d presented that face to every worried visitor. As if thinking about her had conjured her from his dreams, Penny stepped through the door. His smile widened into a grin of delight.
Her curls were still tousled. The circles beneath her eyes might have grown darker. She was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She didn’t smile back. In fact her brown eyes were dark with worry and regret.
She didn’t have good news for him.
Pain jabbed his heart as he realized that. He shook his head and implored her, “Wait!”
She paused half in, half out of his hospital room.
He gestured her inside, and the door closed behind her. “I want you,” he said. “I just don’t want whatever you have to tell me.”
She gasped. “Woodrow...”
“Just wait,” he told her. “Before you tell me whatever it is you have to tell me, I want to ask you something first.”
“But...”
He gestured her closer until she stood right next to his bed. Then he pulled her down beside him, like when he had awakened and found her pressed against his side. “I think you brought me back,” he said.
“What?”
“The surgeon and doctors are all surprised that I made it,” he said. “They said I
lost so much blood that they didn’t expect me to wake up.”
She gasped again and trembled against him.
“But I had to come back,” he said. “For you...”
Tears glistened in her eyes.
“It took me fifty-five years to find you,” he said. And he lifted and pressed her small hand against his heart. He couldn’t feel it through the bandage, but he knew it was there. More importantly, he knew she was already inside it. “I wasn’t going to give you up without a fight.”
“I’m glad,” she murmured. And her lips curved into a slight smile. “I was worried that I’d already lost you.”
He shook his head. “Not a chance.”
“That’s why I told myself I couldn’t fall for you,” she said. “Because you’re too great a risk. I could lose you like I lost...”
“Your husband?”
She shook her head. “I lost him before he died. I lost the illusion of what I thought we had. It wasn’t this. I know that now.”
“Me, too,” he said.
She nodded. “Megan...”
“She’s not mine. Biologically.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she agreed. “With the child...”
But with the spouse, the trust was irrevocably broken. He had forgiven, but he’d never forgotten. Just as he imagined she had.
“I will never betray you,” he promised. “I would never put you through what I was put through.”
“I know.”
“And this bullet thing...” He sighed. “That was a fluke. My first gunshot wound in all my years with the Bureau and the Marines.”
“Maybe I’m bad luck,” she suggested with a smile.
“You’re good luck,” he said. “I doubt I would have survived if I hadn’t wanted to be with you.”
She snuggled against his side, clutching his shoulders. Then she lifted her face and pressed her lips to his. “I didn’t want to fall for you,” she said. “But I did.”
“I love you,” he said. “And I want to marry you.”
The regret was back in her dark eyes. “Woodrow, I need to tell you—”
He pressed his mouth to hers and then his fingers. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters except you becoming my wife. I want to be with you through good times and bad. If the bad starts now—” and he had a sick feeling that it had “—then I want to go through it with you. Please, Penny, say that you’ll marry me.”