by Lisa Childs
“But Nikki, this is too dangerous. You can’t be alone with Webber.”
“I won’t be alone,” she said. “You’ll all be there in case I need backup.” Her voice rose again but with a singsong note to it as she goaded, “But I won’t…”
“You won’t because you’re not going.” That was Cooper. Even if Lars hadn’t pushed open the conference room door, he would have recognized that tone of his friend’s—the no-argument tone.
Obviously Nikki hadn’t heard it before because she just laughed at him. “Of course I’m going.”
They had formed a protective circle around her, but she pushed through them and headed toward the door—toward Lars. When she noticed him, she stopped. And he stopped breathing for a moment.
She wore a black dress and high heels. While she was beautiful in jeans and a sweater, she was stunning in that dress.
And he was stunned into silence.
“You got out of jail!” she exclaimed as she wound her arms around his neck for a quick hug.
He lifted his arms to hold on to her, but she quickly stepped back.
“Oh, no!” she exclaimed. “You’re here to try to stop me, too.”
He would have had he not been locked up long enough to think about everything Nick had told him about her. She was a bodyguard; it was as much who she was as what she did. And because he loved her, he needed to accept and respect that.
“Of course he doesn’t want to stop you,” Logan said. “You’re risking your life for him.”
“For my nephew,” Lars corrected him. “And she would do the same for any other client—if you dumbasses would let her do her job.”
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Logan said. As he started forward with hands fisted, Cooper pulled him back.
Lars was the man who was in love with her. But he couldn’t say that in front of her brothers until he’d told her privately—because he was pretty sure she wouldn’t want his love. She’d made it clear that she never intended to fall in love herself. She didn’t want romance and marriage. She just wanted to do her job.
So all Lars could say was, “I’m the man whose life she has saved. I’m the man whose sister’s life she saved. I respect that she can take care of herself and others.”
She stepped closer again, wound her arms around his neck and pulled his head down for her kiss. Her lips skimmed across his.
Heat flashed through his body. Maybe that was just because the temperature was rising in the room as her brothers’ blood boiled with anger. Was that why she was suddenly being so demonstrative? Just to make them crazy? He didn’t care what they thought, though. He only cared what he felt—for her. He wanted to wind his arms around her and hold her close. But she was already pulling away from him. Maybe it had just been for her brothers’ benefits.
Of course she’d kissed him and more when it had been just the two of them. He wanted that chance again—to be just the two of them. To be that close to her, to be part of her.
“I have to leave now,” she said almost regretfully. “He’s waiting for me.”
“Blue?”
“Webber,” Cooper answered for her.
And knots of fear formed in Lars’s stomach. But he had trust that she could and would take care of herself. Yet he found himself saying, “I’ll go as backup.”
“Absolutely not,” Logan said.
“If he sees you, it would blow the entire operation,” Cooper said, and his voice had softened with understanding. Had he realized how much Lars cared about her? “Your presence would put her in the most danger.”
A feeling of helplessness paralyzed Lars. He felt like he had when he couldn’t find Emilia. He hated this feeling, hated not being able to help the woman he loved. If he tried to protect Nikki, he would wind up getting her killed.
So he had to step back and let her leave. And with all her brothers watching, he couldn’t even tell her how he felt, that he had fallen for her—harder than when she’d dropped him on that nursery floor a couple nights ago.
Maybe that was when he’d fallen for her. Or hell, maybe it was the first time he’d seen her. She was so damn beautiful. She had to make it back to him…
She had to—so he could tell her he loved her.
Chapter 23
The crying was so soft at first that she had to strain her ears to hear it. What was it? An animal?
Then the crying grew louder, filled with pain and fear. It tore at Emilia’s heart and her womb. And she jerked awake with a cry of her own and tears streaming down her face.
“Shh… You’re okay. You’re safe.” And big arms wrapped around her, holding her closely.
She rested her cheek against the man’s strong shoulder, but as she did, she realized this wasn’t her brother holding her. Lars was bigger than this man, if only slightly. And he didn’t make her feel like this.
Her pulse quickened—just with fear—and she jerked away from him.
“Who—who are you?” Emilia asked, her voice quavering. Had one of Webber’s hired gunmen found her at that hospital? Lars had promised she would be safe; he’d said he would have someone guarding her room. “What do you want?”
Had he come to kill her? But he’d been holding her as if he was comforting her. But it wasn’t comfort she’d felt. It had almost felt like excitement. The man eased off the edge of her bed and stood up. His dark eyes intense, he looked as unsettled as she was.
“This is Dane,” Lars answered for his friend as he walked into the room. “Since we got back, he’s been helping me look for you.”
“Thank you,” Emilia said. But it wasn’t enough to express the gratitude she felt. Or the regret and embarrassment. “I’m sorry.” Tears stung her eyes and she squeezed them shut.
But this time when strong arms closed around her, she knew it was Lars holding her. She settled her head onto his shoulder as she had so many times before. He had always been her comforter, her protector.
There was a tension in his body that suggested he might need some solace, too.
“Nikki is working on getting Blue back,” Lars said, his voice gruff with emotion.
She opened her eyes and glanced over his shoulder. But Dane was gone. Only she and her brother were in the hospital room now. She felt a twinge of something that she refused to acknowledge as disappointment. It was probably relief. The man had to think she was a hot mess. Not that she cared what he thought. All her concern was for her brother.
She stared up into Lars’s face. His jaw was rigid, his brow furrowed. He was worried.
“You don’t think she’ll be able to?”
His breath shuddered out. “No, I don’t think there’s anything Nikki Payne can’t do,” he said. “I won’t make the mistake of underestimating her again.”
He sounded awed. And from what little Emilia knew of the young female bodyguard, she was awed, too. If only she had been as smart and strong as Nikki.
“I’m sorry,” she said again. But she knew it wasn’t enough. “I should have done what you told me to do if I ever got in trouble. I should have gone to Cooper.”
“You were scared,” he said.
She’d had no idea what fear was until she’d woken up all alone in that cold, dark room—her womb empty and no memory of how that had happened.
“I was stupid,” she said. “All of this is my fault.”
He shook his head. “No, it’s Myron Webber’s fault. He’s a baby thief and a killer. You had no way of knowing how treacherous he is.” His breath shuddered out in a ragged sigh. “And that’s my fault. I always tried to shield you from the real world—from danger.”
Emilia tightened her arms around him. “And you did a great job.”
“Too good,” he said. “Maybe if you’d known the dangers out there…”
“I would have been smart enough to avoid them.” But Blue’s father hadn’t seemed like a danger. He’d been a sweet-talker, a charmer. But he’d only wanted one thing. And she’d been stupid enough to give it to him.
Now Webber, she’d realized right away that something wasn’t right about him. He’d been too determined to talk her into giving up her baby, even after she’d told him she’d changed her mind. That she never should have wasted his time.
“Nikki knows about all the dangers,” he said, “but instead of avoiding them, she runs right toward them.”
“She’s doing that to get Blue back.” It was clear to her, though, that Lars wasn’t worried about his nephew. He was worried about the woman trying to rescue him.
Lars sighed again. “I know. But…”
“You love her.”
He nodded. “I hope I get the chance to tell her that.”
“What are you doing here?” Emilia asked. “Why aren’t you—wherever Nikki is?”
“If Webber sees me, he’ll realize that I’m not dead and that probably neither are you.”
And that would put Nikki’s life in even more danger. That was a risk Lars obviously wasn’t willing to take.
“So make sure he doesn’t see you,” she said. She understood that Lars needed to be close to Nikki, needed to be there if something happened.
She hoped nothing did; she hoped that Nikki made it safely back with Blue. But she—better than anyone else—knew how dangerous Myron Webber was. If he knew what Nikki was up to, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her.
*
“I’m sorry I have to do this,” Myron Webber said. “But with everything that has happened lately, I’ve learned to take no chances anymore.” He reached out toward her.
And Nikki tried not to flinch as his hands ran down her sides then around her back. He was checking her for a wire. She held her breath as his fingers moved along the bottom of her bra beneath the thin material of her dress. Her lungs ached with the breath she held, hurting her already injured ribs. Maybe she should have let them X-ray her back at the hospital. She probably had some broken bones. There wasn’t much they could do to treat broken ribs except wrap them. And then Myron would have thought for certain that she was wired.
With her wearing heels, she could see directly into his eyes, which darkened with desire as he touched her. She struggled to hang on to her breath until his fingers moved away. Then she let out a shaky sigh, which stirred the hair she’d curled over her forehead and temple to hide the stitches from the bullet that had grazed her. She’d already ripped off the bandage, like she’d ripped the one off her shoulder, too. She’d suspected Myron might search her.
“Sorry,” he said as he stepped back slightly. “But I had to be certain.” They stood on the driveway just inside the gates of his estate.
She shrugged. “I understand.”
“I need to keep this, too,” he said as he held on to the holster with her gun.
She shook her head. “I need that to protect Blue.”
“I am having some problems with trust right now,” he said.
“Why?” Hadn’t he believed the guard who’d called him from jail? Had the guy snuck in some secret message for him?
“Your brother was friends with that Ecklund character,” Webber said.
“He knew him,” Nikki said. “They weren’t friends.” They were even closer than that after what they’d been through—boot camp and war.
“I’m not sure I should have trusted him,” Webber continued as if she hadn’t spoken.
“Cooper?” She tensed. “He’s the most honorable man I know.” But as she said it, an image of Lars popped into her head. He was honorable, too.
Sure, he had lied to her but his reasons had been altruistic. Just like hers for lying now. She was wired with a transmitter far too small for even someone tech savvy to find. Webber hadn’t had a chance. She couldn’t even feel it; it was sewn into the cup of her bra like an underwire.
Just so he wouldn’t touch her again, Nikki reached for the baby, whom she’d had to put down for Myron’s search. But Candace had already strapped him into the car seat before she’d left with Milek and Gage. They’d all acted very casual, as if nothing unusual was going on. But Candace had squeezed Nikki’s hand before passing her the baby carrier.
All Nikki needed to do was fasten Blue’s seat into the back of the SUV. As she leaned over to do that, she felt Webber watching her. And a chill of revulsion chased down her spine.
One of his guards patted down the driver of the Payne Protection SUV. “If this is for my benefit, move your hand a little higher and to the left,” Garek Kozminski quipped.
The guard was not amused. He moved his hand, and Garek flinched in pain.
“He’s clean,” the guard told Webber. “No wire.” And no gun. He’d taken Garek’s weapon, too.
Garek shuddered at the thought. “You don’t have to worry about a wire with me.”
“Kozminski, right?” Webber said.
“Yes, sir,” Garek said.
“You’re a bodyguard now?” the lawyer asked as if doubting him. He was aware of the ex-con’s reputation; everyone knew of the Kozminskis.
But they were reformed—after a fashion. If they broke or bent a law, it was for a damn good reason. Garek nodded. “Sure am. Are we ready to leave now?”
Webber looked at him and then at Nikki. “I thought it would just be you,” he said.
Garek chuckled. “She’s a good driver, sir. But she’s not me.”
Nobody at Payne Protection could drive like Garek. Only his brother Milek came close because he’d been studying under him the longest. Garek had only started training Nikki a few months ago.
“I need to ride in the back with the baby,” Nikki said. “To keep him safe—though that’s going to be a little harder to do without a gun.”
Webber hesitated for a long moment before nodding. Nikki quickly slid into the backseat between the door and the baby carrier. So Webber had to take the seat on the other side while his guard climbed into the front passenger seat.
“Where to?” Garek asked as he slid behind the steering wheel. The gates opened as if Webber had pressed a button inside the vehicle. Garek drove through them and paused at the end of the driveway.
Nikki glanced around the street, but she could see none of the Payne Protection Agency SUVs. She knew they were nearby, though. But they were so good that they were invisible.
“Where to?” Garek asked again.
Webber named the most expensive hotel in the city. Only the very rich stayed there and most of those were international visitors.
“It’s not a local family?” Nikki asked.
Webber glanced down at the sleeping baby and smirked. “Local families couldn’t afford this little guy. He’s the perfect specimen.”
“So this couple is going to stay here until the official paperwork processes?” Nikki asked.
He smirked again. “Official paperwork can be bought.”
“They bought the baby?” she asked, and her stomach lurched.
His smirk widened.
With a sick realization, she asked, “You took money from all of them, didn’t you?”
“I had to,” he said with a suddenly heavy-sounding sigh. “I think my time in River City has run out.”
Nikki gasped.
He knew they were onto him. The fake police report, the call from jail—none of it had fooled him. But if he’d had a coroner on his payroll, he could have someone else, someone in the police department.
“And if you’re up to anything,” he warned her, “your time will have run out, too.”
He pointed the barrel of a gun—her Glock—across the baby carrier at her. She met Garek’s gaze in the rearview mirror. He widened his eyes, indicating she should give the signal for their backup to rush in. But she was too aware of that gun barrel being held right over the sleeping baby.
If the gun went off, the noise would be too close to the infant, close enough to blow his eardrums. And if the vehicle moved at all and jarred the barrel, a bullet could hit the baby. She couldn’t risk it. She had to find another way to get Webber to put down the gun.
But she was q
uickly running out of options.
*
Lars was too late. He knew it when he saw the faces of the Payne brothers. They had gone pale with fear, their blue eyes wide.
“He’s onto them,” Cooper said as Lars hurried up to where they were climbing into SUVs on the street outside the gates of Myron Webber’s estate. He didn’t protest Lars jumping into the vehicle with him.
“Where are they?” Lars asked. He assumed they weren’t on the estate or the Paynes would have crashed through the gates already. “Are we close enough to get to them?”
“We’re not far behind them,” Cooper said as he pulled the vehicle onto the street and accelerated. “We’ll get there in time. Nikki hasn’t even given the signal yet.”
“What’s the signal?” Lars asked.
“Blue,” Cooper replied.
If she said the baby’s name, she needed help. Of course she would have been more concerned about the infant than her own safety.
The speaker in the SUV crackled. “We’re being followed,” a deep voice murmured.
Lars recognized the voice from the meeting in the conference room what seemed like a lifetime ago. “What the hell is Kozminski doing?” Why would he let Webber know they were behind them?
Webber’s chuckle radiated from the speaker. “I know. Let’s say I’ve lost my trust in Payne Protection. Those are my men. I had to hire some more of them, though. I seem to have lost quite a few lately.”
Thanks to him and Nikki. Lars cursed. “They’re surrounded.”
“Garek can lose them,” Cooper said.
Nikki’s voice rang out, the clearest of all of them. “You can’t trust hired hitmen. Their only allegiance is to money.”
“Nothing wrong with money,” Garek remarked. “Now that gun in my side…there’s something wrong with that.”
“Myron, why are you doing this?” Nikki asked, her voice coming steadily and clearly through the speaker. She knew no fear. Then her voice changed, became almost flirty as she continued, “There is no reason for these guns. We’re going to bring the baby to the hotel with you. And then I thought we were going out to celebrate.”