One-twenty. One-fifty. The numbers fluttered again and both Nick and Genie glanced over at the vertical electrophoresis unit. Their eyes met. A silent message passed.
“If you let Richard and me walk out of here together, he won’t hurt me. He promised.” Genie licked her lips and tried to bring some moisture to her fear-dried mouth.
“I did?” The pressure from the muzzle at her temple eased up, then returned. “Oh, yeah, I did.” He pushed her toward the light lock. “You let us out, Wellington, and nobody gets hurt.” He paused. “Where’s Deborah? What did you do to her?”
“I— Nothing. She’s waiting for you outside.” Nick swallowed and Genie learned something new about Nick Wellington.
He was a terrible liar.
Unfortunately, Richard noticed it, as well. “You lie! What happened to her? What did you do to her? I’ll kill you!” He turned the gun away from Genie’s temple to point it at Nick. “I’ll kill you!”
And it seemed that everything happened at once. Genie kicked backward, digging her heel into Richard’s shin just as Nick leaped at the other man and grabbed his gun hand. A shot went wild and the sound of shattering glass echoed above the churning of the developer and the swearing of the men.
They tussled briefly, and when Richard fired again in Nick’s direction, Genie grabbed a film cassette and thumped the smaller man behind the ear, right where the stitches were, and fresh blood bloomed.
Richard howled and straightened, clapping his free hand to his head and staggering toward the counter. Genie hooked his ankle with her foot and pulled, and Nick pushed the yelling man’s shoulder on the way down, aiming him directly at the vertical electrophoresis unit.
He fell on the counter with his chest across the warm glass plates and his gun hand in the buffer chamber. Richard stiffened, his eyes rolled back, and as Genie screamed and threw herself against Nick’s broad chest and felt his arms come up to hold her, Richard began to jerk uncontrollably as the current arced across the metal of the gun and into his body.
One-seventy. Two-twenty. Three hundred.
The digital numbers climbed and Genie buried her face in Nick’s shirt, unwilling to watch a man die but unable to make herself walk away. When the numbers passed four hundred, the safety fuse in the charger blew and the unit quit.
Richard slid to the floor and lay still. Then his chest jerked once. Twice. And he began to breathe.
Genie and Nick stared down at him for a long moment, then at each other. “Are you okay?” They spoke simultaneously, then laughed a little at the absurdity of the question.
“Did he hurt you?”
Genie shook her head. “Not really. He was more confused than anything, I think.”
Nick tightened his arms, wincing at the warm, wet feel of the shirt on his back. The shrapnel wound must’ve broken open again. “I’ve never been so scared in all my life as I when I realized you were in here with him and I couldn’t get to you. I—I’m sorry I took so long.”
Thumping him lightly on the chest, Genie scowled. “Will you please get over feeling like you’ve always got to do one better? You saved my life. Not once, but at least twice this week—do you see me complaining?” Her voice softened. “Thank you.”
The truth of it shimmered through Nick like warmth. He hadn’t been too late. He’d protected Genie, and she hadn’t complained—not once. She wasn’t Lucille.
And he wasn’t his father.
He was his own man, a man in love with Genie Watson. And this time it would be okay. He held out a hand to her.
“About what happened…before.”
Genie shied away from the hand and hugged herself as though she felt a sudden chill. “We don’t have to talk about that right now, do we? I mean, you’ve been up front from the beginning that you don’t want to be involved—”
“Genie, I love you.”
“And I knew all along that…what?”
He grinned at the expression on her face, at the sudden lightness in his chest. “I love you. I want to marry you. Make babies with you. I want to listen to you sing in the shower and I want to read the snippy little memos you’ll send me about picking up my socks, and I just plain want to be with you for the next lifetime or so.” He reached for her. “What do you say?”
She backed away and almost tripped over Richard Jr.’s unconscious form. “But you’re… But I’m…” She blew out a frustrated breath, then paused and glared at him. “Are you trying to save me again, Wellington? Because if you are…”
He shook his head and spread his arms wide. “I’m nobody’s prince or savior. I’m just a lonely man in a big, empty castle, and you’re the woman that I love. I’m not trying to save you, Genie. I’m asking you to save me. Will you marry me?”
He saw the decision in eyes that flooded with tears, and he felt his heart explode in his chest as she finally, finally, nodded and hurled herself at him. Kissed him. Said, “I love you, too. Oh God, yes, I’ll marry you.”
And as they kissed long and sweet, Nick heard the commotion outside that heralded the arrival of Sturgeon and his men—too late to see the mystery end.
But just in time to see a new love begin.
Epilogue
“Oh, darling, you look so lovely.” Vivien’s accent made the words lush and wonderful, and when she gently adjusted the coronet of flowers that held Genie’s veil in place, Genie touched her hand.
“I’m so grateful you helped me plan all this, Mother. Everything looks perfect.”
“Oh, pooh.” Vivien waved the compliment away as though flying to the U.S. on a day’s notice and arranging a fantasy wedding in two weeks was nothing. But Genie saw the sheen of tears in her mother’s eyes and knew the time together had meant as much to Vivien as it had to her.
She couldn’t have her childhood back—and wasn’t sure she’d change it if she could—but she could take control of the future.
Her and Nick’s future.
Peeking between the heavy draperies at the bright light of a perfect, sunny Florida day, Genie scanned the assembled crowd. Nick had remembered the “dream vacation” she’d once shared with him, and had flown them—and their friends—to Disney for a big, tacky wedding. It was perfect.
She waved at her brother Etienne and he grinned and waved back, giving her a big thumbs up. Steph sat next to him, wan and bruised, with her daughter Jilly in her lap. Only time would heal the young mother’s wounds, thought Genie. Time and friends. She saw Detectives Sturgeon and Peters sitting behind Steph, saw the younger man watching Steph as intently as he had while she lay in the hospital—and wondered.
Her gaze touched on Nick’s sister, who smiled in response. Nick’s parents had been “too busy” to attend, but the members of both labs were there in force, along with a cartoon mouse who should have looked out of place, but didn’t. Standing beside the mouse was a big blonde. The sight of him made Genie’s heart swirl giddily in her chest and she gazed up at Cinderella’s castle towering majestically in the background.
“I always wanted to visit a place like this,” Genie whispered. “Do you think it’s too silly for Dr. Eugenie Watson?”
Her mother took her arm in a shy hug. “Maybe, but I think it’s just right for Genie Wellington.” The music swelled from hidden speakers and they saw a few curious faces speckling the edges of the cordoned off area, waiting to see the bride. “Now, let’s go get your prince.”
Genie barely felt the measured steps that brought her down the aisle to Nick’s side. She barely heard the minister’s words, hardly noticed the giant cartoon character standing off to one side. She could only feel.
She felt the warmth of the man beside her. The pressure as he slid a gold band woven in the shape of a DNA double helix onto her finger. The touch of his lips on hers.
And all the awe and wonder and love that anyone—even a genius—could possibly feel as he took her hand and they walked toward their friends.
Together.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-3734-6
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p; DR. BODYGUARD
Copyright © 2003 by Dr. Jessica S. Andersen
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