Beauty And The Bodyguard

They had all come armed to that Super Bowl party nearly two years ago.

“I know your dad’s agents,” the woman replied. “These people aren’t them.”

Megan’s blood chilled. “Then who are they?”

The woman shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe people with a beef with your dad.”

Megan bristled. “Why would anyone have a beef with my dad?” He was an honorable man—a fair man.

The only person she could think who’d had a problem with him had been Gage when he’d quit the Bureau. But that hadn’t really been because of her father; that had been because of her.

“He’s put away a lot of criminals,” the woman replied. “Any of them could want revenge.”

“Of course…” Megan murmured, embarrassed that she’d been so naive. Of course there were criminals who wouldn’t appreciate how good her father was at his job. “But why here? Why now?”

“Your wedding announcement was in the paper,” the pseudobridesmaid reminded her. “It provides a great opportunity for anyone looking for vengeance.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry,” the woman assured her. “I’ll protect you.”

She was armed, but it sounded like the other people might have more weapons.

“How are you going to do that?” Megan questioned her.

The woman’s dark eyes narrowed, as if she thought Megan was questioning her abilities.

“If none of those gunmen are my dad’s friends, then you’re outnumbered.” Even if Gage hadn’t left…

“I have a plan,” the woman replied. “You need to take off that dress.”

Megan couldn’t agree more.

“No one can know that you’re the bride.”

She wasn’t the bride, because she had no intention of getting married. “You’ll need to help me,” Megan said. “I can’t undo all the buttons.”

The woman lifted the skirt of her own dress and slid her gun into a holster strapped to her thigh. “Turn around.” But she only fumbled for a few moments before cursing. “Damn it, I should have paid more attention when I’ve helped Mom out with weddings.”

That was why she’d looked familiar. She was the spitting image of her mother. “You’re Penny Payne’s daughter.” Mrs. Payne had said that her sons were bodyguards. She hadn’t mentioned that her daughter was as well.

“Nikki,” the young woman replied.

“I’m Megan,” she said.

“I know,” Nikki replied.

She sounded like her mother—like a woman who knew everything except how to get Megan out of the heavy, constrictive wedding gown. She continued to fumble with the tiny buttons, but she only managed to undo a couple of them.

“Cut it off me,” Megan urged her. She grabbed a pair of scissors that had been left on the vanity table.

“That won’t work.”

“Of course it will.” She didn’t even care if she got cut in the process. She just wanted it off. Now. And it had nothing to do with fear of any suspiciously armed men. It had to do with fear of making a horrible mistake.

Again.

“I won’t be able to put it on if it’s ruined,” Nikki replied.

“Why would you want to wear it?” She turned to face the woman.

Nikki shuddered. “Not because I want to get married. I want to act as a decoy.”

“For me?” Megan asked. “You won’t pass for me.” The other woman was beautiful.

Nikki wrinkled her forehead. “Why not?” she asked. “We have the same coloring and build.”

Megan shook her head. Her hair was darker, her body heavier. There was no way she looked like the beautiful bodyguard.

“You’re a little curvier,” Nikki admitted. “But with how heavy this dress is, no one will notice.”

Megan suspected plenty of people would notice. But she didn’t care as long as she wasn’t the one walking down the aisle. “No one will notice if you snip a few of those buttons off,” she said.

“You really want out of this dress,” Nikki observed.

“When you came in, I was just getting ready to cancel the wedding,” Megan said. “I can’t go through with it.”

“Gage?”

Nikki Payne might have been like her mother. Penny had pried out of Megan how much she’d loved another man—and how she’d lost that man when he’d gone missing in action and been presumed dead. But she’d lost Gage long before he’d been deployed again.

“Where is he?” Megan wondered.

He’d vowed to make sure no one would stop the wedding from taking place. If he’d noticed the men Nikki had noticed, he might have taken them on—alone. He might have put himself in danger—again.

Nikki sighed. “I don’t know. But I could use his help. I left my phone in my mom’s office when she enlisted me as your maid of honor.”

“Ellen canceled.” She wasn’t surprised. Her sister hadn’t wanted her to marry Richard.

She had no other bridesmaids. She hadn’t wanted a big wedding; it was her father who’d convinced her to get married at Mrs. Payne’s little white wedding chapel.

Nikki continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “So I couldn’t call for backup before I hurried in here to make sure you were safe. Do you have a phone?”

Megan shook her head. “Your mom took it from me when I got here,” she said. “She wanted to take all my calls to make sure nobody would bother me.”

But then she’d enlisted Gage Huxton—who bothered her more than anyone else ever could—as her bodyguard.

Why?

What had the older woman hoped would happen? A happy reunion?

Gage hadn’t been happy to see her at all. He was still mad at her. Earlier, that had upset her. But it gave her some comfort now. With as mad as he was, maybe he wouldn’t risk his life to protect her. Maybe he wouldn’t put himself in any danger.

Nikki cursed. “I need to call for backup.”

“Then forget about the dress and let’s get out of here,” Megan suggested.

Nikki shook her head. “You can’t leave this room—not in that wedding gown.”

“You can leave,” Megan said. “Go—call for help.”

Nikki shook her head again. “I can’t leave you in here alone,” she said, “and unprotected.”

Her pride stinging, Megan lifted her chin and said, “I’m not helpless. I can take care of myself.” She was Woodrow Lynch’s daughter. When she and Ellen had barely been able to walk, their father had taught his daughters self-defense maneuvers as well as other ways to protect themselves.

“Do you have a gun?” Nikki asked.

“No,” she admitted. She would have had to carry it in her purse, and she spent too much time at her sister’s—with her young nieces—to risk that. They went in her purse all the time looking for gum. But she gripped the scissors. “I have these. I’ll be fine. You go call for help.”

“A good bodyguard never leaves her subject unprotected,” Nikki said.

A good bodyguard would have made certain the door was locked, too. But they both tensed as the knob rattled and began to turn.

Nikki fumbled with her holster, but she didn’t have time to draw her gun before the door opened. She cursed and stepped between Megan and whatever danger might be coming through the door.

But Megan doubted the petite bodyguard would be able to protect her from a real threat. Was there a real threat?

Blood had been shed in her wedding chapel before. A groom had been assaulted and abducted. Another man had died.

Brides had been threatened.

Penny’s notorious instincts were telling her that there was another threat. Just as she’d told Gage, Megan Lynch was in danger. When she’d told him that, Penny had thought the only real threat had been of Megan making a mistake—of marrying a man she didn’t love.

Penny’s chapel was so successful because she ran it well. She knew every waiter on the catering staff, so she immediately recognized the one who didn’t belong. She also recognized the guests who hadn’t been invited. It was obvious none of the other early-arriving guests knew them. If they had ever worked for Woodrow, someone else would have recognized them. And they were armed—just like the unfamiliar waiter.

So who were they? And why had they brought guns into the chapel?

She couldn’t tell if any of the other guests who’d arrived early were armed. Most of them were older, though. Probably great-aunts or -uncles of the bride or groom. If any were Woodrow’s agents, they probably hadn’t thought they needed to bring their weapons. Penny wished they would have.

Because the only person she knew for certain was armed was Nikki. She’d seen the holster when she’d helped her into the bridesmaid dress.

And Gage…

But where was Gage? Had he left like he’d threatened he would? He’d claimed he wanted no contact with Megan again. But if he was that angry and bitter yet, his emotions were still involved. Megan still affected him, hopefully too much for him to have just walked away.

Woodrow hoped he had. But he was an overprotective father. Too overprotective for him to not have noticed the people sneaking weapons into the wedding.

So where was Woodrow?

She scanned the foyer of the church, looking for him and for Gage. But before she could find either, a strong hand gripped her arm and a deep voice murmured in her ear, “You’re in danger.”

Chapter 4

Feeling like he’d been sucker punched, Gage gasped for breath. He shouldn’t have been surprised. He’d already seen Megan in that damn dress. But it was still a shock—more of a shock than Nikki Payne pulling a gun on him. Everyone knew that Nikki was trigger-happy.

He was damn lucky she hadn’t shot him.

“Just your usual amount of jumpy?” he asked. “Or did you notice the armed arrivals, too?”

Her hand shaking slightly, Nikki holstered her weapon beneath the skirt of her bridesmaid dress. He’d had no idea that she and Megan were even friends. But then he’d been gone a long time.

“I’m glad you noticed them, too,” she remarked. “So you called for help?”

He shook his head. “Did you?”

“When she asked me to step in for a sick bridesmaid, I left my phone in Mom’s office,” she replied. “Where’s yours?”

He held up the useless cell. “No signal. Your mom must have a jammer so her ceremonies don’t get interrupted because someone forgot to shut off their phone.”

Nikki sighed. “What doesn’t she think of?”

“Armed gunmen,” Gage replied.

“No, she has a plan for those, too.”

Gage drew in a deep breath. “That’s good,” he said. “We need a plan.”

“We need backup,” Nikki said as she opened the door a crack and peered out into the foyer. “How many did you spot?”

“I made three,” he said. “But there could be more.” If they were seeking revenge against Woodrow, there would be more. They would know that they’d need an army to take down Chief Special Agent Lynch. “I told Megan’s sister to call Nick.”

Maybe she’d been frozen with fear. Maybe she’d just been confused by the exchange between Gage and Nikki. But Megan finally spoke, her voice raspy as she asked, “Ellen is here?”

“Not anymore,” he assured her. “I told her and her husband and the girls to leave.”

“The girls…” Her soft voice cracked with fear, and she trembled.

He found himself reaching for her, his hands lightly grasping her shoulders so she didn’t fall. “They’re gone,” he said. “They’re safe.”

She peered up at him, skepticism in her dark eyes. “Ellen listened?”

He hoped like hell she had. He’d warned her that if she didn’t follow his instructions, she would put her sister and dad in more danger.

Ellen wouldn’t have wanted that. Gage didn’t want Megan in any danger. Hell, he just wanted her. His palms heated and tingled from the contact with her shoulders. Only thin lace sleeves separated her skin from his. He stepped back and dropped his hands back to his sides.

“She wouldn’t put the girls in danger,” he reminded her. She had definitely left with her husband and kids. But he didn’t know if she’d listened to him, if she’d called only Nick.

If she had called 911 like she’d mentioned, she risked getting them all killed. When the gunmen heard sirens wailing, they might just open fire. Hopefully, she would do as he had directed: call Nick and tell him to do nothing until Gage contacted him.

Nikki’s face had paled, too. “I hope Nick doesn’t call Logan. If they all rush in…”

Gage shook his head. “I told her to have him sit tight until I—or someone else from inside the church—make contact with him. So we need your mom to shut off that damn cell jammer.”

Nikki nodded. “Yes. You need to find her.”

Gage’s heart constricted as fear squeezed it. “No. You need to.” He wasn’t leaving Megan, not when he was certain that she was in danger now.

“I have to stay here,” Nikki said. “I have to get her out of that dress.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because nobody can know she’s the bride,” Nikki said, as if he was an idiot. And maybe he was, because getting her out of the dress was pretty obviously the easiest way to protect her. They had to disguise her.

“I would be out of it,” Megan said, “if you would have used the scissors.”

Nikki shook her head. “Then I won’t be able to put it on and switch places with you.”

Gage already knew Nikki was smart. She’d helped Nick figure out why someone was really after him and Annalise. He was impressed as hell that she’d already come up with a plan to protect Megan. His only instinct had been to get to Megan and get her out.

But just like police couldn’t come in with sirens wailing, he couldn’t sneak Megan out in that damn sparkling gown without drawing attention, either. And if, as he suspected, the armed people were here for her, they wouldn’t let him just walk out with her without one hell of a fight.

“You get word to Nick,” he said. “I’ll get Megan out of the gown.”

Nikki nodded in agreement before opening the door and slipping out into the foyer. She disappeared before Gage fully realized what he’d agreed to do: he was going to undress Megan.

“Wait,” Megan called out, her voice a faint croak in her suddenly dry throat. But Nikki Payne was already gone, leaving her alone with Gage.

She would rather have taken her chances with the armed gunmen. After all, there were only three of them. That wasn’t nearly as dangerous as one Gage Huxton.

“She’ll be okay,” Gage assured her.

She flinched from a pang of guilt. Of course she should have been concerned about Nikki’s safety. “She seems pretty tough,” she said. Despite her petite size.

“She has three older brothers,” Gage said. “Four, actually, with Nick.”

“I know,” Megan said. “Mrs. Payne—” The wedding planner was insistent that Megan use her first name. “Penny has told me all about her sons. And she counts Nick among them.”

Even though she hadn’t given birth to him. While Megan knew someone else who’d loved a child that wasn’t really his, she still considered Penny Payne to be very special. Megan had realized that the first time they’d met. Penny was intuitive and empathetic. She’d understood Megan’s pain—her grief over thinking Gage was dead—because Penny had lost her husband. But Gage wasn’t Megan’s husband, and she doubted that he would ever be.

“Penny’s great.” Gage’s mouth curved into a faint grin. “And her sons, they’re good guys. They’ll come with Nick for backup. It’s going to be okay.”

Megan released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Of course everything was going to be okay. She wasn’t even convinced that they were really in danger. Nikki and Gage could have been overreacting.

But she somehow doubted that.

“You’ll still be able to get married today,” Gage continued.

Maybe she would be able to, but she had no intention of exchanging vows. She couldn’t promise to love any man but Gage. He didn’t want her love, though. He apparently didn’t even want to touch her.

But then his hands were on her shoulders again. He didn’t hold her, though. He only turned her so that her back was to him. Then his fingers skimmed down the line of buttons on her back. “Nikki didn’t undo many of these,” he mused.

Just enough that she could feel the brush of his fingertips across an inch of her spine. She suppressed a shiver of reaction. She had always reacted to his touch.

“They’re tiny,” she said. Every fitting with the seamstress had taken so long, just getting her in and out of the dress.

“They’re also slippery as hell,” he said with a grunt.

They were clear, either crystal or glass, like the sparkling rhinestones on the bodice of the gown.

“And it’s like the holes are too small for them,” he mused. “I can’t get them through.”

Her hand shaking, she held up the scissors again. “I think you just need to cut it off.”

He stepped around her, his brow furrowing as he stared down at her. “Why would you want to destroy your wedding gown?”

Because it wasn’t really her gown…

She never would have chosen anything so ostentatious for herself. She’d wanted simple and elegant, like the gown her mother had worn. Her father had even taken it out of storage for her. Megan hadn’t wanted lace. And certainly no rhinestones. In the elaborate, sparkly gown, she felt more like a beauty contestant than a bride.

“I just want it off,” she murmured as panic began to overwhelm her. She didn’t care about the possibility of armed gunmen in the church. She just didn’t want to get married. Now or ever…

It wasn’t as if she needed a husband to have children. She could be a single parent. Like her father had been. Like Penny Payne.

“Don’t worry,” Gage assured her. “Nikki and I won’t let anything happen to you. She has a good plan, switching places with you.”

She wasn’t as convinced as they were. “Putting her in danger in my place—that’s not a good idea.”

“Nikki’s tough,” he reminded her.

“We don’t need to go to all that trouble,” she said. “We can just cancel the wedding.”

He shook his head. “I told you that I’d make sure the wedding happened.”

She shivered now, but it wasn’t in reaction to his touch; it was because of the coldness in his eyes and his voice. He hadn’t changed his mind. He wanted her to marry another man, probably any man but him.

“But if those people brought guns in here to stop the wedding…”

His brow furrowed more. “We don’t know why they brought guns in here.”

“Nikki thinks they want revenge on my father and that they intend to use me to do it,” she said.

Her stomach clenched with dread at the thought. She never wanted to cause her father any pain. He’d already been through too much when he’d lost her mother so many years ago.

“We don’t know that for certain,” he said.

Maybe they didn’t intend to hurt her. Maybe they intended to hurt her father when they figured his guard would be down—when he’d be distracted with his daughter’s happiness. But he already knew his daughter wasn’t happy. He’d been so worried about her.

Now she was worried about him. Where was her father? Was he okay?

“You need to find my dad,” she urged him.

Gage shook his head. “I’m not leaving you.”

She would have been touched had she thought he actually cared. But he was only doing his job. She tried to remind herself of that when he turned her around and attacked the buttons of her gown again. She tried to remind herself that he wasn’t undressing her for the reason he’d undressed her so many times before.

He didn’t want her naked. He didn’t want her at all.

“Why would you say I’m in danger?” Penny Payne asked as she closed her office door behind Woodrow.

“You saw the gunmen.” He’d been watching her when she’d noticed them. That was why he’d pulled her aside before she could confront them. He wouldn’t have put it past her. She was that protective of her chapel and her brides.

But this particular bride was his responsibility. He would keep Megan safe. The only other person he would trust to protect her was Gage Huxton. While his quitting the Bureau and reenlisting had hurt Megan, Gage would never consciously cause her harm.

When Woodrow had seen Gage slip into the bride’s dressing room a little while ago, he had breathed a sigh of relief. Then he had guided Penny down the stairwell to the basement and the safety of her office. While Gage protected Megan, he would protect Penny—from herself.

“You don’t know them?” she asked. “You didn’t plant the waiter among my catering staff?”

“Why would I?”

“For additional security.”

“I didn’t think I’d need security for my daughter’s wedding.” And maybe that had been naive of him. There’d been an announcement in the paper, which had probably been like an advertisement for anyone harboring a grudge against him. Want revenge against Woodrow Lynch? Hurt his daughter on her special day.

“We need it now,” Penny said. “There’s only Nikki.”

“And Gage.”

Her thin shoulders slumped, and the corners of her mouth dipped down in a frown. “He left, remember?”

“He’s back.”

Despite the situation, she smiled that all-knowing smile that both infuriated and fascinated him. “I knew he wouldn’t be able to let her marry another man.”

Woodrow sighed. Now he understood what a hopeless romantic was. There was no hope of changing Penny’s mind about who she thought belonged with whom. “I think it’s more likely that he spotted the weapons, too.”

Penny was undeterred and smiled even brighter. “And he came back to protect her.”

“It’s not personal,” he insisted. “Gage was a soldier and an agent and now a bodyguard. It’s not in his nature to walk away from danger.”

For once Penny didn’t argue with him. Her mouth curved down again. “And that nature nearly got him killed. You need to call for more backup,” she said.

He held up his blank cell phone. Trying to get a signal had drained its battery. “I couldn’t get any reception. Now it’s dead.”

Penny stared at its black screen. “Why not?”

“You tell me,” he said. “I assume you have a cell signal blocker so no calls will interrupt weddings in your chapel.”

Color streaked across each of her delicate cheekbones. “I have one,” she acknowledged. “But I didn’t turn it on today.”

“You wanted Megan’s wedding to be interrupted.” He narrowed his eyes and studied her flushed face. “Is that armed waiter yours?”

“Of course not,” she said. “I didn’t want to disrupt Megan’s wedding. I would have turned on the signal jammer if she decided to go through with the ceremony.”

“But you were hoping that she would decide not to.”

“I don’t want her to make a mistake she’ll regret the rest of her life.”

“Have you?” he wondered.

“Have I what?”

“Made any mistakes you still regret?” He didn’t expect her to answer him since she never talked about herself.

But instead of changing the subject as she always had whenever he’d asked her something personal, she stared up at him, her usually warm brown eyes cool and guarded. And she replied, “Not yet.”

Was he a mistake she was considering making? He wanted to ask, but he couldn’t risk making a mistake of his own. Not now…

Not with his daughter and other innocent bystanders—and Penny—in danger. He had to act and quickly before more guests arrived at the church. There had only been a few early arrivals, besides those armed people. Unfortunately, they’d been aunts and uncles and cousins of his late wife, unarmed civilians who wouldn’t be able to help him protect the others.

If only some of his agents or Penny’s sons had arrived already…

“Where do you keep your signal jammer?” he asked.

“Nobody’s been in my office,” she said.

“Where do you keep it?” he persisted. God, the woman was stubborn. It was good that he’d decided not to ask her out—despite all the times he’d thought about it since meeting her. He’d picked up his phone a million times to call her. But something had held him back.