Single Mum's Bodyguard

Because she knew her groom well, she smiled. She had no worries about how he would react when he saw her. But she was gripped by a sudden fear that chilled her skin despite that warm breeze. As she watched her reflection in the mirror, all the color drained from her face.

The door opened, but she didn’t tense. She knew she wasn’t the one in danger.

“Damn,” a deep male voice remarked as a whistle hissed out with his breath. “I am a lucky man.”

She was the lucky one.

He stepped closer—probably close enough to see her face—because then he dropped to his knees next to the chair at the vanity table.

“What is it?” Woodrow asked. “Who’s in danger?” His handsome face had turned pale, as well. “One of our kids?”

They weren’t his kids or her kids. They were theirs, even the ones who weren’t related at all to either of them. The orphans, the agents, the bodyguards...

They both loved and worried about them all.

She reached out and gripped his hand, and their matching wedding bands glinted in the light from the vanity table. She hadn’t wanted diamonds, just simple gold. Stacy had designed a beautiful infinity pattern in yellow gold to represent their endless love.

But everything wasn’t endless. Penny knew that too well.

“Who?” Woodrow asked again anxiously.

“Emilia...”

It was more than a feeling that she was in danger, though. It was a feeling that something bad had already happened. That no matter who they called to rescue her, that person would be too late to save her.

That person might be in danger, too—grave danger.

Chapter 5 (#uc05cb37c-2b30-5223-86da-38ad6719cf4b)

Emilia had made a dangerous mistake. Instead of trying to get outside when she’d heard the front door open, she had grabbed Blue and headed up to the attic. This meant that she was trapped. She had no way out except past the intruder.

Then she’d called Dane, which had probably been another misstep. What if the intruder had heard her?

What if he knew where she was hiding now?

Fortunately her son was quiet, sleeping soundly in her trembling arms. He hadn’t given away their presence.

But she might have.

Why had she called Dane?

Sure, she hadn’t wanted to interrupt Nikki and Lars on the night they had just gotten engaged.

But why Dane?

She had the numbers of all Lars’s friends. He’d given her Cooper Payne’s before he’d left for his last deployment. Cooper hadn’t re-enlisted like the rest of his unit. He’d been home and able to help her.

If only she’d gone to Cooper instead of that sleazy lawyer.

She couldn’t change the past, though. And Lars had made certain she had more than one man to call for help now. He’d given her the numbers of all his friends.

So why had she called only one man? Why had she trusted Dane, a man his own best friend had admitted he didn’t really know?

Sure, he’d claimed he was on his way. But where was he coming from? How far away was he?

And why hadn’t she just called 911?

Because she hadn’t wanted it on record if there was no intruder—if that creak had only been in her head—like the crying.

What if she was losing her mind?

Why would she trust Dane Sutton to keep her secret? She couldn’t even trust that he was really coming. There hadn’t been just that one creak. After she’d heard the door open, she’d heard other noises—footsteps on the stairs, heading up to the second floor, to her bedroom and Blue’s.

Was someone after her son?

She fumbled around in the darkness of the attic space, trying to find the cell phone she’d dropped. She hadn’t imagined all that, the creak of the door and on the steps. She needed to call the police. She couldn’t wait for Dane any longer.

But then she noticed the silence. It was eerily quiet. There were no sounds, not from the house or anything outside. Usually one of the branches of the trees hanging over the house brushed across the roof. But not now. Not even a cricket chirped.

Had she imagined it all? Was there no one inside? Of course that didn’t mean that no one had been inside, just that he’d left. Maybe he hadn’t been looking for Blue or her at all. Maybe he’d only been searching for her phone to make more of the late-night calls.

She expelled a shaky breath of relief. She and her son were alone. She could bring him downstairs and settle him back in his bed. But then a door creaked—the attic door. As it opened, a light flashed, the beam shining straight into her eyes.

Nearly blinded, she squinted and tried to peer around the beam. A hulking shadow loomed behind the light. But that wasn’t what frightened her the most; it was the fact that the flashlight from which that beam came wasn’t held in a hand. It was mounted to the barrel of a gun that was pointed directly at her.

A scream tore from her throat.

“Hey, hey!” a deep voice shouted. And the beam shifted, shining on the chiseled features of the man who held the gun. “It’s me,” he said. “Dane.”

Instead of slowing, her heart raced faster. She could feel Blue’s heart beating fast, too, as he cried. Her scream had startled him. He wasn’t easily soothed. It was hard to comfort her son when she was still so scared.

Her hand trembled as she ran it up and down his back. “It’s okay...” But she wasn’t sure about that.

Something snapped, then light from an overhead bulb illuminated the rafters and wood of the unfinished attic space. “Are you really okay?” Dane asked as he holstered his weapon. “You’re shaking.”

As if afraid that she might drop her son, he reached out and took the crying child from her.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

Lars had remarked more than once that Dane Sutton couldn’t stand kids. Why was he cradling hers so gently in those huge hands of his?

“You called me, remember?” Dane asked. “You said someone had broken into your house...” His voice trailed off and he stared at her oddly.

“What?” she asked. “Didn’t you see anyone?”

He shook his head. “No. And the door jamb wasn’t broken.”

“No. They didn’t break in,” she murmured. “I just heard the door open.”