Beauty And The Bodyguard

And Gage’s jaw tightened. He thought she loved Richard. And she did—as a friend. Nothing more. But he was a friend and had been one for a long time. So she was worried about him.

His blond head jerked in a sharp nod. “Sure, I’ll check on him.”

“Gage...” She wanted to call him back, wanted to explain that she didn’t love her groom. She didn’t love anyone but Gage. She never had.

But the door slammed behind him.

Nikki jumped. “So much for not drawing any attention to himself.”

It wouldn’t have mattered if he’d slammed the door or quietly slipped out. Gage Huxton was the kind of man who drew attention with his height and his handsomeness. He wasn’t like Megan, whom people rarely noticed.

Why had he ever been interested in her? It was no wonder she’d doubted his feelings. She couldn’t believe even now that he’d ever really wanted her.

Richard claimed he did, that he wanted to be her husband, wanted to build a life with her. He’d anticipated that this day would be the first of the rest of their life together. And now the man who’d stolen her once from him was about to take her away again...

Only for her own protection.

But she wasn’t sure he would tell Richard that. She wasn’t sure what Gage would say to the other man. She only knew that she was the one who should tell Richard that she couldn’t marry him. “I need to get out of this dress,” she told Nikki.

“I know,” the other woman replied. But even with the tool, the buttons weren’t opening easily.

During the long moments Nikki struggled with the dress, Megan imagined Gage walking toward the groom’s dressing room. Now she didn’t worry about what he would say to Richard. She worried about what could happen to him before he got there. She worried that he would take on those gunmen alone.

“No,” she said, as she jerked away from the other woman. “We’re wasting too much time.”

“We still have a half hour before the wedding is supposed to start,” Nikki said.

But Gage had already been gone too long, long enough for Megan to worry that he would never come back. She’d lived through that nightmare once. She didn’t want to live through it again.

Panic filling her, constricting her lungs even more than the heavy dress, she rushed toward the door and pulled it open. And just like the last time she’d tried to leave, the barrel of a gun stopped her.

Unlike last time, this barrel pushed into her abdomen. And she had no doubt that this woman, who stared at her with cold blue eyes, would pull the trigger and bore that hole right through her.

Chapter 6 (#ulink_e9538fa1-510b-56cf-aaaf-5489bc52bc5a)

Just as Nikki had remarked, the church was too empty for a wedding that was less than an hour away from beginning. Gage didn’t know much about weddings, but he knew that people usually liked to get to them early so they could get the good seats. As he passed through the vestibule, he noticed that some of those front pews were occupied by little gray-haired people.

Older people were always early. It was the younger ones that weren’t on time. Like the Paynes. Where was Logan or Parker or Cooper? Or had any of them even been invited?

They were Penny’s kids. Not Woodrow’s agents. Of all the Payne Protection bodyguards, only he and Nick had worked for the Bureau.

What about the agents, though? Where were they? Woodrow would have invited them for certain. Sure, Dalton Reyes hated weddings. But Gage had heard that after finding a bride in a car trunk, the agent had gotten married himself, so he must have changed his mind.

And what about Agents Campbell or Stryker or Bell? They were all close with Woodrow. They wouldn’t have missed his daughter’s wedding.

But the only one Gage saw from the Bureau was the ass kisser. The young guy had been even more of a rookie than Gage. But he’d been desperate to get ahead and jealous that Gage had. He was the one who’d spread the lies that Gage was only dating Megan for a promotion.

Because it didn’t matter how much ass Tucker Allison kissed, he would never make special agent. There was nothing special about him. He didn’t have the guts for the job. Or to help Gage and Woodrow take down the armed suspects.

Where the hell were they? He hadn’t noticed any of them as he’d crossed the vestibule. But as he stepped through the doors at the back of the church, a man straightened away from the wall. He wore a suit that didn’t fit him well. Even as big as it was, it couldn’t conceal the bulge of a weapon.

Acting oblivious, Gage forced a smile. “Hi. Bride’s side or groom’s side?”

He’d like to know who the hell the guy was here for. But he had a sick feeling that he already knew. It had to be for the bride.

But why? Because of Woodrow?

Or because of him?

Keeping the grin plastered on his face, he studied the stranger. The guy’s hair was nearly shaved, just stubble showing on his skull. He could have been military. But what army? And more importantly, what side?

“Are you an usher?” the guy asked. His thin lips curved into a faint, mocking grin. “I thought you were the best man.”

Did he know Gage? And how? Had they met on opposite sides of the law or a battlefield?

He could have been a supporter of the group that had taken him. He and the other gunmen could have been determined to carry out what the others had begun. For some reason his captors had thought he’d had information they’d wanted. But no matter how badly they’d tortured him, he hadn’t been able to tell them what they’d wanted to learn.

That didn’t mean they’d given up, though. He resisted the urge to reach for his weapon and drop the guy. For one, he didn’t know if he would be fast enough, and for two, he didn’t know where the other armed people were.

“It’s a small wedding,” Gage replied. “We’re all pulling double duty.”

The guy nodded as if he believed him. But he doubted he’d taken him at his word any more than his captors had.

“So which side?” he asked again. “Bride or groom?”

He shrugged. “I’m the plus one, just waiting for my wife. She went to the restroom.”

With her big purse with her heavy gun inside? Gage hoped like hell that was really where she was. The guy had answered easily, as if he were speaking the truth.

Some people believed their own lies. Like the little FBI agent who nervously glanced back at him...

Tucker had believed the lies he’d spread. Maybe that was why Megan had believed them so easily as well.

But if she’d trusted Gage, if she’d loved him like she’d once claimed she had, she never would have doubted him. Like Gage doubted this guy.

“Well, I hope your wife returns quickly,” Gage said. “The wedding will be starting soon.”

The guy arched a brow as if skeptical of Gage’s claim. “Really?” he mused. “I’ve never known a wedding to start on time. Usually brides take longer to get ready than they plan for, especially if they’re nervous.”

How did this guy know that Megan was nervous? Because he was giving her every reason to be?

“You must have never attended a wedding here,” Gage said. “Mrs. Payne’s events always start on time. She has a way of quelling every fear of even the most nervous bride.” Or at least that was what he’d been told. But knowing Penny, he didn’t doubt it.

It was clear she had her doubts, though. She and Woodrow stepped into the vestibule from the basement stairwell. His arm was around her waist, as if he’d had to help her up the steps. But her body was stiff—not trembling—and she pulled away from him. Penny was proud and tough. She had raised her kids alone and had survived her fears over all their brushes with death.

And he knew they’d had many just since he’d met them.

“Well, if you won’t let me usher you to a seat, I better assume my best man duties and check on the groom,” Gage said.