Beauty And The Bodyguard

She wanted to know. Most of all she wanted him every bit as much as she’d wanted him that day they’d first met. When she’d closed the refrigerator door to find him leaning against the side of it, she’d thought he was big then, towering over her.

But he wasn’t just big physically.

It was his personality that was so big. His voice carried to the point where she’d been able to hear him above the other men gathered in the family room around her father’s enormous TV. She and Ellen had bought him that TV for Mother’s Day because he’d been both mother and father to them. She’d been invited to sit around that TV, too, but she’d been too shy to join the group of rowdy guys to whom her father had introduced her when she’d come home from a short and boring date with Richard.

Gage Huxton was the rowdiest with his booming voice and his even louder laugh. Or maybe he was the one she heard because he was the one she’d thought the most handsome with his golden-blond hair and smoky green eyes.

She’d never seen a more beautiful man. And, thanks to her father being bureau chief, she’d met some good-looking guys over the years. But they had never noticed her; they’d never sought her out like Gage had in the kitchen.

“Do you need something?” she’d asked him. “More beer?” Her father had a bar in the family room, but the fridge was small. With that many guys, they had probably already emptied it.

He’d shaken his head. “No.”

“Food?” she’d asked.

Her father was an excellent cook. He’d had to be, or they would have starved. But maybe he hadn’t made enough for the number of guys who’d showed up at their house.

Gage had shaken his head again. And there’d been something in his eyes, a wicked glint that had had her pulse racing.

“Then what do you need?” she’d asked.

He’d stepped closer then, so close that he’d towered over her, until he’d leaned down. His mouth tantalizing close to hers, he’d murmured, “You...”

She’d laughed at him then because she’d thought he was just trying to be funny. Because men like him, men that beautiful, were never interested in girls like her. Chubby girls with unmanageable hair.

“I’m not kidding,” he’d told her.

She’d laughed harder then, though it had sounded high-pitched and a little hysterical. “I have a boyfriend.”

“Dump him.”

“Why would I do that?” she’d asked.

“Because of this...” And then he’d kissed her. For the very first time in her life she’d experienced real passion. Her flesh had heated. Her heart had pounded so hard and so fast. Other parts of her had reacted, too—like her nipples tightening. Like the pulse that beat in her core, throbbing as pressure built inside her.

She’d never felt anything like it before. She’d felt it every time he’d kissed her or even looked at her. She’d felt it just moments ago when he’d kissed her.

She had never had that passion with Richard, and she never would. No. She couldn’t marry him. This wedding was not going to happen.

She had to tell him. Now. Before the wedding began...

She lifted her arms and tried to reach the buttons behind her back. They were too small, though. Penny Payne had buttoned her up before the beautician had arrived. And even she had had to use some kind of tool, which she’d taken with her. Megan couldn’t get out of her dress alone. Of course Ellen still wasn’t there.

Her sister was beyond late now. Maybe she didn’t intend to show up at all. She hadn’t agreed with Megan marrying Richard. A loving and biased older sister, Ellen was convinced that Megan could do better. She wasn’t a Richard fan. She had been a Gage fan.

But they had thought Gage was dead...

She cursed and gave up the struggle with her dress. It wasn’t as if seeing her in it would give her and Richard bad luck in their marriage. They weren’t getting married. She’d hoped to slip out of the room and across the church unnoticed. If she wasn’t wearing the huge dress Richard had designed and made for her, she wouldn’t have been noticed at all. People rarely looked at her. And no man had ever looked at her like Gage had.

Her fingers trembled slightly as she reached for the knob and pulled open the door. And fear washed over her all over again.

She wasn’t afraid of telling Richard she wasn’t going to marry him. She was afraid of the gun pointed at her—afraid that it might go off and bore a hole right through that wedding dress and through her.

Of course she’d already had a hole inside her—where she’d lost her heart to Gage.

Now she was about to lose her life...

Chapter 3 (#uf5bcefdb-4551-5359-b911-e47afa2e9650)

Once Gage had realized who the bride was, he hadn’t thought about the rest of what Penny Payne had said. He hadn’t believed then that the bride could be in any danger aside from making a mistake.

She’d made her biggest mistake nearly a year ago. Or maybe it had been before that, when she’d let him kiss her that first time.

Maybe that had been the mistake she’d made.

Gage had nearly made one himself. He’d started to leave the church. Again.

He’d started leaving once after he’d refused Penny’s assignment. But he hadn’t been able to walk past the bride’s dressing room without looking inside to see Megan. That had been a mistake, seeing her in that sparkling white gown.

Now he couldn’t get the image out of his mind. He’d thought stepping outside would help him clear his head. But he’d been seeking not just fresh air but also an escape. Six months of captivity had made that his first instinct. He’d had no intention of going back inside, either. He’d endured enough torture. Watching Megan marry another man would have been him torturing himself.

He couldn’t do it.

But he couldn’t leave, either.

Not when he noticed the guns.

They were discreet with them. A man dressed like a waiter carried one in his duffel bag. Another man, dressed like a guest, carried one beneath the trench coat he wore over his suit. There was a woman, too, with a purse that was big and—from the bulge inside it—heavy.

Heavily armed...

After Gage had realized who the bride was, he’d thought Penny’s claim about her being in danger had just been a ploy, a manipulation, to enlist him as the bridal bodyguard. But Penny hadn’t been lying about Chief Woodrow Lynch. He had a lot of enemies, maybe even more than Gage.

And if those enemies wanted to hurt him, they would go after his daughter. Megan was the one with whom Woodrow had always had the most special bond, and he was so protective of her. So if his enemies really wanted to get to him, they’d go after Megan.

She wasn’t his only family at the church, though. A minivan pulled up front and parked between the catering van from which the armed waiter had stepped out, and the long black car from which the armed wedding guests had exited. The side door slid open, and three little blond girls tumbled out. They were dressed in miniature versions of Megan’s lacy white dress. The sunlight sparkled off the rhinestones, but they didn’t seem to shine quite as brightly as Megan’s.

Megan sparkled. But it wasn’t just the dress. It was her eyes—those fathomless dark eyes—and her heart-shaped face.

God, she was beautiful.

She couldn’t see it herself, though. She had no idea what she actually looked like. Whenever she looked in the mirror, she still saw the chubby girl from her adolescent years with the bad complexion and glasses. Gage had only seen that girl in old photos. There was nothing of her left in Megan the woman.

One of the little girls looked like Megan must have when she was chubby—with rosy, round cheeks. The little girl was cute. She was also heading toward the church, her sisters running after her. Gage didn’t want them any closer to the danger. He rushed down the stairs to head them off.

“Wait, girls,” he said. “Wait for your parents.”

“My aunt Meggie’s getting married,” one of the girls told him.