Single Mum's Bodyguard

“Happy tears,” she assured him. She suspected that was all she would cry once he became her husband.

“Good,” he murmured. “Then I’m already doing my job.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” her brother Cooper, who was also their boss, called out. But he was over being mad at Lars for breaking the bro rule of not going after another friend’s sister. She hoped.

Penny tapped her youngest son’s shoulder and shushed him. “Don’t interrupt.”

“They interrupted your wedding,” Cooper pointed out.

“Lars got my permission,” Penny haughtily informed him.

In the past, Nikki would have been annoyed over the chauvinistic tradition of asking the parents for permission before asking the woman. But she understood that wasn’t what Lars had done. He’d been asking permission to propose at Penny’s wedding.

Of course, her mother hadn’t hesitated to say yes and share her special day and spotlight with them. She had always been too selfless. But Nikki didn’t mind being selfish right now—not as Lars slid that beautiful ring on her finger. Then he stood and swung her up in his arms before lowering his head to kiss her.

Passion and love overwhelmed her, and more tears leaked from beneath her closed lids. Those tears nearly turned to frustration when the kiss ended way too soon as well-wishers rushed the dance floor. Guys slapped Lars’s back. Maybe her brothers slapped a little too hard. But Lars was bigger than all of them. The grin never slipped from his face so Nikki could tell he felt no pain.

Everyone hugged Nikki, who usually would have squirmed away from all the show of emotion. She wasn’t a hugger. But she was too happy to mind the affection she was being showered with. Penny hugged her tightly.

“You really didn’t mind him proposing here?” Nikki asked. She wouldn’t have infringed on her mother’s special day for anything.

Penny shook her head. “Nothing could have made this day more perfect for me.”

Nikki snorted. “Of course not. You’ve wanted me to get married since the day I was born,” she accused her mother.

Penny shook her head again. “No. I wanted you to find the man worthy of your love, the man who wouldn’t betray your trust—who would cherish you forever. And, in Lars, you’ve found that man.”

“Yes, I have,” Nikki wholeheartedly agreed. Her fiancé was amazing. And soon he would be her husband.

Penny’s new husband stepped forward and pulled Nikki into an embrace, as well. She had always respected the former FBI chief, but now she loved him, as well. He was going to be as wonderful a stepfather as he would be in his new position as chief of the River City Police Department.

“Do you want me to threaten him?” Woodrow Lynch asked. “Make sure he never hurts you?”

“He won’t.”

“He won’t,” Emilia promised as she stepped forward for her hug. “My brother loves you so much.” Tears streamed down the blonde’s face, washing away the makeup she’d used to disguise her dark circles.

Lars was already worried about his sister. And Nikki knew he wasn’t just being overprotective. She was worried, too. And it wasn’t just because of the dark circles. Since the young woman had an infant, she wasn’t bound to get much sleep.

Nikki had other concerns, as well. The singer not showing up hadn’t been the only thing to go wrong with the wedding. There had been countless other things Emilia had screwed up or, like the singer, that she’d canceled. As maid of honor and the daughter of the consummate wedding planner, Nikki had stepped in to fix those mistakes.

But why had Emilia made them? She didn’t even seem aware that she had. What else was on her mind?

Was it just the ordeal she’d been through?

Or was something else going on?

Nikki had been reluctant to talk to Lars about it; she didn’t want to worry him any more than he already was. But she noticed someone else carefully watching the blonde. And she suspected she and Lars weren’t the only ones concerned about Emilia.

Dane Sutton was anxious, as well.

What the hell was going on with Emilia?

Chapter 4 (#uc05cb37c-2b30-5223-86da-38ad6719cf4b)

How could she have messed up so badly? Emilia had been certain that she’d had everything under control. But she’d overheard the caterer and bartenders talking to Nikki about how Emilia had canceled their services just like she’d canceled the singer.

It wasn’t true. But why would they all lie?

She looked at her cell phone now, scrolling through her call log. She had made calls at strange times. In the middle of the night, which was when the caterer and bartenders and the singer claimed she’d called and left voice mails canceling their services.

If Penny heard about any of it...

Emilia would lose her job.

At the moment, as she stared down at that phone log, she was more worried about losing her mind. She didn’t remember making those calls. And she couldn’t have done them in her sleep since she hadn’t been sleeping. She’d been lying awake every night, listening to that crying that wasn’t Blue’s. Whose crying did she hear? Why was it haunting her?

She could hear it now...as she lay in her bed. Like always, she wasn’t sleeping. Adrenaline from the wedding hummed through her veins yet. Despite all her sleepless hours, she wasn’t tired. So much had happened tonight. Penny and Woodrow had gotten married, and the ceremony had been beautiful—apparently no thanks to Emilia. And then Lars and Nikki had gotten engaged. She’d known it was coming, but still it had taken her by surprise. It was all happening so quickly. Everyone was moving on with their lives.

Everyone but her. She couldn’t get beyond the past, beyond what had happened to her all those weeks she’d been held captive without her son. Maybe that crying she heard was her own.

She felt like crying now, as her world began to crumble around her. If she lost her job...

How would she support herself and her son?

If everyone considered her an incompetent wedding planner, would they also consider her incompetent as a mother?

Was she?

She shivered as she allowed the thought to cross her mind. A chill passed through her body along with it. No. She would do anything for her son—even get help. Most of her life she’d turned to her brother when she’d needed help, except for when she’d discovered she was pregnant. He’d been deployed then and unavailable. While he was in the country now, he was equally unavailable.

Of course if she called him, he would rush immediately to her aid. But she couldn’t do that to him. He’d already worried about her enough. For weeks he’d thought she was dead. She didn’t want him to worry about her ever again. So to whom could she turn?

Not Nikki. She couldn’t expect or ask the newly engaged woman to keep a secret from her fiancé. She would have asked her boss, but Penny was gone now for a long honeymoon.

Penny had trusted Emilia to keep the business running while she was gone. She probably shouldn’t have done that. Undoubtedly she wouldn’t have, if Nikki had shared with her how much the maid of honor had had to step in to make sure the wedding ceremony ran smoothly.

Emilia glanced down at her phone again, but she couldn’t see the screen through the tears blurring her vision. She wasn’t crying because she was sad or scared, though. She was crying because she was mad. There was no way she would have called and canceled those wedding services.

Sure, the numbers were on her phone. She couldn’t see them now—through her tears—but she had seen them. Just because her phone had been used didn’t mean she had used it, though. Someone else must have.

But how?

How had they used her phone in the middle of the night? She would have seen them—would have known. Unless...

She heard a noise, one she barely heard over the sound of the crying. But it was there—the telltale creak of a door opening. Someone was breaking into the house. Like they had broken in before?

* * *