Читать книгу Beauty And The Bodyguard - Lisa Childs, Lisa Childs, Livia Reasoner - Страница 10

Chapter 3

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.

No, she wasn’t. Now Gage had a reason to stop the wedding. He just hoped he had time. No way could he let Megan’s nieces get inside the church. “You have to wait out here,” he told them.

The chubby one shook her head. “We’re late. Mommy made us late.”

The man who stepped from the driver’s side hurried after his daughters. “Don’t let them inside,” Gage warned him. “Get them down here.”

While he’d dated Megan, he’d met her brother-in-law. With a headstrong wife like Ellen, Peter was used to doing as he was told. He corralled his kids while his wife came around the front of the van. Her eyes widened when she saw Gage, and a little scream slipped out between her lips.

He hurried toward her. “Ellen, shh...”

He didn’t want her drawing the attention of the armed arrivals. He also didn’t want her falling on her face, since she looked like death. Ellen was usually so vivacious, with rosy cheeks and bright blue eyes. Now she was paler than her light blond hair, and her eyes were dull. She swayed, and he caught her.

“You look as bad as I do,” she murmured.

“You should’ve seen me a few weeks ago,” he replied. He’d finally started to gain back some weight and muscle. And he’d managed to get some sleep.

“We should’ve seen you the minute you got back,” she said. “You’re not dead.”

“No.”

“Does Megan know?”

He nodded.

“So I didn’t have to drag myself out of bed to attend a wedding that’s not going to happen...” She leaned heavily on the front of the van.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked.

“I thought it was the idea of my baby sister marrying that dweeb Richard that was nauseating me,” she replied. “Now I think it’s another pregnancy.” She shot a glare at her husband.

Gage had no time for congratulations or diplomacy. “You need to leave,” he said.

She sighed and admitted, “I would have liked to stay home. I fully intended to bail on my matron of honor duties. But Megan’s my only sister.”

Ellen had always treated her more like her oldest child than her sibling, though.

“She’s not getting married,” Gage assured her. “You can go back home. And take your family.”

She shook her head. “They want cake. Even if there’s no wedding, there is already food here.” She gestured toward that catering van.

Gage wasn’t so sure that they had brought anything other than weapons. He needed to find out. He also needed to call for backup bodyguards and police. But when he pulled his phone from the pocket, he found no signal. It would’ve been like Mrs. Payne to have some cell signal jammer so no ceremony would be interrupted in her church.

“And if there is no wedding,” Ellen continued, “there will be explanations to make.” She narrowed her blue eyes and stared up at him. “What’s the reason the wedding is canceled, Gage?”

He had no time for explanations, either. He just leaned closer and whispered, “Something’s going on, and you don’t want your family in the line of fire.”

Her eyes widened now, and her face paled even more. “My family is already in the line of fire,” she said. “My dad and baby sister are already in the church.”

Gage’s stomach lurched. He had to get them out—alive—before the gunmen made their move.

If they hadn’t already...

He had no time to drive far enough away that he could get a call out for backup. And he certainly had no time to wait for them to arrive. He had to get back into the church and make sure Megan wasn’t in danger.

* * *

Megan’s heart slammed against her ribs, and she backed up into the dressing room, trying to put distance between herself and the barrel of that gun. She raised her hands. “What do you want?”

The woman holding the gun was dressed in a navy blue bridesmaid’s dress. But she wasn’t one of Megan’s bridesmaids. She had never seen the woman before, although with her curly auburn hair and brown eyes, she looked familiar.

The gunwoman stepped inside the room and shut the door. As she did, she pointed her weapon toward that closed door.

Megan didn’t breathe a sigh of relief that it was no longer directed at her. Her breath was stuck yet in her lungs, burning.

“What do you want?” she asked the woman again. And why was she dressed like a bridesmaid? Megan didn’t have any besides her sister. She’d wanted to keep the wedding small, probably because she really hadn’t wanted one at all.

“I want to protect you,” the young woman replied.

“What are you?” Megan asked. “A bridesmaid or a bodyguard?”

“Bodyguard,” she replied quickly and emphatically.

“I already have one of those.” According to Gage, it was the only reason he was at the church. “And I don’t need that one.”

The young woman shook her head and tumbled those auburn curls around her delicately featured face. “Yes, you do.”

She did. But she wouldn’t admit it. She didn’t need Gage for protection, though. “I’m not in any danger.”

“There are guys coming into the chapel concealing weapons.”

Megan snorted. “My father is an FBI bureau chief. All of his agents were invited to the wedding. They don’t go anywhere without their guns.”

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.”