Beauty and the Bodyguard Read online

  Can this bachelor bodyguard save his true love from mortal danger…on her wedding day?

  Bride-to-be Megan Lynch has just learned her ex, presumed dead marine Gage Huxton, is alive after surviving enemy captivity. But before she can break up with her fiancé, gunmen storm her wedding and take hostages! Megan will do anything to stay alive—for herself and a second chance with Gage. But there’s more terror to endure before she can say yes to the dress—and her dream groom!

  What do the gunmen want? Gage works double time to unravel the mystery and save the beauty who still holds his heart. As the wedding crashers open fire, Gage puts his life on the line to protect Megan and convince her of his love.

  Since whoever had entered was quiet, it couldn’t be her sister and nieces. It had to be her dad.

  “So what do you think?” Megan asked as she focused on the mirror again. The lace distorted her vision, so she nearly saw it: the beauty of being a bride.

  But then a shadow stepped behind her. It was tall and dark in a black tuxedo. The mirror showed only his long legs and his chest until he stepped closer yet. Then she saw his head—the short golden hair, the bright green eyes, the dark stubble on his jaw…

  Just how badly had the veil distorted her vision? Who was she mistaking for a dead man?

  Her hands trembling, she fumbled with her veil—pulling it back so she could focus on the apparition. She whirled around to face him.

  It couldn’t be…

  Gage was dead. He’d been dead for months. But that hadn’t stopped her from seeing him everywhere, every time she’d closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

  But she shouldn’t be seeing him here—not on her wedding day to another man.

  “No…” she murmured. Her knees trembled and weakened, threatening to fold beneath her. “No…”

  Be sure to check out the previous books in the exciting Bachelor Bodyguards miniseries.

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  Dear Reader,

  Welcome back to River City, Michigan, and the Payne Protection Agency. Beauty and the Bodyguard is the fourth book in the Bachelor Bodyguards series. Blushing bride Megan Lynch has more than cold feet over her upcoming nuptials. She can’t marry her groom. She doesn’t love him. She’s in love with a ghost. Then that ghost shows up at the church.

  Gage Huxton has no intention of stopping Megan’s wedding. She’s broken his heart more than his captors have broken his body or his spirit over the six months he was missing in action and presumed dead. His only intention is to protect the bride—which proves to be this bachelor bodyguard’s most dangerous assignment yet. He isn’t risking just his life; he’s risking his heart, too.

  I hope you enjoy this latest book in the Bachelor Bodyguards series.

  Happy Reading!

  Lisa Childs

  Beauty and the Bodyguard

  Lisa Childs

  Ever since Lisa Childs read her first romance novel (a Harlequin story, of course) at age eleven, all she wanted was to be a romance writer. With over forty novels published with Harlequin, Lisa is living her dream. She is an award-winning, bestselling romance author. Lisa loves to hear from readers, who can contact her on Facebook, through her website, lisachilds.com, or her snail-mail address, PO Box 139, Marne, MI 49435.

  Books by Lisa Childs

  Harlequin Romantic Suspense

  Bachelor Bodyguards

  His Christmas Assignment

  Bodyguard Daddy

  Bodyguard’s Baby Surprise

  Beauty and the Bodyguard

  Harlequin Intrigue

  Special Agents at the Altar

  The Pregnant Witness

  Agent Undercover

  The Agent’s Redemption

  Shotgun Weddings

  Groom Under Fire

  Explosive Engagement

  Bridegroom Bodyguard

  Hotshot Heroes

  Red Hot

  Hot Attraction

  Visit the Author Profile page at

  Harlequin.com for more titles.

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  For Kimberly Duffy—with great appreciation for all your years of friendship. Without your support and your wonderful sense of humor, I don’t know how I would have survived all the ups and downs in my career and in my life. Thank you!

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Excerpt from Killer Countdown by Amelia Autin

  Prologue

  How the hell had he survived? It wasn’t possible. It just wasn’t possible...

  But the proof was in the photo. Sure, he looked different. Then again, who wouldn’t, after what he’d been through? He’d been tortured to death. At least Derek had thought he’d killed the man...

  Cockroaches were like that, though; they could survive the most extreme extermination attempts. The only thing they couldn’t survive was getting crushed.

  The picture crumpled in a big fist. He better be enjoying his last moments of life—because he wasn’t going to stay alive. And this time when he died, he would damn well stay dead.

  Derek Nielsen hurled the wadded-up photo against the bars of his cell. An alarm rang out. He hadn’t set it off—directly. But indirectly he had. The alarm was sounding because of him, according to his carefully orchestrated plan.

  This was it—his escape.

  With a buzz and a clank, the cell door slid open. He slipped through it like other prisoners stepped through theirs. They were confused, though, standing in the hall outside their cells. Derek hurried past them. He knew where he needed to be: the laundry room. He had only minutes to get to the vent leading out from one of the commercial dryers. After his efforts, it was big enough now for him to crawl through and escape.

  Derek would be out soon to the vehicle that waited outside for him. The one that would slip through the gates and bring him to freedom.

  Derek wouldn’t be returning to prison, although he fully intended to commit another crime. He was going to kill the man responsible for sending him to jail.

  Chapter 1

  Gage Huxton had survived six months in hell for this? Since becoming a bodyguard on his return from Afghanistan, his assignments had been a mixed bag. His first job with the Payne Protection Agency had been to protect an elderly lady with Alzheimer’s, who had only been in danger from her disease and not her imagined threats.

  But then he had also been assigned to follow the man who was now his brother-in-law. That job had nearly gotten Gage killed. But he had survived being shot at and nearly run down.

  He wasn’t sure he would survive this: wedding duty. He slid a finger between the bow tie and his skin, trying to loosen the stranglehold it had on him. An image flashed through his mind, of a noose tightening around his neck, squeezing off his oxygen until oblivion claimed him.
But, unfortunately, oblivion had never lasted. He grimaced as he remembered other horrors.

  “Are you okay?” a soft voice asked him.

  He blinked away those horrific images and focused on Penny Payne. She sprang up from her chair and walked around her desk in the office in the basement of her white wedding chapel. It was in River City, Michigan—where his friend Nick had moved and where Gage now lived.

  Not wanting to worry her, he jerked his chin up and down in a quick nod.

  Her brown eyes warm with affection and concern, she stared up at him. “You look very handsome in the tuxedo.”

  He probably should have shaved the scruff from his jaw so he’d fit in more with the wedding guests when they arrived. But he hadn’t had the time or the inclination. “I must be crazy,” he said.

  “Why’s that?” she asked, and now there was a twinkle of amusement in her eyes.

  “To let you talk me into playing a bouncer for your wedding business.” Penny was his boss’s mother, so he probably hadn’t had much choice. But it hadn’t been any easier for him to tell her no than it probably would have been for her son.

  She reached up, and he reacted as he did whenever someone moved to touch him. He flinched. Sympathy dimmed the usual brightness of her smile. “Gage...”

  Instead of pulling back as so many other people did, she gently laid her palm against his cheek. “I’m sorry,” she murmured.

  He shook his head and dislodged her hand. “I don’t want pity,” he said. “I just want to do my job.”

  “That’s not what—”

  He forced a smile. “It’s okay.” Nobody had known how to react to him since he’d been back. So maybe it was good that not many people knew he’d survived.

  “Where do you need me?” he asked. “Do I need to make sure the bride and groom’s mothers don’t get into a catfight?”

  Penny’s smile dimmed more, and she replied, “The bride’s mother passed away years ago.”

  “That’s too bad.” He didn’t see his mother often since she and his dad had moved to Alaska, but he could call her anytime. He rarely called, though; he didn’t want to worry her. “So no catfights between the mothers. What about the bridesmaids?”

  Penny’s lips curved into a bigger smile. “Why do you sound almost hopeful?”

  He chuckled. “Just looking for the upside in this assignment.”

  “Cake,” she told him, and she patted his cheek again as if he was a little boy she was promising a treat if he behaved. Her kids were grown now, but she had raised three boys and a tomboy pretty much on her own. So she knew how to handle kids.

  He wasn’t a kid, though. He hadn’t been one for a long time—not since he’d joined the Marines at eighteen a decade ago. Then there had been that stint with the FBI. But he didn’t like to think about those days, because then he inevitably thought about her.

  The hell he’d endured the past six months was nothing compared to what she had put him through. No. He would rather think about the horrors of his six months in captivity than about Megan Lynch.

  He exhaled a ragged breath and shook off all the memories. He had to leave the past in the past—all of it, but most of all Megan.

  “So,” he said as he focused again on the present. “You want me to guard the cake?”

  Dessert was probably all anyone considered him capable of protecting yet. Why else had he been assigned wedding chapel duty?

  Penny shook her head. “Of course not. You have the most important job here.”

  He narrowed his eyes and studied her, wondering if she was patronizing him. “And what’s that?”

  “Guarding the bride, of course.”

  “Guarding her?” He couldn’t imagine what danger she might be in, but then he had no idea who she was. “Or do you mean making sure she doesn’t run?”

  He wouldn’t blame her if she did. He would never risk his heart on love again. But then he no longer had a heart to lose. Megan had destroyed it.

  Penny sighed. “I almost wish she would...”

  “The groom’s a tool?”

  She shook her head. “He seems nice.”

  So maybe the bride was a bridezilla. “Why does she need protecting?”

  “Her father is a very important man,” Penny said, and as she said it, her face flushed.

  “Who’s her father?” he asked. And more importantly, why had the fifty-something-year-old widow reacted with a blush at the very thought of him?

  “He’s a man who’s made some enemies over the course of his career.”

  Gage should have picked up one of the programs from the basket outside the chapel. He’d passed it on his way downstairs to Penny’s office. Then he would know the names of everyone in the wedding party. But he’d wanted to get his assignment before any of the guests arrived.

  Now he had it: bridal protection.

  “So he thinks some of these adversaries might go after his daughter during her wedding?” The guy had made some seriously ruthless enemies if that was the case.

  Penny nodded. “He’s the kind of man who wouldn’t care what someone did to him.” Her face flushed a deeper shade of red.

  Who was this guy to her? Apparently, someone she knew well. How well? Just how closely did Penny work with widowed fathers of the brides?

  She continued, “But if someone hurt his daughter...”

  Gage understood. His best friend, Nicholas Rus, had thought that someone was going after Gage’s sister for vengeance against him—because Nick loved Annalise and she had always loved him. But that hadn’t been about revenge, at least not against Nick or Annalise.

  “If this guy has so many enemies,” Gage said, “why am I the only one from the Payne Protection Agency here?” Especially when he knew his boss didn’t trust that he was at a hundred percent yet. But Logan Payne wasn’t the only one who thought that; Gage didn’t entirely trust himself.

  He was getting better, but it was still a struggle to sleep, to suppress the flashbacks, to forget the pain...

  Penny tilted her head and stared up at him. “You’re the bodyguard the bride needs.”

  Gage’s stomach lurched as realization suddenly dawned on him. And even without reading the program, he knew who the bride was. Penny had given him enough clues. He should have figured it out earlier. Hell, he should have figured it out when Penny asked him to help out at the chapel. He’d known she was planning a wedding for someone he’d known. Or at least, he’d thought he’d known her.

  He guessed the wedding wasn’t all Penny Payne had been planning. Nick had warned him that she was a meddler. Her kids might not mind that she meddled in their lives, but he damn well minded.

  He shook his head. “No...”

  “Gage,” she beseeched him.

  But he just shook his head again, refusing the assignment. He didn’t care if Mrs. Payne went to his boss and got him fired. He couldn’t protect this bride—not when he was the one against whom she most needed protecting.

  * * *

  “He’s gone,” Penny said.

  Woodrow Lynch released a ragged breath and closed her office door behind him. “That’s probably for the best.”

  “How can you say that?” Penny asked, her usually soft voice sharp with indignation. “She’s miserable.”

  “She’s miserable because of him.” Anger coursed through him as he thought of the pain Gage Huxton had put his daughter through. Some of it had been inadvertent, like getting captured.

  But the rest...

  Quitting the Bureau.

  Reenlisting.

  Those had been Gage’s choices.

  “Yes.” Penny stalked around her desk to stand in front of him. She was so petite despite the heels she wore with a silky bronze-colored dress. Her eyes were nearly that same color bronze. Her hair, chin length and curly, was a deeper shade of brown with red and bronze highlights. She was beautiful. She was also infuriating as hell. The woman always thought she was right.

  And even more infuriating was the fac
t that she usually was.

  “So, it’s for the best that she move on,” Woodrow said.

  It had to be for the best, because the wedding was due to start in less than an hour. And he would rather walk his daughter down the aisle to a man who would not make her miserable.

  Penny shook her head and tumbled several locks of hair into her eyes. The curls tangled in her long lashes. Instinctively, he reached out to extract them, but her hand collided with his. Her skin was as silky as her hair. Her fingers trembled beneath his, and she pulled away from his touch and stepped back until his hand fell away from her face.

  He’d known her long enough—had attended enough weddings in her chapel—that he’d seen how warm and affectionate she was. With everyone else...

  With him she was guarded and skittish. Usually. Right now she was also annoyed.

  “Megan can’t move on,” Penny said, “unless she has closure.”

  “Are you speaking from experience?” He hadn’t meant to ask the question. It had just slipped out, probably because he’d wondered for a while why she had never remarried after her husband died sixteen years before.

  Her big eyes narrowed. “We are not talking about me.”

  She never did. He’d noticed that, too. She only talked about other people: her kids, his agents and now his daughter.

  “Our concern should be only about Megan,” Penny continued. “I’ve never worked with a more miserable bride.”