His Holiday Bride

by Elaine Overton

  And she did have a point. Kennedy would be a fool to attack in broad daylight in such a busy neighborhood. But since he knew so little about the man, he didn’t want to take any chances.

  “Just pay attention,” he said, clearing the keypad to begin again. “Now, what you have to remember—” Oh, God. She’d managed to work her hands down into his slacks, and this time, he had no desire to break her hold.

  He leaned against her, savoring the feel of her deft fingers awakening his flesh. “Where’s Joachim?” he whispered.

  “Sleeping in his playpen,” she said, with the confidence of a winner.

  Without another thought, Paul switched their position, sliding his hands into her pajamas to find her ready for him. He looked around for a handy chair, and even considered the wall before remembering that he did not have any condoms on him.

  Lifting her in his arms, he carried her up the stairs and into his bedroom, where a rapidly diminishing box of condoms sat on the nightstand.

  When Paul left for work almost two hours later, Amber stood in the doorway and waved goodbye. Then she locked the door and went about her day, never giving another thought to the security code Paul had made her promise to memorize.

  Chapter 22

  The attack came around noon. Amber was right in the middle of feeding Joachim.

  On their last shopping expedition, Amber had convinced Paul to buy some baby food for Joachim. So far, the infant had refused almost all of the strained food. Amber was beginning to question the wisdom of beginning with table food.

  Hearing the doorbell ring, she wiped his mouth. “I’ll be right back, and when I do, you’re eating those string beans whether you like it or not.” She tried to sound stern, but the rude gurgling noise he made, followed by a playful giggle, told her she’d not had the effect she wanted.

  The doorbell rang again. “Coming!” She was in such a rush, she swung the door open without looking through the glass, and found herself confronted with four pairs of curious eyes.

  “Hi, remember me?” the ringleader said.

  Four women stood on the front porch, but Amber only recognized one. The woman she and Paul had run into at the street fair.

  “Brenda Michelson,” the bright-eyed woman said. “Amber, right?”

  Amber was still looking at each woman trying to understand what they were all doing there.

  “This is Jennifer Tennyson, Karen Wilson and Carrie Henderson. We’re your neighbors!” The woman made the announcement as if Amber had won some sort of lottery.

  “Nice to meet you,” Amber said, not knowing what else to say.

  The four women seemed to come to a stalemate as they waited to be invited in, while the fifth had no intention of extending any such offer.

  Brenda decided to take matters into her own hands. “Can we come in?”

  “Why?” Amber blurted the question before she could stop herself.

  The four looked at each other as if seeking an answer from one another. Brenda stepped up to bat once again. “Just wanted to sit and talk, get to know each other, you know—neighbor to neighbor.”

  This time when the why came to her lips, Amber was able to stop it. “Um, I don’t live here, I’m just visiting.”

  Once again the four women looked at each other, but this time if was as if Amber’s statement confirmed something they already believed.

  Amber recognized what was going on. She was meeting the gossip patrol. Every community had one, and apparently Paul’s had been lying in wait for him to leave her there alone.

  After her failure with Joachim and the strained string beans, and now the nosy neighbors, Amber was beginning to wonder if she’d been too hasty in chasing Rosalie away. Be careful what you wish for.

  As if on cue, Joachim began to make a loud, banging noise. Amber recognized it as him playing with his favorite toy, which happened to be a loud rattler, but to the untrained ear it sounded as if he was having a full-out tantrum.

  “Oh, my!” The woman named Carrie tried to look around Amber. “Sounds like someone is pretty cranky.”

  “Sounds like he’s going to regurgitate,” Karen added with a slight look of disgust.

  The only woman who did not look perturbed was the woman named Jennifer. “Oh, hell, Karen, not every baby noise means they’re going to throw up.”

  “Well, you would know with your seven kids,” Karen snarled at Jennifer.

  Amber’s eyes widened, surprised by the number. The woman didn’t look a day over thirty.

  “And it’s vomit, not regurgitate. Good Lord! Who uses words like that?” Jennifer rolled her eyes to the sky.

  “Someone with six degrees and no job,” Carrie said, and the three women laughed. Needless to say, Karen did not laugh.

  Instead she said, “Well, excuse me if I prefer to do something productive with my life instead of spending it on my back having babies!”

  At that point, the catty remarks turned into a vicious game of name calling. After a while, the argument became embarrassing to Amber.

  Meanwhile, in the background Joachim continued his loud play, and Amber used it as the excuse to escape. “Sorry, ladies, I have to go. It was nice meeting you.” With that she slammed the door shut.

  The last thing she heard was Brenda calling out to her.

  She leaned against the door, shaking her head, stunned by the weirdness of it all. She decided to chalk up the whole strange experience to one more reminder that she was not cut out for the suburban housewife life.

  Over dinner that evening, she recounted the whole incident to Paul. Instead of being amused, as she assumed he would be, he was appalled.

  “Who the hell do they think they are?”

  Seeing his anger, Amber realized she’d made the wrong choice by telling him. “It was no big deal. I thought the whole thing was funny.”

  “Well, I don’t. How dare they come to my house and try to push their way in!” He stabbed at his food. “That’s okay, I’ll put a stop to that tomorrow.”

  She reached over and grabbed his arm. “Paul, please don’t.”

  “It’s about time someone put a stop to that bunch of busybodies.”

  “Well, it won’t be us, and it won’t be now.” She made a hand gesture. “Hey, I grew up in the heart of D-town. You think I can’t handle a bunch of housewives? Please! And besides, like it or not, Joachim is going to end up going to school with their kids. It’s just better to get along with them if we can.” She went back to eating, but Paul was frozen in place.

  He sat studying her face, wondering if she realized the implications of what she’d just said. Well, it won’t be us…get along with them if we can.” She sounded like a woman planning a future.

  Paul forced himself to return his attention to his dinner before she noticed his staring. The last thing he wanted to do was have her realize her unintentional revelation. He had to fight back the smile he felt forming on his lips.

  The next day, Amber came out of the fabric store, pushing the receipts from her purchases down into her purse. She tucked her bags into the back of the stroller, and at the same time, she glanced back over her shoulder and confirmed her suspicions.

  The men-in-black wannabes were indeed following her.

  She’d noticed them as she was entering the first store on her list. At two o’clock on a Tuesday afternoon in a suburban mall, the two burly men dressed in dark suits and ties stood out like two giant sore thumbs among the throngs of women, strollers and preschool-aged children.

  At the time, she’d recognized them as being some sort of security detail. She just had not imagined that they were her security detail.

  Pushing the stroller with one hand, she dug around in the bottom of her purse until she found her cell phone. She punched in the number she was looking for, and listened to the ringing.

  “G-Force Security, the only name you need to know for all your personal protection needs. Vanessa speaking, how may I help you?”

  As she asked to speak to Paul, sh
e glanced back over her shoulder. Her escort was following at a discreet distance.

  “Paul Gutierrez speaking.”

  “Do Bert and Ernie belong to you?”

  The line went silent for several seconds before he confessed. “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Just a precautionary measure.”

  “Precaution against what?”

  “Amber, you’re a woman alone in an unfamiliar city.”

  “I’m in a mall in Orange County. It’s not exactly a dark alley in Shanghai.”

  “Still—”

  “What are you not telling me, Paul? First you had that meltdown when you came home last night and found the security system was not activated, and now this.” She paused, then asked, “Paul, is someone making threats against you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I know what you do for a living. I’m sure you have your fair share of enemies. If someone was threatening you, I would understand. It would explain this strange behavior.”

  There was another long silence before he answered. “Yes, someone is threatening me. I didn’t want to have to burden you with this. But, if you would just allow me to provide some additional protection for you—at least, until I know this threat is gone.”

  Amber sighed. “Why didn’t you just tell me that to begin with?”

  “I didn’t want to worry you.”

  “Well, that was your mistake. You would’ve found me much more cooperative if you would’ve just told me the truth.”

  After a few seconds of silence, Paul said, “Let’s have a long talk when I get home, okay?”

  “Sure. Is there something more you’re not telling me?”

  “We’ll talk later. Wait, I just remembered I have to work late tonight. Don’t wait up for me.”

  “Okay, I’ll leave your dinner in the oven.” She lowered her voice. “Feel free to wake me up if you want some dessert.”

  “Umm, I always want dessert.”

  Amber sighed, remembering how nicely they’d resolved their differences the night before. There is nothing like make-up sex. “Well, I have to go now, Bert and Ernie are starting to draw too much attention.”

  Paul chuckled. “Actually, they’re trained to stay out of sight. You’re just too damn smart.”

  “It’s about time you figured that out.”

  “Please put the alarm on when you get home.”

  She gave an exaggerated sigh. “Yes, sir.”

  True to her word, Amber put the alarm on when she got back to the house. She noticed that once the system was activated, and the small blinking red light appeared, Bert and Ernie drove away.

  Later that afternoon, the new sofa and love seat arrived. They were even prettier than the pictures in the catalog.

  She was so excited with the newest arrivals, that after she saw the deliverymen out of the house, she ran back into the living room to give the furniture a closer inspection…and completely forgot to reset the alarm.

  Chapter 23

  Amber heard the door to her bedroom opening, and she smiled to herself but didn’t turn over to greet him. She’d tried to wait up for Paul, but dozed off and on throughout the night. Glancing at the clock on the nightstand, she could see it was after midnight.

  Feeling his presence near the bed, she snuggled under the covers, waiting to feel his warmth against her. “It’s about time you got home,” she said.

  The reprimand was met with silence. An eerie silence. Like an animal sensing danger, Amber tried to sniff the air for Paul’s familiar cologne, but the scent, though familiar, was not Paul’s.

  Something was wrong, something was terribly wrong. She turned over on the bed just in time to see Dashuan Kennedy standing beside the bed, raising a small pistol and aiming it at her head.

  Driven by pure instinct, Amber rolled away just as he fired the weapon. She rolled onto the floor and came up on her knees. “Dashuan! What are you doing?”

  When he missed his target, he let loose a string of curses and tossed the gun away.

  He started across the room toward Amber, and she jumped up on the bed. Straddling the middle, she continued to move opposite Dashuan, even as she calculated the distance to the door. “Why are you doing this?”

  “As if you don’t know,” he snarled and leaped across the bed trying to catch her ankles.

  Amber scrambled back up against the headboard.

  “Who have you talked to?” He came around the side of the bed, and Amber moved to the far side, trying to remain out of his reach.

  “What are you talking about? I haven’t talked to anyone!”

  “Come here, you lying bitch!” He dived for her again, and Amber jumped off the bed, and took off around the end toward the door.

  Dashuan threw a lamp in her direction and Amber ducked. Although, there was no need. His pitch was as bad as his aim. Amber managed to reach the door, but just as she tried to open it, Dashuan was on her. The last thing Amber remembered was being shoved hard against the door.

  As soon as Amber’s limp body fell to the ground, Dashuan crossed the room and recovered the weapon. Feeling the effects of the struggle, he walked back over to where she was lying, lifted the gun and aimed it at her head.

  Somewhere in the distance he could hear the sound of a baby crying. He frowned to himself. He’d forgotten about the baby.

  He looked around the room trying to remember everything he’d touched. In the scuffle, his carefully thought out plan had gotten out of hand. He’d been waiting almost two weeks for this opportunity.

  He thought he had it three days ago when Gutierrez left the house, until he realized some old lady was in the house with Amber. And then yesterday, just when he started to move in, that group of cackling hens showed up and blew his chance. And today, he’d waited and waited, after she returned from her shopping, after the furniture delivery truck left, and still he waited, and when night fell with no sign of Gutierrez around, Dashuan knew it was now or never.

  Getting into the house had been much easier than Barney said it would be. The alarm wasn’t even activated. And finding Amber asleep in bed had been perfect. All he had to do was put a bullet in her, and then after wiping his prints off of it, he would use the piece of tape in his pocket to put Gutierrez’s fingerprints on it. Barney had told him how to do it. If she had not heard him enter, and reacted so quickly, it would’ve happened just as it was supposed to.

  He held the weapon pointing down at Amber’s head. He swallowed hard and tried not to think of her beautiful eyes looking up at him, or her pretty smile when she would laugh at something he’d said. Under different circumstances things might have been good between them. But that was not the way it was going to be.

  He took a deep breath. Don’t think about it. Just do it. Don’t think about it. Just do it. He tried to focus his mind on what this woman could do to his life, his career, his reputation, if she had told anyone what she’d seen. Hell, for all he knew, it might already be too late.

  He realized his hand was trembling. Damn. Barney made it sound like it would be so easy. His palm was sweating, so he rubbed it against his pants leg. Just do it. Just do it.

  He raised the weapon again and tried to focus it. Amber made a moaning sound and began to roll over. Do it now! Do it now!

  She turned on her back and looked up at him. Her eyes widened as her memory reminded her of all that had occurred.

  “Dashuan, why are you doing this? I never told anyone what I saw. I swear! No one!”

  “Shut up! Just shut up!”

  He looked around the room trying to think of an alternative solution to pulling the trigger. The window!

  “Get up!”

  Amber scrambled to her feet. “Please, Dashuan, don’t do this.”

  Dashuan grabbed her by the arm and hauled her over to the window. Throwing someone out a window wasn’t the same as shooting them, his twisted conscience tried to convince him.

  When Amber realized his intent, she dug in her feet, refu
sing to get any closer to the large window. Being twice her size, Dashuan dragged her across the carpet.

  “What the hell is taking so long, man?” An angry male voice came from the hallway.

  Amber spun around surprised to realize that Dashuan was not alone. A large burly man appeared in the doorway.

  One look in Dashuan’s eyes told Barney everything he needed to know. “Just go wait in the car, I’ll take care of this.”

  For an instant, Dashuan almost refused the escape. Then he let go of Amber and crossed the room. As he closed in on Barney, he stopped beside the other man and glanced back at Amber.

  “Sorry, but you brought this on yourself.” He glanced at Barney. “Just do it quick.” And then he was gone.

  As soon as Dashuan was through the door, Barney closed it behind him and leaned against it. Only then did Amber notice the gun in his right hand.

  His cold, brown eyes stared through her. “Turn around and get on your knees.”

  “Why are you doing this?” Even in the face of all that was happening, she needed answers.

  “Look, I don’t want to do this. But you’re the only thing standing between me and more money than I’ve ever seen in my life. Now, don’t make this any harder than it has to be. Just turn around and get on your knees.”

  “No.” Amber took a deep breath. “If you’re going to kill me, then you look me in the eyes while you do it.”

  Amber saw the hesitancy flash across his face before he lifted the gun and pointed it at her.

  “I don’t even know you. Why are you doing this?” Amber refused to go to her grave without knowing the answer.

  Barney frowned, and the gun wavered. “Damn, you don’t know, do you?”

  Fighting the trembling she felt throughout her body, Amber shook her head.

  Barney’s eyes darted to the side, as he made a decision. “Apparently, you saw something you weren’t supposed to. Something Dashuan thinks you will use against him.” He glanced over his shoulder, before asking, “What is it? What is this secret that’s so important he’s willing to kill to keep it?”