Forever Guarded

by Kathleen Brooks

  “Of course. Momma needs a new rifle.”

  “I bet she’s only eight weeks. Twenty dollars on April 19th!”

  “Aunt Morgan,” Sophie said, shaking her head at one of the other women at the table.

  “How could you not tell us?” one woman accused another.

  “That’s Aunt Katelyn. And the woman she just yelled at is Sophie’s mom, Annie,” Piper whispered to him as Aiden watched with wonder as bets began to ring out. Poppy ran around collecting money while others, including Piper, pulled out their cell phones and logged onto some kind of app.

  “Cade and I celebrated still being just Mom and Dad instead of grandparents. We were a little busy to call all y’all,” Annie grinned.

  Sophie groaned. “Ew! Mom!”

  “I offer you my felicitations,” Aiden said as he held out his hand to Nash who shook it. The man who had single-handedly taken down a massive criminal organization smiled like an idiot and kissed his wife. Aiden had to admit, it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever witnessed.

  “Thank you. But now you know the real reason Piper was so against me helping to protect her.”

  “Piper Davies! And you didn’t tell your own mother?” a small sprite of a woman with a massively pregnant belly and spiked blonde hair accused. Mother? The woman looked like Piper’s older sister.

  “Mother?” Aiden stammered.

  “Do you doubt it?” the sprite snapped.

  “No, you two have the same smile, but I thought you couldn’t be old enough to be her mother. You look like her sister,” Aiden said, jumping to his feet and holding out his chair for Mrs. Davies.

  “Oh!” she said, suddenly glowing more than she already did. “Did you hear that, Pierce? This sex-on-a-stick of a young man thinks I look like Piper’s sister. So take your too old to get pregnant and shove it up your—”

  “Mom!” Piper groaned, cutting off her mother. The man behind her must be her father. They had the same hazel eyes.

  “Mr. Davies, Mrs. Davies, I’m Aiden Creed. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintances,” Aiden said, shaking their hands.

  “Are you married?”

  “Mom!” Piper turned bright red, but Mrs. Davies didn’t seem fazed at all.

  “No, Mrs. Davies. I am not.”

  “How do you feel about older women? I plan on killing my husband before this baby is born. It’ll be justifiable, won’t it, Kenna?”

  An auburn-haired woman nodded at a nearby table. “If Pierce makes one more comment about you being too old to have a baby, I think the entire female population of Keeneston will kill him for you.”

  Tammy turned to her husband. “Just remember that, Pierce. Even the judge won’t convict me.”

  “Congratulations,” Pierce said to Nash and Sophie, ignoring his wife’s threats. “Do you have any information about who is after our daughter?”

  “I do. I was about to fill them in,” Nash told them as Tammy took the seat Aiden offered. Pierce and Aiden pulled up chairs, which left him pressed against Piper’s side. Her leg rubbed against his, and he felt like a randy teenager again.

  “You were saying about Red Shadow,” Aiden prompted.

  “Poseidon’s second-in-command, Ares, broke from the group, deeming them too old school. He was into hacking, trafficking everything from weapons to humans, and wasn’t afraid to get down and dirty and take the assignments Poseidon refused to,” Nash explained. “He found out about a weapon Sophie had developed and came after her. We took him and his organization down.”

  “I have a feeling there is a but coming,” Aiden said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table. Thigh-to-calf-pressed against Piper, he felt her shivering. She was scared. He looked around and when he knew no one would see, he lowered his hand and placed it comfortingly on her knee. Her shivering stopped as she turned to stare at him in surprise. Her warmth felt so good under his hand, there was no way he was going to remove it. Slowly, she turned her blush-cheeked face back to Nash.

  “But, what?” she asked Nash.

  “Ares left behind a computer with the full list of his comrades on it. We tracked them all down and either put them in jail or eliminated them. All but one person we weren’t able to find.”

  “And you think this is who is after me?” Piper asked as Aiden felt her body shake under his touch again. But she didn’t show her fear. She sat calmly and listened.

  “Yes. The man was Ares’s right-hand man. We don’t have a real name. He only went by Phobos. In mythology, he’s Ares’s son, representing fear. And Ares didn’t disclose Phobos’s real name like he did others. That’s why it’s been hard to find him. Actually, we thought we had them all and that Phobos was one of the men we took out,” Nash told them.

  “Why do you think it’s him?” Aiden asked.

  “The print in the car was from a criminal who had recently been in South Asia, a safe spot for dealers and traffickers and is the rumored homebase for Phobos. Right now it’s just a guess, but based on what Ares would have taught Phobos, it fits. They might have knowledge of a viral weapon that could be altered to take out most of the world’s population, or limited to take out a certain family with similar mitochondrial DNA. It’s priceless. And exactly what the wannabe world’s most feared weapons dealer would want to corner the market. It’s loose, but the print did take us to that criminal, who is originally from Belgium, which led us to an outstanding warrant. The warrant is for illegal sales of weapons on the black market,” Nash explained. “So, while we don’t know for sure it’s Phobos, the connection is there, and there’s been a lot of chatter about Phobos making an entrance in the criminal world as the new it guy. Who else would know about Keeneston but someone who has been here?”

  “Does Phobos have a group, like Red Shadow? Or is he on an individual basis like Ares was?” Pierce asked Nash.

  Nash shook his head. “We’re trying to figure that out. He’s new. Ares was captured and his group wiped out not that long ago. Phobos’s name is popping up fast. He’s making a play to live up to his name, meaning fear. He’s murdered rivals in very public and gruesome ways.”

  “And because he was here at some point with Ares, he might have heard about Piper and her project?” Aiden wondered as he tried to figure out the source of the information leak.

  “Yes. I don’t know how else he could have found out. I’ve reviewed all the emails and social media accounts of Piper’s employees and nothing. But, we know Ares had men in the area beforehand reporting back to him as they tried to locate Sophie,” Nash answered.

  Aiden turned to Piper. “Who knew exactly what you were working on? We find that person, find who they told, and maybe we can trace it back to the origin of the threats, be it Phobos or someone else.”

  9

  Piper sat stunned. She knew that somehow the guy who had been calling her had to know what she was working on, but she never really thought someone had betrayed her. But that was the only answer. Someone told someone else what she was working on. And there were only a small handful of people who knew.

  “Let me see,” Piper said, taking a deep breath, “my father.” She looked at her dad sitting nervously at the table. He knew the importance of keeping experiments a secret. He didn’t even tell her mom, so she knew he wasn’t the one, which was also why he was looking rather nervous. Her mom hated being kept in the dark. “My second-in-command at the Lexington lab, Dudley Fieldhouse, and the head of the Rahmi lab, Sada Kourtney.”

  It still didn’t make sense to her. “How would Phobos know to look into me? I wasn’t very involved in Sophie’s rescue or anything.”

  “Could it be your jacket?” Sophie asked with a shrug. “It did save Nash’s life.”

  Piper saw Aiden look strangely at her, but she ignored it. “I guess? I mean, if they were looking into people who are from here, I guess they’d see I work with viruses and nanotech. That’s not a secret. But to find out not only what I’m working on, but how it’s gone wrong and could be weaponized?”<
br />
  “I think we’d better talk to the two people who knew what you were working on and see if they told anyone,” Aiden suggested. It was a place to start at least. And with Nash sidelined, it looked as if Aiden was back in the intelligence business.

  The door to the café flung open and Aiden instinctively placed his body in front of Piper’s as a woman in tight jeans, spiked heels, and a sweater that accentuated curves men could play with for hours, stormed in. Her dark skin and brown eyes glowed with anger as she searched the café for someone.

  “Sugarbear! How could you not tell me it was Sophie who was pregnant? I had to find out from the text tree!” she yelled as she stomped one foot.

  “Now, baby,” a state trooper said, standing slowly with his hands held out as if he were being held at gunpoint. “I told you I wasn’t going to spill their secret. If it were anyone else I’d tell you, but Sophie and Nash would probably kill me if I spilled their secret.”

  “Wait, DeAndre. You knew?” Sophie asked the state trooper.

  “He’s known since before Reagan and Carter were outed as a couple.” The woman’s bracelets jingled as she put her hands on perfectly curved hips.

  “Crap,” Morgan Davies said with a frown. “That makes her closer to twelve weeks. I gotta change my bet.”

  “We’d better talk to Dr. Fieldhouse,” Aiden said as the woman sucked in a breath as her hand fluttered to her heart.

  “That is the sexiest thing I have ever heard. Will you say, ‘put another snag on the barbie’?”

  “Aniyah, this is my bodyguard, Aiden Creed. Aiden, this is Aniyah and her boyfriend, DeAndre,” Piper introduced. “DeAndre is amazing at finding out gossip before anyone else and Aniyah, well, if she pulls a gun, find someplace to hide. She has a tendency to shoot off toes.”

  “I’m up to shins now,” Aniyah said defensively before turning back to Aiden. “Oh, oh, I know. Say crikey . . . no, no, dingo! Oh, oh, call me a sheila! And you have to say G’day mate!”

  “Baby,” DeAndre groaned, shooting Aiden an apologetic look.

  * * *

  Aiden felt his smile break into a full grin and saw the moment Aniyah stopped hopping around and noticed. “Lord have mercy. They say it’s hotter Down Under, but crikey!”

  “That’s very kind of you, but I’m from England, not Australia.” Aiden tried to keep his smile in check as the smile fell from Aniyah’s face.

  “Oh. That’s not nearly as sexy. Have you seen the actors who come out of Australia?”

  “We do have James Bond.” Aiden had to bite the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from laughing. Piper was shaking next to him and this time it was with silent laughter instead of fear.

  Aniyah sighed. “That’s true. And that man is fine. I can see you leaping from building top to building top in a suit. Or racing a car through London. But why does he always carry that small gun? Someone like James Bond needs a big sexy gun, like this one.” Aniyah reached into her purse and pulled out a Colt 45.

  Breakfasts were flung to the ground, tables were turned on their sides, and patrons dove for cover.

  “Baby, where did you get another gun?” DeAndre asked as if he were a long-suffering husband. “I thought we’d promised no more guns.”

  “You promised no more guns. I just nodded. This is my baby. A nice man was selling it out of his van in Lexington. I’ve already named him,” Aniyah said, stroking the gun.

  Aiden had pulled Piper onto his lap and tucked her there while using his body to shield hers the moment he saw the butt of the gun being pulled from the zebra print purse.

  “Admit it. You’ve never had an assignment like this one, have you?” Aiden heard Piper say from where he had her face shoved against his chest.

  “Never. This may be my favorite one yet. No one is going to believe this story.”

  “You haven’t heard the name of the gun yet,” Piper reminded him.

  “Luv,” Aiden said, lifting his head and getting Aniyah’s attention. “What did you name the gun?”

  Aniyah turned her back sharply on DeAndre who was trying to grab it to show it off to Aiden. “Thor.”

  “Ah,” Aiden said as he smiled. “That makes sense with your love of Australian actors.”

  “If you’re not going to give it to me, at least put it in your purse so these people can finish their breakfast,” DeAndre said with resignation.

  As Aniyah put her gun away and the patrons climbed out from behind their overturned tables, Aiden found himself still holding tight to Piper. “What would she do if I told her I was Thor’s bodyguard when they were filming in London?”

  “I don’t think you’d want to know. Let’s go on the assumption that’s a secret you never share with her,” Piper whispered as Aiden finally sat up with her, though he didn’t set her back in her chair. He held her a moment longer until she looked at him with a question in her eyes. Only then did Aiden lift her from his lap and set her in her chair.

  “Sorry about the delay. We had to clear a path to the kitchen after Aniyah’s gun wave,” Poppy said with two plates of biscuits and gravy on them. She set them in front of Piper and Aiden and hurried away to help with the cleanup.

  “Ah, not what I was expecting. I forgot you Americans call these biscuits.”

  Piper laughed and Aiden was glad he was sitting down. Between having her on his lap and the sound of her laughter, he’d embarrass himself if he stood up right now. “You really thought we’d put sausage gravy over a cookie?”

  “Momentary lapse in our minor language differences,” Aiden replied before taking a bite. He needed to move here for the biscuits and gravy alone. There were plenty of high-profile clients right here. Or maybe the café could air mail the biscuits to England once a week?

  “Like them?” Piper asked with amusement. When Aiden looked down, he noticed he was already on the last bite.

  “They’re the best breakfast I’ve ever had,” Aiden said as he took his last bite. He listened as conversation around them went back to normal. Tammy and Sophie talked babies while Pierce warned Nash of all the things that could go wrong during pregnancy. Aiden took the time to grow accustomed to the speech, the slang they used, and the people and places everyone was talking about.

  * * *

  Piper set her fork down and looked over at Aiden’s profile. He had finished already and was casually leaning back in his chair, but his eyes were anything but casual. He was taking in every person and conversation in the room.

  While breakfast and Aniyah had been a nice diversion, it was time to face her work and possibly the people who betrayed her. “I’m ready whenever you are,” she said quietly to Aiden. His eyes didn’t move to hers, but instead focused on the comings and goings of the kitchen.

  “You’re the boss. It’s never about when I’m ready. Remember, Piper, you’re in charge of your life. I’m in charge of protecting it.”

  Right. She was in charge. Piper looked up at the table and smiled at her family. “We need to get going. Congratulations again,” she said to Sophie and Nash before placing a kiss on her parents’ cheeks.

  Aiden’s hand rested on the small of her back as he let her lead them out of the café. People called out their goodbyes as they left. He was already becoming integrated with the town. In one breakfast, everyone had learned his name, he was from England, and probably more since she knew a thing or two about the Keeneston grapevine. MI6 would be envious of their network.

  “Do you want to go to your local lab or do you want to head straight to Lexington?” Aiden asked when he realized she was already seated in the SUV.

  “Lexington, please. I don’t think I can focus on my work until I figure who leaked the information. It has to be one of those two. No, wait!” Piper called out as Aiden slowed to a stop in the middle of Main Street. “Let’s go to my local lab. I’ll give you directions. I’m suddenly scared if they found out what I’m working on, they can find where I’m hiding it. Can you make sure we’re not followed?” Piper asked as horns
honked behind them. Aiden didn’t seem to care about the noise as he looked her in the eyes.

  “I know a thing or two about evasive driving. Tell me where I’m going.”

  Piper gave him directions, and he shot down Main Street, through an alley, down the other direction of Main Street, behind the feed store, and finally out of downtown.

  “That’s it!” Piper cried as Aiden flew past the drive she used to go to her lab.

  “I know. One, we have a car about a quarter mile behind us. And two, it’s an obvious entry and would alert someone that this cow field is important. I’m going to go in through the back.”

  “Back? There is no back,” Piper started to say as Aiden turned left onto a small one-lane road a couple miles past her land.

  Aiden kept his eyes glued behind him and when no car came, Piper saw him relax. He smiled when he turned the SUV off-road and began to cut down the side of sleeping soybean fields until he came to the fence that surrounded her property.

  “You can park here. It’s not too far of a walk. The cows will move.” Piper smiled as she thought about a London man in his leather loafers and suit walking through cow patties.

  “You’re lucky. The Lynton wild goats will sometimes decide you need a good head butt.” Aiden didn’t seem squeamish in the least about hopping into a cow field. He didn’t seem concerned about his shoes or his pants as he straddled a cow patty so he could help her over the fence.

  Piper looked down at his outstretched hands. She didn’t need help climbing down. She grew up in the country and could climb trees, walk on top of fences, and dig for worms for fishing. Even still, Piper fell into his arms with a smile. His hands tightened around her as he carried her away from the cow patty and slowly set her down. Goodness, being in Aiden’s arms was an experience. The heat, the strength, the way he smelled of sandalwood and cedar with a hint of warm amber that made Piper instantly think about Aiden pressing her up against a tree in the middle of the woods where no one would hear her crying out in pleasure.