“I wouldn’t get up if I were you,” Vincent said. “Because if you move, I’m just going to have to put a nice, neat hole in you.”
Neil lay very still. “I—I didn’t really hurt her.”
Vincent swore. “Only because she outsmarted you and got the best of you, you bastard. For the record, if you had hurt her, you’d already be dead.”
As sirens sounded in the distance, Natalie came up behind Vincent and wrapped her arms around his waist. She rested her cheek on his back. “Did you call the police?”
“I called everyone I could find. Did you think I would let my pride get in the way when your life was at stake?”
“Your pride?” she murmured, her lips hot against the cotton of his shirt.
“Mmm, love. I failed you. I was supposed to be the one saving your skin.”
“You did save my skin. You’re the reason I’m alive.”
“Natalie, you’re wrong. One hundred percent wrong. And I’m never going to forgive myself for that.”
The sirens grew louder until several squad cars pulled up. When the officers got out, Vincent went over and handed them the weapon.
One of them looked at Natalie. “Is this the young woman Gerard kidnapped? We’ll need her for questioning.”
“She’s the one,” Vincent said, and he knew that the words meant something more to him than they did to the police officer. Natalie was the one who held his heart. But he was the wrong man for her.
“Keep her safe,” he told the officer as he explained about Jason Jamison.
It was what Daniel had told him, but he hadn’t done a very good job of keeping Natalie safe, had he?
“Vincent,” Natalie said, and she started toward him.
He smiled at her. “You need to talk to the police,” he told her, “and write your story. It’s important. Remember?”
She nodded, but he thought he saw tears in her eyes. “Will you be waiting for me when I’m done?” she asked.
“I’ll be stepping up the surveillance on you,” he said. “I have four men, including Derek. They’re all excellent bodyguards.”
Natalie bit her lip. “You’re going to leave me to them, aren’t you?”
“Four is better than one,” he said. It was what he should have done already, in fact. He wouldn’t be selfish and leave Natalie to his solitary care ever again. The truth was pounding painfully in his chest. He had risked her safety because he was in love with her. Maybe he had loved her from the start. Because he had cared for her so much and hated to risk her spirit, he’d allowed her liberties, such as those days at The Ladder, that had put her at risk. The truth was if he had been standing guard around the clock instead of making love to Natalie, Gerard would never have gotten to her.
A responsible bodyguard would have taken himself off the case as soon as he realized he was falling for his client. Any other man wouldn’t have been so blind.
It was time to step away.
“Have a good life, Natalie. Stay strong. Be safe. I’ll look for you in the newspapers.”
“Vincent, don’t do this.” Her voice broke on his name. “I’m never going to forgive you if you leave me.”
And he would never forgive himself if he stayed and she got hurt.
When he didn’t answer, she finally turned back to the police officers, her head held regally high. “Let’s do this quickly.”
They led her away, and Vincent walked back to his car. He called Derek, Jeremy, Adam and Lewis. He had never assigned four guards to one woman, but Natalie was no ordinary woman. As soon as Derek’s car pulled up and the four men emerged, Vincent gave them their orders, asked for reports on the hour and then drove away.
But he knew he would never be through with Natalie. Not really.
Natalie turned in her story and then turned to her four bodyguards. Pain, panic and a sense of fear and loss that she had never known flowed through her heart in long, aching waves.
She had lost him. Finally, she had pushed him too far. His work was his life, but she had only thought of her own needs, her own impulses. Now he was gone.
“Where is he?” she asked Derek.
“I don’t have that information.”
She glared at the stoic Derek. “I’ll bet you could get it if you wanted to.”
“Mr. Fortune has taken himself off the case,” Derek said, crossing his arms.
Natalie knew that. And she knew why Vincent had taken himself off the case. Because he thought he had failed her.
She wanted to scream, to make amends, to tell him that she loved him.
Well, he didn’t want her love and never had, she reminded herself, trying to ignore the tears that threatened to start flowing. She couldn’t have him, but she could at least tell him the truth about her escape from Neil.
“I want you to take me to Vincent,” she said.
“I’m afraid that isn’t possible.” Obviously Vincent had given his orders, but she knew one thing about him. He would never place orders before her safety.
“I’m really sorry about this,” she told Derek. “You’re a very good man.” She ducked under his arm and bolted for the door. He was fast, but she was lighter on her feet and she had taken plenty of fitness classes. Derek’s body was made for wrestling, not running.
Rushing down the stairs, she came out the downstairs door where Jeremy and Adam were waiting.
Damn! They must have taken the elevator.
Wheeling, she headed for the opposite door, made it through, ran down the street looking back over her shoulder. If she could just keep ahead of them…if she could just keep this up long enough…
“Escaping your captors again?” a deep, low voice asked.
Natalie turned and skidded straight into Vincent’s chest. The door to his car was still open, the engine still running.
She bit her lip and tears filled her eyes, but she didn’t touch him.
“Natalie,” he said, his voice harsh. “Please don’t cry.”
“I never cry,” she said stubbornly. “I’d certainly never cry over a man.”
“I know that,” he said, and he swiped his thumb over an errant tear that had slipped down her cheek.
She looked up at him and knew her heart was in her eyes. She had spent all her life hiding her heart. Now she didn’t care. “You left me,” she accused.
He cupped her cheek with his big palm. “I explained that.”
Natalie nodded. “I know. You think you let me get kidnapped, but you didn’t let me explain.”
“It doesn’t matter that you left while I was in the shower. I could have prevented you from leaving. If I hadn’t been so selfish, I would have had another man watching. It would never have happened.”
She tried to laugh. “Vincent, I just evaded four of your best men.”
He grimaced. “I know. They’re going to catch hell for it, too.”
“You know that when I’m determined there’s no stopping me. I was doomed the minute I betrayed myself to Neil by questioning him. It was my own fault, Vincent.”
He crossed his arms stubbornly. She placed her hands on his arms and rose on her toes so that she could look him more fully in the face. “You saved my life, Vincent.”
“Damn it, Natalie, would you stop saying that? I know who saved your life. You did it yourself.” His voice was so anguished, she couldn’t keep herself from leaning forward and kissing him lightly on the lips.
“I was a dead woman, Vincent. I was so afraid I couldn’t do anything but keep talking. I couldn’t figure out the first thing about how to get away. He was going to kill me, and he would have. But then he told me that he was going to kill you, too.”
Vincent closed his eyes tightly. “You were never a dead woman, Natalie. I couldn’t have borne it if he’d hurt you, even a little.”
“You were going to draw his fire away, weren’t you?”
“I didn’t have to. You did a good job of taking him down. You were magnificent.”
She tried to smile. “I was a
woman in love, Vincent. I was too afraid to save myself, but I didn’t want you to find my body. I didn’t want you to feel guilty, and most of all, I couldn’t stand letting him try to kill you. Loving you is what saved me.”
He opened his arms and pulled her tight against him. “Natalie—”
“No.” She placed her palm across his lips. “I know what you’re going to say. You think you’re like your father, that you might get angry at me one day and take out your anger against me, maybe hurt me. But, Vincent, look at all I’ve done. I’ve been the worst kind of client. I’ve been sneaky and bossy and irresponsible, and I’ve nearly gotten both of us killed, and you’ve been just wonderful.”
“Shh, love,” he whispered, taking her lips with his own. “You say I saved you. Well, you’ve saved me from myself. I would have gone to the grave thinking I couldn’t love like this, but…you sneak out on me, and I get so angry that I just have to kiss you. You make my men look bad, and I think what a strong, admirable woman you are. You’re the only woman who has ever stood up to me, Natalie, the only woman strong enough and brave enough and good enough to break through my defenses.”
“You don’t ever have to worry about hurting me, Vincent. I’m the one who keeps walking into danger, and you keep forgiving me.”
“I’m just so grateful each time I find you safe,” he explained.
“Are you going to call your men off and go back to guarding me yourself?”
Instantly, his brow furrowed. “I would do almost anything for you, Natalie, but…he’s still out there. And you distract me too much. It’s safer the way it’s been the past couple of days.”
“You could completely confine me to quarters.”
Slowly, he shook his head. “I wouldn’t try to do that to you. It would kill your spirit.”
She ran her hand down the side of his face. “Not being with you will kill my heart, Vincent. I love you. You love me, too.”
“Yes,” he said, his voice thick. “There is…one possibility.”
“Tell me.”
“An island. It belongs to the family, very private, very secluded. The Fortunes think of it as a good place for a honeymoon.”
“Take me there, Vincent. We could have a very long honeymoon….”
“One day they’ll catch Jamison. But it could be a long time.”
“Oh, that’s all right,” Natalie said. “I’ll be with you. And if we stay there long enough, I might even be pregnant by the time they find him.”
“We’ll have one of those five hundred babies that you want.” He ran one hand down her side and rested it where one day a baby would grow.
Natalie shivered. “Oh yes, we’ll have everything,” she whispered.
Everything you love about romance…
and more!
Please turn the page for Signature Select™
Bonus Features.
Bonus Features:
Author Interview
A Conversation with Myrna Mackenzie
Author’s Journal
Ten Ways To Conceal the Identity of Your Bodyguard by Myrna MacKenzie
Getting Away in Outdoor San Antonio by Myrna MacKenzie
Sneak Peek
THE LAW OF ATTRACTION by Kristi Gold
BONUS FEATURES
Keeping Her Safe
A conversation with
MYRNA MACKENZIE
A former teacher and college recruiter, Myrna Mackenzie’s work has won the Holt Medallion for outstanding fiction, and she has been a finalist for the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award, the Orange Rose, the Reader’s Choice and WisRWA’s Write Touch. Recently, she chatted with us as she took a break from writing her latest book.
Tell us a bit about how you began your writing career.
If it weren’t for two encouraging teachers (one in high school and one in college) I would never even have thought of writing for a living. Both of these instructors told me that they thought I had talent and that I should consider pursuing that talent.
I didn’t do what they suggested, however. I had never even considered writing as something one did for anything other than personal enjoyment or homework, so I became a teacher.
Their words stuck in my mind, however, and just wouldn’t go away. Years went by, and I began to write snippets of stories and hide them away for fear that someone would see them. The urge to write grew stronger every time I tried, and eventually, while I was still teaching I decided to take a class. I began seriously thinking of writing as a profession, and was determined to keep at it until something good happened. Fortunately for me, something did.
Was there a particular person, place or thing that inspired this story?
My heroes and heroines tend to be conglomerations of my ideals (heroes tend to be protectors and females tend to be strong-willed nurturers) and the flaws I most relate to, whether they be male or female. I make a serious effort not to base my characters on anyone I have actually known. That hits a little too close to home for me.
What’s your writing routine?
I have a daily schedule which involves a lot of getting up and walking around (i.e., looks like goofing off, but isn’t—yet my sons could never get away with this line of reasoning with me). I begin about an hour after everyone leaves the house and work on some less demanding aspect of writing (titles, brainstorming, things that don’t require tons of discipline). Afterward, I edit yesterday’s work and then begin on the new scene. About every hour or so I get up and pace, do some small mindless task or…if the weather is right, I might even take a short walk around the block. I do this because it’s not good for a writer to sit and pound the keys for too long, but mostly because it keeps the ideas flowing. If I’m really stuck for a idea, I take a shower or go to the grocery store. Don’t ask. There’s something magical about the produce section—fear of vegetables or maybe fear of cooking?—that often seems to trigger an epiphany and sends me back to the computer with an aha! idea.
How do you research your stories?
I work on an “as needed” basis, which means that my fingers may be flying across the keys one minute and in the next I may be on the Internet searching for information on arson investigations. One would think that would be an efficient way to gather information; however, I inevitably end up with tons of information that I never actually put in the book. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t make a difference in the book. Almost everything a writer reads ends up being used in some way, even if it’s only in the writer’s attitude toward her subject matter. Although I travel every year, I tend to set most of my books in the Midwest, the area I know best. It’s a comfort level thing. I don’t want to concentrate on the setting but on the characters. Now and then, however, it’s fun to try a new setting. I’ve spent a lot of time in Maine and set a couple of books there. I’m sure I’ll do that again, since it’s one of my favorite places, and I keep promising myself that one day I really will delve into the soul of Chicago and use the setting to full advantage.
How do you develop your characters?
This is the heart of how I develop a book. I always begin with a character and his or her “problem,” after which I set up an opposing character. Backgrounds grow from this brief beginning and other characters are pulled in to serve as ways to emphasize the hero and heroine’s difficulties (or to ease the tension now and then). Every secondary character in the book must serve a purpose relating to the hero and heroine. I’m not always aware that that’s what I’m doing, but it’s the end result. If a character isn’t doing his or her job, then that person doesn’t belong in the book, no matter how much I like that person (and if I like them well enough, they may get their own book down the road).
When you’re not writing, what are your favorite activities?
I always want to invent something very cool and exciting here (such as admitting to a fondness for skydiving in a thong/bikini/clown suit or alligator wrestling), but my chief pursuits tend to be reading, taking long walks (which gets called hiking if I’m
on a trail on vacation) and traveling whenever possible. I’m not particularly adventurous, but my husband tends to be, so I’ve rafted rivers, climbed mountains and had the occasional bear or moose encounter. Oh, and people watching is another favorite hobby, a quiet but guilty pleasure and one which every writer (at least the honest ones) admits to engaging in. There are loads of other things I’d like to pursue (playing the piano, knitting something someone could actually wear as opposed to something the person has to hide in the back of their closet, learning how to decorate a cake that would make people swoon, growing roses, juggling, being in good enough shape to actually run a race), but all those things take buckets of time and if I took that kind of time I wouldn’t be able to write books, something I love doing.
If you don’t mind, could you tell us a bit about your family?
Sure. I didn’t get married until I was twenty-eight, but when I did, I married my high school sweetheart. We have two sons. They’re both runners and both musically inclined. No pets, but I once had a dog and I love to “imagine” having pets (so much less mess and allergen free and you can change breeds as frequently as you like), so animals tend to show up now and then in my books.
What are your favorite kinds of vacations? Where do you like to travel?
I’ve spent many trips setting up tents, and I do tend toward vacations that concentrate on the great outdoors and the national wonders of the world, but I also love museums and simply seeing how other people live. England is a favorite as are the Canadian Rockies and Bar Harbor, Maine. Utah has some beautiful areas, and who can deny that California offers a host of different kinds of terrain, lovely cities and the ocean, of course? But there are so many places I’d still like to see (Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands…the list goes on). Isn’t variety great?
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