by Lisa Childs
His mother was right. Damn her...
“I’m sorry,” Parker said. “I just have to be careful....”
“You have to be more careful now,” Garek advised.
“Why? What have you learned?” What information did he have that was so important that he’d broken into the condo to share it?
“The reward for your murders has been doubled,” Garek said. “And it was already a generous amount of money for a hit.” He shook his head, as if he was dumbfounded. “Now it’s an obscene amount of money.”
Parker cursed.
And Sharon appeared at the top of the stairwell. Those enormous eyes wide with concern, she stared down at him. Apparently she had heard only his curses, not what Garek had said. “What’s going on?”
He wished he knew. Why was someone so determined that he and Sharon die?
“You should tell her,” Garek advised.
Parker wasn’t sure she could handle knowing how badly someone wanted her dead. But then he remembered how her grip had steadied on the gun and how she had been ready to shoot to protect him.
“Tell me what?” she asked, and as she stepped closer to the stairs, he noticed the baby in her arms. Ethan clung to her, his little fingers tangled in her hair.
While Parker was his father, she was the boy’s security. Ethan couldn’t lose her. The greatest thing Parker could do as the boy’s father was to make sure he kept this woman safe. “Whoever wants us dead upped the ante.”
He wasn’t sure she would understand, but she nodded and sucked in an audibly shaky breath. And then with the boy balanced on one of her lean hips, she pulled the gun out with the hand on her other side. The barrel was pointed straight and steady down the stairwell.
Garek laughed. “So she’s going to shoot you to collect?”
“I have money,” Sharon said. “I’ll pay you to leave us alone.”
Garek tensed as he realized what she thought, that she had the same suspicion that Parker had briefly entertained. “I have never met two more ungrateful people,” he murmured. “I come here to warn you and you both think that I came here to collect on the damn rewards.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “But you’re a Kozminski, right?”
He hesitated but nodded.
“Detective Sharpe warned me about you.”
Garek sighed. “Of course he did.”
“He warned me about Parker, too.”
Garek laughed. “I knew the guy was an idiot. But you have nothing to fear from any one of the Paynes—they’re all about law and order.” But he notably didn’t make that claim for himself. “You’re safer with this guy than you would be with anybody else—probably even with the police right now.”
Parker flinched as he remembered how the greed of a certain police officer had cost both him and Garek their fathers. Parker’s dad had died and Garek’s dad had gone to prison for killing him even though another man had pulled the trigger. Parker hadn’t had time to deal yet with finding out how his father’s partner had betrayed him before he’d found out that someone was trying to kill him.
And then he had found out he was a father....
No wonder his head was pounding now. It wasn’t just because of the concussion or exhaustion...
He was overwhelmed.
No doubt so was Sharon. So many people had been telling her so many things. Was it any wonder that she might struggle over what to believe and whom to trust?
She said, “Detective Sharpe warned me that Parker’s a playboy.”
Garek laughed harder—so hard that the baby laughed with him. “Maybe Sharpe’s not as big an idiot as I thought....”
“He’s an idiot,” Parker insisted to Sharon. Then he turned back to Garek. “And you have no room to talk in the playboy department.”
He laughed again. “I’m not denying that....”
Parker couldn’t deny his reputation, either. He had vowed to never marry, to never have children. But he’d had reasons. He had actually wanted to spare someone mourning him the way he and his mother and siblings had mourned the loss of their father. And even before the hit had gone out on him, his life had often been in jeopardy. As an undercover cop, he’d put his life on the line with every dangerous assignment. And when he protected someone, he again placed himself between that person and potential danger.
“Thanks for breaking and entering,” Parker said, “to give us the heads-up.”
Garek shrugged and winced. “Don’t mention it. I’d stay to help protect you and all, but I’m a lousy shot. And I should probably stop by the emergency room and have them x-ray my ribs.”
“Sorry about that,” Parker said with a carefully light slap on Garek’s shoulder.
“I would have called...”
But Parker had pulled the battery out of his phone so no one would have been able to hack the GPS and find out where he was. He pulled another phone from his pocket. “I replaced my cell with this one. It’s an untraceable track phone.” He gave the number to Garek. “Now you can call next time....”
“Let’s hope there isn’t a next time. You don’t want the reward getting tripled.” He grinned. “Or I might be tempted to collect.” Then he turned and headed down the stairs to the basement garage.
Parker wasn’t so sure that Kozminski was kidding. If double an already generous reward was obscene, then triple would probably prove irresistible.
After the door clicked behind Garek, Parker made sure it was locked and the alarm was engaged. Then he headed up the stairs to where Sharon waited for him. Instead of the gun, she held a bottle, which Ethan was eagerly sucking down. She arched her neck to indicate where she had left his weapon sitting on the nightstand next to the rumpled king-sized bed.
He only noticed how delicate her neck looked; how slender she was. Vulnerable. And beautiful...even as exhausted as she was.
She hadn’t had much sleep, and it showed in the dark circles beneath her enormous eyes. After what they had just learned from Garek, she probably wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep even if Ethan did.
“I’m sorry about that,” he said.
She skeptically arched a brow. “Sorry that he made you tell me?”
“Yes,” he admitted.
“Why?” she asked, and she bristled with pride. “Do you think I’m too weak or fragile to know what’s going on? That the reward for our murders has been increased?”
He glanced again to where she’d put the gun. “You handled that pretty well.”
Her mouth curved into a slight smile. “Don’t patronize me. I could barely hold on to it. But that wasn’t because I’m weak or fragile. It’s because I don’t like guns.”
Probably with good reason. Had her mother been shot? Or worse...
And at a young, impressionable age, Sharon had seen that and survived. “I don’t think you’re weak or fragile,” he assured her.
She narrowed her eyes and stared at him suspiciously. “Are you still patronizing me?”
“No,” he said. “I know how strong you have to be when you lose a parent.”
She gasped. “Oh, that’s right....” Her face flushed a bright red with embarrassment. “I’m sorry....”
“You know about my dad?” he asked.
“Brenda told me that he died when you were a teenager,” she said. “And then I saw on the news that it was just discovered that another man killed him than the one who’d been in prison for his murder.”
“Garek’s dad was the man in prison for his murder,” he said, “until he died there.”
Her brows lifted in surprise. “And his sister is married to your brother?”
Parker laughed. “They used to hate each other—or so they claimed. But Stacy always knew it wasn’t her dad who had killed ours.” A twinge of pain struck his chest over the
betrayal that had led to his dad’s death. “She was right. It wound up being another officer—his partner.”
She nodded. “Brenda told me not to trust the police.”
“I can’t argue with her now,” he said. “I’d like to say they can’t be bought. But some of them can be more greedy than honorable.” He wondered about Sharpe and that kid that Sharpe had sent to follow him. Why hadn’t he identified himself as an officer when he’d pulled the gun on Parker? What might have happened if Logan hadn’t shown up?
“And the reward to kill us is a lot of money?” she asked nervously.
He wasn’t going to patronize her with a lie, so he answered honestly. “An obscene amount, according to Garek.”
Her arm tightened around Ethan protectively, and she glanced around the condo as if looking for more intruders. He glanced around, too, just in case....
Since Garek had so easily followed him and broken in, someone else could, too. They really weren’t safe anywhere. And because they were in danger, so was his son. And if something happened to either one of them or both, what would become of Ethan?
Would Parker’s mother be able to get custody or would the baby go straight into the foster-care system? He had to protect his son and Sharon.
Her skin had grown pale, her eyes wide and dark with fear. Her voice even trembled a bit when she asked, “What do we do now?”
Ignoring the twinge of panic striking his bachelor heart, he replied, “We get married.”
Chapter Eleven
Sharon stared at herself in the oval mirror—unable to believe that was actually her reflection staring back at her. How was that her in the lacy, strapless white dress and veil? She had pulled back the veil so that she could see, so that the image would be clear.
But nothing was clear to her. Why did someone so desperately want both her and Parker dead? With the reward for their murders doubled, it was probably only a matter of time before one of the attempts was successful.
Her stomach pitched. She couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten. She wasn’t worried about marrying the notorious playboy Payne, either. She wasn’t about to give him her heart. The only thing she really had to lose was Ethan. And her life.
“I’ve seen a lot of brides in this room, but I have never seen one look as scared as you do,” a female voice remarked. “But then, you’re the one marrying Parker.”
Sharon turned to see the young auburn-haired woman who had been at Brenda’s house and at the police station and at the hospital with her. The young woman had been nearly everywhere that Sharon had, so maybe she should have expected her to show up here. But still, she gasped in surprise.
And the woman wasn’t alone; she had brought an enormous dog with her. As it sniffed around the bride’s room, Sharon realized it was Cujo—the K9 dog that Parker had previously and wistfully mentioned. He had brought the dog to the wedding to sniff out any bombs. But the German shepherd was disinterested in everything in the room—even Sharon.
“I didn’t mean to scare you more,” the woman said.
Sharon remembered her solicitous look from the hospital; the woman obviously knew about her tragic past. And pitied her. “I’m fine,” she said. “How about you?”
Was she upset that Parker was marrying another woman?
The young woman sighed before replying, “No. With all my brothers married, Mom’s going to have no one left to manipulate into marriage but me.”
“Brothers?”
She snorted in disgust. “Parker still hasn’t told you that I’m his sister?” She thrust her hand between them. “I’m Nikki Payne.”
Sharon clasped the proffered hand and firmly shook it. “I’m glad to meet you.” Finally...
And she felt like a fool for that fleeting jealousy she had felt—and to which she’d had no right. She and Parker were nothing to each other even though they were about to become husband and wife.
“He should have introduced us at the judge’s house,” Nikki said. “But I was still a mess from him nearly getting blown up earlier.”
It hadn’t occurred to Sharon until now how the attempts on his life must have been affecting his family. “And here I thought I was the mess...”
“You were,” Nikki said with the Payne directness. But then she laughed. Was she only kidding? “But you had every right. Parker didn’t even let me see the body, so it must have been bad.” She slapped her hand over her own mouth. “God, I’m so crass.”
“You’re honest and straightforward,” Sharon said. “I appreciate that—even though I haven’t been that straightforward myself.”
Nikki chuckled again. “You messed with Parker—letting him think you’d had his kid and that he didn’t even remember you.”
Was his sister angry about that? Sharon opened her mouth to apologize.
But Nikki continued, “That’s great. For all the hearts he’s broken, he deserved that!”
Sharon shook her head. “He didn’t deserve to be kept in the dark about his son all this time.”
“It wasn’t your secret to tell,” another woman remarked as she joined them in the bride’s dressing room of the Little White Wedding Chapel that Parker’s mother owned. After petting the dog that was overjoyed to see her, she held out her hand as Nikki had. “I’m Stacy Koz—Stacy Payne,” she corrected herself with a chuckle. “Logan’s wife.”
Nikki laughed. “I still can’t believe that one. I don’t know which one is harder to believe, though—you and Logan getting married or Parker getting married....”
“Me and Logan,” Stacy easily replied. “I saw Parker’s house before it nearly blew up—it’s a family house.”
Nikki shook her head. “He uses it to fool women into thinking that he might actually get married.”
“He is getting married,” another woman chimed in as Mrs. Payne bustled into the room. “And very soon...”
“Where’s Ethan?” Sharon asked, alarmed that the woman who had taken her little man from her no longer had him.
“He’s with his father,” Mrs. Payne said.
And that reminded Sharon why she was marrying the playboy—so that Ethan wouldn’t be taken away from her.
Mrs. Payne smiled. “All the guys are getting into their tuxes.”
“I’m dressed now,” Sharon pointed out. “I can take him back.”
Mrs. Payne stepped forward and fussed with the veil, pulling it back over Sharon’s face. “You’re so beautiful. We can’t have the baby messing with my new daughter’s hair and veil.”
My new daughter...
Sharon was grateful for the concealment of the veil now as it hid the tears that Mrs. Payne’s sweet remark had springing to her eyes. She had claimed not just Ethan as family but Sharon, too. Sharon had never really had a family.
“I may step into the groom’s quarters,” Nikki said. “I’d love to see Parker wrestling a baby into a tuxedo.”
“I already dressed Ethan,” Mrs. Payne said. “And Logan is holding him while Parker dresses.” She turned toward Stacy. “He looks very comfortable with a baby.”
Stacy laughed. “You just talked us into getting married. Give us some time before you go looking for more grandbabies.”
“You’ve already got one more than you thought you had,” Nikki pointed out.
Mrs. Payne grinned. “Having him makes me want more.”
Sharon had no intention of even consummating this marriage, let alone procreating. “Mrs. Payne, are you sure we should be getting married in your beautiful chapel?”
“We already had one wedding at the hospital,” she said with a glance toward Stacy.
Stacy smiled with pure happiness. “Logan couldn’t wait another minute before making me his wife, and he wanted Parker to be his best man.”
With the hit out on them, Parker
and Sharon could wind up back in the hospital at any time—in a bed or the morgue.
“So we could get married somewhere else,” Sharon suggested.
“It would break my heart if you got married anywhere else,” Mrs. Payne replied.
But it would break Sharon’s heart if something happened to the old church that the older woman had painstakingly restored and made into her livelihood.
But that didn’t mean that there weren’t other dangers out there. Sharon tentatively touched the lace gown. “And me in your beautiful gown?”
Stacy shook her head in amazement. “How has that same dress fit all the Payne brides? We’re all different heights and sizes.”
Stacy was shorter than Sharon and much curvier. “You wore this dress, too?”
Stacy nodded. “At the hospital. I was nervous to wear it, too, and changed quickly.”
“It’s Mom’s magic dress,” Nikki remarked.
Mrs. Payne gave an unladylike snort of derision. “It’s a needle and thread and different-sized heels. And of course, beautiful brides that make it look so perfect....” She turned toward Nikki as if studying her to figure out the next round of alterations.
Nikki shook her head. “Oh, no! Don’t even start looking at me like that....” She pointed at her mother and addressed Sharon. “See, I told you—”
“I was talking about the danger that Parker and I are in,” Sharon reminded the others. “We’ve had people try to blow up the places we live or visit. I don’t want anyone blowing up your chapel to get to us.” And if the chapel blew up, the dress was sure to be destroyed...along with Sharon and her groom and everyone else in their wedding party.
“Cujo hasn’t found any explosives. And all of the Payne Protection Agency is here,” Nikki said. “You’ve never been safer than you are right now.”
But as she walked down the aisle toward her groom standing at the altar, Sharon didn’t feel safe. Not when she saw how tenderly he held the tiny boy who, also clad in a black tuxedo, was a perfect miniature of him. She felt a terror that she hadn’t felt since she was a kid.
