The Beastly Groom (Texas Titan Romances)

by Cami Checketts

  “You got it, sir. Please hurry, this lady is nuts.”

  A deranged fan? Knox wondered why Brig didn’t just take care of the situation himself. The guy was insanely good at fighting and security, but Knox had told him he would come. He waited until Beau and Rudy knocked on the door and gave them instructions to watch Shelby and the house closely. He was overreacting, but everything felt wrong right now.

  He ran down the driveway rather than take a vehicle. As he approached the gate, he saw Brig standing on the outside of the locked gate, arguing with someone. He couldn’t see the person, but he could hear a female voice.

  He slipped through the guard house, nodding to Woody, who was watching the cameras, and exited on the outside. A large muscular man stood next to his nightmare—Paris Schwanaveldt. Anger and resentment stirred in his gut. Ema had brought this on him. Why had he ever let himself fall for a woman?

  Paris’s blonde mop swiveled to him and she stopped mid-sentence. “Knox!” She tried to run to him.

  Brig was quicker. He grabbed her arm and wrenched her to a stop. “Stand down, lady,” he commanded.

  Her bodyguard—or boyfriend, or whoever he was—rushed Brig. Brig quickly transferred his hold on Paris’s arm to his left hand and ripped his sidearm out with his right, aiming straight at the guy’s chest. “You dying for her, man?” Brig growled.

  Knox’s whole world was in turmoil, but he had to smile seeing the dumb brute stop in his tracks and back up quickly with his hands in the air. Meanwhile, Paris tried to break Brig’s grip and alternated between glaring at Brig and giving Knox beseeching looks.

  “Knox,” Paris begged in what he assumed she thought was a sultry voice. “Tell him that you know me.”

  “Sir?” Brig questioned in a low voice.

  Knox looked past Paris to the muscular guy. “Do you want to wait for her in the car?” He nodded toward the black Porsche, which he assumed belonged to Paris.

  The guy nodded quickly. “Sure. Sounds great. Thanks.”

  Knox hid another smile. Keeping his eyes on Brig, the man quickly opened the door and slipped into the driver’s seat. Knox wondered if he’d hightail it out of here, but he just sat there watching them.

  Knox turned to Brig. “You can let her go.” He faced down Paris. “But if she tries to touch me, shoot to kill.”

  Brig released her arm and backed up a step, his pistol still out and very visible. “You got it, sir,” Brig said.

  Paris turned her ugly glower on Knox. He wondered if she realized how unattractive she was. She’d been a top model when Tyler had made the mistake of sleeping with her when she came to visit the troops in Afghanistan. Tyler had done the honorable thing and married her when she turned up pregnant. Knox was grateful for his friend’s sacrifice because he’d been blessed with Shelby. But oh, this woman was a monster. She thought every man would fall prey to her, but Knox knew all too well how black her soul was. She’d had Tyler head over heels for her, and Knox believed she’d intentionally gotten pregnant so she could set herself up financially. As many times as she’d cheated on Tyler, she obviously had no love for him. This woman only loved herself, money, and her social media followers.

  Her red-painted lips turned up in a smile. “No kiss for me, then, Knox?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  Her smile grew on her lips, though her Botoxed cheeks and forehead didn’t move. Her heavily made-up blue eyes turned even more conniving. “I love that country drawl of yours.”

  “Shut it, Paris,” he commanded.

  Her smile fled and her blue eyes narrowed.

  “What are you doing here?” he ground out.

  “I saw a video of my beautiful little girl and we were in the area, so I thought I’d drop by. I didn’t know you’d relocated from Boston and I had no idea I’d be treated like this.” She drew her lower lip out in a pout that would’ve been cute on Shelby. Knox had to admit that Paris’s features were beautiful, but the nasty life she lived and the cunning evil inside of her twisted the features that on Shelby were picture-perfect into something terrifying on Paris.

  “You signed away all parental rights. Don’t think I’m going to give you more benefits you don’t deserve.”

  “I have ways of making every man change their mind.” She strutted toward him, and her hand snaked toward his chest. Knox caught her wrist and held tight.

  Brig’s pistol cocked loudly. “Shoot to kill, sir, or just to maim?”

  Paris gasped and scurried away from Knox. “Is that idiot for real?”

  “Yes, ma’am, he is.” And just like that, Knox was smiling again.

  “I don’t want your money,” she claimed. “I just want to be with you and Shelby.”

  Knox knew exactly what she meant by that. She wanted to post pictures of her with him and Shelby, get some exposure for her on social media. She didn’t even stop to think how it would confuse Shelby by her showing up, then disappearing again with her latest boy toy. Tyler had begged him to keep Shelby from Paris, for very good reason. A mother like this could ruin his innocent daughter in two shakes. And that was assuming she hadn’t been behind the kidnapping attempt. She was simply evil.

  “You may not have noticed the signs posted,” he said, “but this road and all the property around here is private property—my property. In Texas, I can legally kill you for threatening me on my property.”

  “I didn’t threaten you,” she shrieked, finally realizing he was serious about not wanting her around.

  “You came at me and Brig here had to stop you.”

  “That’s right,” Brig spoke up.

  “Well,” Paris sputtered, jamming her finger at the Porsche, “Ike will testify that you murdered me.”

  “Not if he’s dead too,” Knox said.

  Paris squeaked. Her face turned white. Normally, Knox would feel awful threatening anyone like this, but he knew exactly how Paris ticked and he was done playing nice with anyone, especially a scheming woman. He thought of Ema, and his blood ran hotter.

  “Now,” he said to Paris. “We really don’t want your ugly body splayed out on our pretty property.”

  She gasped, her face turning red now.

  “So do us all a favor and leave with Ike. If you never come back, we can pretend this never happened.”

  Paris backed toward the car. “I’ll sue you!” she screamed.

  Knox chuckled at that. “I know I gave you a hefty settlement, Paris, but you have no clue the wealth I’ve amassed with Tyler’s fortune, my football sponsors, and a fabulous investment team. I have lawyers on staff that will wipe you from the courtroom. Do you really want to waste your money like that?”

  “Argh!” Paris cried out. “You’re such a beast, Knox Sherman!” She backed into the hood of the car and snaked around it to grab the passenger-side handle. “I would’ve made you so happy. You had a chance for me to love you, but you’ve ruined it all!”

  Knox shared a glance with Brig, whose smooth features were distorted with disgust. “Yeah, I’m okay with that,” Knox said to Paris.

  She let out a roar of anger and threw herself into the car. As soon as her door closed, Ike started the motor and reversed, spinning around and speeding off.

  Knox let out a breath. He and Brig had faced down his nightmare and come out the victors. It had been ugly enough that maybe she would stop coming around.

  “Wow,” Brig said. “Your buddy actually married that monster.”

  Knox nodded. Tyler had been bewitched by her. Poor guy had realized his mistake pretty quick.

  “And she called you a beast.” Brig shook his head.

  Knox turned to him. “I loved your reaction.”

  Brig grinned and saluted him. “Just doing my job. That was fun.”

  Knox had been successful in the military, but Brig had lived and breathed it. He’d been Knox’s commanding officer. It was still a weird reversal sometimes that Knox was now his boss. “I’m giving you another raise,” Knox said.

  “Hey, instead
of a raise, can I ask a favor?”

  “Anything.” Knox trusted Brig with his daughter’s life. Knowing this guy was in charge of security helped him sleep at night. He wondered what the man would want. Maybe Brig wanted a paid vacation. Knox would let him take his jet anywhere. The accomplishment of driving Paris off so easily disappeared as he thought of his jet. Ema wouldn’t be using it to come see him.

  Brig was studying the fence.

  “What is it?” Knox forced a smile so he’d be more approachable. He didn’t think he intimidated Brig. He didn’t think anybody would intimidate this guy.

  “Would you care if I, um … asked your agent out sometime?”

  “Claire?” Knox’s eyebrows shot up. Claire was a beautiful woman, but she could’ve run a fashion magazine instead of a sports agency. He couldn’t imagine her going for the rough-and-tough bodyguard type. Brig would probably be attractive to women—his sculpted face, tough body, and the prematurely gray hair all seemed to be something women liked—but it just didn’t fit Claire. Come to think of it, he hadn’t heard of her dating anyone since her fiancé was killed in the line of duty several years ago.

  Brig met his gaze evenly. “Yeah. I … kind of have a huge crush on her.”

  Knox couldn’t help but laugh. Brig didn’t even smile, which made Knox feel bad. “Sorry, man, I wasn’t laughing at you. Well, I guess I was.”

  Brig flicked his thumb against his leg. “I know she’s too good for me, but I can’t get her out of my head. I have to at least try, right?”

  Knox wanted to tell him even though Claire was a fabulous person, relationships with beautiful women stunk and were not worth the pain. But he couldn’t shoot the guy down. “Yeah, I guess you do. You didn’t need my permission.”

  “I love working for you, sir. I didn’t want to jeopardize anything.”

  “Thanks.” Knox stuck out his hand and Brig grasped it firmly. “This isn’t the military, though. You don’t have to ask my permission to go on a date.” He smirked. “Wasn’t that long ago I had to ask your permission.”

  Brig grinned. “I liked the army life.”

  “I didn’t.” Knox thought of all the crap he’d shared with Ema. Why hadn’t she put on her stupid YouTube video that he had PTSD? That he’d tattooed his buddies on his arm? How crappy he was at dancing, and probably kissing too? He shook his head and released Brig’s hand. “Thanks again.”

  Brig nodded, and Knox started walking back up the driveway. Shelby was safe, for now. Would other predators besides Paris come out of the woodwork because of that video? Strength and conviction raced through him. If they did, he and Brig and his other security guys would protect her.

  His phone rang and he pulled it out. Ema’s name and beautiful face filled the screen. Knox cursed. Part of him wanted to throw the phone, part of him wanted to answer it and tell her what she’d done to him, and part of him wanted to block her number and pretend he’d never met her.

  He shoved the phone in his pocket and kept walking back to his daughter.

  Chapter Twelve

  Ema sat in her hotel room, scrolling through pictures of her nieces and nephews on her phone. She clicked on a video she’d taken of some of them last Christmas, and thankfully the little cuties could still make her smile despite how crappy she was feeling. Maybe she should forget the shoot with Brady and Hailey Giles this weekend and fly home to see her family. Her career didn’t feel as important right now, which was so dumb, because that was a big part of the issue with her and Knox.

  When she wandered out of the woods this morning and back to the house, determined to talk to Knox and see how they could work things out, the gray-haired security guard with the young-looking face, and as many muscles as Knox, had been waiting. He had kindly escorted her to a car and driven her to her hotel. Knox and Shelby hadn’t even said goodbye. Yes, there were lots of issues with her and Knox. She couldn’t think about it.

  Mike had tried to call her and text her repeatedly; she’d ignored him. She didn’t think he was dangerous, but he had been completely out of line and disgusting and she didn’t want to keep working with someone who would do something like that. She’d talked to the show’s production staff this morning and they said they had some great footage for Knox’s episode. They’d be sending it to her later tonight for approval. Normally when she wrapped up one show, she’d either go home to San Diego for a few days, enjoy the city she was in, or travel and enjoy the city her next shot was at. She loved to travel and explore new places.

  Instead of exploring, she sat morosely in a dark, lonely hotel room. She missed Knox and she missed Shelby. Yes, Knox had reacted too strongly this morning, but he had been protecting her and that was a beautiful thing too. She wished she could tell him that she wanted to fly back and forth to Dallas on his private jet, schedule as many Texas shows as possible, spend the next year or so getting to know him and Shelby better and falling deeper in love. But she was still scared and uncertain. Not scared of Knox, but scared of how quickly she’d fallen in four days. If that rate of infatuation continued, she’d be proposing to him before they’d known each other a month. Craziness. Already she couldn’t stand the thought of being away from him, and that wasn’t right. She needed to get her head back into her career. Research her next assignment—Brady and Haley Giles—so she could pull off a dynamite show. ABC was calling her name.

  Her phone rang and she fumbled with it, looking at the caller ID. She swiped it open. “Claire!” she all but yelled into the phone.

  “How dare you?” Claire spit at her.

  “How dare I … what?” Yes, she’d left Knox’s ranch and she’d said some things she shouldn’t, but she hadn’t deliberately hurt him. She would’ve tried to work things out with him if the security guy hadn’t escorted her away. She still wanted to talk things through with Knox, see if they had a chance.

  “Of course it would mean nothing to you, slandering a great man like that, but did you seriously not care about Shelby at all?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t slander—”

  “Save it!” Claire yelled into the phone. “I blame myself. I thought you were a good fit for him. I thought you could be happy together.” Claire laughed sarcastically. “Silly me, I thought you had a heart.”

  “Claire, stop, I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

  Claire sighed. “It’s heavy, Ema.”

  “Please tell me what’s going on.”

  “You really are clueless?”

  “I guess I am.” Ema’s temper flared up. “What is going on?”

  “Google yourself. You’ll figure it out.” Claire hung up on her.

  Ema felt chilled and out of her head, like she had a sudden flu bug. She pushed off the bed and grabbed her laptop off the dresser. Why would Claire treat her like that? Ema typed in her name, and the top link robbed her of oxygen. Before clicking on it, she scanned through the links on the first page. Different social media sites, but all reposts of a YouTube video she’d supposedly produced featuring Knox Sherman, the Beast.

  She clicked on the video and watched it, her gut churning and her hands clammy. No. Oh, Knox. Would he think she would do this to him? Mike. It had to be Mike. She’d kneed him and Knox had flattened him and thrown him around, then off, his property. Could the guy she’d worked with for years have done something this petty and underhanded?

  She found Knox’s text stream with her and pushed the button to call him. It rang, then went to a voicemail. His deep, husky voice filled her with longing and fear. Would he hate her? Hanging up, she texted him quickly: Please call me. She waited a full twenty seconds, then hit the button to call him again.

  It rang once, and she heard him growl, “What do you want, Ema?”

  “Oh, Knox, this wasn’t me.”

  He didn’t respond, but she could still hear his breathing, ragged and loud.

  She needed to go to him, explain. “I would never do this to you. You have to believe that.”
>
  A long pause stretched on before he finally said, “It doesn’t matter what I believe. Shelby’s been exposed because of you.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Paris showed up.”

  “Oh, no.” Ema sucked in a breath. “She didn’t get to Shelby?”

  “I scared her away, but who knows what other predators are going to come.”

  Ema’s heart felt heavy and her hands were shaking and cold. Even though she hadn’t released that video, she’d brought this on Knox and Shelby. “I’m sorry,” she said again.

  “You were right.” Knox’s voice was cold and distant. “A relationship is never going to work for us.”

  The line went quiet. “Knox? Knox!” Ema cried his name, but there was no response. She sank onto the bed and curled around her phone. Tears pricked at her eyes and her throat felt raw. She’d brought pain on Knox and danger to Shelby. Quiet tears slid out of her eyes as she felt sorrier for herself than she ever had in her life.

  This was her fault. All her fault. Long minutes passed and the tears kept coming, but deep inside she felt a reassurance. This wasn’t her fault. It was Mike. All Mike. He’d lied to Knox that he deleted the footage of Shelby. He’d tried to manipulate Knox’s staff into saying demeaning things about him. And she knew that he’d created and uploaded that video. Maybe she’d been wrong to become part of Knox’s life, but she hadn’t done any of this deliberately to him.

  Clutching her phone, she turned on the voice recording feature and stormed out of her room and down the hotel hallway. She pounded on Mike’s door.

  He swung it open. “Hey, Ema,” he said, greeting her as if nothing had happened.

  “Mike.” She shook her head, disappointment tracing through her. “You put that video together about Knox and posted it on YouTube and all our social media sites.” Her phone was clutched in her hand and she prayed it was recording.

  Mike leaned against the doorframe. “So what if I did?”

  “That’s slander, Mike. He’ll sue you.”