Beverly Long - Bodyguard Reunion

She shook her head. “Six years ago.”

He worked really hard to keep his expression neutral. His head was spinning. That meant...hell, she’d been married for less than eighteen months. “What’s your relationship with...him?” He knew his name. Bryson Wagoner. Appropriate since the man had needed a damn wagon to carry all his family money.

“Fine,” Jules said.

Fine. What the hell did that mean? The silence in the room stretched out.

“Well, what do you think?” Barry Wood asked.

He thought that very little surprised him anymore, but Jules had knocked his socks off. He thought his heart was beating too fast. He thought she was still the most beautiful woman that he’d ever met. “I think you’re right to be concerned,” Royce said.

“We appreciate your opinion.” If possible, Jules’s jaw was even tighter, and her lips barely moved when she spoke.

“It’s what I do,” he said, suddenly defensive. He and his partners were damn good at providing security. They had celebrities, politicians—hell, even some royalty—on their client list. A pharmaceutical CEO was nothing.

But that wasn’t true. Jules Cambridge had never been nothing. Royalty in her own right, she’d been her father’s little princess.

And in contrast, he’d been the commoner, who should have been content to stay outside the walls of the Fifth Avenue fortress, admiring from afar.

He’d been so damn stupid.

“Will you help us?” Barry asked.

There was no way.

Jules stood up, her movement jerky. “Barry, we need to discuss this. I can assure you that Royce is not going to be interested in providing the service.”

That was exactly what he’d been thinking. She had no right to take away his opportunity to turn her down. And it irritated the hell out of him to hear her say it so matter-of-fact.

She could take her business down the street. There were other security agencies in Vegas. A couple that were very decent. Not as good as Wingman Security, that was true. If only one of his other partners was available, he could refer her internally, but that wasn’t the case.

Jules was in trouble. You will beg for mercy. I will enjoy witnessing your pain. “Actually, it’s your lucky day,” he said, his gaze steady on her.

She opened her mouth.

“What you two need to do,” he said, switching his eyes to Barry, “is lock the door behind me. Don’t open it to anyone but me. Can you manage that?”

Barry nodded.

“Good. Then I’ll be back within the hour with my clothes and a contract.”

Chapter 3

“I’m sorry, JC,” Barry said, just seconds after the door closed behind Royce. “But I’m confused. You look very upset. I thought we’d agreed.”

She managed to smile at the man. She understood that he was worried. “I suspect you’re thinking that one hell of a slam is coming.”

Barry settled back against the cushions. “That was quite a night. You stalked off to your bedroom, your nose in the air. And it was a ferocious slam. Knocked the trim right off the frame.”

“All because I couldn’t go to a Metallica concert. I was fifteen.”

“Your father hated to disappoint you but he hated the idea of you getting hurt even more,” Barry said.

She was eighteen years older now. And while she hadn’t been able to understand her father’s motivations at the time, she did understand Barry’s now. She also understood the very real business reasons behind them. There was a twenty-million-dollar insurance policy on her life. As a result, they’d had to report the threats to the insurance company and they were insisting on added security.

So she had quietly acquiesced. Never dreaming that Royce would walk through the door.

Barry would have had no way of knowing about the relationship. After all, by almost anyone’s standards, it had been rather short-lived. And her father, if he had deemed it necessary to discuss Royce with Barry, would have only referred to him as Juliana’s summer indulgence. As best she could remember, he had never called Royce by name.

But he’d known his name and he would remember his name. It was the one way that she could very easily get Royce kicked off the job. If she mentioned it to her father, the man would immediately demand that Royce be replaced. He’d call his good friend Barry and that would be that.

And she’d be responsible, again, for causing trouble for Royce.

It was a few days. If they were indeed the best, that’s what she wanted, right?

She did not believe that the car last night had deliberately tried to kill her. If so, why back off? But the letters were not so easily dismissed. In a world where crazy things seemed to happen more and more often, the idea that somebody had come unhinged and was intent upon causing trouble for the CEO of a drug company was not a comfortable one. She’d been all for reporting them to the police.

She was all for staying safe.

She certainly didn’t want anybody on her team to get injured because she couldn’t get past history.

Plus, she had a very good reason for staying in Vegas. Family. She hadn’t told Barry, didn’t intend to. Knew it would get back to her father, and there was no way she was ready to have that conversation yet.

“It’s fine, Barry. We’ll make the best of it.”

Royce had said he was coming back with clothes. Which meant that he intended to stay with her.

There were two bedrooms in the suite. Plenty of space.

Right. When he’d run back to Texas and she’d stayed in New York, that had barely been a comfortable distance.

“I’m going to get some work done,” she said, “before Royce comes back.”

“I’ll stay,” Barry said.

She shook her head. “It’s not necessary. Go back to your own room and get some rest. I don’t think either one of us got much sleep last night.”

“You heard Royce.”

“I know, I know. I won’t open the door to strangers. I promise.”

Barry stood up. “I appreciate you going along with this. I really do.”

“I appreciate that you haven’t said anything to my dad about the threats.” She’d asked him not to and he’d reluctantly agreed. Of course, he had no way of knowing how strained her current relationship was with her father. For so many reasons, some known only to her.

“I won’t as long as we’re doing everything in our power to keep you safe. I’m not underestimating how uncomfortable it might be to have a shadow 24/7. But you know your safety is important to me. For a lot of reasons.”

She reached for his age-spotted hand. Squeezed it. “I know that it might be highly improper for the CEO to say this to the chairman of the board, but I love you.”

He smiled. “You’ve always been like a daughter to Eileen and me.”

“I know.” She walked him to the door and locked it securely after he left. Then she stood with her spine against the door, feeling the wood press against every one of her vertebrae.

Eight years ago, she’d made a bad decision for what she thought were all the right reasons.

And after he’d stormed out of her father’s house, she’d tried to forget about the hurt in Royce Morgan’s eyes. The hurt she’d caused.

It hadn’t been easy. Even though she’d thrown herself into her work, into planning her wedding.

And then into her marriage.

Her short, disastrous marriage.

Royce had looked shocked when she’d said she was divorced. He hadn’t known. But now that he did, would he demand an explanation? Would he think he was still entitled to one? Or would he not care enough to even ask? She wasn’t sure which question scared her more.

The only answer was to keep it strictly professional between the two of them, to not even venture into conversations that could take on a personal bent. To avoid a trip down a memory lane that was blighted by deep potholes full of deceit and regret.