Lisa Childs - Guarding His Witness

Protecting a murder witness...

A brand-new Bachelor Bodyguards novel

Former vice cop Clint Quarters is haunted by the memory of an informant he couldn’t save. And the victim’s devastated sister, Rosie Mendez, hasn’t forgiven him, either. But when the bodyguard must protect murder witness Rosie, the danger they face is only rivaled by the red-hot electricity between them. Can Clint keep Rosie safe, or will her testimony lead to certain death—for them both?

Ever since LISA CHILDSread her first romance novel (a Mills & Boon story, of course) at age eleven, all she wanted was to be a romance writer. With over forty novels published with Mills & Boon, Lisa is living her dream. She is an award-winning, bestselling romance author. Lisa loves to hear from readers, who can contact her on Facebook, through her website, lisachilds.com, or her snail-mail address, PO Box 139, Marne, MI 49435.

Also by Lisa Childs

Bachelor Bodyguards

His Christmas Assignment

Bodyguard Daddy

Bodyguard’s Baby Surprise

Beauty and the Bodyguard

Nanny Bodyguard

Single Mom’s Bodyguard

In the Bodyguard’s Arms

Soldier Bodyguard

Guarding His Witness

The Coltons of Red Ridge

Colton’s Cinderella Bride

Top Secret Deliveries

The Bounty Hunter’s Baby Surprise

The Coltons of Shadow Creek

The Colton Marine

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Guarding His Witness

Lisa Childs

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09365-1

GUARDING HIS WITNESS

© 2019 Lisa Childs

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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Clint would have laughed at her overreaction if it hadn’t depressed him. No matter how much he tried, he would never be able to get her to stop hating him.

“Nobody working for Luther will think it’s us walking through the lot if we’re acting like lovers,” he explained to her. “Everybody knows how much you hate me.”

Most of all him.

Maybe she took that as a challenge, because she suddenly slid her arm around his waist and snuggled against his side. He tensed now, but not with revulsion. He tensed because his body was reacting to the closeness of hers.

Rosie lifted her face to his and fluttered her lashes. “You’re right,” she said. “Everybody knows how much I hate you. They’d never believe I’d be doing this…” Then she reached out and ran her fingertips along his jaw as she leaned even closer to him.

* * *

Be sure to check out the previous books in the exciting Bachelor Bodyguards miniseries.

Dear Reader,

I am so excited to share with you more stories about the Payne Protection Agency from my Bachelor Bodyguards series. If you haven’t read any of the series yet, I’ll quickly bring you up to speed.

Lawman Logan Payne left his job as a detective at the River City Police Department to start his own security business. His twin, Parker Payne, left his job as a vice cop to join Logan, and when he returned from the marines, their younger brother, Cooper, joined them. Cooper and Parker recently started their own branches of the agency. Cooper’s team consists of all former marines, as well as their sister, Nikki Payne. Parker’s team consists of all former vice cops, which is why Parker’s stepfather—the new River City PD police chief—hired Parker’s team to make sure a drug lord, Luther Mills, goes to trial. Mills has threatened everyone associated with his upcoming trial.

Parker hopes his team’s first big assignment doesn’t wind up being their last. Clint Quarters has the toughest bodyguard assignment: protecting the sole witness to a murder Luther personally carried out. The assignment is tough because not only is Luther determined to make sure Rosie Mendez doesn’t testify against him, but also Rosie blames Clint as much as she does Luther for her brother’s murder.

Hope you enjoy these new stories about the Payne Protection Agency as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them.

Happy reading!

Lisa Childs

For my parents, Jack and Mary Lou Childs, who would have been married seventy years this month. Although Mom has been gone a few years now, I know their love is as strong as it ever was. Their love story continues to inspire me.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

About the Publisher

Feeling like he’d been called to the principal’s office, Parker Payne settled nervously onto the chair in front of the desk of the new chief of the River City Police Department. The fact that Woodrow Lynch was also his new stepfather didn’t help his anxiety.