Lisa Childs - Soldier Bodyguard

Cole Bentler’s mission is to serve and protect...

A Bachelor Bodyguards romance

Former marine Cole Bentler’s new assignment: protect the recently widowed love of his life! Shawna Rolfe’s never been far from Cole’s thoughts, but now it’s up to him to ensure her safety—and guard her young daughter. A daughter whose eyes somehow look just like his... Once his secret daughter’s identity is exposed, can Cole forgive Shawna before the killer has them both trapped?

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

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

Soldier Bodyguard

Lisa Childs

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-07942-6

SOLDIER BODYGUARD

© 2018 Lisa Childs

Published in Great Britain 2018

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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“Are you okay?”

Shawna gave him a faint nod, as if she wasn’t quite certain herself.

He looked closer. As well as the bruising on her throat from the earlier attempt on her life, he noticed the cuts on her knees and hands. “You’re hurt,” he said.

She turned over her hands and glanced down at her dirty, bloodied palms. “I fell...”

He suppressed a shudder at how close the killer must have come to catching her, to killing her. Whoever the hell it was, he’d gotten too close—too many times. Despite himself, Cole offered the promise she’d sought earlier. “I will protect you,” he vowed.

She released a shaky little breath of relief, but then she stared up at him and asked, “Are you sure you want to?”

“It’s my job,” he reminded her. But she was a hell of a lot more than that to him. She was everything. She had always been...

Everything.

Dear Reader,

Thank you for picking up the latest installment, Soldier Bodyguard, in my Bachelor Bodyguards series! The Payne Protection Agency is at it again—using the family business to protect family. If you’ve read the previous books in the series and thought matriarch Penny Payne-Lynch was a meddling matchmaker, wait until you meet Cole Bentler’s grandfather Xavier Bentler. Grampa X has a couple of reasons for hiring the Payne Protection Agency. One is because he wants to bring his grandson Cole back home to his estranged family and to Cole’s high school sweetheart. The second is because someone can’t wait for the feisty eighty-six-year-old to die of natural causes.

I modeled Grampa X after my father, who introduces himself to everyone he meets as Grampa Jack. At ninety, he is even more independent and feistier than Xavier Bentler. His car engine never cools off because he goes from restaurant to restaurant meeting up with family and friends—mostly lady friends. Like Grampa X, he is independent and determined and also has a heart of gold. I hope you enjoy meeting Grampa X in the pages of Soldier Bodyguard and finding out if he can reunite his family, survive the attempts on his life and play matchmaker for Cole.

Happy reading!

Lisa Childs

With love and gratitude for my biggest fan and self-appointed publicist, my ninety-year-old dad, Jack Childs aka Grampa Jack. Thank you for promoting my books with everyone you meet and thank you for setting an example in how to live life to the fullest!

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

Epilogue

Extract

About the Publisher

Crazy like a fox. Cooper Payne had never understood that phrase until now. He stared across his desk at Xavier Bentler. This wasn’t Cooper’s first experience with an interfering grandfather; his wife’s guardian/grandfather had been a control freak who had manipulated his granddaughters even from beyond the grave.

“I can’t lie to one of my employees,” he told the elderly man.

Xavier Bentler was eighty-six years old, but he looked like he was in his sixties. Cooper couldn’t believe that he’d had a heart attack a few months ago. Had he really had one? Or just how manipulative was the old man? The heart attack had compelled Cooper’s friend and employee, Cole Bentler, to fly home for the first time in years—although he hadn’t been gone very long.