Lisa Childs - Explosive Engagement

“So you admit my life is in danger because of you?” His suspicions had obviously not been unfounded. He pushed aside the guilt he’d been feeling for interrupting her father’s funeral to confront her. And it wasn’t just his mother who’d made him feel guilty but Stacy had, too—with all the pain he’d seen in her gray eyes.

She was mourning. He understood that; he’d spent the past fifteen years mourning the loss of his father. Hers was to blame for that, but she wasn’t. Maybe for the first time in fifteen years he realized that.

She emitted a soft, shaky sigh. “I’m not admitting anything, Detective Payne.”

“I haven’t been a detective for a few years.” Not since he’d started Payne Protection Agency.

“I think you’ll always be a detective,” she replied.

“If I was, I wouldn’t have to ask where you live,” he pointed out. “I would already know.”

She arched her brows in surprise. She must have assumed he knew. But Logan was just realizing how very little he actually knew about his fake fiancée. He had been so focused on what her father had done that he’d never paid attention to what she had done. Or what she was doing...

What was she doing? And not just with her life but with him? Why was she willing to pretend she was in love with him? What was her real agenda?

“I’ll tell you where I live,” she said. “But we have to stop somewhere else first.”

Maybe her agreeing to his mother’s plan was just a ruse for her to get him alone—somewhere that she would have no witnesses to her killing him.

* * *

WONDERING WHICH ONE would attack first, Stacy studied the two alpha males with which she shared the relatively small confines of the SUV. Cujo sat on the backseat, but the German shepherd’s black-and-tan body was so long that his head reached over the console. She scratched him behind his droopy ear, and he whined and licked her face.

“I missed you, too,” she murmured.

“Why’d you have him at the kennel?” Logan asked. He had obviously been surprised that was the place she’d had him stop before taking her home.

“Because I’ve been staying with a friend since my dad died,” she said.

“And that friend didn’t want Cujo staying, too?” he asked with a derisive snort.

The German shepherd whipped his big head toward Logan and nudged his shoulder with his nose. The SUV swerved a little before Logan gripped the wheel more tightly. “What he’d do that for?”

She chuckled. “That’s his name.”

“Cujo?”

The dog barked and then nudged him again. Logan held his hand between them, letting the canine sniff him before petting his head. If Cujo had been a cat, he might have purred.

“Traitor,” she teased him. The dog had apparently conceded which one of them was the true alpha male. She wasn’t surprised it was Logan. Since he was the boss of the family business, his brothers and sister must have conceded he was the alpha male, too.

“That’s probably what your family is saying about you now,” Logan said. “That you’re the traitor.”

Her stomach churned with nerves. They were the only thing in it. She hadn’t been able to eat since she’d seen her father in the prison infirmary. “Probably.”

“So why did you claim to be my fiancée?” he asked. “Because you know your brothers have been trying to kill me?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know any such thing.”

“Liar,” he softly accused her.

She should have been offended but liar was the least of his insults. He thought she was a killer, too. “You really think I put out a hit on you and hired my brothers to do it?”

“You wouldn’t need to hire them,” he replied. “They’ll do whatever you tell them to.”

That was what she was counting on—to keep them from killing Logan Payne. “If I wanted you dead, why would I tell them that I’m going to marry you?”

“You want to be able to collect my life insurance,” he suggested, “as my widow.”

“Hmm,” she mock-mused, “I hadn’t considered that.” She nodded as if committing to the idea like she was going to try to make everyone believe she was going to commit to him. “At least then I’ll get something out of this marriage.”

He glanced at her, his blue gaze hot and intense. “If we were actually going to get married, you’d definitely get something out of it.”

Her heart flipped. “Are you flirting with me, Logan Payne?”

“Isn’t that what a fiancé is supposed to do?”

She shrugged. “I have no idea. I’ve never been engaged.” She didn’t even date that often. That had to be why kissing him had affected her so much.

“Me, neither,” he said.

“Why not?” she asked.

His mouth curved into a grin. “Do you think I’m way too handsome to still be single?”

Yes. But she would eat Cujo’s kibble before she would ever admit that she found Logan Payne attractive. But she always had. Even during her father’s trial, her brothers had accused her of having a crush on him because she hadn’t been able to stop herself from staring at him.

But she replied with an insult, “I think you’re pretty old to still be single.”

He laughed. “You’re only a few years younger than I am. Starting to feel like an old maid at twenty-nine? Is that why you jumped at my mother’s crazy idea to marry me?”

“Your mother.” Unable to help herself, she smiled with genuine affection for Mrs. Payne. “She’s another reason I’m surprised you’re still single. She’s a wedding planner.”

“And a matchmaker.” He sighed. “She’s the reason my brother just got married.”

“She manipulated him into it?”

He nodded.

“I feel badly for the bride, then.” She could commiserate with that whole manipulation thing.

“Why?” he asked. “You don’t even know my brother Cooper. He enlisted in the marines out of high school and just came home a few days ago.”

“Cooper? He’s the one who was named after your father’s partner?” She shivered at just the thought of implacable Officer Robert Cooper and how his testimony had helped seal her father’s fate.

A muscle twitched along Logan’s jaw and he nodded.

She shouldn’t have brought up his father again. Even fifteen years later, he still felt the loss. So she had no hope of her grief ever lessening. But she would deal with that later—when she wasn’t worried about losing her brothers, too.

“I don’t know your brother,” she agreed. “But I feel sorry for his bride because he doesn’t love her.”

“Oh, he loves her.” Logan chuckled. “He’s been in love with her since they were in high school together.”

“So your mother really didn’t manipulate him into marrying her, then.” Maybe the woman wasn’t some matchmaking mastermind.

“Oh, she did,” he said. “Cooper’s so stubborn he probably would have never admitted to his feelings.”

“Stubborn or cowardly?” she asked.

Logan chuckled. “He’s a highly decorated marine.”

She shrugged. “Even a brave man can be a coward when it comes to love...”

“Sounds like you have a story about that,” he mused. “Is it about your friend?” He’d said “friend” as if it meant something more than friendship and almost as if he was jealous that it might be.

“Why would you ask that?” And why would he sound jealous when he asked?

“I didn’t see any friends at the funeral,” he explained almost nonchalantly, “just your family.”

“That’s why my friend couldn’t come,” she said, “because of my family.”

“He has a problem with your brothers, too?”

She nodded but didn’t bother correcting his misconception about the gender of her friend. Maybe she had only imagined his jealousy, but if he actually was, she liked it—which was odd since she didn’t like him. Sure, she found him attractive—maybe she was even attracted to him—but she still didn’t like him.