Lisa Childs - Single Mum's Bodyguard

“Yes!” she said. “Yes!”

“I don’t believe it,” a deep voice, belonging to one of her brothers no doubt, murmured. “I thought she’d be running the other way from that bouquet.”

“And she’s so impatient to say yes, she didn’t even wait for him to propose,” another brother chimed in.

Heat rushed to her face and she pulled back. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have presumed—”

Lars pressed his fingers over her lips. “It’s not like I’m down here looking for a missing contact,” he assured her. “I’m on my knees because I thought you were going to make me beg you to marry me.”

“And you were prepared to beg?” she asked in amazement. As well as having an overblown sense of responsibility and honor, he also had a lot of pride. Sometimes too much. But it was just another thing she loved about him.

He nodded. “I would do whatever it takes to convince you to be my wife, Nikki. I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy.”

“You already make me happy,” she assured him.

He tensed for a moment. Maybe he’d forgotten that she’d already said yes and thought she was going back to her earlier anti-marriage stance. She hadn’t ever really been anti-marriage, though. She had been anti–getting hurt.

But just as she loved Lars, she trusted him more than she’d ever thought it possible for her to trust anyone. He wasn’t going to hurt her.

“So you don’t have to do anything to convince me to marry you. I’m ready,” she said. And that was something she’d thought she would never say. She was ready to get married. Ready to be a bride and, more important, a wife.

His pale eyes glittered as if with a sheen of tears. She blinked furiously as tears of her own stung her eyes and tickled her nose. She would not cry, not in front of her brothers. Later, when she laid her head on Lars’s mammoth chest, she would soak his skin with her happy tears. But she was too proud to give in to them now...until Lars popped open the velvet case and revealed the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. Stacy Kozminski-Payne must have made it. Logan’s wife was so damn talented. As Nikki stared at the square diamond and twisted gold band on which it was mounted, a tear spilled over and trailed down her cheek—until Lars brushed it away.

“Oh, sweetheart,” he said, his voice gruff with emotion. “I don’t want to make you cry.”

“Happy tears,” she assured him. She suspected that was all she would cry once he became her husband.

“Good,” he murmured. “Then I’m already doing my job.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” her brother Cooper, who was also their boss, called out. But he was over being mad at Lars for breaking the bro rule of not going after another friend’s sister. She hoped.

Penny tapped her youngest son’s shoulder and shushed him. “Don’t interrupt.”

“They interrupted your wedding,” Cooper pointed out.

“Lars got my permission,” Penny haughtily informed him.

In the past, Nikki would have been annoyed over the chauvinistic tradition of asking the parents for permission before asking the woman. But she understood that wasn’t what Lars had done. He’d been asking permission to propose at Penny’s wedding.

Of course, her mother hadn’t hesitated to say yes and share her special day and spotlight with them. She had always been too selfless. But Nikki didn’t mind being selfish right now—not as Lars slid that beautiful ring on her finger. Then he stood and swung her up in his arms before lowering his head to kiss her.

Passion and love overwhelmed her, and more tears leaked from beneath her closed lids. Those tears nearly turned to frustration when the kiss ended way too soon as well-wishers rushed the dance floor. Guys slapped Lars’s back. Maybe her brothers slapped a little too hard. But Lars was bigger than all of them. The grin never slipped from his face so Nikki could tell he felt no pain.

Everyone hugged Nikki, who usually would have squirmed away from all the show of emotion. She wasn’t a hugger. But she was too happy to mind the affection she was being showered with. Penny hugged her tightly.

“You really didn’t mind him proposing here?” Nikki asked. She wouldn’t have infringed on her mother’s special day for anything.

Penny shook her head. “Nothing could have made this day more perfect for me.”

Nikki snorted. “Of course not. You’ve wanted me to get married since the day I was born,” she accused her mother.

Penny shook her head again. “No. I wanted you to find the man worthy of your love, the man who wouldn’t betray your trust—who would cherish you forever. And, in Lars, you’ve found that man.”

“Yes, I have,” Nikki wholeheartedly agreed. Her fiancé was amazing. And soon he would be her husband.

Penny’s new husband stepped forward and pulled Nikki into an embrace, as well. She had always respected the former FBI chief, but now she loved him, as well. He was going to be as wonderful a stepfather as he would be in his new position as chief of the River City Police Department.

“Do you want me to threaten him?” Woodrow Lynch asked. “Make sure he never hurts you?”

“He won’t.”

“He won’t,” Emilia promised as she stepped forward for her hug. “My brother loves you so much.” Tears streamed down the blonde’s face, washing away the makeup she’d used to disguise her dark circles.

Lars was already worried about his sister. And Nikki knew he wasn’t just being overprotective. She was worried, too. And it wasn’t just because of the dark circles. Since the young woman had an infant, she wasn’t bound to get much sleep.

Nikki had other concerns, as well. The singer not showing up hadn’t been the only thing to go wrong with the wedding. There had been countless other things Emilia had screwed up or, like the singer, that she’d canceled. As maid of honor and the daughter of the consummate wedding planner, Nikki had stepped in to fix those mistakes.

But why had Emilia made them? She didn’t even seem aware that she had. What else was on her mind?

Was it just the ordeal she’d been through?

Or was something else going on?

Nikki had been reluctant to talk to Lars about it; she didn’t want to worry him any more than he already was. But she noticed someone else carefully watching the blonde. And she suspected she and Lars weren’t the only ones concerned about Emilia.

Dane Sutton was anxious, as well.

What the hell was going on with Emilia?

Chapter 4

How could she have messed up so badly? Emilia had been certain that she’d had everything under control. But she’d overheard the caterer and bartenders talking to Nikki about how Emilia had canceled their services just like she’d canceled the singer.

It wasn’t true. But why would they all lie?

She looked at her cell phone now, scrolling through her call log. She had made calls at strange times. In the middle of the night, which was when the caterer and bartenders and the singer claimed she’d called and left voice mails canceling their services.

If Penny heard about any of it...

Emilia would lose her job.

At the moment, as she stared down at that phone log, she was more worried about losing her mind. She didn’t remember making those calls. And she couldn’t have done them in her sleep since she hadn’t been sleeping. She’d been lying awake every night, listening to that crying that wasn’t Blue’s. Whose crying did she hear? Why was it haunting her?

She could hear it now...as she lay in her bed. Like always, she wasn’t sleeping. Adrenaline from the wedding hummed through her veins yet. Despite all her sleepless hours, she wasn’t tired. So much had happened tonight. Penny and Woodrow had gotten married, and the ceremony had been beautiful—apparently no thanks to Emilia. And then Lars and Nikki had gotten engaged. She’d known it was coming, but still it had taken her by surprise. It was all happening so quickly. Everyone was moving on with their lives.