Lisa Childs - Bodyguard's Baby Surprise

Passion flares when Payne Protection’s newest recruit puts everything on the line to protect the mother of his child...

Threats are nothing new for FBI special agent Nicholas Rus. But when a night of passion with girl-next-door Annalise Huxton puts her in the crosshairs, Nick knows he has to do something drastic. He’d do anything to protect her—and her surprise baby bump!

Annalise has always had feelings for Nick, but that doesn’t mean she trusts him. Sure, he quit his job to become her personal bodyguard, but he went MIA after their heated night together. As their pursuers circle ever closer, Annalise lowers her guard, allowing their mutual desire to resurface. Nick has proven his intent to keep her and the baby safe, but can a reckless indiscretion lead to a lifetime of happiness?

“Baby?” a deep voice—even gruffer with emotion—repeated the word.

Her heart rate quickened more as she glanced up into Nick’s handsome face. While he looked like every one of the male Paynes, she had no doubt that this man was Nick—for so many reasons.

First off was that quickening of her pulse, that tingling of her skin. Annalise reacted to Nick as she did to no one else. Secondly, and probably the reason she reacted that way, was because he was the most handsome man she’d ever seen. His eyes were bluer than his brothers’, his features sharper, his jaw squarer. And finally, the other men had all seen her pregnant and had known that she was. It was clear that Nick had had no idea. Those bluer-blue eyes were wide with shock as he stared down at her belly.

“You’re pregnant?”

Don’t miss the previous books in Lisa Childs’s thrilling Bachelor Bodyguards series.

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Dear Reader,

Bodyguard’s Baby Surprise is the third book in the Bachelor Bodyguards series. For the past year, FBI special agent Nicholas Rus has been on the outside looking in on the Payne Protection Agency and the Payne family. But when the girl who literally grew up next door to him is in danger, Nick ditches his career to become her very personal bodyguard. Annalise Huxton doesn’t remember a time when she hasn’t been in love with Nicholas Rus. But, determined to be a loner, Nick has always pushed her away—until one night six months earlier when they made love. Ever since that night, Annalise has been in danger...and pregnant.

The baby is a surprise Nick never saw coming. He never saw his feelings for Annalise coming either until he’s afraid that he might lose her—forever. But Nick doesn’t know how to give or receive love. So all he can offer Annalise is his protection, especially since he feels responsible for her being in danger. In his years with the Bureau, he’s taken down a lot of dangerous criminals who could be using her for revenge against him. If he can’t keep her safe, Nick could lose Annalise before he ever figures out how to show her his feelings for her and his surprise baby.

I hope you enjoy this latest book in the Bachelor Bodyguards series.

Happy reading!

Lisa Childs

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Ever since LISA CHILDS read her first romance novel (a Harlequin story, of course) at age eleven, all she wanted was to be a romance writer. With over forty novels published with Harlequin, 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.

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For my mother, Mary Lou Childs, who passed away while I was writing this book. She loved babies and dedicated her life to raising not just hers, but her grandchildren, as well. She was an amazing, generous, loving woman who will be dearly missed.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Prologue

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

Chapter 26

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

Prologue

Hand shaking, Nicholas Rus pushed the door through the broken jamb. His other hand grasped his weapon. “Stay back,” he told the woman who stood behind him—too close. Despite the chill November air, he could feel her warmth.

Annalise was always warm—in temperament and temperature. With her yellow blond hair and bright green eyes, she was like summer sunshine. No matter how many times he had pushed her away and called her a pest when they’d been kids, she had always come back with a smile and a hug. Her hugs were the only ones he’d known in his adolescence.

“I forgot you don’t like people getting in your personal space,” she murmured. But before she stepped back, she touched him—as if she couldn’t help herself. Her fingers brushed across the back of his jacket. Despite the layers of leather and cloth separating them, he felt that touch.

“I don’t want you getting hurt,” Nick said. “Someone could be in there.”

“There was,” she said. “I was in there. Whoever did this—” she gestured with a shaking hand at the broken door “—was long gone then.”

He wasn’t so sure about that. What if the person had still been inside? What if that person had hurt Annalise? Nick shuddered.

“So they’re longer gone now,” she said.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said. And neither should he. He hated this house. He had always hated this house. Not that there was anything wrong with the two-bedroom bungalow; it was the feeling that being inside it had always given him that he hated. His stomach muscles tightened into a tight knot of dread—the same miserable feeling he’d had every time he’d walked through the front door—and even when he’d been a kid, that had been as seldom as possible.

Drawing in a deep breath, he forced himself to cross the threshold. Despite what he said, he didn’t protest when Annalise followed him—like she’d always followed him—and flipped on the lights.

“Why’s the power on?” he asked. He hadn’t paid a bill since she had died. He had done nothing with the house—except try to forget about it.

For once Annalise was quiet. But it didn’t last long. She reluctantly admitted, “I’ve been paying the utilities.”

“Why?”

“So the pipes won’t freeze,” she said matter-of-factly, “so it’ll be ready when you want to come home.”

He snorted. This house, in the lower middle-class area of Chicago, had never been home to him. “I left this place when I turned eighteen.” And he had never looked back until his mother had died.

“That was when you joined the Marines...” Her voice cracked with emotion.