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

Bodyguard’s Baby Surprise
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.

She had been upset when he’d joined. She’d been only twelve and hadn’t understood how badly he’d needed to get away. But that wasn’t why she was emotional.

“I’m sorry,” he said. That was why he’d come back—not to deal with the house but because he’d known Annalise needed him. Actually, she didn’t need him. She needed her brother, but nobody knew where Gage was. He had disappeared behind enemy lines.

“It’s not your fault,” she said.

Nick blamed himself. Annalise hadn’t been the only Huxton who’d followed him around; Gage had, too. He was only three years younger than him, so he’d joined the Marines three years after Nick had. He’d also followed Nick’s path after the corps—to college for a criminal justice degree and then into the FBI. The one thing Gage had done that Nick hadn’t was reenlist. And that move had probably gotten him killed.

She touched him again, her hand reaching for his—for the one that didn’t still grasp his weapon. She was right that he didn’t need the gun. There was no one inside the house anymore. The intruders had done their damage—overturning furniture and even smashing holes in the drywall—and left.

“It’s not your fault,” Annalise said again, as if she somehow knew how guilty he felt about Gage.

She was also right when she’d said earlier that he didn’t like people getting in his personal space; he didn’t like anyone getting too close to him. So he pulled his hand from hers to pick up an overturned chair.

“I had nothing to do with this mess,” he agreed—though he had created one for himself in River City, Michigan—some three hours north of where he’d grown up.

“The house has been sitting vacant for too long,” Annalise said.

She had been dead for almost a year now.

“You should let me either rent it or list it for you,” she said. Annalise was a real estate agent and property manager. She’d done well for herself—probably because of her natural warmth. People trusted her.

Even Nick trusted her, and he’d never trusted easily.

She moved around the room, picking up things. The overhead can lights glinted off her pale blond hair and made her pale skin even more luminescent. She looked like an angel.

“Give it away,” he said. “Maybe the fire department will take it and burn it down for practice.” He liked the idea of burning up all those horrible childhood memories—of coming home from school to find his mother drunk or drugged out of her mind.

If not for the Huxtons living next door...

Annalise and Gage’s parents had taken care of him like he was one of theirs. But they didn’t live next door anymore. They had retired and left Chicago for a warmer city—in Alaska. They’d found a friendly little town they loved. With Gage gone, Annalise was all alone now.

She sighed. “If you don’t want to keep it, let me sell it for you. I can make you some money.”

“I don’t want it,” he said. “The house or the money.” He had the only thing he’d ever wanted from his mother: the truth. She’d written it down in a letter he hadn’t been given until after her death.

“I took some things out of the house that I thought were yours,” she said.

He shook his head. “I didn’t leave anything here that I wanted. I don’t want any of it.”

“Nick...” She obviously didn’t understand his bitterness. She couldn’t. She was too kindhearted to harbor resentment.

“I’ll sign it over to you,” he said. “You can do whatever you want with it.” Maybe that would keep her busy enough to keep her mind off Gage.

The skin beneath her green eyes was dark—as if she hadn’t been sleeping. And her full lips weren’t curved into their usual smile. He missed her smile. He had missed her.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She nodded—too quickly. “Of course. I told you no one was here when I found the house like this last week.”

“I wasn’t talking about the house.”

Her lips lifted now, just slightly, as if she forced the smile. “You’re talking about Gage.”

He’d tried to bring Gage up earlier, but she hadn’t let him. She’d changed the subject. He waited for her to do it again.

“You know he’s fine,” she said.

“I hope so.”

“I know so,” she said. And her smile widened as she summoned her faith. He’d never known anyone as optimistic as Annalise. “How about you?” she asked. “Are you okay?”

He was worried about Gage. But he wouldn’t admit that to her.

“Tell me about them,” she said. “About your family.”

She’d been there when he’d read the letter his mother’s lawyer had given him. Annalise had always been there. Maybe that was why he’d missed her so much the past several months.

“The Paynes are not my family,” he said.

“You all have the same father,” she said.

“And they resent me for that.” Like she should have resented him for Gage joining the Marines.

“Then they’re idiots,” she said.

“They’re not,” he said. And his instant defense surprised even him. But the Paynes were good people who’d been hurt—whom he’d hurt with his mere existence. They had every reason to resent him—to look at him like they did—with anger.

Annalise looked at him now, and her green eyes filled with warmth and compassion and something else—something he’d seen in her gaze and no one else’s. “Nick, I know you don’t like it, but I have to...” And she hugged him like she always had, her arms sliding around his waist.

But it didn’t feel like it used to. Annalise wasn’t a child anymore. She hadn’t been one for a long time. Her breasts were full and soft against his chest.

“It’s not that I don’t like it,” he said. It was that he liked it too much. Maybe because it had been so long since anyone had showed him warmth. Or maybe because it was Annalise.

But he lifted his arms, and after holstering his weapon, he slid them around her. She tensed in his embrace and glanced up at his face. “Nick...?”

Then he lowered his head and brushed his mouth across hers. And the chaos wasn’t just in the house anymore. It was in his heart, his mind, his body. He knew he was about to make another mess, but he couldn’t stop himself. He couldn’t stop kissing Annalise.

Chapter 1

Six months later

The soft metallic click echoed in the eerie silence of the ransacked living room. FBI Special Agent Nick Rus tightened his grasp on his weapon, but he knew it was too late. Whoever had broken into his place had already cocked his gun, and the barrel of that gun was dangerously close to his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the metal glinting in the faint light of the lamp overturned on the hardwood floor.

Was this it? He had lived most of his thirty-one years on the edge. As a Marine, he had been deployed to the most dangerous places in the world. As an FBI agent, he had taken on some of the most dangerous criminals in the world. But he was going out in the living room of some River City rental house?

Hell, no. He ducked and jammed his elbow back—into the ribs of the intruder. Then he wrapped the fingers of one hand around the barrel of that gun and shoved it up while he swung his own gun around and jammed it hard into the other man’s chest. “Who the hell are you?”

“Your friend—I thought,” Gage Huxton murmured before uttering a low groan of pain.

“My friends don’t pull guns on me.” But then he remembered a few instances when they had. “Well, at least they don’t trash my place.” He released Gage’s weapon and holstered his own. “I’ve had some bad houseguests before, but you...”

Gage chuckled, but it was rusty-sounding. “Funny. I walked in here just a few minutes ago and found this mess.”

Nick picked up the lamp from the floor and shone the light around. The couch cushions and pillows had been slashed, the stuffing pulled from them.

“Looks like somebody was looking for something,” Gage remarked.

Nick shrugged. “I can’t imagine what.” He’d lived such a nomadic life that he had few possessions. “More likely someone is trying to send me a message.”

“You piss someone off lately?”

“I’ve pissed off a lot of someones since I came to River City,” Nick admitted. His move to Michigan had been tumultuous for him and for the people his presence had upset. Not just the Paynes but the criminals he’d put away since his arrival in the city.

“Has this been going on that long?” Gage asked. He’d been back in the US only a few weeks—back from the dead, actually, since he’d gone missing on his last deployment and had been presumed dead for months.

Nick nodded. “Yeah. That’s why this is my fourth place in just a little over a year.” He’d kept moving around, but they always found him—whoever it was routinely trashing his place.

“That’s why you’re doing the short-term rentals,” Gage said.

“I was supposed to be here short-term,” Nick reminded him. The Bureau had sent Nick to River City to clean up the corrupt police department. After years of going undercover to expose corruption, he’d become an expert at handling it. But cleaning up the River City Police Department had taken longer than he’d thought it would. It had also made him some dangerous enemies.

“Why would you leave?” Gage asked. “You’ve got family here.”

Nick snorted. “I don’t think they consider me family.” But he had begun to think of them that way. “Especially Nikki.” She was the one who’d told Gage where to find Nick a few weeks ago. She was the one who could track down anyone. He glanced around at the destruction. Did she resent him enough to do this to his place?

“Nikki,” Gage said with a wistful sigh.

Nick shoved him again.

“Don’t worry,” Gage said. “She’s your sister, so she’s off-limits. That would be like you going for Annalise.”

Actually, that would be worse, because Annalise was really Gage’s sister. Other than them both being named for their father, Nick had no connection to Nikki Payne. Gage apparently hadn’t talked to his sister yet. He didn’t know about Nick and Annalise. If he had, he might have pulled that trigger when he’d had the chance.

“You need to call her,” Nick said. Sure, she might tell Gage how he’d treated her. But he didn’t care about himself. He cared about her and how worried she’d been about her brother.

Gage sighed again—raggedly. “I can’t. She can’t hear me like this.” His voice was raspier than it had once been, but Nick suspected that wasn’t what his friend worried his sister would hear. He worried that she would hear his pain—whatever hell he’d endured all those months he’d been missing. “But I sent her an email. I let her know that I’m back—that I’m okay.”

He was alive. Nick wasn’t sure how okay he was. He wasn’t sure if Annalise was okay, either—since he hadn’t talked to her for the past six months. He hadn’t known what to say. “Sorry” hadn’t seemed adequate—although he had told her that, too. He’d made a mess of their friendship. And when Gage learned what he’d done, he would have made a mess of that friendship, too.

So maybe it was fitting that someone kept trashing his place—since Nick kept trashing his life.

* * *

Payne Protection Agency, Annalise read the sign and confirmed she’d found the correct address. The bodyguard business occupied both floors of the brick building in the industrial area of River City, Michigan. The email had come from here.

Gage.Huxton@PayneProtectionAgency.com

It had to be real. Her brother was alive. And it made sense that he would have come here. Not to the bodyguard business per se, but here to River City—to Nick. Even after whatever he’d been through in the past six months, he was still intent on following Nick around.

She had once been, too. But not anymore.

Nicholas Rus was the last person she wanted to see. Maybe she shouldn’t have come here. But River City was nearly as big as Chicago. She was unlikely to run into him. She opened the door and stepped into the brick foyer of the building. Another door led to the lobby, but when she reached for the handle, it escaped her grasp as the door pulled open. A man stepped out, nearly colliding with her. Strong hands caught her shoulders and steadied her.

“Sorry,” a deep voice murmured with concern.

She glanced up—into Nick’s handsome face. The jaw, the cheekbones, the nose were chiseled, the eyes so bright a blue they were almost startling. But he was staring down at her as if she was a stranger—as if he had never seen her before.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Nick?” But it couldn’t be. Even Nick couldn’t be cold enough to pretend that he didn’t recognize her. And she didn’t feel the way she usually felt when she saw Nick. Maybe her heart had finally given up on him.

The man’s brow furrowed. And he shook his head. “No. You know Special Agent Rus?”

She’d thought she knew him better than anyone else. But she’d been a fool. For so many reasons...

“He’s not why I’m here,” she said.

“Do you need a bodyguard?” the man asked. “I’m Logan Payne—CEO of Payne Protection.”

“He never tires of saying that,” another deep voice murmured as a second man stepped into the building from outside. Their faces were identical, but this man’s blue eyes sparkled with amusement. “He used to be the sole owner, but our younger brother and I each bought our own franchise. If you want a bodyguard, come see me.” He held out his hand. “I’m Parker Payne.”

“Which one of you does Gage Huxton work for?” she asked.

“He should work for me.” And then there were three. This man had come in behind the other brother. “I’m Cooper Payne, and my team has all the ex-Marines.”

“Unless they’re family,” Logan said. “Then they work for me.”

“Gage isn’t your family,” she said. He was hers. So why hadn’t he come to see her since he’d been back? Why hadn’t he at least called? Why had he only sent that short, impersonal email?

“He’s Nick’s family,” Logan said. “So that makes him our family.”

“Nick’s not family,” she said.

“Finally someone speaks the truth around here,” a female voice remarked. The woman was small, but she shouldered the larger men aside and stepped closer to Annalise. She didn’t look like them. Her hair was reddish-brown instead of black, her eyes brown instead of blue. But she was as much a Payne as they were. As Nick must be...

This was the family his mother’s letter had told him about—the siblings he’d never known he had.

“Who are you?” the woman asked as she thrust out her hand.

“Annalise Huxton.”

The woman’s eyes widened. “Gage’s wife?”

“Gage isn’t married,” Annalise said. While her brother hadn’t been particularly forthcoming in his email, she doubted he’d met anyone and married her while he’d been missing. Before he’d reenlisted, he had been pretty serious about a woman, but she’d broken his heart, which had probably precipitated his reenlistment. “I’m his sister.”

“I’m Nikki Payne,” the woman said.

“Nice to meet you,” Annalise said as she took Nikki’s hand, which was small but callused. And her grip was surprisingly strong. Maybe having all older brothers had made her tough, whereas Gage had always tried to coddle and protect Annalise. Even Nick had, when he hadn’t been ignoring her. But Nick wasn’t her brother.

She’d always known that, but until six months ago, she’d thought Nick had considered her a pesky little sister. He hadn’t ignored or coddled or protected her that night. Instead, he’d broken her heart.

But he’d done more than that...

Much more. She flinched as a little foot struck her ribs, and she pressed her hand over her stomach. That was probably why Nikki had assumed she was Gage’s wife. Because she was pregnant.

Maybe coming here—even to see Gage—had been a mistake. He would want to know who the father was. And she couldn’t tell him. She couldn’t tell anyone.

“Gage isn’t here,” Logan said. “He left for an assignment this morning.”

Even as disappointment flashed through her, she breathed a little sigh of relief. She wanted to see her brother—wanted to see for herself that he was all right. But she didn’t want to have to answer his questions any more than he probably wanted to answer hers.

“When will he be back?” she asked. Eventually he would have to know that he was going to be an uncle in a few months. But that wasn’t the reason she needed to see her brother. She wasn’t even here to make sure he was all right. He was back. He was working. He was probably fine.

Annalise was the one who needed help.

Logan shrugged. “It’s hard to say. Days. Maybe weeks. As long as the person he’s protecting is in danger.”

For her, it had been months. She’d been in danger since that night Nick had showed up in Chicago. That couldn’t be a coincidence. He must have gotten her in trouble somehow—in more ways than one. Because someone had spent the past six months stalking her.

* * *

Logan Payne had been running Payne Protection long enough to recognize when someone was in trouble. Annalise Huxton was in trouble. The fear was in her pale face, her wide green eyes. She was scared.

He silently cursed himself for sending her brother away. He could pull Gage off the assignment, though. He could bring him back and send someone else.

A small hand squeezed his forearm. “Let me take Gage’s place,” Nikki said. She must have recognized what he’d seen. She was intuitive. But she was too little, too young, too fragile to do their job.

“You don’t work for me anymore,” he reminded her. “You went to work for Cooper.”

She thought she could manipulate Cooper more easily than him or Parker. But he doubted Cooper would hand her any assignments more dangerous than the desk jobs Logan had given her.

His sister glared at him, and he was used to it. She hadn’t been happy with him for a while. So he wasn’t surprised that when he split up the protection agency, she’d chosen to leave the franchise he was keeping.

“Annalise needs to see her brother,” Nikki said. “He was missing for months.” She glanced at Cooper then—and there was no glare on her pretty face.

Maybe that was why she’d asked to work for him—because she’d missed him so much when he’d been deployed.

“It’s fine,” Annalise said. But the crack in her voice made it sound as if she was anything but fine. “I’ll see him when he comes back.”

“Will you stay in River City and wait for him?” Nikki asked.

“I—I could check into a hotel,” Annalise said. “I haven’t yet.”

Logan wondered why. Had she worried about her reception from Gage? Or had something—or someone else—made her afraid of staying?

“I don’t know how long he’ll be gone,” Logan reminded her.

“Maybe I could stay at Gage’s place,” Annalise murmured.

“He’s been staying with Agent Rus,” Nikki said.

Would his sister ever accept that Nick was their brother? Logan hadn’t been happy, either, to learn their father had betrayed their mother. But he hadn’t blamed Nick.

Annalise’s face paled even more, and she quickly said, “I can’t stay there.”

From what Logan had been told, Gage had grown up next door to Nick in Chicago—making them as close as brothers. Obviously Annalise hadn’t felt any more like a sister to Nick than Nikki did.

“You can stay with me,” Nikki offered. She must have recognized what Logan had—Annalise was scared. Or maybe she just liked that Annalise wasn’t a fan of Nick’s, either.

But the blonde shook her head. “I couldn’t impose.”

“No imposition at all,” Nikki assured her. “Did a cab drop you here?” She glanced around as if looking for bags.

Annalise shook her head again. “I drove my car. It’s not that far a drive from Chicago.”

“So you’re parked out front?” Nikki asked. “I am, too. You can follow me back to my place and we’ll get you settled in.”

“And I’ll see about sending a replacement for Gage so he can come back early,” Logan offered. If Annalise was as scared as he suspected she was, she needed family. She needed her brother.

Nikki held open the door for her, and Annalise walked out with his sister. They were gone for only a moment when he heard the scream and the squeal of tires.

As usual, his instincts had been right—Annalise was in danger. And that danger had followed her to River City. He drew his weapon, just as his brothers had, and the three of them rushed out to the street. But they hadn’t reacted quickly enough—because gunshots rang out.

They were too late.

Chapter 2

Nick’s heart hammered against his ribs as fear and panic overwhelmed him. He flashed his shield and hurried past hospital security—into the ER waiting room. Logan and Cooper rushed up to him.

“Where is she?” he asked. “And how badly is she hurt?” She had to be hurt or they wouldn’t have brought her here. His panic intensified and pressed on his lungs, stealing his breath.

Logan shook his head. Was it so bad that he couldn’t answer him?

“We don’t know yet,” Logan said. “A doctor is checking her out.”

“What happened?” he asked. What was she even doing in River City? Gage hadn’t called her, and it sounded as if his email to her had been brief. Had she come to visit Nick?

Six months had passed since that night. Six months with no contact, which had been unusual for her. Before, she had always called or texted or emailed him to see how he was doing. But not this time.

Not after what he’d done...

No. She hadn’t come to visit him.

Logan shrugged. “We didn’t see it. She and Nikki had stepped outside...” He pushed his hand through his black hair. “But I knew she was in danger.”

“How?” Nick asked.

“She looked scared,” Logan said.

What the hell did Annalise have to fear? Then Nick remembered that house—his mother’s house—and how badly it had been ransacked, like his place kept getting ransacked. He shook his head. It couldn’t be related. His mother’s house had sat vacant for months. That was why someone had broken into it.

“Thanks for calling me,” Nick said.

“I was going to call Gage,” Logan admitted. “But Cooper told me to call you instead.”

Nick spared Cooper a glance of gratitude. Even though Gage hadn’t spoken of it yet, Cooper, as a Marine himself, must have sensed what Gage had been through and understood that he hadn’t been ready to see his sister. And how would he handle her being hurt? Even Nick couldn’t handle it.

“I’m glad I’m the one you called,” Nick said.

“Annalise won’t be,” Nikki said as she walked into the waiting room through a door marked No Admittance. She had come from inside the hospital, maybe inside the ER.

“Where is she?” he anxiously asked. He had to see her—had to make certain she was all right.

“She doesn’t want to see you,” his half sister said. Even though she couldn’t stand him, she probably wasn’t lying.

Because of what had happened—and his silence for the past six months—he could understand if she never wanted to see him again.

But she was Annalise, always so warm and affectionate. Surely she would forgive him...even if he would never be able to forgive himself.

* * *

Annalise’s head pounded as images flashed through her mind. It had all happened so quickly. She had walked outside with Nikki, only to find two men breaking into her car.

Not again...

Frustrated and angry, she had reacted without thinking. She’d run across the street to stop them. The moment she’d crossed the road, she had realized her mistake. She had gotten too close. One of them had reached out, wrapped a huge hand around her arm and jerked her toward the open back door of her car.

She’d screamed then. And shots had rung out—fired from close range and also from across the street. She had struggled harder, fighting for herself and her baby. She had to get away. If she left with them...

The car started away from the curb, but she was half in and half out, her feet touching the road. She reached up and clawed at the face of the man holding her. He howled and released her, and she tumbled to the asphalt.

She pressed trembling hands over the mound of her belly. What had she done? She had been so stupid to run toward the car—so careless. What if her baby had been harmed?

Her belly shifted beneath her palms as her baby moved. At her last regular OB appointment, she’d had an ultrasound, but the doctor hadn’t been able to determine the sex. Annalise didn’t care what she was having—just that the baby was healthy. He or she had to be okay.

Annalise had been scared when she’d found out she was pregnant—scared that she wouldn’t be able to handle raising a child alone. But she had never been as scared as she was now—not even when that man had grabbed her. Her heart pounded frantically, making the machine next to her bed beep faster. The curtain partitioning her bed off from the rest of the ER rustled. The doctor must have returned with the ultrasound results.

“Is my baby okay?” she asked.

“Baby?” a deep voice, gruff with emotion, repeated the word.

Her heart rate sped faster as she glanced up into Nick’s handsome face. While he looked like every one of the male Paynes—with his chiseled features, thick black hair and startlingly blue eyes, she had no doubt that this man was Nick—for so many reasons.

First, that quickening of her pulse—that tingling of her skin. She reacted to Nick as she had no one else. Second, he was the most handsome man she had ever seen. His eyes were bluer than his brothers’, his features sharper, his jaw squarer. Finally, the other men had all seen her and knew she was pregnant. 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?”

She splayed her hands across her belly, but she couldn’t hide it from him. So she nodded.

“Is it mine?”

A gasp slipped through her lips—that he would ask, that he wouldn’t just know. She didn’t sleep around. She wouldn’t have slept with him six months ago if she had been involved with anyone else at the time.

Or would she have?

She had wanted Nick for so long—even before she’d known what desire was. When he had finally returned that desire, she hadn’t been able to resist and probably wouldn’t have even if she’d been in a relationship at the time. But thanks to Nick—and always wanting him—she’d had few relationships. No ordinary man or high school boyfriend or college crush had been able to measure up to the hero she had made Nicholas Rus out to be in her girlish fantasies.

Nick was no hero, though. He was just a man—a man who’d always made it clear he didn’t like anyone getting too close to him. And until that night six months ago, he had never let Annalise too close.

Before she could answer him, the curtain rustled again, and another man joined them. His light green scrubs hung on his tall, thin frame. The young ER doctor glanced at her and then at Nick as if trying to gauge the relationship.

“Is she all right?” Nick asked. And his gaze skimmed over more than her belly now. He looked at her face, and his breath audibly caught at the scrape on her cheek. He reached out, but his fingers fell just short of touching her.

“Is the baby all right?” she asked. The baby was all she cared about. She didn’t care about her car. It wasn’t the first one she’d had stolen.

She’d been so stupid to risk her pregnancy over a damn car...

The doctor glanced at Nick again—as if wondering if he could speak freely in front of him. Damn HIPAA laws. She didn’t care about her privacy right now.

“Please,” she implored him. “Tell me!”

The baby shifted again. He or she had to be okay, or he wouldn’t move like he was. Right?

“Your baby is fine, Ms. Huxton,” the doctor assured her. “It appears that when you fell out of the vehicle, you fell on your side.”

Nick flinched as if he’d taken a blow.

“Your shoulder took the brunt of the force,” he continued, “and it appears you’ve struck your head, as well. You have a slight concussion.”

That explained why her head kept throbbing so painfully. She lifted her fingers to her temple. “But the baby... Is he or she...” They hadn’t been able to determine the sex on this ultrasound screen, either. The tiny legs had been crossed again. “ ...all right?” She needed that reassurance, needed to know that her recklessness hadn’t put her pregnancy at risk.

The doctor reached out, and his fingers did touch her, squeezing her hand. “The baby is fine. Strong heartbeat. Active. All properly developed for twenty-four weeks.”

She uttered a sigh of relief. “Then I can leave?”

The doctor pulled his hand away. “I’m not concerned about the baby,” he said. “But I do have concerns about your concussion.”

“There’s no reason for concern.” She shook her head but winced as pain reverberated inside her skull. Maybe she did have a concussion. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine,” Nick said. “You’ve been hurt.”

He would know. He had done it. But he wasn’t referring to his breaking her heart. He probably wasn’t even aware that he had.

“The address you provided for your intake paperwork says that you live in Chicago,” the doctor said. “You definitely cannot drive that distance, or really at all, for at least twenty-four hours.”

A giggle bubbled up inside her, but not wanting to sound or become hysterical, she suppressed it. “I have no car to drive,” she said. “It was stolen.”

“Is that what happened?” Nick asked. “You were carjacked?” He uttered a slight sigh, almost as if he was relieved.

Surprised by his reaction, she stared at him.

“Logan made it sound like something else,” he explained. “Like it wasn’t random.”

She doubted it was random. After everything else that had happened, it would have been too much of a coincidence. But she wasn’t sure how much she wanted to share with Nick. He had already proved to her that she shouldn’t have trusted him—with her heart, and maybe not with anything else.

“You shouldn’t drive,” the doctor repeated as if they hadn’t spoken. “And you should not be alone tonight.”

“She won’t be alone,” Nick said. “She’s going home with me.”

She gasped. “No.” But before she could finish her protest—that there was no way in hell she would go home with him—the doctor and Nick both turned to her.

“I’m sure you’d rather not stay in the hospital,” Nick surmised—correctly. And of course, he knew the only way the doctor would release her was if he believed she would not be alone.

Damn him. He’d always had an uncanny ability to know what other people wanted or needed—except her. He had never known how much she’d wanted him—needed him—until that one night.

But that night had been an aberration. He hadn’t realized how much she’d needed him after that—more than she ever had. Or maybe he’d known and hadn’t cared.

What was different now?

The baby? He must have realized the child Annalise was carrying was his.

* * *

“She doesn’t want to go home with you,” Nikki said.

Special Agent Rus flinched as if she’d struck him. She had watched the man take a blow and even a bullet without ever betraying an ounce of fear. But this caused him pain. Annalise Huxton caused him pain.

“She doesn’t,” he agreed with a glance to the door of the bathroom where Annalise was changing from the hospital gown back into her clothes. They were torn and stained from her tussle with the men and the asphalt. And thanks to Nikki letting them get away with her vehicle, those clothes were all she had in River City.

Nikki flinched now. Maybe her brothers were right. Maybe she wasn’t cut out to be a bodyguard. She hadn’t reacted fast enough.

“I told her she could stay with me,” she said. But now she wondered if that was a good idea—if she could keep the pregnant woman safe.

“I appreciate the offer,” he said.

She opened her mouth to point out that she hadn’t made the offer to him when he continued, “And I appreciate you saving her from the carjackers.”

Her face heated now as it flushed with embarrassment. “I didn’t,” she said.

“But Logan said you exchanged gunfire with them.”

“I did,” she said. She had gotten off a couple of shots and might even have hit one of them. “But Annalise got free on her own. She’s tougher than she looks.” Just like Nikki had always tried to convince her brothers she was tougher than she looked. “Maybe that’s why she ran toward them when she saw them stealing her car.”

“She ran toward the carjackers?” he asked, his face paling with fear as he probably imagined all the horrible things that could have happened—that Nikki had almost let happen.

She nodded. “Just before she did, she mumbled something about not again. Her car has been stolen before. Once would be random. But twice?”

When Nikki had joined her brothers in the waiting room, Logan had said he’d sensed she was in danger. Logan was rarely ever wrong—except about Nikki. Or at least she’d like to think so?

“That’s why she’s going home with me,” Nick said, his square jaw clenched with grim determination.

“You didn’t know, did you?” she asked.

He arched a dark brow.

“That she’s carrying your kid.”

His face flushed now, and he shook his head.

“Maybe it’s good that you were named after our father,” she said. “Apparently you’re the most like him.” Of course, she had been named for him, too—something she resented nearly as much as she resented Nicholas Rus’s existence.

Rus flinched again, and a twinge of regret struck Nikki. Giving him a hard time had become more of a habit to her than anything else. It wasn’t like she hated him—like everyone else thought.

Sure, she wasn’t happy with how he had come into their lives and turned them upside down—especially Mom’s. But apparently Mom had always known that her husband had cheated on her. Was any man worthy of a woman’s trust?

Annalise stepped out of the bathroom, and she looked up at Rus with mistrust. Then she gazed at Nikki, imploring. Nikki wanted to offer her hospitality again. But after the incident in the street, she wasn’t certain she could keep the woman and her unborn baby safe.

“I want a full report about what happened and descriptions of the men,” Agent Rus told her.

She would have bristled at his bossiness. But she understood why he was. He’d been running the police department since coming to River City to clean up the corruption. Apparently he thought she worked for him. But his demand wasn’t unreasonable. She intended to do more than fill out a report. She intended to track down the men herself. They wouldn’t get away from her again.

“I also want you to come down to the station and look through mug shots,” he said, “if you think you would recognize the men if you saw them again.”

She nodded in agreement. “Sure. I would.”

“I could look at the mug shots, too,” Annalise offered.

Nick shook his head. “You have a concussion. You need to rest. Once the doctor brings your release papers, I’m taking you home.”

Annalise glanced at her again—with that imploring gaze. And Nikki’s stomach knotted. She hated to disappoint Annalise, but she didn’t want to endanger her, either. “I’d better get going,” she said as she hurried out.

In case her brothers were still in the waiting room, she bypassed it and took the elevator to the underground parking garage. She didn’t want to see her family again. She’d already spoken to them once—to assure them that Annalise was all right. They’d been so concerned about her that they hadn’t questioned Nikki. And she hadn’t looked at them. She didn’t want to look at them now. She didn’t want to see the I told you so on Logan’s face, didn’t want to see the doubt on Cooper’s. She didn’t want him second-guessing hiring her.

Tears stung her eyes, blurring the elevator doors. But then they slid open, and she stepped into the parking structure. She had been in such a rush to follow the ambulance to the hospital that she couldn’t remember where she’d parked. Which floor had it been?

She walked through the structure, looking for her black coupe. Logan hadn’t given her a black SUV like he had everyone else who worked for him—probably because he hadn’t wanted bad guys blowing her up when they meant to blow up one of her brothers instead.

She uttered a regretful sigh as she remembered the men who’d lost their lives when one of their SUVs had exploded. Someone had been trying to kill Parker and had nearly succeeded. Tears stung her eyes again, and she blinked furiously. When her vision cleared, she realized what she’d found. Not her coupe but them.

Nikki had known she would recognize the men if she saw them again. Unfortunately they glanced up, furtively—from the black SUV they were trying to jimmy open—and saw her.

They clearly recognized her, as well. She reached for her weapon—realizing too late that she’d locked it in the glove box because she’d known she wouldn’t make it past hospital security with it.

So she was unarmed and outnumbered.

Chapter 3

Nick cursed himself for not just leaving his SUV parked illegally outside the emergency room entrance. He should have exercised his authority, so that security wouldn’t have dared to have his vehicle towed away. But he hadn’t been thinking after Logan’s call. He’d been so anxious to get to her—so anxious to see Annalise for himself. He’d pulled into the first available spot in the garage and run up the stairs to the ER. Now he struggled to remember where he’d parked.

He didn’t want to leave Annalise alone long—waiting in a wheelchair in the lobby. She’d looked so pale sitting there, so fragile. Even pregnant, she was still slight because of her small frame, narrow shoulders, thin arms and long, slender legs. Dark circles rimmed her green eyes, as if she hadn’t been sleeping well because she’d been afraid. Logan had noticed her fear. Nick saw it now, the fear and the vulnerability. Nikki had told him Annalise was tougher than she looked—that she’d saved herself. Of course, she was a Huxton. Gage wouldn’t have survived being missing in action for months if he wasn’t tough, too.

At least Annalise wasn’t alone in the lobby. Or just with hospital security, either. Logan and Cooper stood over her chair, offering more protection than Nick had thought she’d get from some nervous hospital security guard. She was safe.

He wasn’t as certain about Logan and Cooper. Annalise was furious. She didn’t want to go home with him. And she hadn’t wanted to ride in the wheelchair, let alone having to wait in it until he pulled his vehicle up to the lobby doors. His half brothers probably had a fight on their hands to keep her in the chair and make her wait for him.

She might see this as her opportunity to call a cab to take her home to Chicago. Her home was in Chicago; his wasn’t. He had never felt as if that house or anyplace else he’d lived was home. The only time he’d ever felt as if he was home was when he’d been with Annalise. When he’d given in to his desire to kiss her, he’d worried that it might have been awkward. They’d known each other so long.

But it hadn’t felt awkward. It had felt right and passionate and thrilling. And he hadn’t been able to stop. But he’d felt most at home buried deep inside her body.

Had they made a child that night? Twenty-four weeks ago. The doctor had said that was how far along her pregnancy was. However, Annalise had never confirmed her baby was his.

But he knew...

Annalise carried his child. And she hadn’t called him. She hadn’t told him about the pregnancy. Or that she was in danger.

She probably wouldn’t be waiting for him to come back with his vehicle. She had no intention of staying with him. So he quickened his step, running toward his SUV just as he’d run toward the ER earlier.

That was when he heard it—the scream. It wasn’t just a shrill cry. It was his name, full of terror and warning. “Nick!”

Someone was in trouble—someone he knew.

* * *

“You’re in trouble,” Logan Payne said.

Annalise laid her palms over her belly. “That sounds like something my grandmother would say.”

His face, so similar to Nick’s, reddened. “I wasn’t talking about your pregnancy.”

“Then how do you mean I’m in trouble?”

Did he know how deeply she loved Nick? And how unlikely it was that Nick would ever return her feelings? She had to get over him. If she was going to mend her broken heart, she could never trust him with it. He would only hurt her again.

“Those guys weren’t stealing your car,” he said.

“Really?” she asked. And his brother Cooper, who also stood beside her chair, furrowed his brow, mirroring her confusion. “Then why is my car gone?”

If she had it, she would have driven herself back to Chicago—doctor’s orders be damned. Or better yet, she would have driven herself to Alaska. She had thought she’d needed Gage. But maybe she needed her mom and dad more.

She would have gone to them before, but she didn’t want to put them in danger. Gage could handle it. He could protect her. He had survived being missing in action when everyone else had given him up for dead. She hadn’t. She knew her brother was tough. Trying to be like Nick had made him tough.

“You know what I’m talking about,” Logan said.

Unable to hold his gaze, she glanced down at the terrazzo floor of the sun-filled glass lobby. “Have you called Gage?” she asked.

“No,” Cooper answered for Logan.

“Why not?” she asked. She needed her brother—more than she ever had.

Cooper wouldn’t meet her eyes.

And she realized why. Concern filled her. She had been so happy—so relieved—he had come back alive that she hadn’t considered what condition he might be in. “He’s not all right, is he?”

“Physically he’s fine,” Cooper assured her.

“And...?”

“Mentally and emotionally, he has some recovering to do yet,” Cooper said. “He’ll get there. It just takes time—more time for guys who’ve been through what he has.”

“Thank you,” she said.

Cooper shrugged off her gratitude. “I haven’t gotten him to talk about it. I don’t really know what he’s been through. The only one who might know is Nick.”

Gage had always gone to Nick—had always told him everything. If Nick knew, why hadn’t he told her? Why hadn’t he called her? Had he been so determined to avoid her after they’d made love that he hadn’t even wanted to call to talk about Gage?

“Thank you for not calling him,” she clarified. “I wouldn’t want to add to whatever he’s going through.” She couldn’t imagine the horrors her brother had endured while he’d been missing. Gage was tough, but everyone had a limit.

“Then you’d better be honest with us about what’s been going on with you,” Logan said. “Your getting hurt might be more than your brother could handle.”

He was right. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to share her troubles with someone. But she wasn’t certain whom she could trust.

These were Nick’s brothers. She couldn’t trust Nick—not after the way he’d treated her. So how could she trust any of them?

“My sister told me what you said when you saw those men jacking your car,” Logan said. “This isn’t the first time that’s happened.”

“No,” she admitted.

“And it’s not the only thing that’s happened to you.”

Her head began to pound as other memories rushed in, and she squeezed her eyes shut to block them out.

“Annalise?” Logan prodded her.

They hadn’t been raised together, but he reminded her of Nick. Even before he’d become an FBI agent, Nick had always been good at asking questions and finding out information. Perhaps Logan should have been an FBI agent, too. He was a natural interrogator, as well.

And she had never been good at keeping secrets. She parted her lips to speak, but someone shouted. She opened her eyes to see a security guard running up to Nick’s brothers.

“You guys are with Payne Protection, right?” he asked.

Both men nodded. “What’s wrong?” Logan asked. Because it was clear that something was. The young man was flushed and breathing hard.

“There’s a shoot-out in the parking garage! I called 911, but I don’t think the police will get here in time. So I need to go down there.” His throat moved as he swallowed hard, obviously afraid. “I need backup.”

Annalise’s heart hammered against her ribs. “Nick’s in the parking garage.” He’d gone down to get his vehicle to pick her up. Just like her car getting stolen again, it couldn’t be a coincidence. Nick had to be involved in that shoot-out.

“I think Nikki’s down there, too,” Cooper said.

Logan’s face paled, and his hand shook slightly as he reached beneath his jacket—probably for his weapon. But his holster hung empty from his arm. He glanced at her. “I told Nick...”

That he would protect her. She had heard him, and she’d thought it was ridiculous that they thought she needed protection inside the hospital. Obviously they’d been right.

“Go,” she urged him.

He shook his head and turned to Cooper. “You go.”

Cooper was already grabbing the arm of the security guard and pulling him across the lobby.

“Be careful!” Logan called after him. “And make sure they’re okay!”

Cooper glanced back and nodded. But he could only do his best—if he arrived in time. Annalise worried that he and the security guard would be too late to help.

Nick couldn’t be gone.

She pressed her hands over her belly again. And the baby shifted within her womb. Her child couldn’t lose his father before she was even born.

* * *

As Cooper Payne shouldered open the door to the parking garage stairwell, shots reverberated inside the concrete structure. He kept the security guard behind him, shielding him as he would have a Payne Protection Agency client or a fellow serviceman. Fortunately he’d the foresight to leave his weapon with security, so he’d retrieved it before they’d left. He clasped the Glock in both hands, swinging the barrel in each direction he looked.

Where the hell were they? The noise faded to a faint echo as the shots stopped.

His heart stopped, too—for just a second. From his years in combat, he knew why the firing ceased. Because everyone was dead...

His blood chilled, and the hair lifted on his nape. He still kept his hair short, as he had when he’d been enlisted. His brothers wore theirs longer—except for Nick, who had also been a Marine. Nick looked the most like him, and they were nearly the same age.

His half brother was too young to die. Cooper bit the inside of his cheek, resisting the urge to call out to him. To Nikki...

Had she gone down to the parking garage? She hadn’t said goodbye. She had simply disappeared from the hospital. Nikki always did that when Nick was around, though. She couldn’t handle being near the evidence of their father’s betrayal—couldn’t stop blaming Nick for what their father had done.

He hoped she had left before Nick had come down for his SUV, and she was safe.

Cooper slowly moved forward, keeping low so he could duck for cover if the firing started again. Because he was staying down, he saw the blood—the droplets of it sprayed across the concrete. Someone had been hit.

How badly? And who?

Then he saw the SUV. Like the Payne Protection company vehicles, it was black, but this one had all the windows shot out, the glass scattered across the concrete like the blood. The government plate on the back confirmed his fears. It was Nick’s.

But where the hell was Nick?

He lowered one knee to the ground as he leaned down farther, looking for bodies on the other side of the vehicle. He found more blood—small pools of it. Maybe more than one person had been hit since there was blood on both sides of the SUV.

As he looked around, he noticed a Payne Protection vehicle parked nearby—not one of the black SUVs but Nikki’s small coupe. He recognized it from the furry pink dice hanging from the rearview mirror.

The former cops—Logan and Parker—gave her so much crap about those dice. They had warned she might get a ticket for obstructed vision. Nikki probably didn’t even like them, but she was too stubborn to remove them now. She was too stubborn to give in.

Even if she’d had the chance to drive off, she would have stood her ground. She would have fought to prove herself. That was why Cooper had hired her for his team. He wanted to convince her to believe in herself.

“What the hell happened here?” the security guard wondered aloud, his voice unsteady with fear.

Cooper shook his head. He hadn’t holstered his weapon. He gripped it tightly as he moved around the coupe to the passenger side. The door hung open, and so did the glove box. A box of ammo lay on the concrete next to some spent shells. And some more broken glass. The rear window was broken, and bullets had dented the trunk.

He looked again at the ground—looked for the blood he’d found around the SUV. The search must have distracted him, because he heard a gun cock—a gun too close to him. How the hell had someone gotten the jump on him?

He swung around, pointing his gun barrel behind him—into the pale face of his little sister. His breath shuddered out. “Are you all right?”

She nodded. But she was trembling. So badly that she nearly dropped her gun when she lowered it. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was you.”

He didn’t care that she’d pointed the gun at him. “Were you hit?” he asked.

Her curly hair was usually messy, but it nearly stood on end now—almost as if someone had pulled it. There was a red mark on her cheek that would undoubtedly become a bruise, and her sleeve had nearly been torn free of her jacket. She’d been in a hell of a fight.

Concern and anger both gripped him. He wanted to make sure she was okay even while he wanted to rip someone apart—whoever had hurt her.

“We need to get you to the ER.” He holstered his weapon now and reached for her. He would carry her there—like he’d carried other soldiers from combat. Nikki looked like she’d been to war.

She stepped back and shook her head. “I’m okay,” she said. But her voice cracked on the claim, and her brown eyes glistened as tears pooled. “Thanks to Nick.”

Cooper tensed. That might have been the first time she’d referred to their half brother by his first name.

“Where’s Nick?” he asked, and his voice cracked now as he remembered all the blood he’d found. Had that been Nick’s blood?

Nikki shook her head. “I don’t know...but I think he got hit.”

The blood had been Nick’s—at least some of it.

A tear slipped between her furiously blinking lashes and trailed down the red mark on her cheek. “We need to find him.”

Depending on where he had been hit, they might not have much time to find him and get him help before it was too late.

Before Nick couldn’t be saved...

Chapter 4

He was a dead man.

Nick had learned long ago that there was no honor among thieves. His own mother had turned on her former boss and lover and testified against him—to save herself from a prison sentence.

Nick had just witnessed that lack of honor again as one of the gunmen, with no regard for his injured partner, had jumped into his vehicle. Or was it the one they had stolen from Annalise earlier that day? The little SUV wasn’t the older model sedan she’d had six months ago. But the Honda had an Illinois license plate. Maybe the men were from Illinois, too. Maybe they had followed her to Michigan.

But why? Why would anyone want to harm sweet Annalise?

Nick intended to find out. But the man sped off in the little SUV, leaving his partner behind. His concern was only for himself. Nick had pursued the vehicle first, running after it as it careened around the corners of the parking structure. He’d fired shots into the rear window, taking out the glass like the gunman had taken the glass out of his SUV, when they’d fired at him through it.

And Nikki...

Rage gripped him as he remembered what he’d stumbled upon when he had headed toward his vehicle. The fight. Those men had hurt Nikki. They had pulled her hair, punched her face. She’d fought. His sister was a hell of a fighter. She had punched back. She had kicked. She had pulled moves he hadn’t known she knew. But she’d been outnumbered...

The rage kept him from reacting to his gunshot wound—from one of the bullets fired through the broken window of his SUV. He’d felt the sting of it and could feel the blood oozing from his torn flesh to soak his shirt. But he ignored the pain to pursue the vehicle—until it was clear he wouldn’t catch it. The engine revved as it pulled out of the parking garage and onto the street. Horns honked as other vehicles nearly crashed into it. The Honda sped off. One of the gunmen had gotten away.

The other man couldn’t.

He had been hit. Nick wasn’t sure which one of them had fired the shot, him or Nikki. As well as a good fighter, she was a good shot. If she wasn’t, the men might have abducted Annalise outside Payne Protection. Was that why they had come to the hospital parking garage? Had they been determined to try again?

But if they’d been after Annalise, why had they been attacking Nikki? Why had they been standing beside Nick’s government-issue SUV?

Who the hell was their real target?

Nikki?

Her coupe had been parked near his SUV—near enough that she had been able to go for her gun. If she hadn’t, he might not have survived the onslaught of ammunition the other men had fired at him. Sometimes she acted like she hated him, but she had helped him. Hell, she’d probably saved his life.

And instead of making certain she was okay, he had left her alone. Sure, the other gunman was injured. But he was still armed. He could hurt her.

Of course, the injured man had been running after his partner, too—until he’d seen Nick behind him. Then he had dived between some parked cars. Nick hurried back toward where he’d remembered losing him—between a Hummer and a Cadillac—in the reserved staff parking section.

It was easy to track him. All he had to do was follow the blood trail—the one that wasn’t his. His blood was running down his arm and dripping from his fingertips. At least it was his right shoulder that had been hit, since he was left-handed.

He gripped his gun more tightly as he tracked the blood to where it turned from a trail to a pool. But he didn’t need a weapon. He found the man leaning against the side of the Hummer. Deep gouges marred his face. Someone had scratched him. Nikki? Or Annalise? His eyes were open. So was his mouth.

But he wouldn’t talk. He wouldn’t answer any of Nick’s many questions. He was dead.

Then Nick heard the telltale metallic click of another gun cocking—near his head. And he worried that he might be a dead man, too.

* * *

Annalise had loved Nick too long to lose him now. Not that she’d ever really had him. Even that one night...

They had made love. But he didn’t love her. Not like she had always loved him. She couldn’t remember a time that she hadn’t been in love with Nicholas Rus.

“Where is he?” she asked Nikki.

Tears brimmed in her brown eyes. She shook her head and tousled her already tangled auburn curls around her pale face. “I don’t know...”

Logan cursed.

Nikki flinched—either over his reaction or because she was in pain. She had obviously been roughed up. But she had refused medical attention for her injuries. She had rushed into the lobby instead—to fill in Logan on what had happened in the garage.

The men who’d stolen Annalise’s car had come back. They had been waiting in the parking garage.

For her?

For Nikki?

For Nick?

Why? What did they want?

Annalise owned nothing of value to anyone but her. After all the times they’d broken into her home and her office and stolen her vehicle, they had to realize that she had nothing they wanted. So why wouldn’t they leave her alone?

Unless it really wasn’t her that they were after...

The trouble hadn’t started for her until after Nick had been to Chicago, until after that night they had made love in the house where he’d grown up.

“Nick chased them out of the parking garage. And I don’t know how he could...” Nikki’s voice cracked with emotion as she continued, “I think he was hit. I know he was hit.”

“Hit?” Panic clenched Annalise’s heart. “You think he was shot?”

Biting her lip, Nikki nodded. “He was bleeding. There was blood all over the cement.” She shuddered. “But it didn’t stop him.”

Nothing stopped Nick from going after what he wanted. The son of a drug addict single mother—the odds had been against his making anything of his life. But he had accomplished everything he’d wanted. He’d joined the Marines, gone to college and earned a high position in the FBI. No, nothing stopped Nick.

“So he must not have been hurt badly,” Nikki said as if she was trying to convince herself.

But his half sister didn’t know Nick like Annalise did. She had no idea how determined—how single-minded—he could be.

“He needs medical attention,” Annalise said. How long could he survive with a bullet in him? Even Nick had limits to what he could endure.

“Cooper will find him,” Logan assured them.

Then he focused on his sister, and a muscle twitched in his cheek, above his tightly clenched jaw. Annalise recognized the telltale sign of stress and tension. She’d seen that same muscle twitch in Nick’s cheek so many times. But she had seen him clench his jaw like that even when he hadn’t been stressed or angry. She’d seen it when she’d hugged him. She had thought that was because he didn’t like being touched.

But maybe her hugging him had stressed him out. Maybe he’d had to struggle for control of the passion she’d experienced the night they’d made a child together.

“And while Cooper is finding Nick,” Logan said, “you’re going to the emergency room to get checked out.” When he took his sister’s arm, she flinched. “Nikki, you are hurt!” And he swung her up in his arms as if she were a child.

Embarrassment flushed Nikki’s face with color even brighter than the mark on her cheek. Annalise’s heart swelled with concern and sympathy for the other woman. She understood what it was like to be underestimated—like Nikki’s brothers obviously underestimated their little sister. She also understood what it was like to be hurt and need their comfort and protection. She could recognize that Nikki was torn between wanting to be a tough, independent woman and the little girl who needed her big brothers.

The wheelchair forgotten, Annalise hurried after the brother and sister as Logan carried Nikki back to the ER. Logan shouldered open the door marked No Admittance. There was no security guard to stop him. They were all in the parking garage—looking for Nick and the men who’d shot at Nikki and him.

Not just at.

Nick had taken a bullet. He was bleeding. He needed to be in the ER, too.

“I’m fine,” Nikki said as she wriggled in Logan’s arms. “I’m not the one who needs medical attention.”

She was worried about Nick, too. But then, she’d been there. She knew how badly he’d been hurt.

“You shouldn’t be back here,” the doctor who’d treated Annalise agreed. “We have critically wounded coming in!”

“Critical?” Annalise uttered the word on a gasp of shock and pain.

A ding rang out, and doors to an elevator at the end of the hall opened. Two men—dressed in scrubs like the doctor—pushed out a gurney. A sheet covered the patient from head to toe.

She couldn’t see the man’s face. But his legs dangled from the end of the gurney. He was tall and broad. His shoulders hung over the sides.

Her heart pounded furiously with fear and dread. Nick was tall. Nick was broad. But it couldn’t be Nick.

It couldn’t be.

When he’d enlisted in the Marines, she had been so afraid that she would lose him. And when he’d joined the FBI...

He had been in so much danger so many times and had survived. Today he’d only been going down to the parking garage to retrieve his vehicle—for her. He shouldn’t have been in danger there. Of course, she shouldn’t have been in danger outside the Payne Protection Agency, either.

Her voice cracking, Nikki asked the question burning in Annalise’s throat. “Is he dead?”

The medical professionals ignored her—until the doctor standing beside them asked, “Did you pronounce him?”

One of the doctors nodded.

“There was nothing we could do,” the other one said. “He bled out before security cleared the parking garage for us to treat him.”

Tears burned Annalise’s eyes. Nick had bled to death while waiting for help?

She couldn’t bear the thought that he had been alone and hurt. But then Nick was always alone. He insisted that was the way he’d wanted it. That was the reason he’d given for always pushing her away.

Nikki gasped, too, and the tears that had brimmed in her eyes spilled over. “No...”

They had been named for the same man. If they had anything else in common besides their names, they might not have pushed each other away. Now Nikki would never have the chance to connect with the brother she’d obviously resented.

And Annalise’s baby would never get to meet his or her father—just as Nick had never had the chance to meet his. Horror and regret overwhelmed Annalise, making her legs tremble and threaten to fold beneath her. Before she could fall, though, strong arms closed around her, holding her up.

* * *

“Mrs. Payne?” a young woman asked. She stared across the desk at Penny, her dark eyes wide with concern. “Are you all right?”

She nodded and replied, “Of course.”

She was anything but fine, though. Her heart had started pounding faster and harder, thumping inside her chest. She didn’t want to betray her fear to the young bride, though. Megan Lynch was already too nervous about her pending nuptials. Too nervous to be getting married.

Penny held her tongue and her opinion. She had once been a nervous bride herself. Maybe, in the way that she somehow knew things, she’d known she would lose her husband too soon. There had been rewards for the pain she’d endured, though: her children.

Panic clenched her heart.

One of her children was hurt. She knew it. Even before the phone rang, she knew it. She had that tightness in her chest and that sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was often teased about being psychic. But she was no medium. She just had a very special connection with her children. Her feeling that one of them was hurt had never been wrong.

And it wasn’t wrong now. Her hand shaking, she reached for the phone before it even started to ring. She skipped her usual greeting of “White Wedding Chapel. Penny Payne, wedding planner, speaking,” and just said, “What is it?”

“Mom,” Nikki spoke tentatively—almost fearfully.

“What is it?” Penny asked again.

“I’m fine,” Nikki replied.

And Penny remembered the first long trip Nikki had taken with her new driver’s license and the phone call she had received from her youngest and her only daughter shortly after Nikki had left. “Mom, I’m fine but...”

Then she’d dissolved into tears over the deer she’d struck and killed. That was partially why Logan had kept his sister behind a desk instead of assigning her fieldwork. She wasn’t as tough as she acted. If she had to hurt anyone...

“But?” Penny asked. Nikki hadn’t said the word this time, but she’d heard it in her voice.

“Mom...” And just as when she’d inadvertently killed the deer, Nikki broke into tears. Her sobs rattled the phone.

“You’re fine,” Penny reminded Nikki and herself. Her daughter wasn’t hurt. But what about her sons?

Nikki drew in a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m fine.” And now it sounded as if she was trying to convince herself.

“Who’s not fine?” Penny asked.

Nikki’s breath escaped in a ragged sigh. “Nick.”

The panic already clenching her heart squeezed tighter. Nikki had never referred to her half brother by his first name. She usually never referred to him at all if she could help it. The fact that she was saying his name now—and with so much emotion...

Nicholas Rus wasn’t one of Penny’s children. She hadn’t given birth to him like her sons and daughter. But she had that same connection with him that she had with every one of her biological children. Sometimes it felt even stronger than that connection—because of all her children, Nick was the most like her. Somehow they both instinctively knew what other people needed.

But about their own needs, they were clueless. Nick had no idea what he wanted or needed. And now he might never have the chance to figure it out.

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