Beauty And The Bodyguard. Lisa Childs

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       Chapter 2

      “So what do I think?” Gage repeated her question. He thought he’d been punched in the gut. The minute he’d opened the door and seen her—sparkling like a vision in white—all his breath had left his lungs. His chest burned, his ribs ached. He felt like he was getting the life pounded out of him all over again.

      Her usually honey-toned skin was pale except for the dark circles beneath her enormous eyes. With her sharp cheekbones, small pointed chin and wide dark eyes, she appeared fragile—vulnerable. He knew she was tougher than she looked, though. She’d been tough on him when she’d broken up with him. Then she swayed on her feet, as if she were about to faint.

      Instinctively, he reached out to catch her, closing his hands around her waist. She was thinner than she’d been when he’d seen her last. Maybe she was one of those brides who’d been starving herself to fit into her gown, to look good for her wedding photos and her groom. Maybe that was why she trembled in his grasp.

      From starvation…

      He preferred the sexy curves she’d had over her new svelte figure. She’d been perfect as she was.

      Her breath escaped in a gasp. “You’re real…” she murmured. “You’re alive…”

      As he realized what she’d thought, he chuckled. “You’re not seeing a ghost.”

      “I thought—everyone thought—that you died in Afghanistan.”

      “I was presumed dead,” he said, “but I was just missing.” Missing everyone back home, but most especially her. She had obviously not been missing him at all, though. She’d been dating, getting engaged.

      Anger coursed through him, making him shake like she was. His hands tightened around her tiny waist. “So what do I think,” he mused again. “I think you make a beautiful bride, Megan Lynch.”

      He had once planned on asking her to be his; he’d even bought the ring. But he had never gotten the chance to give it to her before she’d broken up with him, before she’d broken him.

      She flinched as if he’d insulted her. But she’d never been able to accept a compliment as anything but a lie. She’d actually accused him of lying to her, of using her.

      His blood heated. This was why he couldn’t protect her—because he wanted to hurt her—like she had hurt him, like her marrying another man was hurting him all over again. “So let me be the first to kiss the bride…”

      He gripped her small waist and dragged her up so her feet dangled above the floor. She gasped in shock, her breath whispering across his lips as he lowered his mouth to hers. Her lips were as soft as he remembered, her taste as sweet. He had missed this so much. He’d missed her. He deepened the kiss. Pressing his lips tightly against hers, he slid his tongue into her mouth.

      A moan rumbled in her throat. And her hands clasped the back of his head, her fingers sliding over his short hair. She stilled as she touched one of the scars. Those wounds hadn’t hurt, though, at least not in comparison to what she’d done to him.

      Remembering the pain she’d caused him, he dragged his mouth from hers. Then he lowered her until her feet touched the floor again. When he released her, she swayed and her palm pressed against his chest. His heart leaped beneath her touch, and she must have felt it because she jerked her hand away.

      “Gage,” she murmured, and she stared up at him as if she still couldn’t believe he wasn’t an apparition. Then her gaze scanned him, over the tuxedo he was wearing, the damn bow tie choking off his breath.

      “Why are you here?” She looked both fearful and hopeful, and he realized what she thought.

      A chuckle of bitterness slipped through his lips. “Don’t worry,” he assured her, “I’m not here to stop the wedding.”

      “Then why are you here?” she asked.

      “I work for a security firm now,” he said. “The Payne Protection Agency. Penny hired me to make sure nothing stops this wedding from happening.” Actually, he suspected just the opposite—that she had imagined some romantic reunion between him and Megan. Since she was a wedding planner, she probably believed in romance and happy endings and all that stuff Gage had given up on nearly a year ago.

      There would be no happy ending for him.