Explosive Engagement (4 page)

Chapter Four

Logan’s heart pounded so hard that it was the only sound in the sudden silence that had fallen after Stacy’s insane announcement. He knew his mother had initially proposed this crazy engagement, but he hadn’t expected that Stacy would ever agree to it. She hated him.

But he hadn’t tasted that hatred on her lips when she’d kissed him so convincingly that even he had forgotten it wasn’t real. He knew that she didn’t really want him; she just didn’t want her brothers going to prison for killing him. She was protecting Milek and Garek—not Logan.

So then she couldn’t be behind the attempts on his life. Or maybe she had been, but his mother’s idea had convinced Stacy to change her plan for revenge to one for marriage. But then marrying him might be more vengeful than killing him.

Not that he was going to fall in with his mother’s crazy plan. He wasn’t about to get coerced into marriage with a woman he couldn’t...

Stand? More like resist. Why had he kissed her back? To punish her for the game she was playing? He’d like to think that but he had enjoyed it too damn much. Her mouth was so sweet and so damn sexy when it moved over his.

“What the hell is going on?” one of her brothers, his face flushed either with alcohol or temper, demanded to know. “Just a couple of hours ago you were mad at him for crashing Dad’s funeral and now you’re engaged?”

Her other brother’s eyes narrowed, he glared at Logan. “He must be threatening her.”

“He saved my life at the cemetery,” she said. “He took a bullet for me.”

He was pretty sure that bullet had been meant for him and that one of her brothers had fired it. And that was the only reason he was refraining from calling her on her lie. As her fake fiancé, he had access to her family—hopefully enough access to gather evidence. Like the damn gun they kept firing at him...

She continued, “It was all very sudden.”

“It’s all B.S.,” he whispered back at her.

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. Hard. And he was surprised again that she had calluses on her small hands. What did she do for a living or for fun that had produced such calluses?

They were
engaged
and yet he hardly knew Stacy Kozminski.

“I’m surprised myself at the feelings I have for—” her throat moved, as if she were choking on his name or maybe just on her lie “—Logan.”

Despite that kiss, he doubted her feelings had changed. She still hated him.

One of her brothers—Garek—voiced his sentiment. “You hate his guts, Stace.”

She shook her head. “That’s not true.”

“You’ve said over and over that you hate his guts,” Garek persisted. “Why are you lying about it now? What’s he got on you?”

What did he think Logan could have on her? Proof that she and her brothers were responsible for the shootings? He hoped like hell he had it, then he could call her on her lie and end this nonsense. Then he could call the police...

“My gratitude,” she said. “He saved my life.” She turned toward him and glanced up. Maybe her gaze was supposed to be adoring, but she just looked miserable. “He’s my hero.”

Garek snorted. “And that just erases everything else he’s done to our father?”

Her snotty aunt added, “To our family? You’re betraying your father. Your uncle. Your brothers...”

Ignoring her aunt, she replied to her brother only, “I understand why he’s done what he has.”

“I don’t understand what you think you’re doing,” Logan murmured. Her family was never going to buy that she’d had such a drastic change of heart over
him.

“If the situation was reversed,” she continued as if he hadn’t spoken, “we would have done the same. Or more...”

“He killed our father,” Milek said, his words slurred. He had definitely been drinking. “And you’re rewarding him for it.”

“Logan did not kill Dad,” Stacy defended him. “Some gang member did.”

“He wouldn’t have had the chance if your boyfriend—”

“Fiancé,” she corrected her brother. “And stop. Just stop...all of it.” She turned toward Logan. “It’s been a long day. Please, take me home.”

Did she mean his home? He wasn’t about to bring her there. She would probably set it on fire. And he had no idea where she lived. But instead of asking any questions in front of her resentful family, he escorted her out of the pub.

“Have you been drinking with your brother?” he asked as he opened the passenger door for her.

“I’m not drunk,” she said. Her gray eyes were clear as she glared at him.

“Then why on earth—”

“We can’t talk about it here,” she said. “There are cameras in the lot.”

Her paranoia lifted his brows with surprise. “And you think your brothers would look at the footage?”

“I don’t know about them,” she said. “But I wouldn’t put it past my aunt.” She stepped on the running board of his SUV, but her heel slipped and she fell back against him. His arms closed around her, and he lifted her easily onto the seat. Maybe she was as exhausted as she’d claimed because she didn’t fight him. Or maybe she was just worried about what her aunt might see on the security cameras.

“Okay, I’ll drive you home,” he said.

She waited until he rounded the front bumper and slid behind the wheel before she replied, “It’s the least you can do since I’m saving your life.”

“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.

* * *

W
ONDERING
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.

“Even if I agreed to it, my mother’s plan would never work,” Logan warned her.

She was afraid of that, too, because she would have to convince her family that she loved a man she really couldn’t stand. And she was no actress—she’d never even been very good at lying.

“And really, all you have to do to stop them from trying to kill me is to tell them to stop,” he said, “because they’ll do what you tell them to.”

If only that were true...then she wouldn’t have to fake an engagement, or heaven forbid, a marriage, if it actually came to that. And it might take marriage to convince her family that she was committed to Logan Payne.

“I’m not so sure about that,” she reluctantly admitted.

“Then even you realize they’re dangerously out of control,” Logan said.

“I never said that!” she exclaimed, horrified that she might have inadvertently implicated her brothers. And, like Logan, she had no proof they were behind the attempts on his life. But thanks to Logan and the threats they’d previously made, she now had doubts.