Explosive Engagement (8 page)

Chapter Eight

Be careful...

She’d said it as if she cared, as if she was actually worried about him. But she couldn’t have been. They weren’t really engaged. They weren’t really anything...but old enemies.

And almost lovers...

He forced thoughts of her kisses and her nearly naked body from his mind and focused on the vehicle idling in his driveway. Fortunately, he recognized the black Ford Explorer that was a twin to his.

“You plan on ever wearing pants again?” Parker asked from where he leaned against the side of his SUV.

Logan glanced down at the towel he’d forgotten he wore. The terry cloth was dry now.

“I understand why you might be distracted, though,” his twin continued.

Logan glanced at his shot-up house. “Yeah...”

“I was talking about your fiancée,” Parker said. “But I’m curious about this, too. That’s why I came back when I heard the report of shots fired at your address on my police scanner.”

Stacy had accused Logan of still being a cop, but he suspected his twin leaned more toward lawman than bodyguard. At least he’d come back alone...except for the whine of sirens in the distance.

“You should probably find some pants now,” Parker remarked. Logan cursed and not just because his brother was always getting on his case, but because Parker wasn’t the only one who’d returned. Candace Baker’s pickup pulled into the driveway ahead of the police cars. Nikki and his mother would probably show up next. He stalked back into the house.

Just as he’d suspected, Stacy hadn’t listened to him, either. She stood in the living room amid the glass and debris. But at least she’d put on her dress again. Without a word, he passed her and headed toward his bedroom and his clothes.

He dressed quickly, and the others were already inside when he walked back out. Cujo stood between them and Stacy, the hair raised on his neck as he uttered a warning growl.

“Good dog,” he praised the canine.

“You gonna give him a treat if he bites us?” Parker asked.

“He probably is hungry,” Stacy said. “I haven’t had a chance to feed him since we picked him up from the kennel.”

“Of course he would be
your
dog,” Candace remarked.

His employee’s scornful tone had Logan bristling, too. “My mom gave her the dog.”

For protection. His mother had thought she needed it. Logan had assumed because of the neighborhood where Stacy lived. But what if his mother had suspected she was in danger for another reason?

He needed to speak to his mom.

“I need to talk to you,” Candace said.

The sirens screeched as the police cars pulled into his driveway. “You’re not the only one...”

Logan wasn’t thrilled about having to take part in another police report. He hadn’t liked that part of being a lawman, and he hadn’t anticipated taking and giving police reports in his private protection business. And after all the attempts on the lives of his brother Cooper and his bride, Logan had overloaded on police reports.

But now it had gotten even more personal; now he had become a killer’s target. But
he
wasn’t the only one.

“The police are going to want to talk to you both,” Parker said. “I can take Stacy out.” He reached out as if to take her arm, but Cujo growled through bared teeth and Parker jerked his arm back. “Damn dog.” He turned toward Logan. “Does he go after you like this?”

Logan chuckled. “No.”

“We’re twins,” Parker said. “You’d think that would fool him.”

But clearly the dog knew which of them was which, and he only approved of Logan touching his mistress. Logan was going to have to get the former K-9 officer some special treats.

“I’ll go with you,” Stacy told his brother as she took his arm.

Logan’s stomach muscles clenched with dread. And, he hated to admit, jealousy...

His brother was a notorious playboy. Parker never dated a woman for very long before he moved on to the next conquest. And there was always another conquest. Women were never able to resist Parker.

“I’ll go, too,” Logan said.

His brother turned back to him, his brows raised in question while his eyes twinkled as if he was fully aware and amused by Logan’s jealousy.

“They’re going to want to talk to me, too,” he explained.

But Candace clutched at his arm, which elicited another growl from Cujo and a warning snarl. She didn’t jerk back like Parker had, though.

And Logan had to put his hand on the dog’s head to settle him down. “It’s okay,” he assured his canine protector. But it wasn’t...not with his employee holding him back as Parker and Stacy walked outside together—Stacy’s small hand on Parker’s strong arm.

“Why do you have to talk to me so badly?” he asked Candace. “I’m kind of otherwise occupied...”

“With Stacy Kozminski,” she clarified with a snort of disgust. The female bodyguard obviously didn’t appreciate his fiancée’s attributes as much as Parker did.

He glanced out the shattered window to where his twin stood close to Stacy, his arm actually around her shoulders as she spoke to the police officers. Maybe he was only offering support. But knowing Parker, Logan doubted it and gritted his teeth so that he didn’t shout out a protest.

“She’s my fiancée,” he said through those gritted teeth. Parker probably couldn’t hear him, but the words were meant for his twin more than his employee. She shook her head as if in denial of his words.

“You’re acting like this engagement is real.”

“Why would you think it isn’t?” he asked.

“It’s like when Cooper married Tanya the first time, as part of the job,” she replied. “Just to protect you...or her...”

Cooper had only married Tanya because her real groom had been abducted and she’d needed to marry in order to collect her inheritance. The former marine had said it was for her—for her protection—but he’d also married her because he’d loved her. Always had and always would...

“Cooper and Tanya are definitely real,” he reminded her.

She nodded in agreement. “Cooper and Tanya are different. They’re in love.”

“I’m not talking to you about my love life,” he said, and tugged free of her hold on his arm.

“I want to talk about your life,” she said. “Being with her is going to put you in danger.”

“I was already in danger,” he said.

“And you thought she was behind it,” she said. “That she told her brothers to try to kill you.”

Hearing Candace say his theory aloud made Logan realize how paranoid he’d sounded when he’d accused Stacy of such a horrendous crime. Pushing aside the last of his little, niggling doubts, he admitted, “I thought wrong...”

“No,” she said. “You’re right. She’s done it before. They’ve killed for her before.”

“You don’t know the whole story about that...”

“Do you?”

He should have. His mother had tried to tell him, but he’d resented her sympathy for the daughter of his father’s killer and had refused to listen. He shook his head in reply to Candace’s question, but most of all in disgust at his own single-mindedness. He should have listened to his mother.

He should have learned more about Stacy Kozminski. But he’d hung on so stubbornly to his resentment.

“I know that one man is dead because of her,” Candace said. “I don’t want you to be the next.” Ignoring Cujo’s warning growl, she stepped closer to Logan. “Let
me
protect you...”

Her strange tone and urgency had his skin chilling. He’d already told her he could protect himself. Why was she so insistent?

* * *

L
OGAN
’
S
EMPLOYEE
WAS
in love with her boss. It was obvious to Stacy. It was obvious to Parker, who watched as Logan and Candace walked out of the shot-up house to talk to the police officers. Logan’s twin stared at the female bodyguard with pity. The officers were done questioning Stacy now, but she loathed stepping back inside that house...for all the things that had nearly happened inside it.

They had nearly been shot. And they had nearly made love. Stacy wasn’t sure which would have wound up hurting her more.

“How long has she been in love with him?” she asked his twin.

Parker shrugged. “She left the police department to work for him.”

“A long time...” She’d even tagged along to those last two parole hearings. Stacy shivered now as she remembered the woman glaring at her—probably because of the things Stacy had said to Logan. Some not so very pleasant things.

“Yes.” Parker sighed now with that pity. “He doesn’t know, though.”

“What would he do if he knew?” Stacy wondered aloud. Would he act on the woman’s feelings? Would he return them?

“He would probably fire her,” Parker said. “Which is why none of us has pointed it out to him. She’s a damn good bodyguard, and her firing would be a huge loss to Payne Protection.”

She nodded in understanding. Parker didn’t want her to tell Logan, either. “Why would he fire her, then?”

“Because he would worry that she might lose her perspective.” Parker’s mouth curved into a slight grin. “He’s always adamant about never letting emotions interfere with an assignment.”

She laughed.

“Seriously,” Parker said. “Logan is a very unemotional guy. Keeps everything inside—never shows his thoughts or feelings.”

“Logan?” she repeated, totally shocked at his twin’s assessment of the hotheaded, openly judgmental man she knew. “Do you have a triplet? Because you haven’t described the man I know.”

“You bring out another side of him,” Parker said. “You bring out his emotions.” He chuckled now. “That’s probably why he’s always...” He trailed off, his face flushing with embarrassment over what he’d nearly revealed.

But she knew. “Hated me? Resented me?”

Parker shrugged but didn’t deny her comments. “I always thought that it was just about your dad...”

So had she.

“But obviously it was more personal than that. Now I know why he stared at you all the time—he was attracted to you. That probably made him resent you even more.” Parker grinned. “I’m glad he finally stopped fighting his feelings.”

Hers was the family they needed to fool. Not his. So she opened her mouth to set Parker straight. “It’s not what you think,” she said. “It’s really not...”
Real.

But before she could finish her confession, a strong arm slid around her shoulders, and Logan pulled her tight against his side. “It’s really not what?” he asked. His blue eyes held a warning for her to not admit the truth.

And with the Amazon bodyguard standing behind him, Stacy had no intention of doing any such thing...but sliding her arm around his waist. She felt a twinge of regret that he’d replaced the towel with jeans and a cotton shirt. “Sweetheart,” she asked, “are the police done with their report?”

Candace snorted derisively. Over the endearment? Had Logan told her the truth? Stacy doubted that or he wouldn’t have stopped her from telling his brother. “It’ll take the crime scene techs a while to finish processing...”

She would know since she had once been a cop like Parker and Logan. Before Parker’s admission, Stacy had assumed she might have been ex-military like Cooper Payne. She certainly looked the part of a G.I. Jane.

“And it’s gonna take a contractor even longer to repair the damage,” Parker added. “You’re going to need someplace else to stay.”

“Maybe the ATF is done with my place,” she said. She would like to go home. Alone. But she doubted that Logan was about to leave her side until they figured out who was trying to kill them—since that was the only reason he’d agreed to their fake engagement.

Logan’s hand skimmed down her arm to her hip, and he suggestively offered, “We can check into a hotel...”

She shivered in anticipation of what they could do in that hotel. Bad things...

To each other. But mostly bad things for her.

“A hotel won’t take Cujo,” she reminded him.

As if he’d heard them discussing him, the German shepherd leaped through the opening of the shattered window. They could probably bring him back to the kennel. He would be safer there. But before she could suggest it, the dog rushed to Logan’s side.

He patted his head. “Hey, old boy, you’ve saved our lives a couple of times already. We need him.”

“You have other protection,” Candace said.

“He’d go crazy in the kennel now,” Logan said. “Because he knows we’re in danger.”

“He’s a dog,” she murmured disparagingly.

“He’s a cop,” Logan said in the dog’s defense. “He was K-9 before he got shot.”

The woman turned toward the dog with new respect. “You’re a good boy...”

Her praise didn’t woo Cujo any more than it must have Logan. Neither of them paid her any attention as a jangle of metal had them turning to Parker.

He held up a ring of keys. “My place has a fenced yard. The dog would love it.”

Logan grabbed the proffered keys and asked, “Where are you going to stay?”

Parker’s mouth curved into another grin. “I’m not welcome in my own house?”

“The dog is all I need for backup...”

“The dog can’t shoot a gun,” Candace said. Obviously she could. She had one holstered beneath her arm like the guys. Could she set a bomb?

Like Logan, she’d thought Stacy was behind the attempts on his life, so she may have decided to get rid of any threat to the man she loved. And if Nikki and Parker were right and Logan had looked at her the way they claimed, maybe the woman had decided to remove the threat to his heart, as well.

Not that Stacy believed she could ever really claim Logan’s heart. He would never get over his resentment of her.

“Logan wants to be alone with his fiancée,” Parker said, which probably added unnecessary fuel to the woman’s already burning resentment. As he had earlier, he hooked his arm around Candace’s shoulders and led her toward their vehicles. But then he turned back and said, “Don’t worry about me. I’ll stay with Mom.”

“Sure you wanna risk it?” Logan teased. “Mom’s on a roll right now...”

Parker’s laugh rang out as he walked away. He stopped at the woman’s vehicle first and opened her door for her. The woman didn’t appear to appreciate his gentlemanly gesture. She glared at him before sliding beneath the wheel. He slammed the door shut and patted it as if it were a horse he was urging to giddy up. After a few tense moments of staring back at Logan, the woman finally started the engine.