Her Billionaire Bodyguard Bridegroom (16 page)

“It’s one of the reasons I love camping. It’s nice to get away from the mad dash of humanity and escape to a place where the pace is slower. It reminds you what’s really important.”

“And what’s that for you? Important, I mean?”

“Family,” he answered without hesitation. “That puts my sister Lauren at the top of the list. And there’s my shelter project, of course. I like to think I’m making a difference in some small way. What about you? What matters most in your life?”

“Family tops my list, too. I thought I’d lost all the family I had left when my mother died, but then I was blindsided by the discovery that not only do I have a father, I have a brother as well. Still, it’s hard to come to grips with the fact that my mother blatantly lied to me all those years.”

“That has to be tough,” he sympathized.

It was beyond tough, and it was something she didn’t want to dwell on tonight. Not when she was enjoying this little spot of heaven on earth with Luke.

“I seem to recall you mentioning making love under the stars featuring in your plans for the evening,” she reminded him.

“If that’s a hint, Ms. Atwood, you don’t have to ask twice.” Without hesitation, he retrieved a comforter from the tent and spread it out over a blanket of pine needles. Scooping her into his arms, he set her down on the soft bedding.

Their lovemaking was earthy and wild and unbounded. Welcoming him in the most intimate of embraces, Brianna was certain she would implode from the sheer intensity of the sensations he was engendering. Afterward, he carried her into the tent and tucked her into their zipped-together sleeping bags. He cuddled in beside her, pulling her close, and she drifted off to sleep in his arms.

Brianna woke the next morning to find she was alone. It didn’t take her long to figure out where Luke had disappeared to. She only had to follow her nose. The wonderful aromas of freshly brewed coffee and frying bacon wafted into the tent on the fresh morning air. Shrugging into shorts and a tank top, she ventured out to find him.

Standing on tiptoe, she pressed a kiss to his lips. “Good morning, handsome.”

“Good morning, beautiful. I didn’t think you’d be up so early. I planned on serving you breakfast in bed.”

“I’d rather enjoy breakfast out here, where we can enjoy the view. It smells delicious.”

“I prefer the view of you in that sleeping bag,” he winked. And then he kissed her again, making her forget all about breakfast.

“We
could
go back to the tent,” she said, smiling, when he reluctantly tore his mouth from hers.

“If we do, I’d certainly ravish you and all this food would go to waste.”

“Give me a second. I’m trying to decide which sounds better, the bacon or being ravaged by you.”

“Are you telling me my sexual prowess can’t compete with a slab of bacon?”

“The bacon, maybe, but those pancakes are another story. And is that maple syrup?”

“Yes. Well, at least I know where I stand now. Passed over for a stack of pancakes.”

“Not just the pancakes. There’s also the syrup to consider.”

They fueled up on the wonderful breakfast before heading out for a hike. Wrapped up in the company of the man walking beside her, she completely lost track of the distance they covered.

Later, they took a break at an overlook that afforded a panoramic view of gorgeous acres of forest.

“How are you doing?” he asked. “Any sore spots from the new hiking boots?”

“My feet and I are very happy,” she assured him.

“Okay. But if they start to give you any trouble, let me know. I don’t want this trip to end up being a miserable experience for you. Blisters can be nasty. So can dehydration. Speaking of which, you should drink some water.”

He offered her his canteen, and she took a long sip. “I never knew ordinary H2O could taste so good.”

“I can guarantee tonight’s dinner will taste even better. I’m making my specialty, trout almandine. It’s amazing cooked over an open flame.”

“Sounds wonderful. Do I get to help you prepare it?”

“Sure. You can even help me catch the trout, if you’d like.”

“We’re going fishing?” she inquired, her tone dubious.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never fished before?”

“Guilty as charged. But you can
lure
me into giving it a try,” she deadpanned.

“Ugh. Cute! Bad puns aside, there’s a brook about a quarter of a mile up ahead. We’ll try our luck there.”

Luke chose a spot on the bank and unpacked a couple of rods. She eyed the pole he handed her dubiously. “You aren’t going to make me skewer a worm on the end of this hook, are you?”

“You can relax,” he chuckled. “We’re using artificial lures. Live bait isn’t practical on this kind of an excursion.”

Luke was helping her check off another first on her things-to-experience list, Brianna realized as they sat waiting for the fish to bite. She had him to thank for indoctrinating her in the joys of fishing.

Later, lying on the cushion of his chest, lulled into a pleasant half sleep from the combination of fresh air, a full stomach, and warm sunshine, she felt the pole jerk in her hands. She squeaked in surprise when the fishing rod bent under the weight of something big.

Make that huge,
she amended when
a tug from the other end of the line nearly yanked her into the brook.

“You’ve got a bite!” Luke enthused.

“You don’t say. Can I get a little help here?”

The fish put up an enthusiastic fight. With Luke’s help, she won the battle.

“He’s cute,” she enthused, instantly smitten with the huge brook trout wiggling on the end of the hook. “We don’t have to eat him, do we?”

Luke chuckled, shaking his head. “We can let him go if you’d like.” Carefully prying the hook free from the fish’s mouth, he released it back into the brook.

“I guess I should be sorry the key ingredient in your trout dish just swam off.”

“Fortunately I brought other provisions along, in case we didn’t get lucky. How does sausage served with baked beans and corn bread sound?”

“Like sheer ambrosia.”

And it was.

“That was amazing,” she told him later as they relaxed by the campfire. “Thank you.”

“After what you’ve been through these past few days, you deserve a little pampering.”

“I have to admit, a girl could get used to the princess treatment. I sometimes wonder if the reason my mother had an affair with a married man was because Philip made her feel special for the first time in her life. There had to be some reason she overlooked her moral compass.”

“Your mother wasn’t the only one. Philip also chose to break his marriage vows.”

“Yes. But that doesn’t make their affair any easier to comprehend. They were from two different worlds.”

“Love is a tough emotion to analyze. It’s not easy to pin down. My guess is that your mother was Philip’s world.”

“Have you ever cared that deeply for someone?”

Silence stretched out for long moments, and she thought he might ignore the question. Then he shrugged.

“I thought I did. But as it turned out, the woman I fell for and the real Tanya were two entirely different people. She wasn’t who I thought she was.”

“Tanya Ford? I remember the papers making a huge deal about your relationship. I read about the accident that took her life. I’m so sorry about what happened to her.”

He paled at the mention of the tragedy, swallowing hard before replying. “Thanks. Since I spilled my guts, how about you? Have you ever given your heart to someone?”

Brianna hesitated, considering her reply. She’d been crazy about Peter until she’d accidentally barged in on his little love fest and discovered his deceptive side. Furious at being caught, he’d viciously outlined how he’d set out to win her over with the intent of marrying her—not for love, but for her newfound fortune. He’d told her she wasn’t truly worthy of a man of his caliber. And he’d proceeded to throw more hurtful insults at her until she’d wanted to turn and run. But she hadn’t. She’d held her ground. And then she’d thrown his ring back at him.

“I thought I loved my fiancé. I wanted my own happily-ever-after so badly that I did a great job of convincing myself Peter was my prince. Turns out he was one hundred percent reptile.”

It hadn’t taken long for the heart-ripped-out-of-her chest emotional devastation to segue into anger. With the blinders yanked off her eyes, she could see how Peter had played her. She’d caved in, so easily, to his controlling tendencies. She’d let him keep her firmly under his thumb, and allowed him to mold her into his idea of the perfect woman. She’d lost more and more of herself, until she became a mere shadow of the woman she’d been. Once he’d reduced her to a malleable Barbie doll, he’d become bored and moved on to his next plaything—his beautiful business partner.

“He hurt you.”

It was a statement, not a question, so she didn’t bother to hedge. “Yes. I didn’t know it at the time, but the only reason he insinuated himself into my life was because he knew I was going to come into a fortune. He worked as an attorney for the law firm that hired the private investigator for my father. Peter saw the guy’s final report, and he followed the dollar signs.”

“What a lowlife.”

“I gave him the power to wound me by getting in too deep in the first place. I was far too trusting. I won’t make that mistake again. That’s why you and I are perfect together. No strings. No commitment. We’re free to explore this attraction without getting all tangled up in the emotional stuff.”

Luke shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying our arrangement. But I hope that at some point down the road, when you do find that special someone, you won’t close the door on a committed relationship out of fear of it happening again. Every guy out there isn’t like your ex. There are still trustworthy men out there.”

Brianna considered his words as she cuddled against his chest and watched the fire. Cradled in his arms, she felt safe and secure. Loved.

Whoa. There was that other
“
l
word,” sneaking in again. Lust was well and truly welcome, but love . . . well, not so much.

Just because the man had gifted her with the most spectacular orgasm—correction, make that series of orgasms—she’d ever experienced, that didn’t mean she had to go overboard.

She shouldn’t even be
considering
using love to define this relationship. It was better to keep it in the context of a fling. After all, that’s what this was.

Wasn’t it?

Love didn’t factor into the rules she’d laid out.

Rules were made to be broken,
her impish, inner wild child whispered.

But so were hearts, which was why she couldn’t go there again.

The following day they hiked again, exploring peaceful trails that wound through fields tangled with wild roses. They took a break along a gorgeous cliff to enjoy the picturesque view.

“I’m officially a camping convert,” Brianna enthused.

“I’m glad,” he said as he smiled.

His grin vanished when a sharp crack reverberated through the air.

Brianna’s heart beat out a litany of fear as she tried to connect the dots. Was someone firing a gun nearby? Had they come across hunters?

She was about to give voice to the questions racing through her head when another shot rent the air, chipping the bark off a nearby tree and prompting Luke to pull her behind him. Shocked, she saw him lift his shirt and draw a handgun from a holster at his hip.

Watching Luke return fire was like being plucked from a fairy tale and catapulted into some kind of twisted action-adventure movie.

What is he doing with a gun? He’s an editor. Firearms aren’t exactly a tool of the trade.

And yet not only was he packing a pistol, it was obvious he was skilled with it. Suddenly, she feared she didn’t really didn’t know him at all.

Luke had blown his cover, but with Brianna’s life at stake he’d had no choice but to draw his weapon. The assignment had just segued from a covert protection operation to a rescue mission.

His decimated cover was the least of his worries. He needed to get Brianna to safety. Conducting a quick assessment of the situation, he determined the best extraction plan would be to head down to the valley. From there they could double back to where he’d parked his Land Rover, just off the main road. Returning to the campsite would be far too risky. He’d taken every precaution to cover their trail, so he had no idea how the shooter had tracked them here. One thing was certain: they were dealing with a professional.

The shooter was blocking the most viable escape route. There was just one other way out, and it didn’t inspire warm fuzzies.

Brianna would like it—and the sixty-foot drop off the cliffside it would entail—even less. Yet if he was going to extricate her safely from the war zone this quiet forest had morphed into, making that drop was the only option.

Shots peppered the ground around them, too close for comfort. The familiar surge of danger-induced adrenaline pumped through his veins, and he drew Brianna behind him, shielding her body with his. Returning fire, he led her to cover behind the relative safety of an outcropping of boulders.

“What’s that hunter doing?” she queried indignantly. “Doesn’t he see us?”

“He isn’t a hunter,” he replied gently.

“Who is he, then, and why is he firing at us? And what are you doing with a gun? First you tackle a knife-wielding purse snatcher, and now you’re taking on a shooter like you’re some kind of GI Joe. What’s going on, Luke?”

Sentinel operatives were encouraged to come clean with a package they were guarding if circumstances made it impossible to remain covert. And if there ever was a situation that mandated full disclosure, this was it. But revealing his mission meant taking an irreversible step that was certain to destroy every fragment of trust Brianna had placed in him. That reality scared him more than the bullets whizzing past their heads.

“I swear everything I’ve told you is true,” he began, “but . . .”

She held up a hand, halting him in midsentence, “I’m not sure I want to hear what’s going to come next.”