The Bodyguard

The chapel doors were flung wide. Seconds later, a bride and groom appeared. Frankie took in the bridal gown, yards and yards of creamy silk encrusted with glittering crystals and gleaming pearls. A headdress rose from the bride’s pale hair like a frothy crown trailed by an endless swath of pearl-dotted tulle. For a disconcerting moment Frankie felt she’d made a horrible mistake. No way could Penny have come up with a dress like that on such short notice. But no, that was Penny, looking radiant. She seemed to glow.

Frankie felt certain the top of her head was about to blow off.

Penny’s smile switched off like a blown lightbulb. Next to her, slick as an oil spill, Julius Bannerman clutched his bride’s elbow. He smiled greasily at Frankie.

Frankie knew McKennon always carried a sidearm, and wondered if she could get it away from him. Spending the rest of her life in prison seemed a paltry price to pay in order to rid the world of Julius Bannerman.

Behind the bride and groom, the Duke family gathered. Aunt Elise and her children, Janine, Kara and Ross and his wife, Dawn, were dressed in full finery, a further indication that this wedding had been no mere impulse. The Dukes—traitors all!—had helped Penny.

“I do not believe this,” she said, each word clipped.

Aunt Elise hurried to the fore. Arms outstretched, she skipped down the steps toward Frankie.

“Francine, dear! I am so glad you were able to return home from Europe. Penny said—”

Frankie threw up her hands, backing away from her aunt. “I never went to Europe. I can barely afford the gas to get up here.” Unable to take her eyes off her sister, she shoved her fists in her pockets.

“What diff does it make, now?” Julius said. “We’re sister and brother. Isn’t that peachy? Welcome to the family, Frankie darling.” Full of false cheer, each note rasped across Frankie’s nerves like sandpaper. Julius’s Adam’s apple bobbed in a convulsive swallow. “Aren’t you happy for us? Now that you’re here, we can all celebrate in proper good form, what hey?”

Penny snuggled closer to her new husband. Her face had lost what little color it possessed, but her eyes glinted with pure rebellion. “Go away, Frankie. I’m married and there’s nothing you can do about it. Stop trying to ruin my life.”

The words struck with the force of a punch. Frankie opened her mouth, but air refused to move past her throat. For the past eleven years she’d sacrificed everything for Penny. Loved her, mothered her and nurtured her. Now Penny accused her of trying to ruin her?

The Colonel reached for Frankie’s arm. She twisted out of his reach. Disgusted and heartsick, she trudged toward the parking lot. She heard Penny say, “Let her go, Aunt Elise! I don’t want her wrecking my wedding day.” The words stung like an arrow piercing her back.

“Frankie!”

At the sound of her cousin’s voice, she stopped and turned. “How could you do this to me, Ross? How could all of you do it?”

Ross Duke placed a hand on her shoulder. His brow and mouth twisted with confusion. She hadn’t seen him since his sister’s wedding last summer. He was the hell-raiser of the Duke clan—or had been up until the day he’d married Dawn. He’d always been her favorite cousin, but at the moment she wanted to punch out his lights.

“What’s going on? Penny said you were in Europe and couldn’t get back in time.” He huffed, exhaling a long, white cloud. “You’re opposed to the wedding, I take it.”

“I can’t believe that little brat sneaked around behind my back like this.” In frustration, she shoved at his shoulder. “I can’t believe your mom and dad went along with it! She’s only nineteen.”

He shrugged, showing his palms. “She’s an adult. Besides, Julius seems okay. He’s kind of a wimp, but he’s harmless enough.”

Frankie wanted to howl. “You, of all people, should be able to see right through him.” She held up a hand and ticked off a finger. “One, he’s forty-three years old. He’s old enough to be her father.” She ticked off a second finger. “Two, he’s been married three, five, maybe six times already. Not one of those marriages lasted more than a year.” She shoved at his shoulder again. “He’s a stinking drunk and probably does drugs, and God only knows what kind of diseases he’s picked up from all the women he runs around with.”

Frankie clamped her mouth shut before she spilled the part about how Max had dumped her so he could marry Julius’s mother. The only redeeming factor of the entire affair was that she hadn’t told the Dukes about her engagement to Max. She was in no mood now to rehash the nasty details.

Ross raised an eyebrow. “Oh.”

“Didn’t it give you a clue when Penny said I couldn’t make the wedding? God, Ross, I’ve devoted my whole life to her. I’m working my butt off to keep her in college. If I thought for one second she was making a good marriage, a herd of polar bears couldn’t keep me away.”

“Oh.” He looked as guilt-stricken as a puppy caught chewing shoes.

She idly kicked clots of snow. “She told me, she promised me she wouldn’t see him anymore. But she dropped out of college and didn’t even tell me. She’s been living with him.”

“I—we didn’t know. I only learned about the wedding last week.”

She glanced at the limo, which still idled on the other side of the parking lot. “She’s been planning this a lot longer than a week.”

“What can I say?”

Unable to bear looking at him one more second, she hurried to her car. Once inside, with the door locked, she rested her face against the steering wheel.

“Damn you, Penny,” she muttered. Their mother had wrested a deathbed promise from her eldest child: take care of Penny. She’d prevailed against the social-services bureaucrats who had stated that since she was only nineteen years old she couldn’t handle the guardianship of an eight-year-old. She’d gone to war and won, when her father’s ne’er-do-well relatives had learned Virginia Forrest had left a sizable insurance policy for the care and education of her daughters. She’d given up her dreams of attending medical school. She’d given up the university and a social life in order to mother Penny full-time.

She drew in several long, soothing breaths then fished her car keys from her pocket. She’d given it her best shot, tried to save Penny from making a horrible mistake, and in gratitude received a kick in the teeth. She fumbled with the keys, but her fingers were stiff from the cold. She dropped the keys on her lap and slammed the heels of both hands against the steering wheel.

Leave, she told herself. Drive away, forget this mess and wait a few weeks until Penny came crawling in search of forgiveness. She kept envisioning that look on Penny’s face, kept hearing the accusation that Frankie tried to ruin her life. She rested her face against the wheel again.

Irony tweaked her. Because of Penny, she’d gone to work for Max Caulfield. He owned the largest private security firm in the state of Colorado. He’d offered health insurance and flexible hours—benefits her age, experience and schooling hadn’t warranted. She’d started work as a researcher and gofer, which meant she could do some of her work at home so she could be there when Penny got out of school. Max had taken her under his wing, praising her intelligence and affinity for details. When graphology became popular as a useful tool in hiring employees, he’d paid for Frankie’s education in the field. To her delight she discovered that handwriting analysis was something she was good at. She’d made a lot of money for Max by helping his clients weed out dishonest employees.

In her wildest dreams Frankie had never thought she’d fall for her boss—or that he’d fall for her. Her worst nightmares had failed to prepare her for the Bannermans. Belinda and Julius, mother and son, two of the most greedy, self-serving people on earth. Max had fallen in love with Belinda’s vast wealth. Julius had taken one look at Penny and put her on his list of amusing little conquests.

Her life had been in the toilet ever since.

She opened one eye and peered at the dashboard clock. If she hurried, she’d make it to work on time.

Soft tapping on the window startled her. She jerked up her head. McKennon had removed the sunglasses.

She rolled down the window. He had unusual eyes, like emeralds shot with gold—bright and piercing against his dark face. Frankie couldn’t recall ever seeing him look so concerned. Her throat choked up.

“My apologies, Miss Forrest. It wasn’t my intention to get rough with you. But I had my orders.”

“Stick your orders where the sun doesn’t shine. I don’t need your apology.” She sniffed and groped through the mess on the front seat for a tissue. “Or your pity.”

A hank of thick hair had fallen over his forehead, softening somewhat the hard angles of his face. His sympathy embarrassed her. She’d never been particularly nice to him. When they worked together she’d been a tad jealous of his close relationship to Max. Even more, she hadn’t liked the effect he had on her. Any man who, through simple actions such as holding a door or offering a cup of coffee, could make her insides turn mushy had to have something seriously wrong with him. She hated the way he invaded her more sensuous dreams. She was a one-man woman and wasn’t about to let a hulking mercenary turn her head. Sarcasm and thinly veiled insults had always kept him at bay before.

At the moment all she could do was miserably return his gaze and wish somebody, even McKennon, would hold her and assure her that everything would be all right.

“Want to talk?” he asked.

His compassion annoyed her. He had no right to feel sorry for her. He certainly had no right trying to make her feel better.

“Julius is your brother-in-law now. If you’re going to have a relationship with Penny you need to be polite to him.”

She fumbled the key into the ignition. “Thank you very much for the advice, McKennon. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go home.”

He laid a gloved hand on her parka sleeve. “You’ll lose her.”

Damn him to hell and back for being right. Penny was as prideful as Frankie. “She could have at least finished college.”

“She has to make her own mistakes.”

In the rearview mirror she glimpsed approaching figures. Her cousins walked in a knot, all of them looking at Frankie’s car. She loved her cousins, but at the moment she wished a spaceship would swoop down and abduct the lot of them. She shoved McKennon’s hand away and exited the car. She searched the path for any sign of Penny.