Wyatt (7 Brides for 7 Soldiers #4) Read online

  Until she wasn’t there anymore. Until Joshua Kingsley had gotten to her.

  “I let him get you. I’m sorry.”

  “You couldn’t know. You had to take care of Mary Beth. Is she…” She swallowed. “What happened?”

  “She’s at the hospital. She was stable when they took her.”

  Paige closed her eyes. “Thank God.”

  Yes, thank God was right.

  There was nothing else he could say at that moment because a police cruiser came roaring up, blue lights blazing bright. Lieutenant Michael Stonecipher climbed out. Another cruiser arrived, and the police started clearing the gathering crowd. A fire truck burst onto the scene and blasted the burning Jeep with water. It hissed like a demon before subsiding just as the ambulance screeched up. Paramedics piled from the interior with their bags and gurneys.

  “Don’t leave me,” Paige gasped as the paramedics swarmed.

  “I won’t,” Wyatt said, gripping her hand. “I promise I won’t.”

  And he wouldn’t. Not ever again.

  Paige woke in a strange place. It took her a moment, listening to the beeps and whirrs, before she remembered being lifted onto a gurney and slipped into the back of an ambulance. Wyatt had been with her, but now…?

  She tried to sit up, groaning as pain radiated through her limbs. Firm hands pushed gently on her shoulders.

  “Don’t move, baby. You’re going to be sore for a while.”

  She blinked up at the face hovering over her. “Wyatt?”

  “Yeah, it’s me.”

  The smile he gave her was tired and maybe a little uncertain. Her heart dropped. Not for herself, though she felt like hell, but for Mary Beth. Because that’s the only reason he’d be upset, right?

  “Mary Beth?” she croaked.

  He reached for a giant lidded cup with a straw. “You thirsty?”

  “Yes.”

  She lifted her head and he guided the straw to her lips so she could drink.

  “Mary Beth,” she said a moment later, her throat moist again. “How is she?”

  Wyatt threaded his fingers in hers and squeezed. “She’s going to be okay. It wasn’t a heart attack at all. Her blood sugar got too low and she didn’t realize it. The doc explained to me that it happens to diabetics sometimes. They don’t know it’s happening because they don’t feel anything until it hits. She’s lucky we were there. We got her help fast, and that’s probably what saved her life. If she’d gone into a diabetic coma at home alone… well, that wouldn’t have been good.”

  Relief washed through her. She was already weak from whatever drugs they were giving her, but the relief intensified the effect. Thank God Mary Beth was well.

  Wyatt brought her hand to his mouth and pressed his lips there. “I’m sorry I didn’t protect you better.”

  “It wasn’t your fault, Wyatt.” Stubborn man! How many times did she have to tell him? “You did everything you could—and you helped me find out who was stalking me in the first place. Without you, who knows what might have happened?”

  His eyes gleamed in the low light of the room. “You don’t really believe that, do you? I screwed up when I turned my back on you—no, I screwed up when I failed to get you out of there when you thought you saw him earlier. Because you did see him.”

  Paige thought back to that moment, that flash in the crowd. It had happened so fast that she’d convinced herself she was wrong. Logically, she’d had to be. That’s what she’d thought anyway.

  “I didn’t know what I saw. And I’ve been on edge since I identified him, so I thought I was being paranoid.” She closed her eyes. “What happened? I still don’t quite know how you got there, or how I fell. And then the click—what was that?”

  Wyatt took a deep breath, let it out. He shoved a hand through his hair. He did not let go of her hand.

  “As soon as I knew you were missing, I started looking for you. It was Hildie Fontana who pointed me in the right direction. She called me and told me she’d just seen you and you didn’t look right. She was following you, Paige. She told me where to go, and I did.”

  Paige couldn’t believe it. But the next time she saw Hildie, she was giving the woman a giant hug. And buying something hugely expensive from her shop.

  “As for your fall… I’m sorry, but that’s my fault too. I had to act before Kingsley realized I was there. When I grabbed him, it took you off-balance too.”

  His fingers skimmed over her cheek. It felt funny, so she reached up and discovered the tape there. Tape for her injuries.

  “You’ll have some scarring,” he said. “But it will fade in a few months, according to the doctor. The cuts aren’t severe.”

  Scarring? She gulped. But hey, she was alive, and she owed that to Wyatt and Hildie apparently. That was far more important than scarring. She’d deal with that when it happened.

  “What about the click?”

  “Do you remember the explosion?”

  Paige searched her memory, but it wouldn’t come. She remembered everything up to the click. Then she remembered being put into the ambulance with Wyatt at her side.

  “No.”

  Wyatt squeezed her hand again. “The click was a bomb, honey. Joshua Kingsley had wired a bomb to his Jeep. I don’t know what he meant to do—maybe he intended to kill you both should the cops catch up to him.”

  Horror filled her. “A bomb?”

  “It didn’t detonate right away. I told you to run, and you did. But you were caught in the blast and thrown into the air. You landed on a car. You didn’t break anything, but you’re going to be sore for a good long while.”

  “I landed on a car? How did you survive? And what about Joshua?”

  “I dived behind a cement planter. The blast wasn’t a very strong one, but strong enough to throw you. A piece of shrapnel lodged into Joshua Kingsley’s throat—he didn’t survive.”

  Paige could hardly process it all. There’d been a bomb. She’d been thrown into the air. Joshua Kingsley was dead. But Wyatt was here and he was alive. Mary Beth was going to be well. A tear leaked down her cheek. Wyatt wiped it away.

  “I’m not crying about him,” she whispered.

  “I know.”

  “I’m just relieved—that you’re okay, that Mary Beth is recovering, that I’m alive.”

  “Yeah, it’s been a helluva night. But we’re all going to be okay.”

  “I’m not going back to Seattle tomorrow,” she said firmly. Because she loved this man, and she was going to stay here and fight for him. She’d figure out the rest later. Somehow she’d make him see that he had to give them a chance.

  “No, you aren’t ready to go anywhere.”

  She squeezed his hand. “That’s not what I mean, Wyatt. I mean I’m not going, not until you and I have a long talk about some things.”

  “What kind of things?”

  He regarded her with what might be amusement, but she wasn’t certain. She gulped down her fear and decided to put it all out there. Heart on the line. Go for it. It’s what successful people did—they fought for what they wanted.

  “Us. You and me.”

  “And Mr. Fluffypants?”

  She blinked. “Well, yes. He’s part of the deal.”

  “I’m going to save you the trouble, Paige. We’re going to figure it out, because there is definitely an us. I can’t leave Eagle’s Ridge, not permanently—especially not now that Gran has had an episode—but I can fly to Seattle for a few days from time to time. And you can fly here. We’ll figure it out.”

  Her heart monitor began to beep more frequently as her heart rate increased.

  “What are you saying, Wyatt?”

  “I’m saying I want to be with you. That I’m crazy for you. That when I thought I’d lost you, I felt the kind of soul-crushing despair I’d never felt before. You rock my world, Paige Spencer. You and your ridiculous feline. I love being with you, talking with you. I’ve told you things I never told anyone—and you made me think about it in a diffe
rent way than I have before. I can’t imagine letting you go without telling you these things. Without telling you that I think I’m in love with you.”

  Joy swelled inside her. “I think I’m in love with you too.”

  His smile was broad. It lit her world. “Then I think we’re going to have to figure this love thing out together, don’t you?”

  One month later…

  “Babe, have you seen my sock?”

  Paige looked up from her computer. “Sock? You’re missing a sock?”

  “Yeah,” Wyatt said. “I put a pair on the bed for when I got out of the shower. One’s missing.”

  She screwed up her pretty lips. He loved that look. It was her serious thinking look. “Oh my goodness,” she said, jumping to her feet and rushing toward the laundry room.

  Wyatt padded after her, curious. When he reached the room, she was bent down and staring into the cat’s litter box. Wyatt began to get a bad feeling about the fate of his sock.

  “The little bastard buried it, didn’t he?”

  Paige spun as she stood. Her hand popped over her mouth. He didn’t miss the giggle she tried to hide. “I’m afraid he did,” she finally said.

  Wyatt dropped his head even as he shook it. “That cat hates me.”

  Paige rushed over and put her arms around his waist. His groin began to perk up at the close proximity of her lush body.

  “He doesn’t, I promise! He’s just mischievous. He’s testing you.”

  “He’s been testing me since he met me.”

  “Yes, but he’s never crapped in your bed again, has he?”

  “No, but that’s because we sleep together. And he loves you.”

  Paige laughed. He pretended to be insulted, but he really wasn’t. He loved her laugh.

  “He’ll settle down soon, I promise. So long as you don’t let him chase you away.”

  “Let a rat bastard of a cat keep me from you? No, not happening.” He held her loosely. His groin was definitely showing signs of interest now. And she would soon know it.

  “Oh my,” she said after a couple more seconds. “Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you happy to see me?”

  “Always happy to see you.” He dipped his lips to her throat, dragged in the sweet scent of her as he kissed her skin. “Always happy to taste you.”

  Her arms looped around his neck. “Did you forget you were showering because we have dinner plans with Mary Beth?”

  Shit.

  “No, of course not.” He sighed and took a step back. “Guess I’d better find another pair of socks.”

  “Guess so.”

  She followed him to the bedroom where he dug in the dresser for socks. They didn’t live far from Gran, but they still had to pick her up. And they had reservations at Blue Moon.

  They were celebrating a few things. First, Paige’s partnership with Claudia over at the boutique. Paige had bought the building from the owner, and she’d been helping Claudia redesign the store and order in merchandise, including some of her own designs. Poor Claudia had been beside herself when she realized it was her excited post about meeting Paige on a fan board for American Princess that had helped Joshua Kingsley find her. She’d cried so hard that Paige had hugged her tight and told her it wasn’t her fault.

  Wyatt had been angry, but he’d had to reluctantly agree. Claudia was a sweet soul, and she hadn’t thought she was doing wrong. She’d never mentioned that Paige was in Eagle’s Ridge, but Claudia’s profile indicated where she lived. Kingsley followed the boards for information about Paige, and he’d lucked onto the post. He’d put two and two together and headed for Eagle’s Ridge.

  American Princess had been canceled, but Paige swore she didn’t want to return to it anyway. She’d started her video channel, and she was getting interest from viewers. Eventually she’d build her brand into the juggernaut she wanted it to be. He had complete faith in her.

  The other thing they were celebrating was his new security firm, Chandler Protective Services. He’d recruited a couple of guys from his military days, and they’d signed on to protect Greg Spencer and some of his corporate managers when they showed up for a business trip next week. He’d also gotten interest for public events, like the upcoming Fall Bash.

  The last thing they were celebrating was Gran’s continued good health. Since her episode on July Fourth, she’d been hypervigilant about checking her blood sugar. Wyatt hadn’t wanted to let her move back home alone, but she’d insisted. She’d promised him she wouldn’t let an episode like that one happen again. She’d been so wrapped up in the parade and the celebration that she hadn’t eaten enough. When her blood sugar dropped, she didn’t notice the signs until it was too late.

  But now she was on guard, and the doctor had given her a prescription for something in case she felt like it was happening again. Wyatt had intended to stay in the apartment over the garage for a while longer. Paige had been completely on board.

  Gran had refused. She said that a couple nurturing a new romance didn’t need to live with an old lady. And then she’d said she didn’t want to hear any noises coming from the bedroom.

  Wyatt had actually blushed over that one, but Paige had laughed and said no problem, they’d find a place close by. And they had. A cute little rental house a street over. Eventually they’d look for a more permanent place—but not until he was certain Gran was going to be fine.

  Wyatt put on his socks, shoved on his shoes—dress shoes, which he didn’t much like—and spread his arms. “Work for you?”

  “Baby, everything about you works for me,” Paige said.

  “Careful with those eyes, or we’ll be late.”

  She snorted. “Can’t control yourself?”

  “Not when you look at me like that.” He let his gaze slide down the little black dress she wore. She had those high heels with the red bottoms on again. He loved the way they made her legs look. He really loved it when she kept them on and wrapped her legs around his waist. “Better get out to the car, Paige. Or I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

  She laughed and dashed toward the door. He followed. He could catch her, but he let himself enjoy her ass instead. Still, when they got outside and she stood beside the truck, waiting for him to unlock it, he pressed her against the door and kissed her hotly.

  “I love you,” he growled against her lips.

  “I know,” she said, lifting her arms around his neck. “Best thing that ever happened to me, by the way.”

  “Nah,” he told her very seriously. “The best is yet to come.”

  And it was. Life with Paige was more exciting and satisfying than he’d ever dreamed. He couldn’t wait to see what came next…

  THANK YOU!

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  Please turn the page to read an excerpt from JACK!

  Excerpt from JACK
r />   Former Marine Jack Carter has left Afghanistan behind, but after a close encounter with a suicide bomber, he now battles a hidden enemy. Ashamed that he succumbs to heart-stopping panic attacks, he refuses to leave his house and makes excuses for failing to meet up with his best friends. He’s got the perfect set up—his job allows him to work from home, he hires out the dog walking and grocery shopping and he has subscribed to a meal delivery service that comes complete with a cook. Jack expected a lunch lady, but he gets Whitney. She’s bubbly, she’s way too chatty, and his dog loves her more than him. But he forgives her all of that because she’s sexy as hell and a bright spot in an otherwise lonely day.

  Whitney Baldwin has been groomed to follow a long line of highly successful lawyers into an equally successful family law firm, but she’d rather bake a cake than read a tort. Her dream is to open her own patisserie. To say her father is disappointed in her career path is an understatement—if she can’t pull this off, she’ll have to head home with her tail between her legs. In a last bid to make her dream a reality Whitney accepts a job with Dinner Magic and lands an insanely handsome client in Jack Carter. His crazy good looks captivate her, but it's something about his hyper-awareness of her combined with a vulnerability that is an irresistible recipe.

  The smoldering attraction between Jack and Whitney quickly turns molten. But when he makes an important promise that he can’t keep, Whitney can’t fathom how this relationship is going to work. Will Jack ever be able to conquer his worst fears for true love?

  Face your panic. Was he panicking? No, he wasn’t panicking, he was just…worrying. He was worrying that he was making an ass of himself right now. He’d lost his panache. Dropped it in a parking lot, left it on a plane, shot it up in Afghanistan.

  “A bakery,” he blurted. It was neither a statement nor a question.