Chapter 2 #3
That shut him up. But Shana felt mean when she saw how miserable Lara looked as she turned from Toly to her.
“Don’t worry, Lara. Safety is most important, but we’ll get the best food, drink and decorations available on the island.
You’ll have a beautiful wedding.” The sensation of a dropping anvil overtook Shana.
It wasn’t smart to make rash promises, and Shana knew with certainty that’s exactly what she’d done.
She’d have to think fast and act faster to pull it off.
But whether Lara got her dream wedding or not, Shana would damn well see to it that this young woman who’d been through so much would survive the threat of Max the Ax.
Lara would not come to harm on her watch—dream wedding or no dream wedding.
“I trust you, Shana. How could I not trust you? You saved my baby for me.” Lara took her in another hug. “I feel safe because of you and Dane. Grandpa was so right to call you and to come here.”
Shana shoved aside the hiccup of guilt at Lara’s words.
“You forget about everything except planning your wedding. I’ll get you the names of some caterers.
We’ll have Beachcomber Investigation’s assistants Sassy and Ronnie call and make the arrangements.
We’ll need to rethink the guest list and invitations.
” Shana’s nerves bubbled past discomfort into near panic trying to think of the logistics of a wedding and protective security all at once.
“Whatever you say.” Lara’s confidence in her unhinged the last bit of Shana’s calm.
The front door banged open then and she snapped into action. Pushing Lara aside behind her, she pulled her pistol, aiming for the entryway.
Dane appeared with Ryan one step behind him.
“Damn poor security around here. You’d have been too late if I were packing an AK 47 Kalashnikov.”
“I ought to shoot just to teach you a lesson for barging in.”
“The door wasn’t locked.”
She scowled at him, her heart still racing. Then she scowled at Viktor, Toly’s bodyguard posted at the entrance. The bodyguard shrugged.
“No one knows we’re here.” She should have locked the door.
He gave her a knowing smirk. He knew she was making excuses. Sometimes she wanted to punch his stupid smirk. Other times—most times—she wanted to kiss him silly. She looked away and tried to calm herself, to bring to mind her Scotland Yard special investigator training.
“Gramp—how are we going to let all the guests know about the new venue for the wedding? It’s only a week away—”
“You leave that to me,” Toly said. “I will have new invitations sent overnight to the entire guest list.”
“Not until we check the list,” Dane said.
“I gave you that list yesterday—have you not checked it yet?”
“Sure—there are two guests we need to have a chat about.”
Toly looked at Dane and then around the room.
Shana moved into the tightening circle with Toly, Dane, and Ryan.
Father Donahue and the two women were talking about the wedding details.
Toly’s bodyguard Pavel stood near the window looking outside and Viktor stood in the entry hall where he could see outside.
Shana felt better about their skills already.
Maybe this wouldn’t be too bad. Maybe they could keep the wedding a secret and pull it off without incident.
“I have a plan to catch the bastards who made the threats,” Dane said.
Shana’s stomach dropped. He flicked a look at her as if he’d sensed her discomfort. He wanted to set a trap. That meant their clients would all be in danger unless she and Dane could successfully pull off whatever dangerous plan he had to capture dangerous people. Kitten killers. She shivered.
“What’s this?” Toly said. “Who said something about capturing the criminals. I am not the police.”
“You know the only way to protect Lara and Paulette is to remove the threat.”
“I like the sound of removing the threat. That is a different matter than catching them.”
Shana waited for Dane to correct the man’s impression that they were out to kill the perpetrators, but she should have known better. He only nodded.
“I need to go to the church and talk to Reverend Hall about setting up security,” she said.
“Take Father Donoghue with you. You might need him to vouch for us.”
“I will make a large donation,” Toly said. “That will be a good voucher.”
That stopped Shana from turning and walking away. “How much?”
“Never mind,” Dane said to her. “He’ll cooperate. You hold sway with him after bailing him out for last year’s Christmas party.”
“How much, Toly?”
“I will donate ten thousand US.” It seemed to be his favorite amount.
She looked at Dane. “I’ll let him know. The church can always use the funds.”
“Don’t forget to tell him we’ll need to set up in the basement.”
“Set up what?” Ryan asked.
“Security.” Dane didn’t elaborate. She knew he liked being mysterious. She smiled and said, “Surveillance. Electronic guard. Weapons—”
“Weapons?”
Dane swept her up in his arm and moved her toward the door. “Never mind.”
He stepped outside with her after a quick check out the window. Viktor stood at his post, eating a pretzel.
She didn’t bother resisting and felt a blip of triumph at inspiring his heavy hand. Two could play at his game of “Let’s see how much we can irritate our partner.”
“What’s so funny?” He walked her all the way to the end of the drive. She hadn’t realized she was grinning. She’d need to walk back to the shack to get the Jeep.
“You’re funny. I enjoy—”
“Undermining me?”
“Irritating you.”
“That’s my job. I’m the chief irritator in this partnership.”
“And when I do it, it’s called undermining?” Her grin proved impossible to control, but she wasn’t expecting him to pull her close with one arm and hold her chin with the other hand. That froze her face so that she hoped his hand didn’t crush her like a china teacup.
“Everything about you undermines me, girlie. You know you’re under my skin.” He stared with his disturbing intensity for a beat then looked away, let her chin go. “But you know the fewer people who know the details about our security, the better.”
She felt the hot shame of her lack of professionalism rise like a volcano until she was sure her face was pink. She hated most when he undid her so far that she lost track of the mission. Pulling from his hold, she said, “You’re right.”
It cost her. But Dane made no comment, no sarcastic shot, not even a grunt of acknowledgement. He walked back inside.
Leaving her feeling vacant. For a moment.
A waft of cool air blew up from the harbor and she jogged down the street to the beach shack and got in the Jeep.
The inside of the old war horse comforted her.
Sitting in the driver seat felt like being held by Dane, with the frayed upholstery, scuffed steering wheel and faded knob on the manual stick shift.
It all somehow added up to something solid, an irrefutable been-there-done-that statement made without being said out loud.
She turned the key, threw the stick into gear and drove back to the big shack to pick up Father Donahue.
Dane was right—again. She could use all the help she could get in convincing Reverend Hall to cooperate.
A little priest-to-minister favor might be what she needed to talk him into turning his church into a potential war zone.
But how the hell were they going to protect all those people from a couple of crazy mean bastards with all the weapons imaginable at their disposal?