Bodyguard's Baby Surprise by LISA CHILDS Read Free Book Online Page B

to him like her sons and daughter. But she had that same connection with him that she had with every one of her biological children. Sometimes it felt even stronger than that connection—because of all her children, Nick was the most like her. Somehow they both instinctively knew what other people needed.
    But about their own needs, they were clueless. Nick had no idea what he wanted or needed. And now he might never have the chance to figure it out.

Chapter 5
    N ick’s shoulder throbbed. Maybe he shouldn’t have refused the painkillers the doctor had tried to push on him. But he needed a clear head now. He needed to focus. There were so many voices—all of them talking at the same time in the way that the Payne family conversed. Only he who spoke loudest was heard. Usually that was Logan—especially since they were in the dark-paneled conference room of the Payne Protection Agency and, as he was quick to remind the others, he was CEO.
    But it was Penny Payne’s soft voice that cut through the rest of them. “Quiet down,” she said in that tone of hers that brooked no argument. That was how she had raised four kids on her own after her husband had been killed in the line of duty. “Nick is hurting.”
    â€œThen he should have stayed in the hospital like the doctor told him,” Garek Kozminski said.
    Nick snorted. “Like you ever followed a doctor’s orders.” A few months ago, Garek had checked himself out of the hospital with a hole in his leg. That was worse than a hole in the shoulder. At least Nick’s gunshot wound had been a through-and-through.
    â€œLike he ever follows anyone’s orders,” Logan murmured.
    Garek flashed his brother-in-law-slash-boss a wide grin. That was how he and his brother Milek had become honorary Paynes; their sister had married Logan. “I get the job done.”
    Nick couldn’t argue that. Garek had helped him bring down one of the most dangerous crime bosses in River City—hell, in the country.
    â€œWe need to get this job done now,” Nick said. “We need to make sure Annalise is safe.”
    â€œAnd Nikki,” Logan chimed in.
    Garek’s wife and fellow bodyguard—Candace—was still at the hospital with Annalise and Nikki. Annalise would have collapsed had Nick not caught her in the hallway of the ER. He hadn’t even noticed his shoulder wound then. His concern had been only for her.
    That concern clutched his heart now. But the doctor had convinced Annalise to let him monitor her for a while. And Candace was probably the best of the Payne Protection bodyguards. She wasn’t alone, though. Because of the shooting in the parking garage, the police were involved. Nick had requested his best men—the ones he knew he could trust now—to back up Candace and make sure the man he’d let drive off didn’t come back.
    He silently cursed himself for letting him get away. That guy had been alive and able to talk—unlike his partner, the man Annalise had mistaken for Nick lying on the gurney. Was that why she’d collapsed? Or had that been because of the concussion she’d sustained during the carjacking?
    She and Nikki were also giving their statements to Nick’s best detective and their descriptions of the man who’d gotten away. With all of River City’s finest working the case, they would find him.
    But that wasn’t enough for Nick. He had to make sure Annalise and his half sister were safe. That was why he’d called this Payne family meeting. While he hadn’t been to many of their meetings, it wasn’t the first one he had attended, either. But those other times he’d been on the sidelines, just offering his opinion or his warning.
    His warnings were probably why he wasn’t often asked to the meetings. This one he’d called himself. He wasn’t asking their opinions, though. He already knew what he had to do.
    He