BRIDAL JEOPARDY (19 page)

Chapter Twenty

“We have to make a run for it, but wait until I throw more fireworks,” Craig shouted, opening the driver’s door and ducking behind it as he set off two more cones and lobbed them behind him.

Reynard leaped out of the smoke, murder in his eyes as he raised his gun at Craig.

Before he could fire, Craig heard the crack of a pistol.

Reynard’s eyes took on a look of shock as he went down. When Craig turned his head, he saw Stephanie had shot the man.

She gasped as she stared at her former fiancé.

“I had to do it.”

“Thanks for saving my life.”

They both crouched low, running forward as the gun battle raged behind them, but there was still a guard at the gate.

“Halt or I’ll shoot.”

“I’m trying to get Miss Stephanie out of the line of fire,” Craig shouted back.

“The hell you are.” He gestured toward the uproar in back of them. “I think you caused whatever’s going on back there.”

“No,” Craig denied, but the man advanced on them, gun drawn.

“Drop your weapons.”

With no choice, Craig and Stephanie dropped their guns. They had gotten this far, but they were still inside the compound.

The man held the pistol on them, using his walkie-talkie to call the other stations.

“What’s going on back there?” he asked.

Static crackled on the line.

“Intruder came in to kidnap the bride. Fox is down. Repeat, Fox is down.”

Fox must be the code name for Reynard, Craig thought.

Be ready to drop,
he said to Stephanie. He knew she had picked up on what he was doing and was getting ready to send him power, but she stayed on her feet.

Craig had dropped his gun, but he still had the lighter in his hand. While the guard was distracted by the walkie-talkie message, Craig flicked the lighter on, using his mind to shoot out a tongue of flame toward the guard. When the man screamed and jumped back, Craig ducked low and rushed him, plowing his head into the guy’s middle and bringing him down.

As they grappled for the weapon, Stephanie rushed in and kicked the guy in the head, stunning him.

Craig grabbed the gun and slammed it into the guard’s face. As he and Stephanie started for the gate, he saw two figures had emerged from the wood, a man and a woman, advancing slowly.

Hurry,
the woman shouted inside his head.

He and Stephanie picked up speed, but he heard running feet behind them. Guards who had escaped the gun battle were closing in.

As they pelted toward freedom, a bullet whizzed past his head, apparently shot from too far away for accuracy.

The woman raised her hand, lightning crackling at her fingertips. She sent it flying toward the cameras at the guard post. They sizzled and exploded, hopefully wiping out a visual of what had happened at the gate.

Power, give me power,
the woman shouted inside his head.

Craig wasn’t sure what he was doing, but both he and Stephanie tried their best to send her additional energy, just as they had done with each other.

When he heard roaring, crackling noises, he turned his head and saw a wall of flame erupt, creating a barrier between them and the advancing guards.

Shouts of fear and curses of anger reached him, but none of the bullets were getting through.

You can’t keep that up forever. Let’s get the hell out of here.
This time it was the man speaking.

As the fire burned behind them, the man grabbed the woman’s arm and pulled her away. Craig and Stephanie followed.

The four of them raced into the woods, then into a clearing where a four-wheel-drive SUV sat. The man and woman climbed in front, with the man behind the wheel. Craig and Stephanie climbed in the back.

Before they’d clicked their seat belts, he took off, jouncing along a dirt road. The ride smoothed out as they came out onto a two-lane highway.

In the backseat, Craig pulled Stephanie close and slung his arm around her shoulder, still trying to process everything that had happened.

“You’re like us,” he breathed, speaking to the people in the front seat.

“Yeah,” the man answered.

“Thanks for showing up.”

“We couldn’t leave you in danger,” the woman said as she turned around. “We haven’t officially met. I’m Rachel Harper, and this is my husband, Jake.”

“Again, thanks,” Stephanie said.

“Who was after you?” Rachel asked. “I mean besides John Reynard’s men.”

“I don’t know, exactly,” Craig said. “But I think it had something to do with the Solomon Clinic, since they apparently knew to show up in Houma.”

Jake Harper cursed and glanced at his wife. “I thought we were done with that.”

“Why?” Stephanie asked.

“Dr. Solomon is dead. And so is Bill Wellington, who funded the project through a Washington think tank. That should have laid the past to rest. But it appears that someone is still hunting us.”

“It looks like it,” she murmured.

“Why are they doing it? What do they want?” Stephanie asked.

“The Howell Institute fronted the money for a lot of pie-in-the-sky projects for the Defense Department and other agencies. Solomon convinced them he could create superintelligent children by manipulating fertilized eggs.”

“So his clinic was a source of the eggs.”

“Exactly. And when the kids turned out to have normal intelligence, Wellington shut the project down.”

“Why isn’t that the end of it?”

“Because of what we are,” Jake answered. “We’ve got powers they don’t understand. Which makes us a threat, or maybe an asset that someone can exploit.”

Stephanie shuddered.

“One good thing about the situation—whoever was stalking you sent an invasion force to the wedding.”

“Why is that good?” Craig asked.

“Because they took out a lot of the guards, and the guests saw the battle. They know the invaders are responsible for anything bad that happened.”

“Like Reynard’s death,” Stephanie murmured.

“Exactly,” Craig said.

“But that’s the only upside. Until we figure out who is after us this time, I think it’s best if you stay at the Lafayette plantation.”

“You have a plantation?” Stephanie asked.

“It actually belongs to Gabriella Bordeaux. She and Luke Buckley are also products of the clinic. They were on the run, too. And hooked up with us.”

As they drove west, Stephanie slumped against Craig.

We don’t know what happened back at Reynard’s estate. I don’t even know if my father is all right.

He is. I saw him duck under a table.

Well, he got what he wanted. Reynard paid his debts, and I didn’t have to marry the man.

She let her head drop to Craig’s shoulder, and he held her close, marveling that she was in his arms and the two of them were finally safe.

Rachel broke into their silent conversation.

“The plantation’s a good place for you to hide out—until we get the mess straightened out.”

“You think we can?”

“Yes,” she answered with conviction. “And I hope you want to join us in our group defense efforts.”

“Of course,” Craig said. “What you did back there was pretty impressive. How did you do that trick with the lightning bolt?”

“It’s not difficult. We can teach you.” She huffed out a breath. “I’m sorry we didn’t come to help you sooner, but we had to be sure about you.”

“About our being children from the clinic?”

In the driver’s seat, Jake made a wry sound. “No. That part was pretty obvious. She means sure that you were friendly. The first people we met from the clinic tried to kill us.”

Stephanie gasped. “Why?”

“They thought they were the only ones with our kind of mental powers, and they couldn’t stand the idea of anyone else having them.”

“Nice,” Craig answered.

“You were a twin?” Rachel asked Craig.

“Yes. My brother, Sam, and I must have developed powers together right from the beginning. When he was killed, I thought I’d never find that again.” He pulled Stephanie closer as he spoke. “Then I found Stephanie and discovered there was more than what Sam and I had shared.”

As they drove to Lafayette, Jake and Rachel told them about the plantation. And they spoke about the clinic.

“Right now, the two of you probably want to decompress,” Jake said.

“There are guest cottages on the grounds,” Rachel said. “You can have one.”

Craig was still feeling dazed as they pulled onto the Lafayette plantation property. He blinked when he saw the sign for Chez Gabriella.

“She was a pastry chef in New Orleans,” Jake explained. “She’s funding the plantation with this restaurant in the main house—where she grew up. But it’s only open on the weekends. That gives us the run of the place the rest of the time. We’re going to move the housing farther from the restaurant, but we haven’t gotten around to it.”

When he pulled up in front of a semicircle of cottages, another man and woman came walking down from the main house.

“Gabriella and Luke,” Jake said.

They climbed out, and the newcomers hurried forward.

Jake made the introductions.

“It’s so great to meet you. We wanted to come along, but Jake said we needed to stay here,” Gabriella said.

They all shook hands, and Craig cleared his throat. “Try to imagine me with hair. I shaved my head for a disguise.”

“We’ll wait for the real you to emerge,” Stephanie said. “Trust me, he’s a handsome guy. And twenty pounds lighter than he looks.”

“There’s so much to tell you,” Gabriella said, “but I know the two of you want some alone time.”

“The restaurant’s closed today, but I’m cooking for us. Come over around seven and we’ll all have dinner.”

“Thank you so much,” Craig answered.

Gabriella showed them to one of the cottages. They stepped inside, and Craig had only a vague impression of antique furnishings because he was too focused on Stephanie to notice anything else. He reached for her and folded her into his arms. They hugged each other fiercely, both of them hardly able to believe that they’d escaped from Reynard’s compound.

“Thank God you got there,” Stephanie murmured.

“Thank God you kept your head and helped me.”

He cut off the conversation by lowering his mouth to hers for a kiss that spoke of all the powerful emotions surging through him.

You were alone for so long. You never have to be again.

I have you.

And you showed me what it is to have a partner who is everything two people can be to each other—and more.

It’s just sinking in how much danger you put yourself in—for me.

For us.

I had to. You know I had to. And it worked out.

When they finally came up for air, she ran her hands up and down his arms, over his back, and he knew she was reassuring herself by the contact with his strong body.

“This place must have a bedroom.”

“I hope so.”

Linking his hand with hers, he led her into the next room and stepped far enough away to look at her outfit.

“How could you put on a halter top and shorts under your wedding gown?”

She laughed. “I did it while Claire was out of the room. I knew I couldn’t run very far in that gown.”

“You looked so beautiful, and then you ripped the dress apart.”

“We’ll get another one—for us.”

He laughed. “Is that a proposal?”

When she flushed, he kissed her.
I’m just teasing. You know I want the same thing you do.

He untied the halter.
Convenient. No bra.

His eyes were warm as he looked at her.

She reached for the buttons of his shirt, then found another layer underneath—and another. “Not so convenient.”

He helped her unbutton the shirts and shrugged out of them.

She ran her hand across his broad chest, winnowing her fingers through the crinkly hair she found there.

He sighed and pulled her close, swaying her breasts against his chest.

His mouth came back to her, his tongue playing with the seam of her lips. She opened for him, closing her eyes as he deepened the kiss while he cupped her breasts in his hands and slid his thumbs over the taut peaks, wringing a glad cry from her.

* * *

J
OY
SURGED
THROUGH
S
TEPHANIE
.
She was free to be with Craig now, and that thought sent hot, needy sensations curling through her body.

He unbuttoned her shorts and lowered the zipper, pushing the garment down her legs, along with her panties, so he could touch her intimately, sending heat pounding through her.

He had brought her to climax the night before. Now she needed more. And she needed to return the pleasure he had given her.

She pulled back the covers, bringing him down to the surface of the bed with her, clasping him to her before rising up and trailing kisses along his body, moving ever downward, knowing he was tensing with anticipation. And when she found his erection with her mouth and closed around him, she felt his pleasure zinging through her.

He didn’t have to tell her when to stop. She knew. And she knew when to straddle his body and bring him inside her.

She was dizzy with desire. And she knew he was, too.

She had kept things slow. Now an explosion of need had her moving in a frantic rhythm that sent them both flying off into space.

When she came down to earth, he was there to catch her.

Emotions flooded through her as they looked at each other.

“This is so much more than I ever expected from my life. Oh, Craig, I love you so much.”

“I love you. And I’m going to make sure nobody can snatch you away from me.”

“You think we’re still in danger?” she breathed.

“I think we have to stay hidden until we find out who was after us.” He dragged in a breath and let it out. “I came to New Orleans to punish my brother’s killer, because I thought that satisfaction was all I could expect. Then I met you, and I knew that there was so much more.”