“Stop taking your ring off,” Joshua hissed from behind her as they waited for Drake to check the first shop on their list.
She glanced at him over his shoulder. “I didn’t realize I was.”
“We don’t want to have to crawl around on our hands and knees to look for the thing if you lose it.”
He had a teasing note in his voice, but her stomach knotted. Did she want to lose it? Maybe she did subconsciously. She really was upset, more than she’d realized. Drake waved her into the shop and she stepped inside to browse, very aware of heads turning as Joshua and Drake entered with her. There was nothing inconspicuous about them; they weren’t even trying to be. They looked like bodyguards, nothing less. She knew Evan was at the rear entrance and Sean at the front outside.
She couldn’t concentrate to really look at the clothes and barely moved through the racks. She wanted to go home. “I don’t think I’m going to find anything here, maybe I’m just not in the mood.”
“You’ve got a couple more stores, Emma,” Drake said and led the way out. He spoke into his Bluetooth, presumably to call in Evan.
As they went past two stores and moved toward the small dress shop she’d heard about, she caught a glimpse of a pair of shoes. Forgetting, she stopped to turn back. Joshua put a hand on her back, moving her with the team.
“Emma wants to look in that shop,” Joshua said.
It wasn’t on their schedule. Drake had explained about that and how they didn’t like to deviate. She shook her head, flushing bright red. “It’s all right. I just really need a dress right now.” She hated this. How did anyone get used to it?
The next shop yielded nothing and the third shop was closed, which meant they had to cross the street to the little French boutique where Jake had first taken her after Andraya had been born, which was perhaps part of the allure. The designers displayed there were some of her favorites. She found a black, very sophisticated dress with a low V-neck falling into a close-fitting skirt and a daringly bare back cut all the way past the waist, making it impossible to wear a bra. She held it up, hesitating to try it on. It seemed too much trouble.
Drake said nothing to her but walked to the dressing room, looked inside and indicated for her to go in. She didn’t look at the clerk, but followed his unspoken signal and slid into the soft material. It clung to her as if made for her. Fortunately the shop carried other accessories, so it wasn’t difficult to find a lacy black garter belt and high-topped stockings. The shop next door had perfect matching heels, and before she could take the purchases, Drake stepped forward and arranged for a courier to deliver the boxes to the ranch.
Emma fell into step behind Drake, with Sean and Evan on either side of her and Joshua right behind. “It’s sort of like a parade,” she said, glancing around her.
The men were looking out away from her, watching traffic and people, even buildings. She sighed as they approached the stoplight and were forced to halt and wait for the light to turn. She could feel the curious stares, and her fingers slipped to the ring, rolling it around on her finger. She wasn’t cut out for this kind of life. She felt absolutely ridiculous and embarrassed. She was going to have to talk to Jake and make him understand that security was fine for the children and for him, but definitely not for her—not like this. Taking one bodyguard should be enough.
They stepped off the curb and started across the street with the pedestrians flowing around them. They were like a little moving island, she thought. The sound of a motorcycle barely registered when she felt Drake’s hand on her arm, yanking her forward and away from her two side guards. The bike slid straight at Sean’s legs, the helmeted driver leaping off as he laid the bike down in an effort to take out both Sean and Evan like bowling pins. Joshua dragged Evan clear and Sean tried to leap out of the way just as a Mini Cooper bounced over the grass and curb to slide sideways, doors open. A second motorcycle roared through the scattering crowd, heading straight for Emma, the driver stretching out his hand to catch her shoulder, presumably to shove her into the waiting Mini Cooper.
“Down, Emma,” Drake yelled, whirling around to face the new threat.
She dropped and the hand stretching for her missed. Drake was already reaching out, snagging the driver and ripping him off the bike with one hand, spinning him around, using his cat’s strength and shoving the knife he’d pulled deep. Blood sprayed across the ground, including across Emma. He drew his gun, his body crouched over hers, one arm out to cover as much of her as he could as he took aim at the driver of the Mini Cooper. The driver spun the small car in a tight circle, right into the crowd. Drake squeezed the trigger and the windshield spiderwebbed. The Mini Cooper fishtailed down the street, bumped onto a sidewalk and over the grass before coming to a halt.
Chaos erupted around them, people screaming and running, but the team performed as one unit, Joshua drawing and firing, taking out the first driver as their own Cadillac screeched to a halt, blocking the intersection. Evan yanked open the door and Drake all but threw Emma inside, jumping in after her while Evan took the front seat and Sean hobbled to the driver’s-side back seat. They drove off fast, leaving Joshua to deal with the police.
Drake called the incident in, explaining to the dispatcher and then informing Jake they were coming in fast.
“Are you all right, Emma?” Drake asked, his voice gentle.
She nodded her head, but there were tears in her eyes and she refused to look at him. “I don’t understand what happened.” She was shaking, and when he touched her, she jerked away from him. She didn’t know if she wanted to go home anymore. What had been safe and comforting for so long now seemed alien. The men who had been her friends, men she admired and cared for, weren’t at all who she’d thought. “What did they want with me?”
“You’re the only Achilles’ heel Jake has. They’ve never found a way to get to him. And now they have the means to destroy him.”
“Did you kill those men back there?”
“Yes,” he answered curtly. “We don’t miss.”
She swallowed hard and looked up at Sean. “Are you all right?”
“A few bruises, nothing to worry about,” he assured.
Emma pulled her knees up to her chin and sat rocking back and forth, holding herself tightly. Drake put a gentle hand on her shoulder a second time. “I know violence can be shocking, Emma, when you aren’t used to it.”
“It’s crazy,” she answered. “This is so crazy and I don’t even understand why.” She lifted her head and looked at Drake, her eyes swimming with tears. “Do you have any idea how crazy this will make him? Jake will lose his mind over this. He will, Drake, you know him. He isn’t going to wrap his arms around me and say he’ll make it all go away.” A sob escaped and she pressed her face against her knees, shaking her head.
“When a man goes his entire life with nothing, Emma, and then he finds a woman who is his entire world, who is everything to him, he’ll do anything to protect her,” Drake said. “Even if you took that ring off, the one you keep pulling off your finger, it wouldn’t make a difference in how he feels about you. They would still be able to get to him through you.”
“I’m not taking off the ring.” She looked up at him, her gaze fierce. “You just don’t let anything happen to him. I know this party is important and he’s going to insist on going and he’ll tell you that I’m to be your first priority, but you don’t let anything happen to him, Drake. He’ll risk everything for me, I know he will. You don’t have to tell me. That doesn’t make any of this easier to live with, but I’m not walking away from him. I love him. Now they’ve made me angry too.” She rubbed her chin on the tops of her knees, her fists clenched, tears still falling. “Don’t you let anything happen to him.”
Jake was waiting, pacing back and forth, as the Cadillac pulled up to the house. “What the fuck happened, Drake?”