As they emerged from the hall to a bank of paparazzi, Nick wasn’t even with it enough to feel the usual annoyance. If he was honest he was feeling a little shell-shocked. Goodie had systematically charmed every foreign diplomat they had yet to get on board with cold fusion. She was incredible. He frowned as he noticed her leaning more heavily on him, her limp more pronounced now; it had been a long evening.
‘You’re not going to be happy if I pick you up in front of the cameras are you?’ he whispered into his ear.
‘Try it, Posh Boy, and I will cut your balls off with a spoon,’ she said out of the side of her mouth, which was stretched into a forced smile. Just as Nick had started to laugh a shot rang out across the street.
‘Goodie!’ he shouted as she was torn away from him and he was swamped by his security team. He looked on in horror as she was shuffled to the side of the concourse, nearly going down without the support of her stick. His team began pushing him towards his waiting limousine. ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ he shouted as they tried to push him inside. ‘Don’t leave her behind, you pricks.’
Nick was strong and he was big; even the three large men grappling with him couldn’t force him into the car. Just as he was about to break free and go to her he saw a look of determination cross Geoff’s face. The bastard drew his fist back, then let it fly to deliver a forceful blow into Nick’s abdomen, causing him to double over and enabling the other men to shove him onto the backseat and slam the door in his face. Geoff jumped into the other side of the limo as Nick was still gasping for breath. Nick heard another of the men bang on the roof twice and the car shot forward onto the road.
‘What the … ugh …’ Nick forced himself upright. ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ he roared once he could breath again.
‘This is all protocol, sir,’ Geoff said calmly. Nick’s control snapped and he punched Geoff in the face. Geoff’s head snapped back with the force of the blow, which Nick found intensely satisfying until Geoff straightened, rubbed his jaw for a moment and gave a long-suffering sigh.
‘Protocol my arse!’ Nick shouted, banging on the divider between them and his driver. ‘Go back and get her for Christ’s sake.’ Geoff’s phone rang and he answered it, nodding a couple of times.
‘Right, yes. No worries. See you back at base.’ He ended the call and turned to Nick. ‘She’s safe.’ Nick closed his eyes in relief. ‘It was a false alarm: a kid letting off a banger on the pavement. Nothing to worry about. Goodie’s in a taxi behind us.’
‘Okay,’ Nick said slowly, his relief being overtaken with fury. ‘I’m glad she’s safe. Now would you mind explaining to me why my girlfriend is in a goddamn taxi, on her own? Why no fucker went to protect her when what sounded like a gunshot went off on a public street? And why nobody who works for me listened to a bloody word I said back there?’
‘Like I said, it was all in the proto –’
‘Who’s sodding protocol are you on about?’ Nick shouted. ‘Who would create a protocol where we ditch the most important fucking person?’
Geoff let out another long sigh and rubbed his hand down his face. ‘She did, you idiot.’
‘Geoff, I’m warning you: you’re coming close to getting punched again and this time I’ll go for a far more painful area than your face. What are you talking about?’
Geoff rolled his eyes. ‘You never actually fired her you know. She’s still technically head of security. The protocols are her protocols.’
Nick frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that in the event of an emergency or any kind of attack she wanted us to not only make you the priority, but to make sure that she was separated from you and left behind. She called herself …’ Geoff looked down at his feet and his voice dropped lower. ‘She called herself “dead wood”, mate.’
Nick sucked in a sharp angry breath and balled his hands into fists. ‘Right,’ he said in a tight voice through gritted teeth. ‘As of tomorrow she’s fucking fired and the protocols are going to change. You listen to me now. You can double up the security if it makes her feel better but I want the priority to be her. You’re not saving my arse without making sure she’s safe as well. Jesus Christ. Stubborn, stupid, bloody ridiculous woman.’
Geoff sat back in his seat, looked out of the tinted window and smiled.
*****
Goodie watched him pacing their bedroom from where she sat on the large bed and pressed her lips together to suppress a smile; she had a feeling that with the mood he was in he wouldn’t appreciate it. For her part the only emotion she was feeling was overwhelming relief and gratitude that he was okay. He could be as angry as he wanted so long as he was still walking, talking, beautiful, vibrant and alive. Nick stopped midway across the room and pointed at her.
‘You’re fired,’ he bit out before spinning on his heel and striding across the room again.
‘Very Alan Sugar,’ Goodie said, and he threw her a dirty look.
‘Don’t try to be cute, Goodie. I’m fucking furious right now. I want to know why you told the guys to ditch you if we were attacked? He said you called yourself “dead wood”. What in God’s name was going through your head?’
‘Nick, I’m sorry but in that situation I am dead wood. I wouldn’t be able to protect you; I wouldn’t even be able to keep up.’
‘You’re being ridiculous. You –’
‘And if somebody comes for me … I … I wanted them to be able to extract me without having to go through you. Do you understand?’
Nick stopped mid-stride and turned to her, his face draining of colour. ‘What do you mean “if somebody comes for you”? Who’s going to come?’
‘Probably nobody,’ Goodie said quickly. ‘But Nick … I …’
Nick walked over to her and dropped down on his knees in front of her, gathering both of her hands in his. ‘Why is anybody going to come for you? Please, Goodie, no more secrets.’
Goodie gave his hands a squeeze. ‘It is unlikely, but I am exposed now. My picture has been in the press.’
‘Christ,’ Nick swore, ripping his hands away from hers and standing abruptly so he could resume his pacing. ‘I didn’t even think about that. It didn’t even cross my mind. I’m such a selfish ba –’
Goodie smacked both her hands down on the bed in frustration. ‘It is not you who has a past where you’ve made enemies. This is not your fault. Anyway I am not stupid; I went through all the possibilities before the first night we went out in public. There is little chance that anyone would connect who I was with the person in the public eye now. My jobs involved mostly sticking to the shadows, very few of my targets would recognize me and quite honestly those that could have done are … um …’ Goodie took a deep breath. She knew Nick had seen most of the files on her, about her life before, but he hadn’t seen them all. ‘… neutralized.’ Nick stopped pacing; his eyes widened and he swallowed.
‘Right, that’s … good.’
‘Yes, it is. Also, if anyone did recognize me they would be unlikely to view me as a credible threat. Not now.’
‘But it could happen. I mean, you’ve thought about it.’
‘There is a remote chance it could happen. That is why I wanted to be separated from you, Nick. If they want to take me they will take me. No amount of security will stop them, and I would rather you were not in their way.’
‘Now you listen to me. I don’t care what you would rather. You’ve shown yourself to have extremely poor judgment when it comes to your own personal safety and I am not going to tolerate it. You’re mine. Nobody gets to you; nobody takes you away from me. That part of your life is over now. The life you’ve chosen, a life with me, involves safety, it involves security, and it’s going to be as bloody boring as I can make it, okay? And you’re going to love it.’
‘Okay, lyubov moya, okay,’ Goodie said quietly, resisting the urge to smile.
‘Okay,’ Nick replied grumpily, then strode over to her again, took her face in his hands, bent down to give her a hard, possessive kiss, and then rested his forehead on hers. ‘I might not be some fancy, multilingual, highly trained secret agent type, and I might have to employ the help of countless security people, but I can protect my own goddamn woman.
‘Bossy,’ she muttered, slipping her hands around his neck.
‘Stubborn,’ he said back, smiling before he pushed her back into the bed.
*****
‘Are you sure about this?’ Sam asked, and Goodie rolled her eyes.
‘I’m here now. It’s a bit too late for second thoughts.’
‘Do you really know what you’re getting yourself into? There’s no going back, no escape,’ he muttered darkly.
Goodie narrowed her eyes at him. ‘You make it sound worse than the Sabaneta Prison in Venezuala.’ Sam shrugged and pressed his lips together.
‘You better be careful – the walls have ears, you know.’ Sam glanced around the alcove furtively and Goodie suppressed a laugh.
‘Don’t worry, she’s in no fit state for eavesdropping.’ Goodie took a step back and looked out to the entryway of the church where Tilly, Katie, Natasha and Arabella were waiting. Katie was sitting on a bench, her head in her hands. Natasha was leaning up against a pillar, her face green. One of Tilly’s hands was holding an overexcited Arabella back from storming into the church, and the other was pressed to her temple.
‘What did you do to them?’ Sam asked, a smile breaking through his previously serious expression.
‘It’s their own fault,’ Goodie defended. ‘If they hadn’t been threatening all sorts of beauty bollocks for this morning I wouldn’t have had to incapacitate them.’
‘I’ve never seen Katie so hungover.’
‘How was I to know she couldn’t hold her vodka?’ Goodie said innocently.
The girls had insisted on a proper hen party. They’d wanted to take Goodie into London but the furthest they managed to make her go was to the village pub. Once there they had told her all the manicures, pedicures, makeovers and hair appointments that they’d booked in before the ceremony. Goodie had nodded along, but she had never suffered a pedicure in her life (not that she even had a full complement of toes), and she was not about to start now. So she bought a bottle of vodka from the bar. Got some shot glasses, and told the girls that this was how they did hen parties in Russia; that it would mean a lot to her if they would follow the same traditions. So they matched her shot for shot.
None of them had emerged from bed until at least midday, and when they did, two out of three had done it vomiting. The most they had been able to manage before they had to leave the main house was drag on their dresses and spend a painful few minutes on their hair and make-up. They all left Goodie blessedly alone to get ready in peace. She’d pulled on her simple, pale ivory silk dress, left her hair down (as she knew that was how Nick preferred it) with just an ornate comb borrowed from Natasha securing it at the side, and spent her usual five minutes on her make-up.
Sam smiled and then slowly he reached forward, his hand going under her hair, which she’d now grown out to below her shoulders. He wrapped his fingers around the back of her neck and gave her a gentle squeeze before pulling her in for a hug. ‘I’m glad you got your happy too, honey,’ he muttered into her hair. ‘Hold on to it. Fight for it.’ He pulled back and searched her face. Her expression was hard, determined.
‘I intend to,’ she said. The absolute conviction in her voice made Sam pause for a moment.
‘Goodie, is there something I should kn –?’
‘Are you lot coming or what?’ Goodie and Sam turned to see Benji standing outside the alcove, his hands on his hips and an annoyed expression on his face. ‘It’s bloody boring sitting about in church, you know.’ He was wearing the same morning suit and green tie as Sam, which in turn matched the dresses (and in fact the complexions) of the three women in the entryway. ‘Come on, I’ve been ushering the crap out of this thing for an hour already. Let’s get the show on the road so we can get to the food.’ Goodie laughed and Sam smiled. Seeing her now he could almost believe he had imagined that look of grim resolution on her face from a moment ago.
*****
Claire Chambers watched as the beautiful blonde woman made her way down the aisle to her son. From the moment he could speak Nick had been charming his way through life with absolute ease. Everything he touched turned to gold. She’d been worried that when he did settle down he wouldn’t properly appreciate his other half, as Claire had assumed that would fall into his lap with as little effort as everything else. She couldn’t have been further from the truth, and her son couldn’t have chosen a more difficult woman to love.
Claire was proud of Nick for so many things; he was exceptional. But if she was honest, the way he’d restored this broken woman back to herself was, in her opinion, his greatest achievement. Anya might not be full of the light and optimism her son was, but over the last few months her smiles were more frequent and her humour had shone through.
Yes, she was not of the light like her son, she was created from darkness, but in Claire’s opinion that made her the perfect counterpoint to him. She had the edge that Nick needed in his life, and a fierce loyalty to him and the family that Claire appreciated. Claire wasn’t stupid. She knew who had got rid of that abusive bastard who had threatened her daughter and granddaughter’s happiness. Anya was good at what she did but on that occasion her research had been a little lacking: Claire never went fishing with the family. She saw the state Clive was in when he limped out of the house with his tail between his legs, and she saw the fear in his eyes when he’d seen Anya at that charity event. Anya had saved her son’s life, she’d saved her daughter and granddaughter who knows how much unhappiness, she’d given Claire’s nephew more confidence than he’d had in years; and she’d beaten her husband at chess … repeatedly.
Yes, Claire knew she had a lot to be grateful for when it came to her future daughter-in-law, but there were two reasons she was truly happy with Nick’s choice. The first was how much Anya loved him: Claire could see it in the way she tracked his movements, the contentment in her eyes when he was close and the way her face changed when he touched her with affection; like she was part bemused, part amazed, but mostly radiantly happy. The second reason was that darkness, that edge Anya had; there was no way she would let any harm come to Nick. She would do what needed to be done to keep him safe, and although Nick insisted the danger had passed, Claire wasn’t that naïve. There would always be threats to powerful men like him. To have Anya on his team with her brand of loyalty and devotion was more than Claire could ever have hoped for.
