Page 63 of Savage Games

Anytime.

Anywhere.

He’s dead.

Leave now… and he lives.

My head spun.

Leave now… and he lives.

My gaze swung left again. Down at the end of the hallway was the door they had brought me through earlier today to avoid the paparazzi who were camped out at the front of the abbey. It led to a small park area along Abingdon Street. I could run through that door and be in a cab before anyone could stop me.

Down the hallway to the right was another door that led to a small chamber next to the high altar… where Richard waited for me… with a target on his chest.

Leave now… and he lives.

Lifting the heavy skirts of my wedding dress high, I ran.

CHAPTER 21

LIZZIE

The hallway seemed to go on forever. Finally, I reached the double doors at the end. Throwing them open, I burst into the small dreary room. Reaching my arms out, I stumbled through the room, knocking over something metal on a tabletop, before reaching the small side door at the other side.

Throwing it open, the room filled with light and air.

Casting my gaze over all the flowers and greenery, I fell to my knees when I saw him.

Richard.

His intense gaze swung in my direction the moment he heard the door open. Leaving his place at the high altar, he came running over to me.

Grasping me by the shoulders, he lifted me up and pressed me against his chest.

The steady beat of his heart calmed me.

Placing a sturdy hand at the nape of my neck, his voice was soft and low as he asked, “My love, what’s happened?”

While at times I found his confident reserve maddening, at this moment I clung to the calm authority of his tone.

Peeking past his shoulder, I could see the guests starting to shift in their seats as they tried to see what was happening. The soft murmurings in the church rose in intensity as word probably spread through the crowd that the bride had appeared, looking like a madwoman.

Richard’s body stiffened. He too must have realized we were now the subject of speculation among the wedding guests.

Placing an arm around my back, he ushered me back into the small dark antechamber. Sweeping his hand along the wall next to the door, he found the light switch. The room glowed with soft light from an ancient light fixture above us. Wrapping his hand around my forearm, he led me to a small grouping of richly upholstered chairs and sat me down on one. Lowering down on his haunches, he placed his warm hands on the tops of my thighs and looked deeply into my eyes. I hated to see his own gaze troubled and worried.

He was probably thinking I was getting cold feet about marrying him. It was the truth but not for the reasons he probably suspected.

Reaching up, he stroked my pale cheek with the backs of his knuckles. “Tell me,” he ordered, his voice a soothing dark honey on my frayed nerves.

I couldn’t even form the words. I raised my arm. Looking down, he saw the dreadful phone still clutched in my shaking fist.

Reaching for it, he had to pry my fingers loose. Rising to his full height, with a concerned glance at me, he took a few steps away and pressed the home button on the phone.

The room was deathly quiet.

It completely shut all noise from the chatter of the wedding guests out by the heavy wooden door. There wasn’t even a clock in this small anteroom to break the oppressive silence.

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