Page 4 of Stalking the Bride

“Impossible,” Conrad says, pinning his eyes back on me. “If this threat is real, you are in serious danger.”

“Why would someone want to do this?” My hands begin to shake, but Conrad moves in quickly and takes them in his, holding them with care and security.

“Is that a joke, Belle?” He shakes his head slightly in disbelief. “There are countless men who would love to have you–” He stops himself. His eyes flit back and forth as though he just snapped out of a trance and remembered where he was. His mind must really be on the problem at hand. He glances at Fitch then back at me. “There are countless weirdos who would call in a threat like this to stop your wedding.”

I’m suddenly cold, and I find myself wishing I could slip beneath his warm, muscled arms. “You mean like…a stalker?”

Conrad nods. “I wouldn’t rule it out.”

“So what the hell do we do then?” Fitch barks. His resolve is breaking. He’s been raised with such privilege he’s never had to deal with anything himself.

“We postpone until my team has done a full sweep of the area.”

“Don’t tell me that,” Fitch groans in protest.

“In the meantime, I’m assigning a security detail to you. You’ll be taken to a safehouse.”

Fitch’s eyes widen, gawking back at Conrad like a little boy. “A safehouse? You’re joking.”

“Don’t worry,” Conrad replies firmly. “It’s five-star with all the amenities. Think of it as a mini-vacation.”

My stomach sinks. A mini-vacation locked up in a hotel with Fitch until this bomb threat is sorted out? Sounds more like pure torture to me.

“Belle, you’ll be taken to another site,” Conrad says, his voice warm like tea with honey.

“Another…site?” I whimper, confused. Conrad snaps his fingers, and three of his men enter the room and take their places beside Fitch like they’re protecting the president. “But why?”

Conrad’s Adam’s apple moves as he swallows hard. His jaw clenches tight. “So you both are not a single target. We’ll take multiple cars too. It will confuse anyone potentially tailing us.”

An odd tension hangs in the air for a tense, silent moment. It’s like we’re all standing on a tightrope waiting for it to snap. Fitch is angrily running his hands through his hair, but Conrad simply stands there stalwart, like a broad statue.

The longer I look at him, the more the warm, tingling sensation between my legs grows and grows, embedding a yearning within my core that seems to draw me closer and closer to him. It’s like the universe revolves around him. What an incredible man he must be to command all these other capable men who work for him.

“Where will you take her?” Fitch asks, but Conrad shakes his head and makes a quiettsk-tsknoise with his lips against his teeth.

“I can’t tell you,” he replies firmly. “If you have a stalker, Belle, they may have bugged the manor. Until my team has swept for microphones, I can’t say out loud where I’ll be taking you.”

The tickle between my legs expands, and I feel heat in the tips of my fingers.Don’t blush. Don’t blush!But it’s too late. I feel thetingling in my cheeks and immediately turn away, pretending I have something in my eye to avoid being embarrassed by my reaction to Conrad’s unyielding competence.

“Whoever this son of a bitch is, I want him found!” Fitch shouts, his voice nearly breaking as he rages. “So I can punish him personally!”

Luckily my back is turned to him so he can’t see me scoff. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Fitch, it’s that he likes to talk tough. He won’t be punishing anyone. Now or ever.

I can’t say the same about Conrad.

With a simple nod, his men professionally escort Fitch to the door. “Don’t worry, Belle. This will all be over soon. I’ll see to everything.”

I nod. “It’s okay, Fitch. I’m sure Conrad will protect me.”

I’m almost sure I catch a glint of something in Conrad’s eye as he glances over at me, but just as soon as it’s there, it’s gone.

3

CONRAD

I can’t believeI’m going through with this.

I called in the bomb threat, and now I’m swooping in like I’m her savior, acting noble and blameless like I’m simply protecting her as I’ve been hired to do.

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