Page 14 of Fearless Protector
A mind-gripping fear settles over me.
Before my brain can keep my feet from moving, I’ve lifted my dress and am running out the front door of the church and down the stairs.Jake Eldridge lays in a pool of blood while men I’ve never seen begin lifting him.Mason is lying on the ground with his eyes closed.No, no, no.It can’t be possible.“Mason!”Tears spill down my face so fast I don’t even try to swipe them away.My heart breaks in two right then and there.
He moves and turns toward me, just as I reach the bottom step.Mason’s eyes connect with mine from the ground.I don’t need to say a thing; he’s been in sync with me from the very first time we met.“Come here.”
I tear over to his side, dropping to the ground and giving not one care in the world to the condition of my dress.“Mason, tell me you’re okay; baby, tell me you’re okay.”
He grins and pulls me into his arms, kissing my lips so hard I can barely breathe.“I’m more than okay.Didn’t I tell you to wait for me?That does not mean putting yourself at risk, when I’m out here protecting you, okay,” he says, wiping the tears and smudge from under my eye.
I nod and then nod again.“I love you, Mason.If I didn’t know it the first time you kissed me, or last night, or today when you came for me, I know it now.You are more than worth taking a chance on.I love you so much.”
He picks himself up off the ground with me in tow and pockets his gun as the sheriff arrives with sirens blazing and pulls to a stop.Garrett has his arm around Lacy, and Cole has his arms wrapped protectively around Krissy, while the other bodyguards deal with the police.
Mason whispers in my ear, “I love you too, Priscilla Jean.I probably have since the very first time you dumped that beer on me and that little show of fireworks flashed through your eyes.”
He gestures toward the men on the ground next to Jake Eldridge who the sheriff is putting in cuffs.
“Is he dead?”
He’s not, but him, his dad and some others still want the territory in this town and will go to great lengths to get it.That’s why Tommy and his boys took the others away before the sheriff arrived, and why I have a job in Deadwood.”
I hug him tight.“Our protectors.”
Garrett clears his throat.“Let’s get this wedding started so I can say I do!”
