The Billion Dollar Fiancé [#8]

Prologue

"You've always been a weird kid, you know that, Gracie?"

Camilla rolled her eyes and instinctively touched a hand to the pistol in the pocket of her jacket. "You didn't like me because I liked reading books."

Connor chuckled and gave the woman a once over. Camilla Grace had too much of a beautiful face to be working in the field. From her long black hair to her hollow cheeks, her plump lips and perfectly curved breasts under her button up, her perfect dark eyes and smooth skin with a yellow undertone, she was every man's desire.

Every man except for Connor's. He recognized her beauty, especially when she was completely natural on the job. He even recognized it when she dressed up and did a full face of makeup when the job required going undercover in public. But she was always like a little sister to him.

Although he had known her to be the quiet kid throughout high school, he had no doubt she could hold her own when she made it as an agent under his command. He was still too protective of her.

"You aren't wrong, pretty girl."

"But I'm telling you there's something weird going on in the west wing," she told him. She couldn't seem to convince her partner of anything since she started the job as a trained agent for private businesses.

This particular case they were working on was the protection of Arno Pavlov, CEO of an international privately owned bank.

"Kingsley," Connor said into his radio, "check out that area."

"He's assigned to the south wing," Camilla told him with the shake of her head. "I'll check it out myself."

"No way, princess." He pulled her away from the door they were locked behind and glanced at the security camera of the west wing. "You stay put."

She flinched when he locked his gun into place and walked out. "Devereux, I'm not going to be held responsible for your death."

He didn't expect her to follow, and he groaned when she rushed behind him with her gun positioned to defend. "The door," he said just as it slammed shut. They both winced. "Damn it, Gracie."

"Sorry," she whispered, following closely behind him. "We should check on Pavlov."

Connor jerked his head forward, as if to tell her to take the lead, and she immediately ran into position. He wanted to follow in case anyone tried to sneak up behind them. He had faith Camilla would be able to take out anyone who jumped out in front.

They were in a hospital that seemed nearly abandoned, and although Arno seemed safe with a handful of agents watching him like a hawk, he wasn't. He was alone in the country and relied solely on the team to get him back home to the States.

Camilla approached his room and cautiously stopped just behind the opening of the door. "Where are the ones stationed here?"

Connor could have asked the same thing, but he didn't bother when he noticed that the door was slightly ajar. "I'm going in first. Stay here."

He pushed the door opened and glanced around before entering. He had his gun in position, ready to shoot any surprise attackers. "Bed's empty."

From a short distance she could see Kingsley approach with Arno by his side. They were laughing and enjoying a conversation.

With a sigh, Camilla unloaded her pistol and placed it back in her jacket. "He's with Kingsley, Devereux."

"They have lots of pudding in the kitchen," Arno said all too excitedly.

"I found him wandering the west wing," Jonnie explained. He was ranked lower than Connor, which was why he followed the order to check out that side of the hospital, but that didn't mean he liked the guy.

Connor exited the room after a thorough check and stepped out of the way to let Arno through. He checked the watch on his wrist for the time and tapped Camilla. "We're off the clock for the night. Let's head back to the hotel."

"Are you going to discuss this new case with me?" she asked. She had noticed that he had been tense the entire day, and she could only assume it was because he was assigned a new case. As his partner, she was expected to follow him everywhere he went which meant they spent enough time together to analyze one another's behavior quite well.

"I'll tell you about it when we get back to the hotel." He was cautious as they left through a back door. He entered the driver side of one of their parked vehicles and waited until Camilla was buckled in before taking off. "You might not like it."

"What's there not to like about this job?"

He smiled. "Everything, sweetheart."

"I know you like your dramatic moments when it comes to presenting new cases to me, but save the long hours of going over it." She kept her eyes trained ahead, but she knew he was still smiling. "Besides, I'm sure you want to drink yourself to sleep tonight instead anyway."

"You just think I'm being dramatic, but I promise you won't like it."

"Just spill it, Devereux."

"How do you feel about going home with me?"

She raised a brow at him. "Explain."

"Stephen thinks someone is sabotaging his art shows," he told her. "He has a painting worth millions, and he needs us to protect it for him."

"And protecting it means protecting him."

Connor clicked his tongue. "You're smart, baby doll."

"I can't just come rolling into town as some secret agent," she said with the shake of her head. "I told my mom I'm working at some publishing company editing books."

"Oh, right, Mommy hates the idea of her baby shooting bad guys."

"Can you blame her? My dad was chief of police and died on the job."

Connor sighed. "I know all about Mommy dearest, which is why I've come up with a plan that'll keep you close enough to work the case and not give your real identity up."

Camilla rolled her eyes. "Just fill me in."

"Marry me, Camilla Grace."

She turned to look at him, but he was completely expressionless. "What?"

"Just say yes," he said, smirking.

"I won't have to really marry you, right?"

"Gracie," he warned.

"Fine," she said. "Yes."

"Problem solved. I'm bringing my fiancé home to meet the whole family."

Camilla bit hard into her lip and deeply sighed. "Why'd I have to get stuck with you?"

"Enjoy it," he said, unamused by her tone. "We're saving lives, Gracie. That's what we do."

•••••••••••••••

I hope you all enjoyed reading that! I am trying to get my inspiration back to continue this series. A lot of you have been asking for another Billion Dollar Series book and here is the 8th installment. I don't know how often updates will be. Right now this is a preview to what you'll be getting, but once I start updating, I'll update VERY often.