“Exactly, we don’t know, and I wasn’t referring to his scars or tattoos. I’ve never seen him unarmed. Today he doesn’t appear to have a gun, but my guess is he has a weapon somewhere on him. They say he’s Ian’s friend, but that’s not his role here.”
“You think he’s their security detail?”
“He’s more than that. He’s dangerous, Joanna. Just promise me you’ll be careful around him.”
Joanna looked across the crowd and found Bradford still watching them. “He wouldn’t be here if he was some horrible person. Angelina approves of him. I don’t get a bad vibe from him at all. You’re being paranoid.”
“I don’t think so. His last name is Wilson. Guess what happens when you look Bradford Wilson up online?”
“What?”
“You find nothing.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“No social media? No mention in any of the articles about the Barringtons? I couldn’t find a single photo of him online.”
“So he’s a private person. That’s actually refreshing. Some people post too much.”
“I wonder if Wilson is even his last name.”
“I wonder if the birthmark on my left arm could have been left during an alien abduction I don’t remember, but then I yank myself back to reality. Does anyone here look afraid of Bradford?”
Aly pressed her lips together, then admitted, “No.”
“And they’ve known him a lot longer. Angelina said he and Ian have been friends for over a decade. So stop judging his book by his cover. You’re more open-minded than that, Aly.”
Aly sighed. “I am. I’m sorry. It’s just something I see in his eyes that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.”
Joanna looked over at Bradford again. He did have a certain look in his eyes, but it was one that pulled on her heartstrings. “Someone hurt him, Aly. He needs your understanding, not your judgement. Give him a chance. He just might surprise you.”
Out of her peripheral vision Joanna saw Dylan walk by. He didn’t stop but he did nod and smile at them.
Joanna brought a hand to her mouth. “Did you see that? He smiled at us.”
“Oh, boy. If you like him that much, go talk to him.”
“No, I’m doing this the right way. If he wants to talk to me, he’ll have to come over here.”
“He’s hitting on that woman in the cut-off shorts.”
“That’s okay. She can be his tonight, I’ll be his forever,” Joanna said with confidence. She linked her arm with Aly’s. “Come on. Enough talk about men, let’s go find Angelina. This is her day.”
Chapter Two
A month later Bradford stood in the shadows of a large ballroom that would soon be packed with Boston’s rich and famous. Although he hadn’t been asked to, he’d walked the hired security company through a list of scenarios they needed to prepare for.
Ian Barrington entered the room, spotted him, and headed over. “I knew you’d be here.”
Bradford didn’t acknowledge his comment. He didn’t have to. They’d known each other long enough that Ian didn’t expect a response.
Moving to stand beside him, Ian said, “We hired top-notch security for the event. You can relax.”
“The world hasn’t become a safer place, Ian, you’ve just become soft.”
“If by soft you mean I’m no longer willing to risk my hide on a regular basis, I concede that I have. Marrying Claire changed my priorities. I can make a difference without dodging bullets.”
Bradford folded his arms across his chest. In their early twenties, while Bradford was still in the service, forty young girls had been abducted in a Third World country—straight out of their school. Bradford was Special Ops serving in the area as part of an off-the-record reprimand for insubordination. He’d defied a direct order he hadn’t agreed with because it had involved injuring innocent civilians. The rebel leader who decided to take those girls for his men had chosen the wrong time and place to do it. Only a few towns away, Bradford had requested leave to help retrieve the girls. When his request was denied, he’d sent a brief text to his superior telling him where he was going and exactly what he could do with his refusal.
Ian had also been moved by the girls’ plight and had arrived with a team of young, inexperienced hired soldiers. Unaware of each other, Bradford and Ian attempted to free the girls on the same night. Ian lost half his team. Bradford had gotten stabbed. Together, though, they’d freed the schoolgirls and returned them to their families.
Ian would have stopped there, but Bradford couldn’t. He’d hunted down the ringleaders of that kidnapping and took them out, one by one. The rebels who remained understood they could challenge their government, but death would come if they crossed the line and harmed innocents again.
Bradford had expected to be court-martialed, but instead he received an education on the power and influence money wielded. Ian had the kind of friends who played presidents like puppets. The whole story stayed out of the news and Bradford received an honorable discharge. In his own way, Ian had saved Bradford’s life, and that was a strong foundation for a friendship.
Over the next ten years, the two of them were offered countless missions by the US government, but took only the ones that fit their moral code. They worked under the radar, outside the normal chain of command—both willing to give their lives to protect civilians.
Until Ian met Claire and fell in love. When Claire had asked Bradford to help Ian land a job running a top-secret foreign relations department of the CIA, Bradford hadn’t imagined Ian would actually take a desk job. It had sounded like another cover story, one that would allow Ian to continue his old ways without detection.
To Bradford’s surprise, Ian had meant what he’d said about backing away from the front lines. Unaware that Bradford had gotten him the job, Ian had negotiated for Bradford to co-head the department with him. Unlike Ian, though, Bradford had nothing he was afraid of losing.
With that in mind, Bradford asked, “How is Claire?”
“Great. We’re trying to start a family. Sounds easy, but with Claire it involves charts and graphs. I had no idea so much thought went into what some people come to by accident.”
“That’s what you get when you marry a life coach.”
Ian smiled. “I don’t mind. I’ve never been happier.” Bradford believed him. Claire was a good match for him—poised and sophisticated on the surface, strong and full of grit when she needed to be.
They stood in comfortable silence for a few minutes, then Ian said, “Thank you for coming today. It was important to my mother.”
He nodded once in acknowledgement of Ian’s show of gratitude, then said, “I was in the area.” He hadn’t been, but it wasn’t something he’d admit.
Ian clapped a hand on Bradford’s shoulder. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. I should have brought you home to meet my parents years ago, but now you get to experience why I didn’t. They don’t understand boundaries. You’re one of us now, which means if I have to suffer through charity events, you do as well.”