Guarding Miranda Read Free

feel the pain of what she had lost when she was seventeen.  She was grateful to her Uncle Russ and Aunt Nancee for taking her into their home and their hearts but no surrogate love, no surrogate family could ever replace the one that she had lost…
    Family was important to her. 
    The Gundy clan was her most valued most beloved thing in the world.
    Not to mention, her greatest support.
    She wished that family were important enough to her fiancé for him to attempt to work out his problems with his parents. 
    Surely the rift between them wasn’t too wide for filial love to close the distance? 
    Even though she feared angering him, she resolved to bring up the issue one day soon, to see if she couldn’t convince him to give them another chance, to try to work things out.
    They were soon standing in front of Richard’s pewter Mercedes. 
    He unlocked the doors with the keyless remote and surprised Miranda by pulling her into a hungry kiss. 
    His lips were warm and demanding, very fervent as he kissed her. 
    His kiss stirred in her a warmth that she recognized as the early signs of her arousal.  His hands found her breasts and gave them an eager squeeze.
    She swatted his hands, her cheeks heating with embarrassment.
    “Richard!”
    “What?” He feigned innocence.
    “Not here, not in public.” Miranda laughed, chastising him lightly. 
    He was so naughty.
    “Yeah, I’d hate to give one of these patrons of the fine arts a heart attack.” Richard spoke with sarcasm, keeping one arm around her. “Worse yet, a hard on.”
    He lowered his hand from her shoulder to her lower back and then he copped a feel.
    “Get your hand off my ass!” She swatted his hand again.
    “Oh but it’s such a nice ass.”
    “Richard!”
    He reached for her again. “I really can’t help myself.”
    “You’re shameless,” she scolded him but he silenced her protest with another ravenous kiss. 
    When at last they parted, a smile adorned each of their faces.
    Surrendering to her will, Richard opened the passenger door of the car for her.  She slid into the leather-bound seat and was slightly alarmed by the sudden sound of heavy quickening footsteps behind her beloved, coming closer and closer...
    “Hey, Richard!” Came a man’s raspy voice, as the footsteps drew nearer.
    Miranda would never forget the look of surprise that crossed her fiancé’s face in that exact instant. 
    He turned around and faced the man.
    “Barry?” Richard asked, of the approaching figure dressed in black. “Is that you?”
    Miranda gasped in startled surprise.
    Barry was wearing a black ski mask over his face. 
    As he extended his hand toward Richard, the lights of the parking lot glinted off of something metallic there. 
    It had taken her only a split second to identify the object in his hand but even as she did, she could not believe her eyes.
    A handgun? 
    Why was this Barry pointing a handgun at her fiancé? 
    She was frozen to her seat, her stomach knotted with fear. 
    Terror made her heart stop and then begin to pound violently as her adrenaline came in a rush.
    As horrified as she was, she couldn’t have moved if she wanted to...
    The color had all but drained from Richard’s face.
    “Barry, what the fuck?”
    The man in black lifted the handgun a few inches. 
    “Curtains for you, Richard.” His gravelly voice was gruff and full of menace as he said, “Consider this an end to our business arrangement.”
    Miranda saw him pull the trigger in the same instant that something warm and wet sprayed the front of her face. 
    She was deafened by the gunshot, yet she barely acknowledged it, even though it had been fired right in front of her.
    Deafened by the gunshot, stunned, she reached her hand up to wipe away the gore, just as Richard’s body went limp and began to fall.
    Barry turned the gun on her. 
    She saw the dark ink of tribal tattoo art on his wrist, behind the gun but was far more spellbound by the gun itself than by any of the