Dating Agency Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 6) (10 page)

“I'll wake him up for
you, if you like,” Graham offered.

John nodded and stepped back.
Graham crouched down and slapped Ian resoundingly on both cheeks.
“Wakey, wakey, you fuckhead!” Graham bellowed and slapped
Ian one last time. But this time his claws were out.

Ian screamed in pain and
opened his eyes with a jolt. Graham smirked and shoved him towards
John. “He's all yours.”

Ian blinked up at John and
began to sputter, “No, no, it wasn't me...I'll never betray Mr
Fronzo...it's her!” He pointed at Penelope. “She
downloaded Mr Fronzo's accounts from my computer when we were
together. I trusted her, and she betrayed me. She betrayed all of
us! I'm innocent, John. You know that, right? I've been working
for Mr Fronzo for years...”

“And he trusted you,”
John said. “You said you're innocent?”

Ian nodded vigorously. “Yes,
yes, I would never lie to you, John.”

“Let's ask your
accomplice, shall we? I see he's just waking up. Let's hear what he
has to say.” John went over to Ben and tapped his face with
his gun. Ben was clutching his head in his hands and groaning in
pain.

Shakily, Ben pushed himself
up and found himself staring down the barrel of John's gun. His eyes
focused immediately and became huge as saucers.

“D-don't shoot...”

“Start talking,”
John said. “Who are you? And what are you doing with Ian
Renshaw?”

“I...” Ben tried
to jerk away from the gun but John's finger twitched on the trigger
in warning. Ben's wide, panicked eyes flew around the room. With a
cry, he raised a shaking finger and pointed at Ian. “He said
he'd pay me a million bucks if I loaded a file onto the lady's
computer. So I did. It took me just a minute. A million dollars
for a minute's work. Who wouldn't do it? I needed the money. I
never hurt anyone! Please...”

John straightened up. He
turned to Damien and said, “You can leave now. We have no
quarrel with you.”

“Let Penelope go and
we'll leave,” Damien said, holding up his hands. “We're
not interested in your business, your accounts and your money. You
do what you want with these two men. It's none of our business. We
won't tell anyone what happened here and I hope we never meet again.”

John stared at him for a long
moment, trying to judge if he was telling the truth. Finally John
nodded and said, “Miss Hatfield is free to go. We'll take Ian
and his friend to see Mr Frank Fronzo. But if we find out that Miss
Hatfield is in receipt of Mr Fronzo's money, we'll know where to find
her.”

“She doesn't have your
money,” Damien snapped.

Ian began to struggle and beg
for mercy as John's henchmen dragged him away. His fate was sealed.
And it was a fate worse than death. Mr Frank Fronzo certainly
didn't get to where he was by being soft on his enemies. And Ian
Renshaw was worse than the worst enemy. He had bitten the hand that
fed him.

If Frank Fronzo respected his
foe, he usually allowed the bugger a quick death. But a traitor
deserved no such dignity and mercy.

Penelope rushed into Damien's
arms and clung to him. “How did you find me?” she
sobbed.

“You're my mate,”
he said. “You're a part of me. Forever,” he whispered.

“Come on, let's go,”
Reid said, putting his arms protectively around the two of them.

Reid could see that his
cousin was about to collapse. Damien had held it together very well,
but now that he had his mate safe in his arms, his nerves and
emotions were beginning to fray.

He had been terrified that he
would be too late, that he would lose her forever.

If anything had gone wrong,
he wouldn't be able to live with himself. He wouldn't be able to
live, period.

“Let's get the hell out
of here before they change their minds,” Graham mumbled,
hurrying all of them towards the door. “Those humans are even
more slimy and cold-blooded than reptiles.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE

Penelope giggled as her
bridesmaids fussed over her and recounted some funny and embarrassing
stories about their first dates. But those hilarious stories all had
a happy ending. Her bridesmaids were all clients of Miss Hatfield's
Dating Agency. They were the first ten women who had signed up with
her. She had found each of them their perfect match and most of them
were now married or engaged to be married.

Scarlett Washington, her maid
of honor, sported a dazzling engagement ring on her finger.

“Have you thought of
changing the name of your dating agency, Penelope?” Weiling,
one of her bridesmaids, asked.

“Why? What's wrong
with the present name?” Penelope's eyes rounded in surprise.

“Well, you're not going
to be Miss Hatfield anymore, are you?”

Penelope nodded and tapped
her chin. “I hadn't thought about that.”

“Don't chew your lip,
Penelope,” Scarlett tut-tutted. “You're ruining your
lipstick!”

Penelope stopped gnawing on
her lower lip and peered at herself in the mirror. Her blurry
reflection squinted back at her. “Ah, I need my glasses,”
she muttered, fumbling around for her trusty, chunky glasses. She
had taken them off so the girls could apply the layers of makeup on
her face. Scarlett put her glasses in her hand and Penelope snapped
them on happily. “So much better,” she beamed.

“Why won't you wear
contacts?” Vimala asked. “It's your wedding day.”

“I like my glasses,”
Penelope said simply. “I wear my glasses every day, so why
shouldn't I wear them on my wedding day?”

Penelope spread out her arms
and spun round. “How do I look?” She had opted for a
more casual wedding dress instead of the traditional long wedding
gown. Her knee-length dress had beautiful lace trimmings and a
sequined bodice. She thought the design was both elegant and chic.

“You look beautiful!”

“And radiant...”

“And totally ready to
be married!”

Penelope gave her bridesmaids
a big group hug and said, “Thank you! All of you! I could
never have done this without you. You helped me choose my dress, my
shoes, reminded me to get my nails done and dragged me to my
hairdresser's appointments. Look at me! You transformed your prim,
workaholic matchmaker into a ravishing bride!”

“Yeah, if we didn't
cart you off to your beauty appointments, you'll be in your office
poring over all your client's profiles and matching them up!”
Weiling shook her head.

“But we're really glad
you matched us up with our mates,” Vimala said, squeezing her
shoulder.

“She tried to match me
up with
her
mate,” Scarlett quipped with a wink.

The girls burst out laughing.
They'd all heard about how Penelope had arranged that first date for
Scarlett and Damien.

“Oh, Penelope!”
Vimala chuckled. “I wish I was there to see Damien's face!”

“You should have seen
Penelope's face,” Scarlett said fondly, patting Penelope's
hand. “I have to tell you girls, I seriously feared for my
life that night!”

The girls laughed and teased
Penelope. “We've never seen that side of you, Penelope!”

“But she got it right
the second time.” Scarlett smiled. Christopher and I hit it
off right away.” Scarlett fingered her engagement ring and
sighed. “I can't wait to marry him.”

Penelope grinned. “I
want to be your matron of honor at your wedding.”

“You got the job, Miss
Hatfield! Or should I say, Mrs Ken,” Scarlett grinned back.

The door opened with a bang
and one of her bridesmaids, Brenda, came rushing into the room. “The
guys are here,” Brenda panted. “Graham said we have to
blindfold the bride!”

“Don't listen to my
brother,” Penelope huffed. “He's trying to pull a prank
on me on my wedding day.”

“No, no, it's not a
prank,” Brenda said earnestly. “Come on girls. Do your
job!”

To Penelope's shock, her
traitorous bridesmaids pounced on her and someone pulled off her
glasses and slipped a blindfold over her eyes.

“Relax, Penelope, we
got your back,” Scarlett whispered, giggling.

“Hmph! At this moment,
I doubt that very much,” Penelope sniffed, folding her arms
haughtily. She grumbled as her bridesmaids hustled her out of the
room and into a car. She knew her brother was at the wheel because
she heard Graham's voice and guffaw.

“Kidnapping the bride,
Graham?” she said archly. “I should have known better
than to let two pranksters plan my wedding,” she huffed. “What
mischief are you and Damien up to?”

“No mischief. I'm just
doing my job. Hey, no peeking. Keep your blindfold on! You're
supposed to be watching her, Scarlett,” Graham admonished.

“Just drive,”
Scarlett said, laughing as she tugged Penelope's blindfold back into
place. “Don't be late. I want to try my hand at all the
games!”

“Games? What games?
Aren't we going to a wedding?” When nobody answered her,
Penelope groused loudly. “Don't tell me I got all dressed up
for nothing! Am I getting married today or not?”

CHAPTER
THIRTY

Damien rushed around doing
last-minute checks to make sure everything was perfect.

“Hey, relax,”
Reid said, catching him before he could go running off again. “We're
ready. You—” Reid jabbed a finger into his chest.
“—are ready.”

“I am,” Damien
said, straightening his tuxedo smartly.

“Your bride and her
girls should be here any minute now,” Reid said, glancing at
his watch.

“Do you think she'll
like this?” Damien asked, looking anxiously over his shoulder.
He received numerous thumbs-up and a-ok signs.

Reid chuckled. “You'll
find out soon enough. They're here!”

Damien sucked in a breath as
he watched the cars approach. Graham tooted the horn as he pulled
his car to a stop. He was ferrying the bride and the maid of honor.
His bosses, Nick and Marcus, had volunteered to drive the rest of the
bridesmaids to the wedding venue.

The bridesmaids began to
stream out of the cars, giggling and chattering excitedly. Graham
opened the door and Damien helped his blindfolded bride out
carefully.

“Damien?”
Penelope said sharply. “What's going on? What is this all
about?”

Damien slipped her hand into
the crook of his arm and guided her slowly forward. “This is
all about us, and the people in our lives,” he whispered.
“We're getting married, sweetheart.”

With that, he tugged the
blindfold off and announced, “Welcome to our wedding!”

Penelope squinted, trying to
see without her glasses. Thankfully, Scarlett stepped forward and
gently placed her glasses back on her nose. Cheers and applause
erupted all around her.

Penelope gasped as she took
in the scene. She was standing at the entrance of a small carnival
that had been set up in the town square. There were food stalls,
booths, a carousel, and a grand bouncy castle. Balloons bobbing
above the castle spelled their names: Damien and Penelope. There was
even a pinata in the shape of a wedding cake hanging in front of the
castle.

“Oh! Oh my! This...”
she stammered.

“Your very own wedding
carnival!” Damien declared. “Do you like it?”

“You...”
Penelope turned to him, her eyes shimmering. “You did all
this? For me?” she breathed.

“I didn't do it alone,”
Damien said. “The guys helped a lot.” He gestured
towards his grinning bosses and work mates. “And when we
talked to the townspeople, everyone wanted to get involved as well.
They thought a carnival was a great idea!”

“It is!”
Penelope squealed and clapped. “It totally is!”

Damien blew out a breath in
relief. “I'm so glad you like it.”

“Are you kidding? I
love it! I love it, I love it, I love it!” She grabbed his
face and kissed him hard.

With lipstick marks all over
his face, Damien beamed proudly as he grabbed his bride's hand.
“Let's get married!” Hand in hand, Damien and Penelope
ran towards the bouncy castle as the jubilant townsfolk threw
confetti and popcorn over their heads.

The affable Justice of the
Peace was standing in front of the castle, waiting for them. He
patted the wobbly wall of the castle and remarked, “I have to
keep reminding myself not to lean against it.”

Once they said their vows,
Graham, who was Damien's best man, handed them a colorful pinata
stick and yelled, “Break the cake!”

There were cheers and hoots
as Penelope and Damien stepped up to the wedding cake pinata. “Gosh,
it's so pretty!” Penelope said, admiring the intricate pattern.

“Ready?” Damien
closed his hands over hers and they shared a tender kiss as they got
ready to hammer their wedding cake.

“Ready!”