by Lisa Weaver
“I do care, Brianna. I hated having to keep you in the dark, but your father wanted your protection to be covert.”
“You arranged to have me help you plan the conference so you could insinuate yourself into my life, didn’t you? Was sleeping with me part of your plan, too, or was having me in your bed simply a little diversion to pass the time while you were keeping an eye on me?”
“Making love to you wasn’t a diversion. And it wasn’t something I’d planned,” he refuted passionately. “I didn’t mean to cross the line and get involved with you, but when you insisted you were simply looking for a casual relationship, I couldn’t walk away from what you were offering. I wanted you far too much.”
“Well, I don’t want a bodyguard.”
“You may not want me, but going without protection isn’t an option,” he spit out. “Your father hired Sentinels to ensure your safety. You’re stuck with me.”
“So you’re proposing we continue on like before and pretend that everything is normal?”
“Yes. We work together to pull the conference off, and I continue to keep you safe. The only difference is that now you have the inside track on what’s going on.”
Temper sparked in her eyes again. “I’m not like one of your strays. I don’t need to be rescued. And pretending nothing has changed would mean forgetting you lied to me. I don’t think I can do that.”
“I’m not asking you to. All I’m asking is that you let me do my job. Or, if you’d rather, I can request another agent be assigned to your protection.”
Luke realized he was holding his breath as he waited for her reply. Her response mattered more to him than anything in his life ever had. She’d become inexorably vital to him. She’d gotten under his skin.
“I’ll let you do your job,” she muttered grudgingly.
Relief coursed through him at her reluctant assent, but it ebbed away when she shot him a look that could have frozen molten lava. She didn’t utter another word as they trekked the final half mile to the truck. His coworker was waiting for them.
“Brianna, this is Donovan White,” he introduced.
“I’m sorry we’re meeting under these circumstances.” Blue eyes, brimming with purpose, met hers. “I assure you, you have nothing to worry about. We’re going to get you out of here. The authorities are on their way, and they’ll do a thorough sweep of the area. Hopefully, they’ll locate evidence that will help them to pinpoint the identity of your attacker. In the meantime, I need your phone. The shooter must have used the signal from it to locate you.”
“So what’s our next move?” Luke asked Donovan as Brianna handed her cell phone over to the agent.
“Liz feels your vacation place is still the most secure location to keep a low profile for a while. Obviously the shooter saw you with Brianna, but the odds of him knowing who you are, much less being able to figure that out and then track down where you live, are pretty slim.”
“I agree. Are you okay with that, Brianna?”
She nodded, keeping her focus on his coworker rather than making eye contact with him.
Oh, yeah. I’m in the doghouse. Big time.
“I’ll follow from a discreet distance to be certain you aren’t being tailed,” Donovan told them.
Brianna’s silent treatment stretched on until they were safely back at his estate. She broke it then, but only to utter five words—“I want to be alone”—before she clammed up again.
He nodded his assent, confident his home was an impenetrable fortress. Cameras monitored every nook and cranny, inside and out. He could keep an eye on her via the surveillance equipment in his study, regardless of where she chose to venture on the estate.
“If you need anything, or if you decide you want to talk, I’ll be in the den.”
Hours later, Brianna was still avoiding him. Watching her vent her frustration on the punching bag in his gym, he decided it was time to intervene. It was a good thing she’d chosen an inanimate object to focus her anger on—she was doing her best to beat the bag to a pulp.
She spared him a cursory glance when he walked into the room, then promptly resumed her battle with the bag. Her quick, forceful jabs would have made a prize fighter proud.
“Easy …” he soothed, stepping up behind her.
She spun around, then began raining blows against his chest. “How dare you? How dare you lie to me after you made me care about you?”
He endured her frantic pummeling for a moment before gently restraining her arms. “I didn’t have a choice. I had to. I’ve seen what men like Lawrence Mendacci can do. They have no compassion, no restraint, and no qualms about taking innocent lives if it means advancing their causes. I wasn’t about to let you become collateral damage to Mendacci’s scheme. I only lied to you to keep you safe.”
With a frustrated huff, she turned away from him. “How can I believe that? I don’t even know who you really are anymore. You lied to me. So did my father. Right now, I feel like there’s no one I can trust.”
“I promise you can trust me. And you can trust Philip. We kept the truth from you to protect you.”
“It seems to me that my father should have thought about protecting his family
before he got mixed up with the Mafia.”
“He claims he didn’t know Mendacci was connected.”
“And you believe him?”
“If there’s one thing you learn in my business, it’s that everything isn’t black and white. There are gray areas. I think your father got drawn into something he didn’t fully understand. He was greedy, and he got in over his head. I believe he didn’t realize how deeply entangled Mendacci was, or that the deal he made with him would have such serious repercussions.”
“He could have told me what was going on.”
“Yes, he could have. But he didn’t want you to worry. I suspect he also didn’t want you jumping to conclusions about him before he had the opportunity to explain, in person, how he wound up in this mess.”
“I want to meet him.”
“You should. But you can’t visit him alone. It’s not safe. It’s very likely Mendacci has someone keeping an eye on Philip’s estate, hoping you’ll eventually seek out your father. We have an agent posted there, and Philip’s private security staff is on high alert. I’ll take you. We can make the trip first thing in the morning.”
“Okay,” she agreed, a heavy dose of reluctance peppering her reply.
Her continued cold-shoulder treatment wasn’t enough to deter him from extending an olive branch.
“If you’re finished with your workout, why don’t you join me for dinner?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“You have to eat sometime. Since you’re stuck with me for the foreseeable future, you might as well make the best of it. I’ll toss a couple of steaks on the grill and we can have a meal together. So what do you say? Truce?”
Brianna couldn’t bring herself to refuse his simple request. He’d broken her heart, yes, but it wasn’t his fault she’d fallen for him.
“Okay. Truce,” she gave in. “And I owe you an apology. I didn’t thank you for saving my life.”
“I’m the one who should be apologizing. I never meant to hurt you, Brianna.”
His words resonated with sincerity, and she really wanted to believe him. But Peter had done a bang-up job of selling his lies, too.
Even as she tried to fuel her anger by telling herself Luke was a carbon copy of her lying, cheating ex, her heart screamed that he wasn’t. Deep down, she knew Luke was different. And though she hadn’t intended for it to happen, he’d managed to lay claim to her heart.
When he looked at her the way he was now, she was certain he had to feel something deeper for her than simple physical attraction. She wanted to nurture the hope he might be beginning to have feelings for her. He’d gone after the man who’d stolen her purse, and he’d placed himself between her and a barrage of bullets, risking his life for her.
That had to
mean something, didn’t it?
Now wasn’t the time to press the issue, though. It would be best to step back and focus on holding up her end of the truce they’d agreed to.
By all rights, dinner should have been awkward, but it wasn’t. Luke kept the focus on neutral topics, and she found herself enjoying their casual conversation. After their meal they decided, by mutual consent, to watch a movie on his home entertainment system. When the credits rolled, she decided it was time to call it a night. Luke was a perfect gentleman, and saw her upstairs without trying to lure her into his bed.
Surprisingly, a part of her was disappointed he hadn’t.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Monitoring the estate’s security cameras after seeing Brianna settled in for the night, Luke exhaled a frustrated breath. Doing the honorable thing was killing him. The house and grounds were secure, and between the state-of-the-art security system and his trained guard dogs, there was no reason he shouldn’t get some rest himself. But he was on edge, too keyed up to sleep. He decided it was time to take his pacing outside before he wore a hole in his prized oriental carpet. Brianna was safe in the guest room, and some exercise might help clear his head.
Leaving two of his German shepherds behind to guard the house, he took the third, Zeus, along on his walk.
He still wasn’t sure how it had happened, but somewhere along the line Brianna had become so much more than just an assignment. He’d been fooling himself, thinking he could pull off emotional detachment without a hitch. There had been a serious catch, one that went straight to his heart. Every subtle nuance of her—from the delicate floral fragrance she favored to the sparkle in her eyes whenever she looked at him—was imprinted there now. She’d branded him as her own.
That awareness—that bond—announced to him as clearly as a flashing neon sign that he’d compromised this assignment. And he knew what he had to do to rectify his mistake.
He was heading back to the house when his canine’s ears pricked forward. Zeus was focused, but he wasn’t in alarm mode. It was someone familiar, rather than an intruder, that had captured the dog’s interest.
Brianna.
Luke watched her emerge from the shadows and enter his garage.
How had she managed to slip past the other dogs?
A moment later, she was zipping down the driveway in his Lamborghini, heading for the main road. He’d bet his entire fortune she was going to visit her father.
Hoping into his Land Rover, he followed a few vehicle lengths behind her. He could understand her need to see Philip privately, but he couldn’t let her go by herself. The best he could do would be to give her a few moments alone with Philip before he intruded on their meeting.
He called Liz to let her know he’d left the estate.
“Where are you?” she queried.
“I’m on the interstate, headed toward Westborough.”
“Is Brianna with you?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
“Care to expound on that?”
“I’m tailing her. She snuck out.”
“On you? Oh, I really like this girl. She’s got spunk.”
It was more like recklessness, in his book. She’d taken a foolhardy risk by disobeying his orders, displaying the same kind of brazen disregard for her personal safety that had brought Tanya’s life grinding to a senseless halt. He may not have been in love with Tanya, but that hadn’t made the sight of her lifeless body stretched out on a cold slab any easier to bear. It hadn’t made the remorse or the guilt any less potent.
And just like Tanya, Brianna thought she was invincible.
Had he not spotted her in time to follow her, she would have been vulnerable until she reached Dimitriou’s estate. That was sixty miles too many for his comfort.
“Yeah, well, that spunk is going to get her killed.”
“Do you have any idea where she’s headed?”
“My guess is she’s going to see her father. She decided she wants to meet him. I told her I’d take her tomorrow. Apparently she didn’t want to wait.”
“You can’t blame her for wanting their first meeting to be private, Luke. This is her father we’re talking about, the man she thought died before she was born.”
“I know. I’ll give her some time alone with him before I go in.”
“Good. Michael is watching Philip. I’ll alert him that Brianna is on her way. He’ll keep an eye on her as she approaches the estate.”
“Thanks, Liz. I’ll keep you posted.”
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Waiting in her father’s study for his butler to make him aware of her arrival, Brianna did her best to ignore the butterflies bungee-jumping in her stomach. In hindsight, she realized she should have called to let Philip know she was coming. She’d simply been overcome by the urge to meet him. She needed to know her father wasn’t a bad man, despite the criminal element he’d gotten mixed up with.
Her father’s palatial mansion lacked the warmth of Luke’s home. It felt lonely. Despite his wealth and privilege, Philip was poor in the ways that really mattered. She had a feeling he would have given up every last penny of his vast estate if he could bring her mother back.
Hearing a door open, Brianna looked up. She locked gazes with her father for the first time. He was a wealthy and powerful man, but losing her mother had left him broken. Grief, regret, and loneliness had tracked deep lines across his face. The emotions that swept across that haggard yet still-handsome face now—shock and disbelief, followed swiftly by joy—were nearly her undoing.
“Brianna!” he breathed.
The awe in his voice when he murmured her name broke the tenuous grasp she held on her composure. When he held his arms out to her, it seemed the most natural thing in the world to run into them. He clasped her tightly to his heart, and she hugged him back with the same fierce intensity. Her tears mingled with his, his sobs of raw emotion breaking her heart. They’d been cheated of so much. So many years. So many memories.
“Let me look at you,” he murmured, drawing back with a shaky smile. “You’re so beautiful. You’re the exact image of your mother. I loved her very much, you know.”
She swiped the moisture from her eyes, believing, now, that he really had. “She must have loved you, too.”
“Come. Sit,” he invited, guiding her to the sofa. He was still clinging to her tenderly, as though he feared she’d change her mind and run from him. He only relaxed when she sat beside him. “I still can’t believe I’ve been blessed with a daughter. I know you must have a thousand questions, and I’ll answer them all. Above all else, I want you to know I would have divorced my wife to marry your mother, but she led me to believe she didn’t love me and she didn’t want to marry me. And I never knew you existed until my investigator found you.
“When I told her I wanted to marry her, she said she didn’t want me to smear my reputation on account of her. I told her that was ludicrous. I wasn’t ashamed of our love for each other. I wanted to shout it from the rooftops. I told her I’d already put the paperwork in motion to divorce Evelyn, and she ran away. She left a note saying she didn’t love me enough to marry me. In it, she asked me not to come after her. I honored her wishes, believing she didn’t want me in her life any longer.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but the one I regret the most is letting her go. When my wife died, I moved heaven and earth to try and find your mother in the hopes she might still feel something for me and that she could forgive me.”
“That’s how your investigator found me.”
“Yes. When I learned my efforts to locate your mother were too late, I was devastated. But finding out you existed gave me a reason to go on. There’s something I must tell you. I’ve made a very serious mistake, one that has put you and your brother in jeopardy.”
“It’s okay. I already know,” she murmured soothingly. “The security agent you hired explained everything.”
He lowered his head, his shoulders slumped in de
feat. “You must hate me.”
She shook her head emphatically. This man was her father. There was no way on earth she could hold the blunders he’d made against him.
“I could never hate you. This mess isn’t your fault. You didn’t realize what you were getting involved in. Lawrence Mendacci is dangerous and diabolical. And when you tried to do the right thing, an innocent man paid the price. What other choice did you have but to do what he asked?”
“But it’s because of me that you’re in danger. I’m so very sorry you’ve been dragged into this mess. I was foolish. Greedy. You must believe me when I tell you when I first became involved with Lawrence Mendacci I had no idea he was connected to the Mafia. As soon as I realized what was going on, I tried to back out.
“That’s when Mendacci took the life of one of my most trusted staff members. Brian was more than an employee, he was like a member of the family. I didn’t have any evidence to prove I was being blackmailed, or that Mendacci was behind Brian’s death, and I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt. I played by Mendacci’s rules for a while, until I reached a point where I just couldn’t live with myself any longer if I didn’t put a stop to his twisted dealings. I told Mendacci I was going to the police. That’s when he threatened Rafe. And you.”
“It’s going to be okay,” she assured him. “Sentinels is working diligently to gather evidence against Mendacci. It’s only a matter of time before they do.”
“Until then, without any material evidence, it’s just my word against his. That’s why I’m begging you to let the protection service I’ve hired do their job. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you. Will you do that for me?”
“I will,” she assured him, squeezing his hand.
A commotion in the hallway drew their attention to the door a second before Luke stormed in. Her father’s butler, looking stricken, rushed in after him.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Dimitriou. He wouldn’t wait.”
“It’s okay, Miguel. I believe this is my daughter’s security guard.”
