Defying Asher (Knight Security 1)

by Carole Mortimer

  “Where and who is your father?” He stalled for the time he needed to get his head around this unexpected development. For all he knew, there could also be an unnamed husband popping out of the woodwork sometime soon.

  “He lives in Los Angeles. He’s Jack Forsythe, the film producer.” She shrugged. “I took my father’s name, even though my parents were never married and my mother left shortly after I was born.”

  “You were brought up by your father?”

  “Yes.”

  “Hasn’t he been married three times?”

  “Four,” Lissa corrected. “Having that many stepmothers has been…interesting to say the least. He’s between wives at the moment,” she added dryly.

  Fucking hell. This just got more and more complicated. “You don’t speak with an American accent.”

  “English boarding school.”

  “Your parents both live in the US, but you live in London and work in a travel agency? At least you did a year ago.”

  The question Ash wanted to ask was, why did she? when she had a megarich fashion guru for a mother and a famous and equally rich film producer for a father? Whether her parents were married or not, most young women in that position would have lived the life of wealth and privilege she had obviously been born into.

  “I’m twenty-eight, Asher, not eight, which means I can live where I damn well please. I also happen to own the travel agency where I work,” she added dismissively.

  Well, that made a little more sense. A little. It still didn’t explain why Claudia had forgotten to mention her daughter. Or how Asher was now supposed to deal with that information.

  He winced as he handed Lissa her cell phone. “I’ll call up and tell Miss Reynolds you’re here—”

  “Don’t bother,” Lissa snapped in disgust. “Just let her know I came by for our required monthly visit. She knows how to contact me.” If she wants to was tacitly added to that statement as Lissa turned and walked over to the glass entrance door, hips swaying provocatively, her head held high.

  “Lissa—”

  “Don’t give it another thought, Asher. Whatever game Claudia is playing, I want no part of it.” She didn’t even turn as she gave a dismissive wave of her hand on her way out the door.

  “Well, that went well.” Asher gave Liam an uncomfortable grimace.

  The other man frowned. “Miss Reynolds has been holding back on us.”

  Yes, she had, and now Asher was going up to one of the two penthouse apartments to demand to know if there was anything else Claudia Reynolds had omitted to tell them.

  What sort of mother scheduled monthly visits with her own daughter, for fuck’s sake? A daughter Claudia hadn’t even thought to put on the list of approved friends and associates she had given for people allowed to visit her apartment.

  And how the hell was Ash supposed to deal with having the disturbing Lissa Forsythe back in his life?

  Chapter 2

  “How’s your foot?”

  Ash’s gaze narrowed on his oldest brother, Gabriel, sitting behind his imposing desk in the Knight Security office building. Ash sat opposite, his booted feet propped up and crossed at the ankles on the front of the antique piece of furniture. At thirty-seven, Gabriel was the eldest of the four Knight brothers. Ex-military, he now preferred to wear a tailored suit and run the company office rather than go out into the field.

  “I read Liam’s report from last night,” Gabriel told him unapologetically.

  “Of course you did.” Ash sighed. “Well, my foot’s badly bruised, but there don’t seem to be any broken bones.”

  “Fiery lady.”

  That was one way of putting it. Lissa had been a thorn in Ash’s side from the first night he met her. Outspoken. Fiery, as Gabriel said. Beautiful. And so fucking passionate, she took his breath away. But then, she’d done that from the moment Ash first looked at her.

  “What explanation did Miss Reynolds give for omitting her daughter’s name from her list of approved visitors?”

  “In light of what happened before she left New York, she totally forgot her daughter would be visiting,” Ash revealed. “How the fuck does someone forget their own daughter?” It had been all he could do to conceal his disgust the previous evening when he spoke with Claudia Reynolds.

  Gabriel shrugged. “You would have to ask Miss Reynolds that.”

  Ash frowned at his brother. “Seems to me Claudia Reynolds and Jack Forsythe should take more of an interest in their daughter.”

  “Feeling a little protective, are we?”

  “Don’t start your fucking mind games with me, Gabe.” Ash scowled. “I’m not in the mood for them.”

  “What are you in the mood for?”

  Fucking.

  Hard. Fast. Mindless. Unadulterated, uncensored fucking.

  And not just with anyone either. With Lissa.

  Ash had thought of little else since seeing her again last night. That need had kept him awake most of the night, and he still ached with it.

  He remembered in graphic detail how he couldn’t get enough of her that night a year ago. The taste of her. The silky sensuality of how her skin felt beneath his hands. How they’d taken each other again and again, in every way possible, until they both fell into an exhausted asleep in the early hours of the morning.

  No other woman had affected him that way, before her or since.

  Or he was just getting picky.

  Whatever the reason, that single night with Lissa was etched into his memory, maybe even his soul.

  And the following morning, she’d walked away, after accusing him of God knows what when he returned to the bedroom from taking a shower. She’d sashayed her delectable ass out of his apartment and treated him with utter contempt six months ago and again last night.

  “When did you and Miss Forsythe first meet?”

  Ash met Gabriel’s gaze guardedly. “Alexandre’s Stazzi—I suppose she’s Princess Anastazia now,” he mused. “She introduced the two of us last year.” Ash and the ruling prince of Androcco had met at university and remained friends ever since.

  “And?”

  “And the four of us had dinner together.”

  “Is that all you and Miss Forsythe did together?”

  “What the fuck does that have to do with you?” Ash snapped.

  Gabriel leaned his elbows on the desk, green eyes as hard as the jewels they resembled. “It has a great deal to do with me if your previous…relationship with Claudia Reynolds’s daughter intrudes on this protection detail. Maybe you’re too close to the situation and Noah should take the lead on this. You could take over the kidnapping case—”

  “No!” Ash had swung his legs to the floor to sit forward, his body tensed aggressively. “I can handle it, damn it.”

  “I’m more worried about the possibility of you inappropriately handling Miss Forsythe.”

  His eyes narrowed. “When have you ever known me to allow my personal life to interfere with my professional one?”

  “Never,” Gabe conceded. “Except for the fact you don’t deny there is a personal relationship between the two of you.”

  “Was,” Ash corrected. “There was a personal relationship. A year ago. Briefly. Very briefly,” he added flatly.

  Gabe gave a hard smile. “You seem to have made enough of an impression during that brief relationship, she didn’t even hesitate in inflicting injury on you last night.”

  He shrugged. “The Knight charm strikes again.” Of the five Knight siblings, only the youngest was married, their actress sister, Lily. She and her husband, Jonas, had recently learned they were expecting their first baby. The four Knight brothers, all aged in their thirties, were still single and preferred it that way. Although Ash found he liked the idea of being an uncle in six months’ time.

  “If only,” Gabriel drawled dryly.

  “Fine.” He nodded. “I’m on my way to see Lissa—Miss Forsythe now.” Fuck. Two minutes into assuring Gabe he could behave in a professional manner, a
nd already he’d overstepped the client/bodyguard line by talking about Lissa with such familiarity. “She telephoned her mother late last night. The two of them talked, but Miss Reynolds didn’t tell her what happened before she left New York. I’m going to Li—Miss Forsythe’s apartment now, to explain the situation to her.” He’d checked: Lissa still lived at the same apartment she’d shared with Stazzi a year ago.

  “Then you can also inform her I’m assigning her a bodyguard too,” his brother advised briskly. “If we now know of her existence, then it isn’t going to be too difficult for someone else to find out about her too.”

  That made sense. “Who are you sending?”

  Gabriel’s expression was mocking. “Liam has volunteered to take the first detail.”

  “I’ll just bet he has,” Ash growled, remembering the appreciative glances the other man had given Lissa last night. And his amusement at Ash’s expense.

  He and Liam had only met a year ago, when Knight Security bought out Grayson Security, the firm Liam had previously worked for. The two men were completely different in temperament, but they worked well together and had shared the occasional beer when they were both off duty. Ash had no illusions about himself, knew he was abrasive and arrogant. Liam, on the other hand, was a blond-haired Adonis who knew how to turn on the charm. All the ladies loved him.

  No doubt Lissa would too.

  She couldn’t help but like him more than she did Ash, at least. It wouldn’t be difficult when she seemed to feel the need to physically attack Ash, and not in a pleasant way, whenever the two of them were together for any length of time.

  “Ian is working with you to protect Miss Reynolds at the moment, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind transferring to Miss Forsythe, if you would prefer him to Liam?” Gabriel offered at his lengthy silence.

  Ash didn’t prefer. Ian was his cousin and even more of a player than Liam was. Than Ash had been. Because now that he thought about it, he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been out with a woman, let alone been to bed with one. Apart from Lissa a year ago.

  Maybe that was part of the reason he’d responded so strongly to seeing Lissa again last night? He simply needed to get laid. And soon.

  He stopped scowling. “No, I’m happy with Liam if you are. Who has second watch?”

  “Ethan.”

  “Fine.” The choice of one of his twin brothers was probably the lesser of several evils. After all, he couldn’t object to all of his male relatives and friends being around Lissa—

  What the fuck was he doing? What did it matter to him who was guarding Lissa or whether she did or didn’t find them attractive? Lissa was nothing to him but a memory, and no longer a fond one at that.

  Gabriel nodded. “I’ll leave you to tell Miss Forsythe.”

  “She isn’t going to like having a bodyguard, no matter who it is.”

  “I’m sure she’ll prefer it to being dead,” Gabriel bit out grimly.

  “Jesus Christ, Gabe, tell it like it is, why don’t you?” He gave an exasperated shake of his head at his brother’s bluntness.

  “No, I’m expecting you to do that when you speak to Miss Forsythe later today.”

  “I know what my job is, Gabe.” Although Ash couldn’t say he was looking forward to this conversation with Lissa.

  “Don’t.” Ash wedged his uninjured foot between the frame and the door to Lissa’s apartment, preventing her from slamming it in his face. “You knew it was only a matter of time before I turned up here.”

  “Did I?” She eyed him coolly with those beautiful yellow topaz-colored eyes.

  Ash had never seen eyes that color before he met Lissa. Cat’s eyes, and surrounded by thick dark lashes, giving them an almost exotic appeal. Those eyes, and the creamy texture of her complexion, made an intriguing contrast to the deep auburn of her hair—

  Oh, for fuck’s sake.

  “We need to talk,” he said tersely.

  “I have nothing to say to you.” She continued to keep the door open only enough to accommodate where Ash’s foot was stopping her from closing it in his face. As she so obviously wanted to do.

  God, this woman was hot.

  Lissa had looked amazing last night in her fitted sweater and tight-fitting jeans, but today she looked even better. She wore a white vest top with thin straps, fitted over her voluptuous breasts and slender waist. Loose-fitting jogging pants rested low on her hips, leaving two inches or so of her bare abdomen between them and the vest top, allowing Ash to see the colorful tattoo.

  “That’s new.” He bent down to get a closer look at the design.

  “What the…?” Lissa stepped back as Asher leaned so close to her, she could feel the heat of his breath on her bare skin.

  “This is beautiful work.” He made no effort to straighten as he glanced up at her, the green flecks visible in the darkness of his eyes. “You didn’t have this tattoo a year ago.”

  A stark reminder, if Lissa had needed one, that this man knew and had touched every inch of her. Intimately.

  “A phoenix rising from the ashes,” he mused admiringly as he raised his hand.

  “Don’t.” Lissa could have kicked herself for sounding breathy as she stepped back from allowing him to touch her.

  Even if breathless was how Asher made her feel. Breathless. Aroused. Even now her body was tingling in awareness of his proximity.

  Every time Lissa had seen Asher so far, he had been wearing a suit—or nothing at all! A dinner suit the first evening they met, a formal suit at Stazzi and Alexandre’s wedding, and again at Claudia’s apartment building last night. This was the first time she’d seen him casually dressed in a T-shirt and jeans.

  The tight tee showed off the muscular strength of his arms and wide shoulders and chest, the ridges of his washboard abs clearly outlined. Faded blue jeans rested low on his hips, emphasizing the lean length of his legs, heavy biker boots on his feet.

  Asher was sophisticated and elegant in a suit, but he looked even more dangerous wearing a casual T-shirt and jeans. The dark hair and heavy boots gave him an added bad-boy edge.

  “Interesting choice of design,” he murmured as he finally straightened.

  “I consider it the story of my life so far.” Lissa had no intention of admitting he was part of her having, literally, risen from the ashes.

  Considering her early life and childhood, it was surprising she was as normal as she was.

  Her mother had separated from her father when Lissa was only a few days old, Claudia moving to New York to take over as head of the features department at Elan magazine. Lissa had stayed with her father, in the care of a full-time nanny, with occasional visits to her mother when she was older and as Claudia’s busy work schedule allowed.

  Then at eight, Lissa had been shipped—flown?—off to boarding school in England. And hadn’t that been a wonderful time. As a new girl, Lissa had felt self-conscious enough, but a new girl with an American accent… Let’s just say it had been in her own best interest to lose the accent as soon as possible.

  Even so, her school life had only become bearable when Stazzi Carmichael joined the same school when they were both thirteen. They clicked instantly, became the sister to each other neither of them had.

  They had also gone to the same university in Edinburgh and then moved to London to share a flat once they graduated. Stazzi went to work in a hotel, and Lissa’s father had given her the money to open up her own travel agency.

  Everything in Lissa’s life had been running smoothly until she met Asher a year ago.

  That amazing night with him would be forever etched into her mind and body. To a degree she had very quickly realized he had totally spoiled her for other men. No one since had ever attracted her in the instant way Asher had. Not even close.

  So yes, when she decided to get a tattoo after Stazzi and Alexandre’s wedding six months ago, a phoenix rising from the Asher had seemed very appropriate.

  “Care to tell me what’s funny?” he prompted
as she smiled self-derisively.

  “No,” she stated. “Why are you here, Asher?”

  “Ash,” he invited gruffly.

  Her eyes widened. “I thought that familiarity was only reserved for close friends?”

  His mouth twisted into a mocking smile. “I don’t think anyone’s ever been as close to me as you have, before or since our night together.”

  “Really?” Lissa’s sarcasm masked her inner surprise. The two of them had been explosive in bed together, but she had always assumed that was the norm for Ash’s sex life rather than the unusual.

  “Yes, really,” he echoed dryly.

  “I find that very hard to believe.”

  “I owned you that night, Lissa,” he rasped. “And before you give me one of your blistering replies, you owned me too,” he added as her eyes narrowed in warning. “In every way.”

  Lissa gave a wince as she easily recalled the depth and intimacy of that ownership. It had been beyond intense.

  “But I didn’t come here to discuss that.”

  “I never for one moment thought you did.” She snorted. “So what did you want to talk about?” Her gaze was guarded.

  “If you let me inside, you’ll find out.”

  “You’ve never married?” She glanced down at his bare left hand.

  He physically recoiled. “Hell, no.”

  So much for his girlfriend and their “special celebration.” No doubt, whoever she was, she had gone the same way as every other woman who had ever been in Asher’s life.

  “You?” he prompted.

  “Hell, no.” She firmly echoed his own sentiment on the subject. “I’m not letting you inside until you tell me what you want to talk to me about.”

  His jaw tightened. “Claudia Reynolds.”

  The tension eased in her shoulders. “I spoke to my mother on the phone last night. She confirmed she’s the reason you and Liam were at Felton Tower last night. She explained there had been some sort of security breach in New York but it was now under control.”

  Asher snorted. “If that’s the case, your mother is a master of the understatement.”