Romance In Paradise: Flirting with the Forbidden / Hot Island Nights / From Fling to Forever. Sarah Mayberry
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Morgan looked horrified as she pushed Noah away. ‘Clothes—where are my clothes?’
‘Scattered,’ Noah said as he stood up. ‘Get dressed and I’ll delay him.’
‘Open the door, Morgan!’ James yelled. ‘And who is with you?’
‘We’re coming!’ Morgan yelled back.
‘Not in the way we’d hoped,’ Noah stated as he reached for his shirt.
‘Shut up!’ Morgan growled, wiggling into her pants. ‘Pass me my bra.’
Noah scooped up her bra, threw it towards her and tucked his shirt into his pants. When she was dressed, he gestured towards the kitchen.
‘Got anything alcoholic?’ he asked.
Morgan nodded towards an antique drinks cabinet in the corner and flipped open the bolt to her front door.
‘James,’ she drawled, ‘have you ever heard of the concept of calling before you arrive? It’s called etiquette. I’m sure Mum tried to teach us some.’
Morgan turned away and walked towards Noah who, being a good Scot, had found her expensive bottle of whisky and was pouring a healthy amount into three glasses.
‘Morgan.’
Something in her brother’s voice had all the hairs lifting on the back of her neck and arms. She turned around slowly and really looked at her brother. His face was bone-white and there were deep grooves in the lines running down next to his mouth. His eyes, green like hers, were flat and hard in his face.
‘What’s wrong?’ she demanded. ‘Is it Mum?’
James lifted up his hands. ‘She’s okay...really she is, Morgs, but something’s happened.’
Morgan sensed Noah’s approach and instinctively turned to look at him. He was rolling up the sleeves of his shirt and paused briefly, lifting an eyebrow in James’s direction.
‘What are you doing here anyway, Fraser?’ James scowled.
Morgan figured that James really wouldn’t want the answer to that question. Besides, he was a big boy—he could figure it out himself. Instead she gripped the back of one of the kitchen stools and tried to find her voice. ‘Mum? What’s happened, Jay?’
James gave Noah another tough look before running his hands over his face. ‘Mum had an...incident earlier tonight.’
‘Define “incident”,’ Noah said, and all traces of her earlier lover dissipated with those two words. He was in work mode, professional to the core. Serious, smart, and very, very dangerous.
‘Jackson was walking Mum through the parking lot of Luigi’s—she was meeting Dad for supper—when they were jumped by three guys.’
‘Who is Jackson?’ Noah grabbed a glass and handed it to Morgan. ‘Drink.’
‘My mum’s long-time bodyguard and driver,’ Morgan answered, grateful for something to do with her shaking hand.
Noah passed a whisky to James and gestured for him to carry on.
‘Luckily Dad and Henry—Dad’s bodyguard—were in the parking lot at the same time and saw what happened. Jackson and Henry reacted quickly—’ James released a huff of frustration and sipped his whisky. ‘The bodyguards got into it with the kidnappers while Dad picked Mum up—she’d been tossed to the ground in the fight—and bundled her into the car.’
‘But not hurt, right?’
‘Grazed chin and knees, sprained wrist,’ James replied, the muscle in his jaw ticking.
‘It’s okay, Morgan.’ Noah reached over and squeezed her shoulder. ‘She’s fine. What then?’
‘Our guys—especially Henry—are pretty tough, and they managed to subdue two of them. The other got away.’ James banged his glass onto the granite counter and splashed whisky. ‘Before the police arrived they told them that they were part of a group who were looking to exact retribution for the fact that MI are in the process of reopening an emerald mine in a remote area of north-east Colombia.’
‘Why don’t they want it reopened?’ Morgan asked.
‘The mining, trucks and security will interfere with the local drug cartel’s transport routes, and with increased population will make the inhabitants less...reliant on the generosity of the drug lords. I also suspect they are mining illegally as well,’ James replied. ‘They said that there are orders out to get MI out of the region.’
‘Really blethered on, didn’t they?’ Noah said, his voice bland.
‘Sang like canaries,’ James replied. ‘Probably because they had a knee in a kidney or a wrist about to be broken.’ James folded his arms and rested his bottom against the counter in front of the coffee machine. ‘The bottom line is that they want MI out of Colombia and they will do it by...’
Morgan saw his hesitation, the way he looked at her. ‘By...?’
‘By trying to kidnap someone else. You, me, other executives. I have told the executives in Colombia to be on high alert, and we’re doubling their security—and the mine’s. But you and I are definite targets. I want protection for you.’
Not again, Morgan thought. She hated having someone follow her around, monitoring her movements...constantly hovering.
‘I’ve called CFT. They will have someone here in two hours. So if you could just stay put until they get here?’
‘And Mum? How are we going protect her?’ Morgan asked.
‘Dad is taking her to the house in the Cayman Islands. You know how secure it is out there.’
‘Good. That’s good.’
James sent her a direct look. ‘Any chance of you joining her there?’
Was he insane? She had jewellery commissions to complete and deliver and—damn it!—with her mother gone someone had to organise the ball. Her mum couldn’t do that from the Cayman Islands or anywhere else. She needed to be here—in the city. So who was left to do it? Me... Damn!
‘I’ll take the protection, if you think I must, but I’m staying put.’
James blew air into his cheeks. ‘CFT personal protection agents will be here soon. Will you accommodate them?’
What choice did she have? It was at times like these when the reality of how different her life was from that of a normal woman her age became very clear. This was when the fact that she was a Moreau—part of a prominent, hugely wealthy family whose business interests could upset people even a continent away—really smacked her in the face.
That wasn’t normal. None of this was normal.
‘That’s not going to happen.’
Noah made sure that his voice was low, cool and utterly non-negotiable. In unison, James and Morgan turned to him, both pairs of bottle-green eyes surprised and suspicious.
James’s eyes hardened a fraction of a second before Morgan’s did. He could see that neither of them appreciated him jumping into the conversation but he didn’t care. He just folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his own eyes.
‘I’m not remotely interested in your opinion,’ James told him. ‘I’m making arrangements for my sister’s protection.’
‘So unmake them,’ Noah suggested calmly. ‘I will act as her personal protection detail.’
‘What?’
The siblings’ faces registered surprised confusion—and, really, could he blame them? They’d both forgotten that close body protection was what he did, was his business. And wasn’t he here for the express purpose of getting his company more MI business? That whole world domination thing?
That