Backstreet Hero. Justine Davis
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I know the people who did this—” the redhead made a general gesture toward the research lab “—are in jail, but still…”
Lilith masked her start of surprise. That possibility hadn’t occurred to her. She’d assumed, as had Josh, that if there was indeed some nefarious plot to harm her, only one person could be behind it. Of course, Liana didn’t know about that person. No one did, except Josh, and at his request, security chief John Draven.
If she had to accept that something was really happening, she wished she could believe it was something as sanitary as fallout from the industrial spying case. That would be preferable to the alternative. But the alternative, unhappily, made a lot more sense.
“Thank you for being worried,” Lilith said. “Although I don’t think it’s necessary.”
“Logan thought it was better to be sure. You’re not upset that he said something to Josh?”
“I wish he would have talked to me first, I could have eased his mind—and yours—but I try not to get angry with people who care enough to worry about me.”
Liana smiled in obvious relief. “What’s Josh going to do?”
“Pester me, no doubt,” Lilith said, with fond annoyance. “Or rather, some unlucky person from security who no doubt has much more important things to do than find a plot where there is none will get that job.”
“A bodyguard?”
Lilith laughed. “Oh, please. That’s the last thing I need.”
“They do that, though, don’t they? Security, I mean? Because Logan would be happy to—”
She stopped when Lilith held up a hand. “I do not need a bodyguard.”
A sudden image flashed through her mind, of the aftermath of the last time a Redstone Security agent had taken on bodyguard duties. In her mind she saw Ian Gamble, dressed in a sleek tuxedo that erased any memory of his usual, casually untidy self, just as his intense expression as he waited for his beautiful bride had erased the memory of his usual, endearingly distracted self.
Ian Gamble, genius inventor, who had fallen in love and married Samantha Beckett, top-notch Redstone Security agent.
His bodyguard.
Yet another in the ongoing string of Redstone weddings.
She shook off the image briskly. “I’m sure he’ll simply have someone look into both incidents, discover they were indeed unfortunate accidents and we will all go on about our business. Which is,” she added, “what I intend to do now.”
“Not just yet.”
The deep voice from the doorway spun Liana around and made Lilith’s nerves jump. Liana greeted the man standing there with a happy exclamation. “Tony! When did you get back?”
Lilith just tried to remember how to breathe.
“Hello, my lovely Liana. This morning,” Tony said.
“Have you seen Logan?”
“Your knight in shining armor with the luck of a thousand men to end up with you? No, but I spoke to him, also this morning.”
Liana laughed. “You’re incorrigible. But that’s what I love about you.”
Lilith smiled to herself a little wistfully; the teasing repartee was so carefree. Tony Alvera was an incurable flirt, and Liana obviously knew it. Although even if he had been serious, it wouldn’t have made any difference; the girl was head over heels in love with her ex-cop.
Lilith wondered if Tony Alvera was ever serious when it came to women. She was reasonably sure, from what she’d observed during his work on Logan’s case, that he would never poach on another man’s territory. Or perhaps that only applied to men he respected, as she knew he did Logan Beck. In any case, Liana was as safe from his predatory charms as if she’d been his sister. That, Lilith was certain of.
“But alas,” Tony was saying with mock drama, “as always, I am too late to win the fair lady.”
Lilith at last found her voice, and her poise.
“Children, children,” she said in mock severity, “take the bantering outside, please. I have work to do.”
Liana laughed, patted Tony’s arm in a way that put her previous words clearly into that sisterly category and went back to her own office.
Tony Alvera didn’t move. And at Lilith’s teasing words or tone, something had flickered in his eyes that had caught her attention. Something that reminded her that for all his easy, practiced charm, this was a dangerous man.
Something you shouldn’t forget, she told herself, although she wasn’t sure why it seemed so important at this moment; since they were both Redstone, he would never be dangerous to her.
For a long moment he stood there, just looking at her. He wasn’t a huge man, just under six feet she guessed, but he somehow managed to fill the room anyway. It must be the combination of obvious strength, the striking looks, dark eyes coupled with golden skin and the rather rakish patch of beard below the middle of his lower lip, and the edginess he radiated at almost every moment.
The evidence that the edginess was for real was clear in the barely noticeable patches of slightly lighter skin on his neck and hands, where she knew gang tattoos had once been.
When she’d first met him, when he’d been assigned to help Liana and Logan, she’d found him disconcerting, to say the least. When she’d learned his story, from Josh himself, she’d found him admirable.
Right now, standing solidly in her office staring at her a little too intently—and for some reason apparently not willing to leave as Liana had—he was nothing less than unsettling.
And suddenly the obvious answer hit her.
“Not you,” she said, nearly groaning it.
His face changed. The transfixing look vanished, replaced by the practiced charm she’d seen him use so effectively before. Not the teasingly flirtatious manner he’d had with Liana; that had been oddly innocent and sincere. This was the demeanor he used to beguile people, mostly women, she was certain, into giving him what he wanted.
Whatever that might be.
That was something that hit a chord deep within her, and not in a good way.
“Sorry, Mrs. Mercer. Luck of the draw.”
She was hideously aware that she’d uttered her gut reaction aloud. And since she wasn’t even sure what had prompted that reaction, she didn’t know quite how to explain it to herself, let alone to the man she’d just unintentionally insulted.
But manners dictated she say something, so she opted for simplicity. And truth, which was never an optional choice for her, not anymore. “I’m sorry. I’m just not sold on this whole idea, and it seems absurd to pull you, of all people, in on such a silly little thing.”
And that was all true, she told herself. It just wasn’t all of the truth. There had been something much more deeply rooted in that involuntary response to his presence. It wasn’t that he wasn’t efficient and effective—he wouldn’t have lasted in Redstone Security if he wasn’t And she had admired how he’d handled Logan’s case, including how he’d dealt with the stubborn, reluctant ex-cop. But that contact had been intermittent. She couldn’t imagine having to deal with his intense presence all the time.
His expression changed again, but only slightly. After a moment he nodded, as if in acceptance of her explanation. But the original, riveting stare didn’t return, and somehow that unsettled her even more. Why, she didn’t know. She was usually unruffled and ever calm; it was the trait most commented on by anyone who knew her. But now—
“We need to talk about what’s happened. Who might want you hurt. I’ll try not to disrupt your life too much. But this is on Josh’s orders, and you know what that means.”