Assess the situation.
Protect the client.
Eliminate the threat.
—Nina Bronson
Ewan Donahue looked like the worst kind of trouble.
And, despite those broad shoulders, the sleekly perfectslope of his jaw as he turned to glare at her, and that habit he had of tossinghis slightly overlong dark hair out of his flashing hazel eyes, he was not thesort of trouble Nina Bronson was going to let herself get into.
Not because he was her boss, since technically he was justthe guy paying for her services and not the person in charge of her. No, Ninahad a lot of other reasons for putting distance between herself and one of theworld’s most eligible billionaires, and Donahue himself had already made itclear precisely what he thought about her. He’d looked her dead in the eyes butgripped her hand a few seconds too briefly to keep their greeting polite.
As though her skin had burned him.
Like there was something distasteful about touching her.
She couldn’t be surprised at his reaction, could she? Afterall, the entire world knew how Donahue felt about the enhanced, and he wasn’tthe only person who’d ever reacted to her that way. Dealing with prejudice waspart of this new life she’d been given, not condemned to. Nina made the effortnow to keep her hands from becoming fists, her tone neutral but firm.
“You were given all the specs and requirements before Iarrived,” she told him patiently.
Her voice didn’t rise. She kept her expression bland anddeliberately nonconfrontational. Even if she were capable of rage, she’d havekept her temper in check. Donahue was a client, and clients, while not alwaysright, at least were supposed to be allowed to think they were.
Her tone was chilly and polite, and she didn’t tack a “sir”onto the end of her sentence, though everyone else who spoke to him did. Ninahad arrived at Woodhaven, Donahue’s vast and exceedingly private estate, twentyminutes ago. In that time, Donahue had interacted with exactly a dozen differentstaff members who’d practically bowed and scraped during the conversations withtheir employer, while he’d barely seemed to notice the obsequiousness. Or theemployees themselves, as a matter of fact, something Nina noticed.
She’d arrived here directly from her last gig without eventaking time to head home first, because Donahue had paid double the usualacquisition fees in order to get her there. She wasn’t tired—Nina no longer gottired, really, unless she’d been running on empty for days on end. She was,however, cranky.
“You hired me,” she continued, “for a purpose.”
“Exactly. I hired you.” He jabbed a finger in her direction.
“As I understand it, you did so because of a recent threatto your life that happened last night,” she said, gesturing at the faintscratches on Donahue’s left cheek. “Broken glass from the shattered restaurantwindow. You’re lucky. It doesn’t look like it’s going to scar.”
Donahue paused and put his hands on his hips. He wore only apair of loose synthcotton trousers. Bare feet and chest. That head of thickdark hair was rumpled from what Nina assumed must have been a fairly sleeplessnight. For a man balking so fiercely at compromising his modesty, he suredidn’t seem to be worried about being almost naked in front of her.
“Lucky, too, that nobody else was hurt,” she added.
That seemed to rustle him. “Why do you think you’re here,now? To stop something like that from happening again.”
“I can’t stop anyone from attacking you, Mr. Donahue. I canonly make sure that if or when that happens, you’ll be protected.”
In her two-year stint working with ProtectCorps, NinaBronson had been in charge of more than a dozen senators, CEOs, philanthropicrecluses, and once, an actual princess. The princess had been the easiest todeal with. She’d been used to being protected, while the men under Nina’s carehad been accustomed to being obeyed. It made a big difference in how theyreacted.
Nina had learned the ways of the wealthy and powerful earlyon in this gig—you let them do what they thought they wanted to do whileguiding them toward the safest way for them to do it, and when that failed, youtook a bullet for them if you had to. If you were too slow to get them out ofthe way first, that was. She’d never been too slow, not yet, but then shehadn’t ever taken on a man as bullheadedly stubborn as the one in front of her.
Donahue scowled. “Yeah, well, I’m a hundred percent certainthat doesn’t mean you have to follow me into the toilet.”
Nina had been told once by an ex-lover that the specificsmile she now gave Donahue could freeze a volcano. Connor had meant it as acompliment, probably because they’d never been more than casual bed partners.Now she warmed the grimace only slightly. “If you’re not going to let me do myjob properly, then I’m going to have to subdue you.”
She could put him on his back in seconds, if she had to.Straddle him, maybe, her thighs hugging the jut of his hips as he struggledbeneath her. The thought sent a shiver tickling up and down her spine, anunwelcome and unexpected frisson of tension. Her chin lifted as she studiedhim. She was on the job, not on the prowl, and this man was never, ever goingto be an option.
The threat, and it was a threat, not a suggestion, got himto listen. Donahue did a double take. Dark arched eyebrows rose.
“You’re kidding. Right?”
Nina’s smile did not change.
Donahue scowled. “Subdue me? What the hell does that mean?”
“Do you really want to find out?”
He tried to stare her down, but she didn’t budge. When hetried to step around her, she stepped, too, so quickly it was as though he werethe one getting in her way, not the other way around. He tried again in theopposite direction, but she was faster. She’d always be faster, Nina thoughtwith a certain grim satisfaction but no joy.
“I thought you’d been briefed on how this works. You are notto go anywhere without me. Not to your office, not to the kitchen for a snack.Not to answer the door for pizza delivery—”
“Someone else answers the door,” Donahue said.
Of course they did.
She wanted to laugh, both at his disgruntled look and hissly retort. She might have thought it was his attempt at humor, if he hadn’tbeen so clearly angry. Nina remained calm. Unruffled, although she hadn’t evenbeen here for an hour, and he’d already obstructed every single one of herinstructions.
“I am to be with you at all times,” Nina said. “I made that clear when I arrived. Nothing about that has changed. Nothing about that willchange as long as I am employed as your protector. I signed a contract. You signed a contract. There really shouldn’t be anything to argue about.”
Donahue had balked at her moving a cot into his bedroom.She’d explained that her role as protector meant she needed to be there evenwhen he slept, perhaps especially at night when he was likely to be morevulnerable to attacks. Yes, even in his own home where he had installedhundreds of thousands of credits’ worth of security systems, one of which nowincluded her. He’d finally allowed the cot, begrudgingly, but now he washollering about her following him into the bathroom.
Donahue spoke with his hands. Big hands. Strong. Expressive.The habit would’ve been charming on a man she wasn’t already inclined todislike.
“This is ridiculous!” His hands painted the picture of hisdismay in the air. When he turned to face her, he caught her staring at hisfingers. He curled them into fists at his sides.
Tension sprouted between them that had nothing to do withhis lean body or that handsome face. His aggression was a trigger, putting herbody and senses on alert. Ready to fight, defend. Protect. Of course, she wassupposed to be protecting him, not fighting him, but fortunately for EwanDonahue, Nina had not only learned to control her reactions, but there weresome triggers she simply could no longer respond to. He could try to push herinto anger to get a rise out of her, if that was his thing, but it wasn’t goingto work.
It hadn’t always been that way. In the first days of herrecovery, she’d broken her knuckles throwing punches. Broken other people worsethan that. If Donahue knew how brutal Nina was capable of being, he might notbe moving so menacingly close to her, she thought, her expression indifferently bland Her body was ready but controlled. You never knew with men like him. He might get off on the idea of pushing her to the limit.
“I understand, Mr. Donahue. You want your privacy. You’reused to autonomy.”
And telling other people what to do, not being toldyourself.
Nina continued, “What you need to understand is that you’vehad a total of fifty-seven confirmed, serious death threats made in the past threeand a half weeks. Previously, you’ve had three actual attempts on your life.Two of your former bodyguards were killed protecting you—”
“Enough.” Donahue flinched, his cheeks flushing the faintesthint of red. A brush of heat came off him, subtle but definite. “Yes. I know. Ifeel like shit about it, thanks so much for reminding me I’m the reason twogood men are dead.”
She bit her tongue for a moment before answering, moregently this time. Leona Smart, the owner of ProtectCorps and Nina’s directsupervisor, insisted all of her employees take courses in sensitivity training.Nina had never been very good at it, although she tried. “I understand how hardthat must have been, Mr. Donahue. Believe me, I do.”
“How could you possibly?” He stalked from one end of theroom to the other, pivoting on a bare heel to stare at her.
She’d read his files and knew he had no martial arts ormilitary training or anything like that. Even so, the man moved like apredator, some kind of big cat, all sleek muscles and rolling gait. Shewouldn’t have been surprised to see him snarl. Her heart tried to thump alittle faster at what it would be like if he did, indeed, come at herphysically. He couldn’t beat her, but he might be an interesting challenge.
“I was a soldier,” Nina replied simply. “I saw lots of goodpeople die, and sometimes, it was my fault.”
Donahue went quiet at that. Contemplative. His lightweightpajama bottoms hung low on lean hips, and his sculpted abs flexed when hepaced. Donahue had the body of a man who spent a lot of time making sure helooked good. With a small, internal sneer, Nina imagined her own scars on fleshcovering muscles, sinews, nerves, and bones she’d worked hard to make strongeven before her enhancements. She didn’t have to be pretty. She had to befierce.
“I’m sorry,” he said after a moment, surprising her. “I knowyou were. And I respect the work you did—”
“Good. Many don’t.”
She’d been spit on more than a few times. Catcalled. TheSecond Cold War had been a lot hotter than the first one, and it had not seen alot of civilian support. In school she’d learned about the Vietnam War, how thereturning soldiers had been castigated and reviled. History did have its way ofrepeating.
That she could not actually remember most of her time in thearmy was not something she intended to point out to him. Donahue was already avocal and public opponent to the enhancement procedures she’d endured to saveher life and which had made her the woman she was today. The same woman whocould, and would, subdue him in order to save his stubborn, arrogant life adozen times over, if she had to. She folded her arms across her chest andwidened her stance. If he tried to push past her, she would not hesitate to puthim down, panther muscles or not. At this point, putting Ewan Donahue in hisplace would be a pleasure that had nothing to do with how good he lookedwithout his shirt.
He crossed his arms over his naked chest, drawing herattention to the bulging, shifting, and straining muscles of his pecs andbiceps. Was he . . . flexing?
Nina was neither impressed nor intimidated by this show,although she had no trouble admiring it. “I thought you had to use thefacilities.”
“Look,” he said, his tone conciliatory now. A negotiator.Lobbyist, convincer. “There’s such a thing as personal privacy.”
Nina wasn’t convinced. “I’m fully aware of that, and ofcourse I’m entirely capable of selective sight, which allows me to pixelatewhatever it is I’m not supposed to be seeing. It’s pretty convenient.”
“Oh. Right. Selective sight.” Donahue’s lip curled.
“And hearing,” she added with a small smile, even thoughwatching his disgusted reaction stung her in a place she could never seem toshield, no matter how often she was wounded there. It should only matter thathe believed she could do the job he’d hired her for, not whatever else hethought about her as a person, but that subtle, invasive sense that Donahuedidn’t think of her as a full, real person dug deep.
“In case there’s stuff I’m not supposed to hear. I mean,it’s all recorded in case someone later needs to access it. But I won’t haveaccess to it.” She added that last bit as a dig of her own, to remind him ofnot only who, exactly, she was, but also what. She wanted to rub it in hisface. Her enhancements, what she could do in the pursuit of his safety. Shewanted him to hear it and know and . . . well, to see it. To see her.
“Yeah, well, I’m not capable of either of those things,”Donahue said. “If you don’t leave my side even for a second or so, what aboutwhen you have to use the facilities?”
Her smile didn’t falter. “I’m sure you’ve read all thematerials about the enhancement procedures, Mr. Donahue. So then you know thatI’m also capable of maintaining amazing control of all my bodily functions.”
The man actually blushed this time. A rising flush crept uphis chest and throat to tinge his cheeks, and she was able to register theslight rise in his body heat. It was surprising, that reaction, but it made himseem no less a predator than he’d appeared before. “I’m aware of the proceduresand results, yeah.”
“Then you know I can hold it for a long time,” Nina saidsmoothly. “But seriously, I’m sure you’re about to burst. So if you’d rathercontinue to argue with me until you lose control . . .”
“I don’t,” Donahue snapped, “ever. Lose. Control.”
Another of her serene smiles pushed more crimson heat intohis cheeks. Nina stepped aside from the bathroom door with a flourish and asmall, deliberately obnoxious bow. “Good. Neither do I.”