Defying Asher (Knight Security 1) (11 page)

“I’ll go and get the damned robe myself.” Ash rose abruptly to march down the hallway and collect Lissa’s robe from where he had seen it hanging on the back of the bathroom door. “Here.” He stepped back into the sitting room to thrust the garment at her.

“Stop being such an obnoxious asshole.” She glared as she took the robe from him and slipped it on before fastening it about her waist. “Satisfied?”

“Nowhere near,” he said gruffly. “And watch your mouth,” he reminded her pointedly. “Or I’ll add ten more to the twelve already outstanding, for continued foul language.”

“Ten more what?” Gabriel frowned his curiosity.

“Never mind.” Lissa was the one to answer quickly, the blossoming color in her cheeks telling Ash she, at least, knew exactly what he was referring to. “Could we get this conversation over with?” She settled in one of the armchairs, her legs tucked up beneath her. “I need a shower, and then I have some phone calls I need to make before I go back to the hospital to sit with my father.”

“Who do you need to call?” Ash heard himself ask before he had a chance to recognize how possessive his behavior must appear to both Lissa and Gabriel.

Probably because he
felt
possessive. Bad-tempered too, from only having had a couple of hours sleep in twenty-four hours. He was also annoyed with Lissa’s attitude since she’d come out of the bedroom. As soon as the two of them were alone together, she was going to know exactly
how
pissed off he was.

“Mind your own damned business,” she answered predictably. “You were saying, Gabriel?” She turned to his brother.

Ash continued to scowl at her, as for the first time, it occurred to him he hadn’t considered the fact Lissa might already be involved with someone. She’d said she wasn’t married, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have a boyfriend. A boyfriend who might be one of the phone calls she had to make.

That possibility
should
have occurred to him before now. Lissa was a beautiful and desirable woman. Just because his own sex life had been a barren wasteland for months didn’t mean hers had.

Would she tell this other man about the intimacies she’d shared with Ash the past couple of days? Knowing Lissa’s blunt honesty, the answer to that would be yes.

“What are you smiling about?” Lissa eyed him suspiciously as he smiled. “I don’t see anything funny about Claudia having received another threatening text.”

Ash instantly sobered, realizing that instead of listening to the conversation, he had allowed his thoughts to wander to the possibility of Lissa’s boyfriend dumping her because of her involvement with him. He had obviously completely missed Gabriel filling Lissa in on the reason he was here.

This latest text to Claudia had simply read:
Who will it be next?

An obvious threat to everyone around Claudia Reynolds.

Which had caused Gabriel and Ash to question whether the shooting of Harvey Stein and Jack Forsythe had been meant for Claudia at all.

Shooting Claudia’s bodyguard dead and injuring her ex-lover was certainly a way to make the woman suffer before she too was taken down.

If Claudia had a heart to suffer with, that is. Which, considering her attitude toward her daughter, Ash wasn’t a hundred percent certain she had.

Which didn’t change the fact Lissa was Claudia’s biological daughter and could possibly be the next person targeted for being close to the older woman.

“Do I take it from this conversation that Knight Security is still employed by my mother?” Lissa prompted.

“I think the arrival of the text message shortly before I got to her apartment may have helped to convince her,” Gabriel acknowledged dryly.

“You didn’t send it, did you?” Lissa teased.

He smiled ruefully. “I didn’t think of it.”

“Maybe next time.”

To Ash’s irritation, Gabriel chuckled. An honest-to-God fucking chuckle. When his big brother was known far and wide for his lack of humor.

Which could only mean Gabriel
liked
Lissa.

Damn it, this jealousy thing was getting out of hand. Way out of hand if Ash was going to react to something as trivial as Gabriel laughing at something Lissa had said. Humor that Gabriel probably welcomed after the last twelve hours.

Ash knew that Gabriel was taking this latest threat very seriously. Even that fawning idiot Malcolm Arnold, Claudia’s assistant and lover, now had his own separate protection detail.

Lissa sobered. “Is there no way to trace where these text messages are coming from?”

Gabriel shook his head. “Whoever it is, they’re using burner phones. One-time use only before being turned off and then disposed of.”

“What about the e-mails?”

“There were only two, at the start of the threats. Our tech team has established they were both sent from different untraceable e-mail addresses that are now defunct.”

“But can’t they— I think I’ve watched too many forensic science programs on television.” Lissa grimaced self-derisively. “They always seem to get their man by tracing phones records and e-mail addresses.”

“I think our killer must have watched the same programs,” Gabriel drawled, “because he or she knows exactly what to do to avoid detection. Hello, who’s this?” He raised dark brows as the tricolor cat strolled into the room before jumping up onto Lissa’s lap, purring loudly.

“Meet Sherlock.” Lissa cradled the cat in her arms. “This is only cupboard love because he wants feeding again,” she said affectionately as the cat’s head bumped her gently beneath the chin.

“Hm,” Asher murmured. “I’ll have to remember that.”

She shot him a scathing glance as she stood up. “It only works if you purr and have four legs.”

“I could manage the purr.”

Lissa was very aware Gabriel was in the room listening to their conversation. A conversation in which so far neither of them had shown themselves in a good light. Asher’s comment just now had definitely been suggestive.

“If you gentlemen will both excuse me?” She looked at them pointedly. “I have a lot to do before I go to the hospital.”

Gabriel rose politely to his feet. “There will be two men assigned to you now at all times. I’ve put Ethan and Ian on duty here tonight. Ash and Zander will take over again in the morning. I would appreciate it if you could let them know when you want to go out and where you’re going. I take it you’ll want to go to your travel agency tomorrow?”

She nodded. “At least for some of the time.”

Gabriel nodded. “A thorough check will be made of the premises and your employees before tomorrow morning.”

Her arms tightened about Sherlock’s warm body. “This is all very real, isn’t it?” She gave a shiver. “Harvey’s dead. Jack’s shot. My mother in danger.”

“As real as it gets,” Gabriel confirmed. “And as annoying as I know my baby brother can be,” he added mockingly, “I nevertheless advise that you listen without arguing if he issues an order.”

She gave the ghost of a smile. “I’ll try.”

“You’ll do more than try,” Ash growled.

“Ash?” Gabriel prompted.

He knew his brother was expecting him to leave with him. After all, Ethan and Ian should be arriving any minute now.

Not going to happen. Ash wasn’t leaving. At least, not yet. “I want to have a word with Lissa before I go.”

Gabriel gave him a searching glance before giving a barely perceptible nod. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Lissa.” His voice warmed. “Let’s hope next time it’s under pleasanter circumstances.”

And what the fuck did his brother mean by
that
?

If Gabe thought for one minute—

“Get your shit together, little bro,” Gabriel warned softly, his usual scowl back on his face. “Or you’ll leave me with no choice but to remove you from this assignment after all,” he added before letting himself out of the apartment.

Ash waited only long enough for the door to close behind his brother before speaking. “Put the cat down.”

Lissa blinked at the hardness of his tone. “Why?”

“We have unfinished business. Put the cat down now,” he repeated when Lissa stared back at him.

Chapter 8

“
Unfinished business…?
”
Lissa repeated slowly, half in outrage, half with butterflies of anticipation fluttering in her stomach as Asher stepped closer to her.

She couldn’t seriously want him to resume spanking her, which he was obviously implying he intended doing?

The man was nothing but an arrogant bully.

But he’s a sexy arrogant bully
, a traitorous voice inside her head argued back.

Besides, she wasn’t exactly Miss Charm when the two of them were together. She had deliberately bated Asher, several times, in the company of his brother.

Even so… “No.”

“Sure about that?” His lazily confident smile was unnerving to say the least.

Her chin rose stubbornly. “Positive.”

He gave a slow shake of his head. “You aren’t wearing stiletto-heeled boots tonight.”

She wasn’t wearing anything but the nightgown and robe she had insisted was sufficient cover for her conversation with the two Knight brothers. “I have a cat, and I’m not afraid to use him.” She held Sherlock defensively in front of her.

Asher’s lips twitched in a half smile. “Sherlock and I have called a truce. Haven’t we, buddy?” He stroked the cat under the chin.

A caress the treasonous cat arched into as purrs of pleasure rumbled through his body. “Traitor,” Lissa muttered under her breath. “I took you in, I feed you, buy you treats and that ridiculous Christmas stocking you enjoyed ripping to pieces, and this is how you repay me?”

“I found a tin of salmon and fed it to him earlier.” Ash shrugged without apology.

“In other words, you used bribery.”

“And corruption.” He nodded with satisfaction. “Works like a charm.”

“Not on me it doesn’t.” Lissa put the cat down, her gaze avoiding meeting Ash’s as she straightened. “I really need to take a shower, have something to eat, and then get back to the hospital.”

“Taking a shower was my immediate plan too.”

She looked at him uncertainly. “That’s what you meant by
unfinished business
?”

Ash deliberately widened innocent eyes. “What did you think I meant?”

“I… Well…” Her cheeks became flushed.

Ash grinned openly now. “If I didn’t know better, I would say you were looking forward to being spanked again.”

The moisture suddenly dampening Lissa’s nether lips from merely talking about being spanked would seem to confirm that supposition. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Asher stepped in closer still. So close Lissa could now feel the heat of his body through the thinness of her clothing. “I might be willing to spank you if you were to ask me nicely,” he invited huskily.

“Go fuck yourself!”

He gave a reproving shake of his head. “That definitely merits another ten being added to the original twelve.”

Her eyes flickered up to his and then quickly down again as she saw the angry glitter in those dark jade-flecked depths. “I said don’t be ridiculous.”

“But your body is saying something else entirely. Here, for instance.” One of his hands moved up to cup beneath the fullness of her breast. “Your nipples are hard and begging to be touched.” He stroked the soft pad of his thumb over that turgid flesh. “And you’re wet between your thighs… Don’t attempt to deny it, Lissa,” he warned as she would have done exactly that. “Not when the smell of your arousal is driving me insane. So which is it to be? Shall we take a shower together, or do you want me to resume spanking you? Or maybe both?” he speculated. “I could spank you first and then…soothe your stinging flesh while we’re in the shower together.”

“My shower isn’t big enough for two people.”

“I can be very…inventive.”

“Probably because you’ve had plenty of experience.”

A frown appeared between his eyes. “I’m single and thirty-six years old, not sixteen.”

Lissa knew she was being unfair. That she hadn’t been a virgin either when the two of them made love a year ago. But there had only been one man before Asher, and she had thought she was going to marry Adam. The two of them had been engaged, planning the wedding when she learned of his duplicity.

“Does that bother you?” Asher probed.

“No.”

It wasn’t Asher’s experience that bothered Lissa, it was remembering the telephone call he’d received the morning after they spent the night together. From someone he was obviously very close to. Admittedly, time had shown he hadn’t married the other woman, but Lissa had been able to hear the affectionate familiarity in the message the other woman left on Asher’s answering machine. And Asher had just spent the night with another woman. With Lissa.

Lissa knew exactly how it felt to have someone be unfaithful to her. Knew what it was to suffer that betrayal and humiliation.

“Are you sure about that?” Asher frowned.

“Very.” Her eyes narrowed. “Are you seeing anyone else right now?”

“Are you?” he instantly shot back.