Defying Asher (Knight Security 1) (17 page)

Ash hadn’t imagined the Ice Queen could blush. But that was exactly what Claudia now did. She also appeared slightly flustered.

So maybe she hadn’t always been the Ice Queen? Perhaps Jack Forsythe had once known a different Claudia than the high-powered businesswoman she was now.

Lissa looked less than comfortable with the turn the conversation had taken.

Because, despite her earlier bravado, both her parents now knew the two of them were involved?

Were
they involved?

Claudia turned that glacial-blue gaze on him. “You will accompany me all the way to my car, Mr. Knight.”

“Ethan and Jonas are outside waiting to accompany you.”

“I requested you, Mr. Knight.” She indicated he should follow her as she turned and left the room, head held high.

It didn’t sound like much of a request to Ash…

Chapter 12

“Well, that went well,” Lissa announced once her mother and Asher, pushing the wheelchair, had left the room.

“I imagine Claudia is interrogating your young man right now,” Jack drawled.

“He isn’t mine,” she protested. At thirty-six, Asher was hardly a young man either. In fact, he was several years older than her mother’s current lover. Besides which, Asher wasn’t a man to be intimidated by any woman. Including her mother.

“My brother is more than capable of taking care of himself.” Gabriel obviously thought so too.

Claudia might just have met her match in the Knight brothers. Although the idea that Claudia actually gave a damn who Lissa was involved with was laughable.

Besides, she and Asher weren’t involved. They had sex together occasionally. Very occasionally. Which at best made them friends with benefits. Except Asher wasn’t Lissa’s friend either…

Then what the hell was he?

Lissa had no idea what she meant to Asher, and now wasn’t the time for her to explore her own feelings for him. Maybe once this was all over…

She turned to the police inspector. “Are you any further forward in knowing who is responsible for these attacks?”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss an ongoing investigation,” he answered unhelpfully.

Lissa wanted to demand
then why the hell aren’t you out there investigating,
but that would make her sound far too much like her arrogant mother. An accusation that had already been leveled at her recently. Instead she merely nodded.

“Well, you have nothing more you want to tell us, and we’ve told you all that we know—which wasn’t much—so don’t let us keep you.” Jack wasn’t as polite.

“The sooner you view those surveillance discs, the more hope we have of catching the bastard.” Gabriel either. “If you would hand over a copy to me, we could have two sets of eyes on them. We might spot something unusual one of your men wouldn’t pick up on.”

The police inspector bristled. “I believe I have already stated we do not require the assistance of Knight Security with this investigation.”

“That’s the official answer. Now give me your personal one.”

“They are one and the same.”

“Like hell they are.” Gabriel’s mouth tightened. “One of my men was injured in this latest attack. That now makes it my investigation too.”

Lissa had to stifle a smile, half expecting the two men to start beating their chests at any moment to decide which one was the alpha. In her mind, there was no doubt who that was; Gabriel won hands down. Anyone with an ounce of self-preservation would know that from looking at him, over six feet of arrogant, muscular male, along with the glitter in his green eyes that promised retribution to anyone who injured one of
his
men.

“As you’re well aware, we do not encourage the general public to intervene in police matters.” The inspector obviously felt compelled to make one last-ditch effort to claim the title.

“Again, that’s the official view. And Knight Security is hardly the general public, Declan.” Gabriel got in the other man’s face. “As such, I suggest you carry out your investigation your way and I’ll do the same with mine. The difference being I’ll share anything I find with you.”

Declan. Gabriel knew the other man well enough to call him by his first name? Possibly from having other cases overlapping in the way this one was.

“Time out, gentlemen.” Jack rolled his eyes at Lissa.

She was laughing softly as Asher came back into the room, the grimness of his expression probably an indication Claudia had indeed questioned him before she left.

“We’re leaving now,” he told her abruptly.

Lissa’s humor changed to irritation. “I came to visit my father.”

“Which you’ve done.” He nodded tersely. “Now we’re leaving.”

“No.” She dug her heels in. She might have defended Asher’s arrogance to her mother earlier, but that didn’t mean she actually intended to let him tell her what she could and couldn’t do. Unfortunately, she was wearing wedged-heeled trainers this afternoon, and not the stiletto-heeled boots Asher viewed so warily after she had stabbed his foot with one of them. Otherwise, she might have felt tempted to repeat the action
.

Asher’s eyes narrowed. “I think Arnold being stabbed on the premises earlier is enough to show it isn’t safe for you to remain here. The attacker may come back. Mr. Forsythe?” He turned to her father for support.

“He does have a point, baby—”

“No, no, he really doesn’t, and I deeply resent his attempt to force me into doing what he wants me to do by involving you.” Lissa glared at Asher for several long seconds before turning to Gabriel. She had to clench her hands into fists so that no one could see how much they were shaking with anger. “I think it might be a good idea if you were to remove Asher from my security detail.”

Ash felt as if Lissa had just punched him in the gut. Her request certainly hurt enough for it to feel as if she had physically struck him.

Maybe he had come on a bit strong just now, ordering her about that way. But he wasn’t about to apologize for it. He really wasn’t happy with Lissa putting herself—with an emphasis on
herself
—at risk by staying here. She had wanted to make sure her father was okay, and she had done that. Now it was time for her to leave.

Ash’s shoulders tensed. “I’ve spoken to Jonas. Lily is in a West End play right now, so they’re both living in their apartment in London to cut down on the travel time. Their house in the country is empty.”

Lissa hadn’t made the connection until now. Hadn’t realized it was the actress
Lily
Knight who was the sister of the Knight brothers. Lissa had never actually seen the other woman act, but she knew
Seduction
, the play the other woman was appearing in at the moment, had received rave reviews from the critics.

“And this is of interest to me because…?” Lissa lifted one auburn brow.

“You would be safer out of London.”

“I have a business to run.”

“And, from what I observed this morning, your assistant is perfectly capable of taking over for a few days. If you won’t agree to my accompanying you—”

“I’m not agreeable to anyone accompanying me—because I’m not going anywhere!”

“Lissa, honey—”

“I said no, Daddy.” Her use of her childhood name for him was enough to silence Jack’s protest.

Ash wasn’t so easily cowed. “If no one else is willing to say it, then I will: your refusal to listen to reason is going to get you killed.” Jesus, why was it that with this woman, it was always one step forward and two bloody steps back?

The two of them had made love earlier, and now Lissa was kicking him out of her life. Again. In the same way she had a year ago after they had spent that memorable night together. Ash had let her get away with it that time, but he was in too deep now to accept this dismissal without putting up a fight.

In too deep?

What the fuck did that mean?

Well, for one thing, it meant he wasn’t going to back off just because Lissa had decided he should. Sometime in the near future, they were also going to talk about the reason she had walked out on him a year ago. Because Ash still had no fucking idea what that had all been about.

Lissa frowned. “What’s your opinion, Inspector?”

The older man shrugged. “Obviously I can’t tell you what to do.” He gave Ash a pointed stare. “But on this occasion I am inclined to agree with Mr. Knight and your father. The attacks are escalating. Becoming more personal each time. Removing yourself as a possible target would be the prudent thing to do.”

“I’m also not agreeable to removing Ash from your security detail,” Gabriel interjected firmly. “I have absolutely no doubts that right now, he’s the best person to protect you.”

Lissa gave the eldest Knight brother a discomforted glance, knowing he was referring to the relationship between her and Asher. It was her own fault, of course, for allowing her mother to annoy her so much she had informed everyone in the room she and Asher had a much closer relationship than that of a bodyguard and the client he was protecting. Added to which, it was obvious every man in the room agreed with Asher’s decision to remove her from London until this was over. Obviously, she was fighting a losing battle trying to go against all of them.

She breathed out noisily. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Asher raised surprised brows.

She gave a jerky nod. “Okay.”

“You’ll go to Jonas’s house?”

“Yes.”

“Accompanied by me?”

Her mouth tightened. “Yes.”

“Hell, woman, why couldn’t you just have agreed to do that in the first place!” He glared his irritation. “Why do you have to argue with me about
everything
?”

She gave him a mocking smile. “Probably because you’re far too fond of throwing your weight around and expecting everyone to ask ‘how high’ when you say jump.”

Yes, he was. And, on this occasion, Ash wasn’t about to apologize either. Not if it meant he kept Lissa alive.

Ash glanced at Lissa as she sat beside him in the SUV on the drive to Lily and Jonas’s country home. They had collected some of Lissa’s things and Sherlock from her apartment. The cat was sulking in a traveling basket in the back of the vehicle right now, having made his displeasure clear by fierce growls and lashing out with his claws. Ash had four lovely scratches down his arm to prove it.

Zander had gone to his own apartment and Ash’s to grab the bags they always had packed for emergencies. All the Knight Security personnel had them. The other man was now following close behind them in the second SUV. “The two of us are going to talk when we get there.”

She glanced at him warily. “About?”

“I said when we get there,” Ash repeated evenly, having no intention of being drawn into another argument with her while he was driving.

She turned in her seat as far as the safety belt across her chest would allow. “Look, I’m sorry for what I said earlier. I… This situation has gone beyond stressful.”

“Maybe if you stopped fighting everyone and everything, you would find it less so,” Ash snapped. “And which part of your conversation are you apologizing for? The bit where you talked to and about me as if we hadn’t been in bed together a few hours ago? Or the part where you instructed my brother to remove me from your protection detail? Which was never going to happen, by the way. My brother may run the office of Knight Security, but the business is owned by all four of us. Bottom line, I’ll go and be where I damn well please.”

Lissa wasn’t fooled for a moment by the mildness of Asher’s tone, knew that beneath the calmness of tone, he was still furiously angry.

As he had a right to be?

Well…yes. The two of them were far more than bodyguard and client. Except neither of them seemed to know
what
they were.

Maybe that was what Asher wanted to talk to her about once they reached his sister and brother-in-law’s house?

Was she ready to have a conversation like that with Asher? With any man? She had trusted Adam with her emotions five years ago, and look how well that had turned out. She had been half in love with Asher that night a year ago, and that had been even more of a disaster. Now she lived her life by the rule that if she didn’t allow her emotions to become involved, then no man would ever have the power to hurt her again.

Or she them.

Asher’s anger now told her that she had hurt him earlier by her dismissal of him and whatever was going on between the two of them. Asking his brother to replace him as her bodyguard had obviously been the last straw as far as Asher was concerned.

She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. “I don’t believe I left anyone in that hospital room in any doubt as to our…friendship.”

“Only because you wanted to hit out at your mother.”

Guilt warmed her cheeks. “I asked your brother to replace you on my protection detail because…because…”

“Yes?”

“Because at the time, I was angry.”

“You do that a lot, don’t you? Hit out and push people away so they never make the mistake of thinking they actually matter to you,” he added as Lissa looked at him for an explanation.

Almost exactly what she had been thinking of herself. Almost. “Certain people matter to me,” she defended.