Dying for You. BEVERLY BARTON

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СКАЧАТЬ looked pleadingly at Lucie. “If you need to talk afterward, I’ll take an early break.”

      “Okay. I’ll stop by your desk on my way out.”

      Daisy tried to smile, but the effort failed. Lucie genuinely liked Daisy Holbrook and the two had formed a strong friendship over the years despite the difference in their ages. But she supposed a seven-year gap wasn’t a great barrier between women over twenty-one. If they were ten and seventeen, it would matter. But at twenty-nine and thirty-six, they were contemporaries.

      As the minutes ticked by, Lucie sat behind Sawyer’s massive desk, occasionally tapping her foot on the floor or drumming her fingernails on the desktop. She checked her watch. It had been twenty-one minutes since Daisy had called him. Unless she missed her guess, he would arrive sometime within the next few minutes.

      Brace yourself. Gird your loins, Miss Lucie. This day has been a long time coming. If you want to walk out of here with your pride in tact, keep your emotions under control. And whatever you do, don’t cry. God in heaven, do not cry.

      TWENTY-THREE MINUTES from when he’d taken Daisy’s call, Sawyer entered Dundee’s sixth-floor office complex. Daisy hopped up from her workstation chair and rushed toward him as he made his way down the corridor toward his office.

      “She hasn’t touched anything,” Daisy assured him. “The guard is keeping an eye on her.”

      Sawyer paused, patted Daisy on the arm and assured her, “Everything is going to be all right. I spoke to the client personally and understand why Lucie left her assignment without notice. I’ll talk to her privately.”

      “She was fit to be tied when she first got here, but now she’s calm. Much too calm.”

      “I don’t think you need to worry as long as Lucie’s not armed.”

      Daisy gulped. “I’m afraid she is.”

      Sawyer tried not to grin. “She won’t shoot me, if that’s what concerns you. If she were going to shoot me, she’d have done it before now.”

      “Yes, sir, I’m sure you’re right.”

      The door to his office stood ajar, the security guard standing at attention a few steps over the threshold. Sawyer cleared his throat. The young man turned, looked at him and seemed to instantly relax. He entered his office, shook the guard’s hand and effectively dismissed him.

      “Thank you,” Sawyer said as he glanced around the room, noting that nothing was out of place. “I’ll take over from here.”

      Once they were alone, Sawyer closed the door and faced the woman who had been tormenting him for the past nine years.

      Lucie rose from his chair to her full five-eleven height, a look of pure defiance on her face. Her long, curly hair hung in loose disarray over her shoulders and down her back. Apparently, she had forgone refreshing her makeup and had combed her hair with her fingers. Only a hint of eyeliner remained and that was smudged. The only color on her lips was a naturally healthy pink.

      She walked out from behind the desk and glared at him, her two-inch wedge sandals lifting her almost to his eye level. He noted the bulge her shoulder holster made beneath her gray cotton jacket that covered her white T-shirt and skimmed the top of her faded blue jeans.

      “I appreciate your giving me fair warning,” Sawyer told her. “You could have come in here and ripped the place apart before Daisy could have stopped you.”

      “Believe me, I thought about it. On the flight from Vegas, I not only envisioned tearing your office apart, I plotted how I could kill you and get away with it.”

      “I understand your anger.”

      She lifted her brows in surprise. “Do you really?”

      “I spoke to Taylor Lawson. He told me what happened. I’m sorry, Lucie. I had no idea—”

      “Bullshit. Don’t tell me that you didn’t know the man’s reputation before you assigned me as his body-guard. You didn’t give a damn what I had to put up with. You never do. As far as you’re concerned, the worse my assignments are, the better. But this time, you reached an all-time low, even for you, Mr. McNamara.”

      He surveyed her from head to toe. “You don’t look any worse for wear.”

      “You don’t think so?” She lifted her T-shirt high enough to reveal the white lace bra beneath and the bruises on the swell of her breasts. “Pretty, aren’t they?”

      “Lucie—”

      “Would you like to see the others—the ones on my hips and butt?”

      “I’m sorry things got out of hand, but I never doubted for a minute that you could take care of yourself. You’re a trained professional.”

      She hissed like a snake preparing to strike. “You son of a bitch. You heartless, uncaring, unforgiving son of a bitch.”

      She reached out and slapped him. The force of her open palm against his cheek sent him reeling backward. The lady packed quite a punch. He stared at her, oddly surprised by her physical attack.

      “I’ve put up with your crap for nine years,” she told him, her voice deceptively calm. “I’ve jumped through hoops for you. I’ve taken every assignment you’ve given me, no matter how unpleasant, stupid or demeaning. I’ve taken and taken and taken, all in the hopes that one day you’d give me a chance to explain, to listen to my side of—”

      “There is nothing to explain. There’s no your side or my side. We both know what happened and why. And do you honestly think you’re the only one who’s been put through the wringer day after day for the past nine years? Lady, you’ve put me through hell.”

      “I’m glad to know that I haven’t been the only one suffering.”

      They stood no more than two feet apart, their gazes riveted with mutual anger and distrust.

      “This is your lucky day,” she told him. “I’m going to give you something you’ve been wanting for a long time. Let’s call it a Get Out of Hell gift card.”

      He eyed her quizzically. “What are you saying?”

      “Mr. McNamara, I quit. I’ll submit a written resignation later, but consider this my official notice.”

      Chapter Two

      “CARA, SWEETHEART, ARE you listening to me?” Grayson Perkins asked.

      “Huh?” She wasn’t paying any attention to Gray. She was too busy watching Bain Desmond, sitting three tables over, and hating the way he was smiling at his companion. She wanted to scratch the petite brunette’s eyes out.

      “I said we need to finalize plans for your trip to Ameca.”

      “Ameca?”

      “Are you feeling all right? You don’t seem to be yourself this afternoon.”

      Forcing her gaze away from the ruggedly handsome police detective and that brunette hussy, Cara СКАЧАТЬ