“What’s going on?” Gabrielle interrupted. “Why haven’t they cleared us to exit the plane?” She bristled at the rudeness in her tone, but there was no hiding her annoyance. She didn’t have time to be trapped here when Damian was trying to undermine all of her efforts to keep him in prison.
The pilot glanced her way with piercing cornflower blue eyes, ran a hand over his short cropped blonde hair, then whispered more instructions to Stacy before turning his back on her in the cockpit.
Gabrielle leaned inside and poked his shoulder. “Did you hear me? I need to know when I’m getting off this plane.”
He turned and flashed her a sexy smile that she was sure made panties drop from the ladies, but it wasn’t fazing her in the slightest. “Ms. King, have a seat. We’ll let you know when it’s time to disembark.”
“That doesn’t answer my question, Mister …” Gabrielle faltered.
“Mister is my daddy. I told you to call me Lachlan, or did you forget?” He chuckled under his breath.
“I don’t have time for this. I’m dealing with a crisis right now that I can’t solve while I’m holed up here with the two of you.”
“I’m sure you are,” Lachlan said, then whistled under his breath.
Anger shot through her veins, and she froze. The pilot didn’t have to say the words for her to know he’d already seen the photos leaked of her online.
Lachlan continued, “That’s why you need to wait until we have everything ready for you to leave the plane.”
Stacy stood and blocked her view of the cockpit. “We’re waiting for your bodyguard to arrive.”
“My bodyguard? No one mentioned a bodyguard to me.”
“Your sister felt it was important for you to have one in your first few weeks back on the island. He’s late because of … well, you know,” Stacy said, giving her a look of pity. “I’m sorry you’re going through this.”
“Serena didn’t mention this to me. I don’t need a bodyguard. I’m getting off this plane now—”
A deep voice with the barest hint of arrogance floated into the space, igniting a blaze of warmth across her skin. “Not so fast … ”
Chapter5
Gabrielle sucked in a sharp breath, her mouth agape as she gazed at who she suspected was her bodyguard.
Handsome was too banal for this man.
Hot as fuck was too crude for his refinement.
Sexy worked since his bulging muscles refused to cower underneath the impeccably tailored Armani suit. Smooth tan skin graced his flawless face, perfectly symmetrical with a chiseled, square jaw. His thick dark black hair was meticulously styled as if he was showing up to walk the runways in Paris.
But there was something about the kindness in his smoldering brown eyes framed by lashes that stretched to the sky that made her knees buckle. She reached a hand toward the door frame of the cockpit to steady herself.
“I’ve had to modify your exit route from the airport due to the—”
“Modify my exit route? Wait, stop,” Gabrielle said, willing her fluttering heart to calm the fuck down. “I don’t need a special exit route, and I damn sure don’t need a bodyguard. I know this island like the back of my hand. If someone makes the mistake of trying to come at me, I know how to defend myself.”
“What’s waiting for you out there isn’t the same as contrived practices in a safe gym with friendly teachers. You think a few years of self-defense classes have prepared you to defend yourself in the real world with real threats? Think again.”
She squared off in front of the sexy bodyguard and said, “You think belittling a woman who has worked for years to take down real threats without the help of a man makes you a hero? Think again.”
The bodyguard raised an eyebrow that blasted him past the top of the irresistible scale. A sarcastic chuckle escaped his lips.
“A few hundred fans do not constitute a threat to my safety,” Gabrielle insisted. “I have a real crisis that I need to resolve. I don’t have time to wait while you fabricate a reason to prove to my sister that your presence is necessary.”
“My presence is necessary because intermingled within that group of a few hundred people waiting out there,” the sexy bodyguard paused to point out the window, then continued, “are protesters who want to stop you from going to the parole hearing of a man they believe suffered excessively and unfairly because of … you.”
“Protesters supporting Damian Hester?” Gabrielle balked. “They must be insane to think he deserves anything but to rot in his prison cell.”
“Possibly,” the bodyguard agreed. “Which is why you need me.”
