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“Ignore him,” Megan said. “He’s almost as much of a Neanderthal as my brother-in-law.”
“I’m not a Neanderthal. I’m using common sense. I’ve seen Elle during self-defense training, and it ain’t pretty. She’s the most helpless member of our team. Hell, baby, she can’t even fire a gun.”
Megan rolled her eyes at Elle. “Bet that makes you feel so much better. Anyway, she doesn’t need a gun. She can hit an attacker over the head with her laptop.”
That made Dimitri groan. He’d teased her all evening about bringing her laptop out to dinner with them. Elle had calmly informed him that her laptop was her date—if only that weren’t so close to the mark.
“You two go see your show.” They were off to watch a risqué late-night cabaret in the heart of Soho. “I’ll take myself home. Trust me, I’m fine. I walk alone all the time. And look around you, there are more people here than there usually are on the streets when I walk home after work.”
“I don’t like that either. I’m going to talk to the guys. We need to set up a schedule of people to escort you home when you work late.” Dimitri frowned, and Elle knew he was seconds away from insisting they act as her bodyguards until she got to the subway.
“Megan,” Elle said on a sigh. “Can you deal with him, please?”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got this.” With wide blue eyes and a loving smile, her blonde friend gazed up at the man she adored. “Come with me now, or I will shoot you somewhere painful but non-essential.”
His eyebrows shot up his forehead. “You have a gun on you?”
She shrugged. “You don’t?”
Dimitri looked like his head was going to explode, and that was Elle’s cue to make a getaway. It seemed that even though Megan was now an official security team member instead of a trainee, Dimitri still thought he was the boss of their partnership. Elle was pretty sure Megan never got the memo about the hierarchy.
“I’m leaving now. Have a great time at the show.” She gave them a cheerful wave and walked away as their raised voices wafted after her. They were too busy arguing to even notice she’d gone.
The evening showing of Harry Potter had just ended, and the Palace Theatre crowd streamed out into the street in front of her. Their excited chatter made her grin as she cut through them on her way to Chinatown. The nearest Underground station was a straight walk down Charing Cross Road, but Elle wasn’t in the mood to go home to an empty flat. She wanted to wander, hang out with the crowds and spend an hour feeling like she was part of something bigger than herself.
In front of her, a large group of tourists stopped to stare up at the buildings, blocking her path. With a shake of her head, Elle skirted around them. As she passed a small side alley, an arm snaked around her waist from behind, and a hand clamped over her mouth. Strong arms held her tight as she was rushed into the dark, narrow alley. She was being abducted. In the middle of London. Surrounded by people who didn’t even notice. Shock froze her for a beat, and then adrenaline kicked in.
But before she could strike out, she felt her attacker’s mouth close to her ear. “Did you miss me, gorgeous?”
David.
She slumped against him. And then she got furious. What the hell was he doing? Trying to scare her to death?
She kicked back at him and had the satisfaction of feeling her heel hit his shin. She was planning her next move when suddenly she was turned and pressed against the wall. The tall, lean, muscled body of the man she obsessed over leaned into her until he was flush against her softness.
“I should knee you in the balls for almost giving me a heart attack,” she told him.
“Ellie, we both know that’s the last thing you want to do with that part of my anatomy.”
His brown hair was longer than the last time she’d seen him, several months earlier in Scotland. Which reminded her. “You left me handcuffed to a bed! With pink fluffy cuffs!”
His smile made her internal organs liquify and pool low in her body.
“I told you to stop searching for me, but you didn’t listen, did you?”
“I thought it was more of a suggestion than an order.” Not that she would have obeyed any order he gave, anyway.
“You’ve stirred up a hornet’s nest, Ellie.” A flash of cold steel appeared in his eyes before disappearing, and he went back to looking at her with warmth. “I’m going to tell you again, and this time it is an order.” He paused as he twirled some of her shoulder-length pale blue hair around his finger. “Stop searching for information about my identity. If you don’t, you’re going to bring down a heap of trouble on your head, and the heads of your friends and workmates.”
His tone was soft and seductive, completely at odds with his harsh words. But there was also something else in there. Something he wasn’t saying. Something that set alarm bells ringing.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
His eyes softened. “I can take care of myself.”
That didn’t answer her question, and all that heat pooling low in her stomach suddenly felt like concrete starting to set. “I’ve caused trouble for you.” And she suspected it was the kind of trouble they couldn’t laugh about. Suddenly, her search for him seemed far more serious than she’d thought it would be, and for the first time since starting it, she wondered exactly what kind of mess she was digging into.
For a micro-second, his jaw clenched before it relaxed again. But the small tell gave her all the information she needed. He was in danger. Because of her.
