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“No… No. Oh God.” She covered her mouth. “Ron and Daisy. He hurt my friends!”
Hannah clappedher hand over her mouth and turned away. Tears she couldn’t contain began to flow down her cheeks. Heriot’s dark presence loomed behind her. “You’re sure?” she asked over her shoulder, her voice shaking. “You’re certain about what they looked like?”
Heriot glanced down at his fancy tablet and swiped at the screen. “There is a notice being relayed by your law enforcement of an assault and burglary that happened in the parking lot of the Hearst Castle Visitor Center in San Simeon. They have identified the two humans as Ron McDougal and his wife, Daisy McDougal. They are both being taken to a nearby hospital.”
Shit.
T’Antor hurt Ron and Daisy.
She stepped forward onto a nearby terrace and glanced down, to the rolling hills in the distance, the vast Pacific Ocean sweeping along the horizon and the tiny dot of the visitor center down below. From here she couldn’t make out specifics, but she was certain there was now a flood of activity down there, police everywhere.
Her heart ached within her chest, like an actual physical pain. Ron and Daisy were both hurt. And Daisy was three months pregnant! Her nose stung, and tears began welling in her eyes. Their smiling faces flashed in her mind. They’d meant it when they’d said they were going on a tour with her that morning. But they’d been assaulted in the parking lot! That was why they didn’t make it. Ron and Daisy were both good people who’d been nothing but nice to her in her new position as an assistant at the winery. They’d made her feel welcome there and valued, and… Dear God, the pain and fear they must’ve felt when they were attacked.
A sob tore out of her throat.
Heriot had followed her onto the terrace. Strong arms gently turned her around. He pulled her in tight, wrapping his enormous body against hers, her cheek against his hard chest. His chin rested on the top of her head. And she sighed, continuing to weep in the safety of his embrace.
“They could’ve been killed…”
“Yes, T’Antor originally planned on killing the humans.”
She stepped back slightly and lifted her chin. “Why didn’t he?” she asked, using her sleeve to wipe tears from her face.
Heriot shrugged. “I stopped the attack early. The humans will recover.”
“You were there?”
“No, I was still on my ship, but I was monitoring. I had my drone fly close, letting him know he was being watched.”
His ship? A drone? Humans?
Hannah let out a heavy sigh.
Really, the fact that this man wasn’t coming clean about who he was should be terrifying. Most of what he said was nonsense. She should be giving him a hard pass, but decency and honor seemed to radiate from every inch of him, despite his confusing exterior. Which was why he was holding her right now. And why she was allowing it.
He stepped closer and placed a finger under chin. She met his liquid silver gaze, a shiver of desire running through her body. She could spend forever staring at his white-gold beard, mustache and eyebrows. It was all so glorious. Masculine and majestic.
He stared at her lips again, like he’d done on the bus. Like he’d been doing since the moment she’d met him.
Her emotions were all over the place. She was supposed to be on this tour with T’Antor, but then she’d met Heriot on the shuttle to Hearst Castle. She’d just found out that the stranger who’d told her he was Ron’s friend had actually attacked Ron and his wife. And now…now Heriot was leaning in close, like he wanted to kiss her. And she wasn’t at all interested in saying no.
This was the weirdest day ever.
A man dressed like an assassin was holding her in his arms…and it was magical.
His big hand went to her side, touching her jacket. And she felt all sense of time and place melt away. All the anxiety and sadness from before was pushed aside as she stared into his darkened eyes.
It was just the two of them, there, in that moment. No one else.
His palm slid around to her back, drawing her in, and her breath caught in her throat. His hip pressed against hers and his liquid silver eyes held her gaze, watching her face intently, noting her reaction to the pressure of his huge, hard erection against her stomach. Her core clenched and her breath puffed out. A wave of heat burst through her body, leaving her desperate formore. More of his touch.
If he hadn’t been holding her up, her knees would’ve most likely given out.
“This is what you do to me,” he rasped.
Me? She wanted to squeak but somehow kept it inside. She did this to him? She’d led such an isolated life until she’d turned twenty-one and left her grandparents’ farm. Never in her life had a man stared at her so intently, like he wanted to take her home and devour her.
Heriot’s gaze dropped. His fingers trailed over her cheek, her ear, down her neck and across her collarbone. “Your skin is so soft and full of color,” he rumbled.
