Her father looked like he was going to have a stroke.“Youare absolutely not working for the bloody Agency.”
“Da,” she said on a gasp.“We’re not supposed to say that.”
Her da’s jaw tightened.“Listen to me, girl.You are goingto get on a plane for London.We’ll leave as soon as your mother gets here.”
“She has a bodyguard and she’s not going to London, so let’sstop panicking,” a deep voice said.“And Daisy, you’re absolutely not going tobecome a spy.While I’m sure you would be great at it, the world wouldcollapse.And you are not where I left you.That’s twenty.Do you want it nowor later?”
Devi gasped and put a hand on Daisy’s elbow.“Holy crap.That’s Nate Carter?”
Nate.It had in fact been Nate.He was standing in themiddle of the hallway in front of her Aunt Erin’s office with a bandage aroundhis big bicep and a fierce expression on his face.
He towered over everyone.He even had a couple of inches onher Uncle Ian, and Nate was so masculine and perfect it made her heart skip abeat.Beyond that she knew how tender the man could be, but he didn’t looktender now.He looked pissed, and his growly persona did something for her,too.But she had to remember he wasn’t hers.She wasn’t sure why he was talkingin an incredibly possessive way.Probably because the events of the morningwere still affecting his masculine sensibilities.
“Yes, that’s him, Devi, and I appreciate everything he didfor me this morning but I think we’ll handle it from here.”Had he threatenedto spank her in front of her father?And uncle and aunt and best friend?Andpretty much everyone since they were all watching now.All eyes were on her andthe scene starting to play out.She had to bring this under control.
“You’re going to dismiss me?”Nate asked the question asthough he wasn’t worried about her answer, merely curious.
“Yes, she is,” her father announced.“Your poor drivingnearly got my Daisy killed.I’m going to talk to Tessa about testing yourdriving skills.This ain’t the outback, son.”
“No, it’s far more dangerous, and I am not your son,” Natereplied steadily.“Nor are you my uncle.There’s not a bit of blood between us,Liam O’Donnell, and you should remember that.”
Also rude.There was a lot of rudeness running around thismorning.
Erin sighed and looked at her daughter.“This is way toomuch testosterone for this time of day.Devi, you know something I don’t?”
Devi leaned in and whispered to her mom.Daisy would havetried to stop that, but Nate was staring at her like he was going to spank herhere and now if she didn’t comply.Which was ridiculous.Or she was letting herromantic dreams run wild the way she sometimes did.She was Daisy, the one withher head in the clouds.Daisy, the one with all the big dreams, the butterflyflitting from job to job with nothing to show for it.
“You listen here,” her da began.“I don’t know what youthink you’re doing, Carter, but you’re not getting close to my daughter.She’sa good girl, and she doesn’t have any idea how to handle the likes of you.”
“She handles me fine.”Nate seemed determined to blow up herwhole world.
“What da fuck is that supposed to mean?”Her da practicallyshouted the question.
Naturally Aunt Charlotte showed up with a bag of microwavepopcorn.“Has Liam figured out what’s going on between Daisy and Nate?”
How would her aunt know what was going on?Nate didn’t evenknow.
Or did he?She’d said the words out loud, but had he reallyheard them?They’d probably been lost in all the adrenaline and violence andgunshots.
He’d been shot.Sure it had turned out to be fine, but hecould have been killed.He could have died and it would have been her fault.All her fault because she was so dumb.
“Did you know, Dais?”Nate asked, completely ignoring therapt audience around them.
Her head was reeling.Maybe she wasn’t handling thesituation as well as she thought she was.Her heart was thudding a little andshe was back in the moment when she’d realized someone was shooting at them.“Ididn’t know they would come after me.”
A cartel.She had a cartel after her.As adventures went, itwas a shitty one.And she’d lost her job and she would probably lose her homeand her da was going to ship her off to Europe where she would very likelystart a land war, and she would definitely not see Nate again.
She’d pushed it all down and it was bubbling back up, atorrential storm of anxiety.
“I don’t think that’s what he meant,” Devi whispered.
“He needs to get back downstairs and leave my daughteralone,” her da said.“I’ll be having a talk with my son about his choice ofroommates and who he’s letting around his sister.I didn’t work this hard tokeep the men off her only to lose her to the first Aussie to walk through thedoor.”
Nate completely ignored everyone but her.He walked past herfather, staring down at her with a piercing gaze.“Did you know, Daisy?Whenyou approached me last night, did you know who I was?”
“What the hell is he on about,” her da started and thenbatted something away.“Don’t throw fucking popcorn my way, Tag.This isserious.”
“Did I know the six-foot-seven-inch dude with the Australianaccent was Nathan Carter?”The walls were closing in around her.Nate waspushing her and it had been a terrible day, and he seemed ready to make itworse.
