Bodyguard

“You might not want to be so blasé about your safety.”

Jonathan adjusted his tie and studied the woman sitting across from him. At first glance, she appeared sweet and vulnerable, like she was one of those women who followed the trend of too-thin supermodels. His instincts also told him that there was more to her than her looks.

He’d felt the muscles in her long leg firsthand when her red-soled stiletto was rammed under his chin. Frail was not the word for her.

Lithe. That’s what she was. This wasn’t a woman who dieted to keep her trim figure.

Her copper hair was pulled tight at the nape of her neck, making her cheekbones appear even more severe and angular. The creamy skin on her face showed no signs of freckles, and her makeup was barely there. She was a natural beauty.

And her eyes were so goddamn cold and calculating she’d rival any supermodel on the runway. He would know. He’d dated a few of them.

The car pulled away from the sidewalk, his driver unaware that anything unusual was happening in the backseat.

Jonathan adjusted his cuff links. “You weren’t due to arrive until this evening.”

“Change of plans.”

“If you had done me the courtesy of contacting my people, I could have arranged to set up a proper first meeting.” He smiled at her. “You wouldn’t have had to break into my car.”

“I didn’t,” she said smartly. “It was unlocked. You take your safety seriously for granted, Mr. Lassiter.”

“I’m a man of the people,” he replied. “I like to be available to my constituents. After all, they’re the reason I’m here.”

“Perhaps they’ll enjoy attending your funeral as well.”

He chuckled. “I doubt that.”

She reached into her bag, pulled out a thick file folder, and slapped it on his lap. “Copies of phone transcriptions and intercepted e-mails. All threats against you.”

He leafed through the papers, but they weren’t anything he hadn’t seen before. His team back in the capital had showed him similar documents last week, before he’d set out on the campaign trail. It had taken a call from the White House for him to accept personal security above and beyond what he felt was reasonable and needed.

The woman sitting across from him was the last thing he’d expected.

“I meant I doubt these threats will amount to anything.”

“Regardless, they shouldn’t be ignored.”

Jonathan closed the file and handed it back to her. “You never introduced yourself, Miss…?”

“Abbie Whitmore.” She didn’t bother to hold out her hand but instead scrutinized him with her cold eyes.

“Miss Whitmore, I’m afraid your presence here is an overreaction on the part of my well-meaning associates. If special protection were assigned to politicians every time a threat was made against them, well…” He trailed off and chuckled. Then he unbuttoned his suit coat, making himself comfortable.

Her nostrils flared slightly. “You may not take the threats against your life seriously, but I take my job very seriously. So I plan to have the pleasure of keeping you alive for the foreseeable future.”

He met her hard stare with one of his own, one that made lesser individuals stand down. She held her ground.

“Fine,” he said tightly. He knew when to cut his losses. Besides, it wouldn’t be much of a hardship to have this gorgeous woman following him around for the next few weeks.

“The plan is to introduce me to your staff as a new aide who you’ll be working very closely with. I don’t want them to know my real purpose for being here.”

He frowned. “Isn’t that a bit extreme?”

“No. What’s extreme is what might be done if Hak Tanir gets to you. The last guy who crossed them was disemboweled, before taking two slugs between the eyes at point-blank range. His own mother couldn’t recognize what was left of him.”

She flashed a picture on her cell phone to reiterate her point. The blood drained from his face, and much to his disconcertment, she gave a little nod of satisfaction, putting her phone away.

“The legislation you spearheaded allowed the US government to make large strides in stopping Hak Tanir and several of the human-trafficking rings they’re responsible for. As a result, you now have some dangerous enemies in some pretty high places.”

“I wasn’t the only one who supported that bill.”

“No, but you were, and are, the spokesman for it.”

He shifted. “They can’t possibly think that killing me will stop us from trying to put an end to terrorism.”

“I doubt they think that. What’s done is done. But now they’re out for vengeance. Or perhaps they want to make an example out of you. Either way, you’re in need of protection beyond the normal detail assigned to a congressman on the campaign trail.”

“I will gladly let you join my team, but this can’t interrupt my reelection efforts,” he said firmly, the blood having returned to his face. “That legislation was just the beginning. There’s still a lot more work to be done.”

The disdain that had lined the edges of her face shifted slightly, morphing into something else. She nodded again, only this time he thought he detected a hint of respect.

“You aren’t any help to anyone if you’re dead.”

Jonathan stared at Abbie incredulously, like the words she was saying didn’t make sense.

“How else can I shake their hands?” His tone was exasperated, and he’d been pulling at his hair so much that it was standing on end.

And damn if that didn’t make him sexier. It only made her dislike him more.

Abbie crossed her arms. “That’s my whole point. No one should be allowed to come close enough to touch you.”

“I’m not the goddamn queen of England.” He loosened the tie at his neck and undid the top two buttons of his shirt, then collapsed into the chair.

Abbie’s eyebrows rose. The security measures she wanted to implement weren’t even that severe, but the usually smooth politician was becoming unglued.

Good, she decided. He shouldn’t be comfortable. Someone wanted to kill him. She’d thought she made the situation clear to him in the limo yesterday, but he was still fighting her.

He sighed. “My platform is built on being a man for the people. It’s what I’m known for. But it’s more than that. That’s who I want to be. That’s why I got into public service. I’m not some elitist who isolates himself from the people he represents.”

Before she could stop it, a bitter laugh escaped her lips. “You are the definition of an elitist. You grew up in one of the wealthiest families in America.”

Shit. She’d just crossed a line. She didn’t have to like the guy—or where he came from—to keep him alive.

It had taken her two days to place him. Besides seeing him on the news, she could have sworn she knew him from somewhere, but nothing in his file indicated that they would have crossed paths.

But she’d figured it out this morning. He had been friends with her ex, the asshole she’d dated all through college. The man she had thought she’d marry. And the man she apparently hadn’t been good enough for.

He’d blindsided her when he ditched her for a socialite who could further his law career. So she’d accepted a position with the Cartwright Agency and never looked back.

At first she’d been concerned that Jonathan would have remembered her, too. But after remembering him in that limo, she knew it was an unfounded worry.

She might as well be just another woman seeking to take a selfie with him. He didn’t have a clue who she was.

And she felt stupid for thinking he might.

Jonathan’s face hardened at her words, making him seem dangerous. Abbie was impressed, and her respect for him went up a notch. She hadn’t thought this pretty-boy politician had it in him. She waited for his response. “I don’t see how my upbringing is relevant to your current assignment. But for the sake of being cooperative, is there anything else about my life you’d like to discuss before we move on?”

“You’re a politician,” she said, dismissing his question. “Your life is public record.”

The truth was she had everything in his file, right down to his shoe size. She was nothing if not prepared.

“That’s not what I asked.”

Abbie sat at the table and rubbed her temples. At twenty-nine, she was one of the youngest agents at Cartwright to have taken on solo assignments. She’d protected witnesses from the Mob while they were waiting to testify at trial, before sending them on their way in the Witness Security Program. She’d gone undercover in a gang in Chicago to protect a confidential informant. She’d even spent time in LA guarding an A-list actress from a stalker.