Operation Saving Daniel (Entangled Covet) Read online

  Lissa shifted again, suddenly feeling less than adequate. Under normal circumstances, she hardly noticed what she was wearing, or what anyone else was wearing for that matter. Now, she couldn’t resist glancing down—her T-shirt was faded and bore a big red nose in the middle, a relic from a fund-raising event.

  She sank a little lower in the seat and gnawed on her bottom lip while studying Daniel surreptitiously. There was nothing left of the boy she had seduced in this tall, imposing stranger.

  As he made his way to the reception desk, the woman stuck close to his side, one hand resting on his arm, scarlet talons curled into the dark material of his jacket. After speaking briefly to Gretchen, he turned to look in Lissa’s direction, his face expressionless.

  Maybe she shouldn’t be there. She was here partly at Julia’s behest, but she’d also come looking for closure. Perhaps she was just opening old wounds.

  Too late. He was walking over, his face still blank, his hands hanging loose at his side. He should have seemed relaxed. Instead, he radiated an aura of tension, the air crackling around him.

  Had those hands really touched her? Everywhere.

  Daniel came to a halt in front of her, The Evil One still latched on to his side, and Spot scrabbled backward, until he was crouched beneath Lissa’s chair. Who could blame him? Talk about intimidating.

  Lissa pushed herself to her feet. At five foot eight, she still had to bend her neck to stare into his face.

  “Hello, Daniel.” She held out her hand.

  He glanced from it to her face, with not a glimmer of recognition. What had happened to “you never forgot your first”?

  Then she saw a glint in his silvery eyes. He knew exactly who she was. Well, two could play at that game. “You don’t remember me? Oh, Danny, I’m hurt. Let me give you a clue—”

  “I’d rather you didn’t,” he interrupted, his tone cool and clipped as he turned to the woman beside him. “Sophia, this is Melissa, an old friend of the family. She went to school with Julia.”

  “Really.” Sophia sounded uninterested, which was very bad manners. “Are we going to lunch, darling?” She put her hand back on his arm in a sign of possession and stared straight into Lissa’s face. Mine, her eyes said.

  Lissa grinned. The Evil One was welcome to him. He’d changed beyond belief, and she really wasn’t into stuffy businessmen. But at the same time, she felt the need to ruffle his feathers, see if she couldn’t break through that icy-cool composure, and find a spark of the old Daniel underneath.

  “So how long has it been?” she asked.

  He gave a casual lift of one shoulder. “I don’t remember.”

  “You don’t?” Now he was really pissing her off. So maybe he didn’t want his girlfriend to know they’d slept together—maybe Sophia was the jealous type—that didn’t mean he had to be quite so boorish. “Nearly ten years.”

  “Of course. It was my birthday. My twentieth birthday if I remember rightly.”

  “How could you forget?”

  The Evil One studied the two of them, speculation in her eyes, as though Lissa had interested her at last. There was something not quite right in the smile she sent Lissa’s way. In fact, she’d seen pleasanter smiles on a crocodile.

  “Ms. Jackson, why don’t you join us for lunch?” Sophia turned to Daniel. “Family is so important.”

  “She’s not family,” he replied.

  The words hurt. Lissa hated that, but they did. A minute ago, she would have gladly left and reported back to Julia that he was a lost cause. But there was something not quite right here. The old Daniel would never have been so openly rude.

  The truth was, she’d fallen in love with him the first moment she saw him, when she was twelve years old and he a lofty fourteen. That had been the first summer holidays she’d spent with Julia’s family.

  Daniel was cool, gorgeous, and beyond her reach. In retrospect, she’d come to understand that was the reason she’d allowed herself to love him. He was like a crush on some unattainable film star: safe.

  She hadn’t been able to resist that night with him. She’d known she’d be leaving in the morning, going far away—all the way around the world in fact—surely, she was allowed the one night. So she’d taken it, and in the morning, she’d run. And she’d been running ever since.

  Should she join them for lunch? She glanced down at Spot, sitting quietly at her feet.

  Daniel followed the look. “She can’t come. She’s got a…” His brows drew together. “Dog?”

  Shit, now he was sneering at her dog.

  “She can leave the dog with the receptionist,” Sophia said.

  Lissa was almost tempted, if only to irritate Daniel. But she shook her head. “I can’t. Spot gets anxious if I leave him. He was my father’s dog. My father died recently and Spot misses him.”

  “Is that what brought you back?” Daniel asked. “I always thought you weren’t close.”

  She shrugged; she hated talking about her family. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of them, but they were hard to explain. “I’d returned anyway. My last contract was up, and I’d been ill. Look, I’ll leave you to your lunch. I just wanted to say hi.”

  She turned to go, but he stopped her with a hand on her arm, and at that first touch, she knew she’d been deluding herself that she felt nothing for him now.

  “Join us, please,” Daniel said.

  …

  Why in the name of all that was holy had he said that?

  The words had popped out of Daniel’s mouth without any conscious thought. Which was totally unlike him. He thought about everything before he spoke—he couldn’t afford not to. Especially not with his watchdog beside him. He’d been doing well up until that point. Or at least relatively well, considering the shell-shocked state of his brain from seeing Lissa again after so many years. His first reaction to hearing her name had been a wild instinctive delight. Followed swiftly by abject terror.

  Luckily, by the time he turned to face her, he’d gotten both emotions under tight control; it wouldn’t do for Sophia to realize that Lissa was anything other than a family friend.

  Still, he found himself holding his breath as he waited for her answer.

  She was thinner than he remembered, and her skin was tanned to a dark gold where before she’d been pale. As a teenager, he’d spent an inordinate amount of time attempting to work out what it was about her that fascinated him…

  Shit, he shouldn’t be thinking like this with Sophia standing right beside him. It seemed indecent somehow. He dug his sunglasses out of his pocket and slid them on so he could continue to study her and keep up his pretense of indifference.

  Her faded jeans molded her slender hips and the long length of her thighs; her thin T-shirt clung to her small breasts. Was she naked underneath? On her feet, she wore flip-flops. He couldn’t decide whether to be flattered or upset that she had taken so little bother with her appearance.

  As she considered his request, she chewed on her lower lip, her gaze switching between him and Sophia. “If Spot won’t be a problem, I’d love to join you.”

  He released his breath and tried to tell himself that his reaction was purely because he needed to understand why she was here. After all, she’d gone ten years quite happily without speaking to him.

  This was his sisters’ work. If they had sent her after him, he had to face the threat head on. That was his excuse for inviting her, anyway.

  “Let’s go then,” he said before he could convince himself this was a really bad idea.

  The restaurant was around the corner from the office; they used the place regularly, and he presumed the dog would not be an issue. As they walked, he cast a sideways glance at Lissa, managing to do it without turning his head. She might be thinner, but she still had breasts. She’d had beautiful breasts, small but full and firm, and sweet. With hard little nipples, and she’d been so sensitive there. At the memory, his cock twitched in his pants.

  Shit, he really shouldn’t be thinkin
g like this.

  And another thing, maybe worse; when he’d first seen Lissa, something had awoken deep in his mind, clawing at the mental bonds that usually bound it tight inside. The sensation was strange and new.

  Had he gone too far and too fast with that last dose?

  Beside him, he could feel the weight of Sophia’s puzzled glance, as if she, too, sensed another presence, and he clamped down, tightening his control. A low growl trickled through his mind and then was silent.

  As he suspected, the hostess at the restaurant hardly batted an eye at the dog, merely led them to a table on the terrace. Daniel glanced at the animal where it lay under the table, its protuberant brown eyes never leaving Lissa. She couldn’t have a nice pedigree pooch like normal people. No, she had a three-legged mutt.

  Maybe if he’d lost a leg or a limb, or something, she might not have run from him all those years ago.

  It occurred to him that he was really quite bitter. And the idea shocked him because it wasn’t Lissa’s fault that his life was such a pile of crap.

  “Let’s have some champagne,” Sophia said. “It’s not every day an old friend returns.”

  “An old family friend,” he inserted. He didn’t like the way Sophia scrutinized Lissa. “A very distant, old family friend.”

  Lissa cast him a black glance, while managing to smile brightly at Sophia. “Why not? I’m not averse to a little champers. But could you keep an eye on Spot. I must go wash up.”

  The dog whined as she walked away, but then settled to keeping a wary eye on them. Daniel watched until Lissa disappeared, then glanced down to where Sophia’s fingers rested possessively on his arm. He’d had about as much of the touchy-feely stuff he could take—she was making his skin crawl. He picked up her hand, dropped it on the table, and moved his chair a little distance from her.

  Sophia narrowed her eyes. “She seems to know you very well, considering she’s nothing but a ‘distant’ friend of the family. I’m guessing your little sister has sent her friend to spy on us. Julia hates me.”

  Julia wasn’t the only one. “Does it bother you?”

  She pouted. “Of course it bothers me. I want your family to love me as much as I love you.”

  “Yeah, right.” Sophia was a power-crazy bitch and liked to tug on his rope every now and then. If only to prove her power and piss him off.

  One day she would push him too far.

  The growl echoed inside his head again and he flinched.

  “What was that?” Sophia asked, her arched brows drawing together.

  Had she sensed it? Luckily, Lissa returned so he was saved from answering. He’d thought—no hoped—she might have taken the opportunity to put on some makeup, lipstick perhaps. Not because he particularly liked makeup, but because a perverse part of his brain needed some small indication that she wanted to impress him. But no, her face was as bare as when she’d left the table.

  She sank down opposite him and waited while the waiter poured her Dom Perignon. When he was done, she raised her glass. “To old times,” she said and downed the drink in one gulp.

  Daniel pulled the bottle from the ice bucket and refilled her glass. Old times? She’d drunk champagne that night as well. He remembered the taste of it on her tongue.

  “Are you coming to the party?” he asked Lissa.

  His mother turned sixty in a week’s time, and she was holding a party at their place in Spain. Family get-togethers made him uncomfortable these days and he wished to hell he could get out of it. Worse, Sophia would insist on accompanying him and his family probably expected them to make an announcement. Could that be the explanation for Lissa turning up at this time? He didn’t believe in coincidences.

  “I hope so,” Lissa replied. “It depends if I can find someone to take care of Spot.”

  “So,” Sophia said. “What do you do, Ms. Jackson?”

  “Call me Lissa,” she replied. “And I’ve been working as the coordinator for a development project out in Africa.”

  “Very noble.”

  Daniel could hear the slight sneer in Sophia’s voice; she did condescending extremely well. He waited to see how Lissa would react, but she just shrugged.

  “Yeah, noble—that’s me. Actually, it was something I enjoyed doing.”

  “Do you plan to go back?”

  Half of Daniel hoped it would be very soon. The other half…

  Lissa shook her head. “My last contract finished and I’ve been ill with malaria. The doctors advised that I stay out of the tropics for a while.”

  “Hmm, you do look a little…peaky.”

  “So what will you do?” Daniel asked.

  She took a sip of champagne while she considered her answer. “I’m not sure. I feel a little…burned out. Or maybe I just need a break and can go back to it fresh afterward.”

  Their meals arrived, and they were silent for a while, concentrating on the food. Lissa fed tidbits to the dog under the table, grinning when Sophia suggested that it wasn’t hygienic.

  Daniel couldn’t work up an interest in the food, his insides churning. In the end, he stopped trying to eat, leaned back, and waited for the meal to be over. Occasionally, he’d glance up and find Lissa watching him with those strange golden eyes and something twisted inside him. The meal went on forever, but finally, Sophia put her knife and fork down. Shifting her chair closer, she stroked her fingers down his cheek. “Not hungry, darling?”

  This time, as the growl rolled through his mind, he was ready for it, and managed not to react. “No.”

  “Well, then, pleasant as this has been, we really should be getting back.”

  Lissa glanced between the two of them. “You work together?”

  “It’s how we met,” Daniel said. “And Sophia is right. We must go.” He pushed back his chair and stood. Lissa and Sophia did the same. “Well, that was nice,” he said, his tone implying it was anything but.

  “It was,” Lissa replied, her tone equally insincere. “We must do it again.”

  “In another ten years perhaps. And now you can report back to Julia.”

  Her eyes widened slightly, but she didn’t deny it. “She worries about you,” she said sweetly. “Your sisters never really considered you capable of taking care of yourself. But at least I can go back and tell them that you and Sophia are perfect for each other.”

  Why didn’t he think she was complimenting either of them? “Maybe we’ll see you at the party,” he said.

  “I hope so, but I doubt it.”

  He escorted her outside the restaurant and watched her walk away. She glanced back as she got to the corner and waggled her fingers in his general direction. Then she was gone. Again. The damn beast growled and he got the distinct idea it didn’t want her to go. Hard fucking luck.

  “Why do I get the impression there’s more to the two of you than you’re letting on?” Sophia murmured.

  He gave what he hoped was a casual shrug. “She’s part of the past and nothing to do with us—why should you care?”

  “I care about everything you do, Daniel.” She rested a hand on his arm, the touch like a brand. “So don’t you forget it.”

  He let out a humorless laugh. “As if you’d let me.”

  A longing welled up inside him for the boy he had once been. You believe in fairy tales… Lissa had told him that long ago night. Well, he still did, the only difference was these days he no longer assumed he was the prince.

  No, these days, he was definitely the big, bad monster.

  “You know,” Sophia said, “things would be so much easier for you if you’d just accept what you are.”

  He glanced down at the hand on his arm, the nails crimson as though she’d dipped her fingers in fresh blood.

  “Never,” he replied.

  Chapter Two

  Lissa was still trying to get her head around the lunch with Daniel and Sophia as she let herself into Julia’s house in Notting Hill. There was something very strange about that couple; she just couldn’t put
her finger on what was wrong.

  The sound of muted voices drifted along the narrow hallway. Julia had company. Unclipping Spot’s lead, Lissa left him to get a drink and have an afternoon nap while she made her way to the living room. The dulcet tones of Julia’s sisters, Marcella and Debora wafted from the open doorway, and she hesitated before entering. Despite the fact that all the Melville sisters were small, blonde, blue-eyed, and cute, en-masse they could be quite intimidating. At least on the surface. Lissa had always felt like some sort of alien in their midst.

  Debs, the youngest, was seated on the sofa looking cool and collected. She’d changed beyond recognition since she’d married four years ago. In contrast, next to her, Marcy looked positively scruffy in khaki combat pants, a black T-shirt, and Doc Martens. Julia was pacing the room; she very rarely sat down when she could stand and very rarely stood still when she could move. Small, curvy, with curly blond hair, big blue eyes, and a penchant for all things pink, she was the cutest of the lot—and Lissa loved her dearly.

  Without Julia, Lissa’s time at boarding school might have been very unpleasant and probably very short. Lissa’s accent proclaimed she came from a council estate in inner-city Manchester, and she didn’t have the clothes or the attitude to fit in. Her natural reaction to the teasing and bullying was aggression. You didn’t survive where she came from without being able to stand up for yourself, and Lissa had always had a smart mouth and not been afraid to use it, or her fists.

  But once Julia had taken her under her wing, the other girls, at least most of them, had accepted her.

  All three stopped talking and turned to Lissa as she entered the room.

  “What’s up?” Lissa asked, hovering inside the door.