Guard of Honor by Tracie Delaney
Chapter Four
Honor backedaway as her father’s footsteps alerted her to his imminent departure. As she reversed around the corner and out of his line of sight, she bumped into Lizzie and almost screamed.
“Jesus, you scared me,” she hissed.
“Sorry.” Lizzie grinned unapologetically. “Have you thought of checking behind you before backing up?”
Honor gave her a playful shove. Lizzie was more like a friend than an employee, and, hell, she needed as many of those as she could get, given that she’d alienated all her former friends since her rescue. At least having Lizzie here meant Honor didn’t have to pluck up the courage to leave the house to enjoy a bit of female company in a male-dominated environment—especially as it had just doubled down on testosterone with the latest arrival.
“Shh. I’m listening.”
She turned away from Lizzie and peeked around the corner, then snapped her head back when her father appeared in the hallway.
“For what?” Lizzie stage-whispered.
She didn’t reply, but when the unmistakable thud of the front door closing reached her, she spun in Lizzie’s direction.
“Papa has hired another bodyguard, except I think there’s more to it than that.”
Lizzie frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure.”
Honor snuck another furtive glimpse around the corner to check for signs of Mack. There were none. He must have stayed in the living room after Papa left. She half considered storming in there and demanding to know what her father had meant, and who this Loris person was, but her brief meeting with Mack had already laid bare his evident stubbornness. If the man didn’t want to answer a question, he wouldn’t. That was the simple truth. No, if she wanted to uncover the true reason for her father hiring him, a man he’d admitted he only knew through a third person, then biding her time was the right approach. She could ask Papa, she supposed, but if he’d wanted her to know his reasoning, then he’d have told her up front.
Lizzie made a smacking sound with her lips. “Well, if he’s as fine as Brad, he gets my vote.”
Honor screwed up her nose. “Ugh. Your taste in men is appalling.”
She headed off toward the kitchen, Lizzie’s giggle making her smile. Maybe a dirty fumble in the laundry room was just what Brad Danvers needed to loosen the guy up, although she wouldn’t bank on it. The guy was so stiff that he might as well be a walking hard-on. Maybe his dick was the only limp thing about him.
She entered the kitchen to find William propped up against the counter, a steaming mug of coffee halfway to his lips. He put it down the moment he saw her and straightened.
“Miss Reid. Everything okay?”
“No, William,” she said. “Everything is not okay. Did you know about this?”
He frowned, his thick, bushy eyebrows drawing down and in and giving him a sober air. “About what, miss?”
“The new recruit.” She almost spat the words, and when William lowered his eyes, she grimaced. “Wonderful. So you all knew. You, Brad, and Jeremy.” Her breath hitched. That one hurt the most. She liked Jeremy a lot. Out of the three of them, he was the one she was closest to, and he hadn’t said a single thing this morning when they’d shared a coffee in this very kitchen. “How long have you been keeping this from me?”
William shuffled his feet, his discomfort with her accusations evident. “Your father informed us the day before yesterday, miss. He said it was to add more flexibility to the team.”
Exactly the same story he’d told her. That was something, although all it meant was that he’d lied to them, too. The only person around here that knew the truth, other than her father, was Mack.
“Well, he’s here. And he’s probably looking for you, so you’d best scuttle along and suck up to your new coworker.”
“Actually, he’s our boss,” William said. “Your father made that very clear. What Mack says goes.”
Honor’s eyes widened. Although all three reported directly to her father, Brad had assumed the position as head bodyguard for the little band of three. Yet her father had put Mack in charge, a man, she reminded herself once again, he didn’t know personally, and that nugget of information fired up her curiosity even further.
She schooled her expression and gave William a flat stare. “More reason to find him and try to make a good first impression.” She lowered her gaze to his chest area. “You might want to clean that blob of chocolate off your tie first.”
William glanced down and cursed. He grabbed a cloth, ran it under the faucet, and dabbed at the brown stain. Realizing it was a lost cause, he tossed the cloth and tugged off the tie, stuffing it into his trouser pocket. He’d only taken two steps when the door to the kitchen opened, and Mack stood there, his massive body filling the doorway. He ignored her completely, setting his gaze squarely on William.
“Hey. You must be Oakenfeld.” Two strides brought him farther inside. He thrust out a giant paw. William shook it without hesitation.
“Great to meet you, Mack. Mr. Reid informed us of your arrival.”
Honor rolled her eyes and only just refrained from gagging on his sycophantic greeting of the big Scotsman. “His name is William,” she pointed out.
Mack didn’t flinch. “Oakenfeld, would you mind showing me around?”
Honor ground her teeth. Asshole.
“Not at all.”
“Well, isn’t this lovely.” Honor pressed a ton of sarcasm into her tone. “I’ll leave you two girls to get acquainted.”
She flounced out with a flick of her hair, but not before she caught a glimpse of Mack’s twitching lips at her childish reaction. Goddamn the man. Worse, though, was a whiff of his cologne with an underlying hint of maleness that shot up her nose and set her hormones firing as she brushed past him.
He had to go. She couldn’t cope with him living here, in this house, twenty-four seven. He was too male, too captivating.
Too dangerous.
She wandered from room to room, diverting in a different direction each time Mack and William appeared. His unexpected arrival had knocked her off-balance, and the idea of his presence being somewhat permanent filled her with a combination of dread and excitement. Her abduction had stolen so many things from her, not least her sense of self, of femininity, of feeling… normal. Her insides were numb, as if her blood were laced with Novocain, fear the only emotion she seemed to intimately know these days. But Mack had stirred up a ton of sensations, from anger to irritation to lust—and in record time, too.
The brilliant sunshine drew her toward the back of the house, and she stepped outside and tipped her face up to the sun. She stood there, soaking in the rays, eyes closed. A bird, she wasn’t sure what kind, chirped happily, and a soft breeze caressed her skin.
A shuffling sound forced her eyes open. She jumped, startled.
“What the hell are you doing?” she demanded of Mack, who was standing right in front of her with his thumbs casually hooked into the front pockets of his jeans. “You scared me.”
“My apologies,” he said, sounding anything but apologetic. “Nice garden.”
She fisted her hands on her hips, the show of defiance a way of taking back control in a rapidly spiraling situation. He, on the other hand, epitomized serenity, his face smooth and worry-free, his stance casual, a man completely at ease with himself, and in unfamiliar surroundings, too.
“My father might have hired you, Mr. McKenzie, but I’d like you to remember that this is my house. And the backyard is private. It’s where I do my thinking. Therefore, to you, this space is off-limits.”
The anticipated tilt to his lips never came. Instead, he worked his strong, bearded jaw and pinned her with an icy stare.
“Let me make one thing clear, Miss Reid. When it comes to your safety, and me doing my job, nothing is off-limits. Not this garden, not the house, not even your goddamn bedroom. You’ve made it obvious you’re not happy with me being here, and I get it. But as your father was the one who hired me, I suggest you take up your grievances with him and dial down the fucking attitude. Got it?”
Honor locked her knees tight. She would not tremble. She would not show any kind of weakness in front of this man. Strange, really, considering all her bodyguards had seen her in full meltdown on many occasions during the last year. Even Robot Brad. Yet the idea of this man witnessing her weaknesses was abhorrent to her.
She theatrically scanned the room. “Am I in danger right this second, Mr. McKenzie?”
His lips flattened. “No.”
“Precisely. And unless I am, I’d like you to stay out of the yard.”
She couldn’t understand why she’d chosen to draw the line at the yard. A chance to take back control in some small way, maybe?
He ran his tongue along his bottom lip, and a tremor rippled up her spine. He wasn’t handsome in the conventional sense of the word. His nose was crooked, his eyes a touch too far apart, and she’d never been a fan of tattoos. But the man oozed sex. Sweaty, grubby sex. He wasn’t a man who made love. He fucked. The kind of fucking that broke beds and left a woman unable to walk properly for days.
A flush spread across her chest and inched up her neck at the unwelcome direction her thoughts had taken. She spun away and marched back inside the house. He followed.
“One more thing, Miss Reid.”
She breathed noisily through her nose and kept her back to him. “And what is that, Mr. McKenzie?”
“I’m here for the duration, so I suggest, for both our sakes, we find a way to get along.”
She clamped her teeth together so tightly that her jaw ached. Unable to come up with a suitably tart response, she walked away, praying he didn’t follow.
She got her wish.