A Tangled Affair by Fiona Brand

Author:Fiona Brand [Brand, Fiona]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Contemporary, Fiction, Romance
ISBN: 9780263892048
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Nine

When Carla stepped out of her office to attend the press conference later on that morning, one of Lucas’s bodyguards, Tiberio, was waiting for her in the corridor.

Lucas wasn’t in the office. He had left after dropping her off that morning, so there was no one to interpret. After a short, labored struggle with Tiberio’s fractured English, Carla finally agreed that, yes, they would both follow Lucas’s orders and Tiberio could drive her to the press conference and see her safely inside.

On the way down to the parking garage, she decided that she was secretly glad Lucas had delegated Tiberio to mind her. She had been dreading dealing with the paparazzi when she arrived at the five-star hotel where the press conference was being held.

To her surprise, Tiberio opened the door on a glossy black limousine, not the dark sedan Lucas’s security usually drove. When she slid into the leather interior, she was startled to discover that Lucas was already ensconced there, a briefcase open on the floor, a sheaf of papers in his hand.

The door closed, sealing her in. Lucas said something rapid to Tiberio as he slid behind the wheel. There was a discreet thunk, followed by the low hum of the engine.

She depressed the door handle, when it wouldn’t budge, her gaze clashed with Lucas’s. “You locked it.”

His expression was suspiciously bland. “Standard security precaution.”

Daylight replaced the gloom of the parking garage as they glided up onto the street. Her uneasiness at finding Lucas in the car coalesced into suspicion; she was beginning to feel manipulated. “Tiberio said you had ordered him to mind me, that he was supposed to drop me at the press conference. He didn’t say we would be traveling together.”

Lucas, still dressed in the silver-gray suit and black T-shirt he had been wearing that morning, but now freshly shaved, retrieved a cell phone from his briefcase. “Is there a problem with going together?”

She frowned. “After what happened, wouldn’t it be the smart thing to arrive separately?”

Lucas’s attention was centered on what was, apparently, a swanky new phone. “No.”

Her frustration spiked as he punched in a number and lifted the phone to his ear then subsided just as quickly as she listened to his deep voice, the liquid cadences of his rapid Medinian. Reluctantly fascinated, she hung on every word. He could be reciting a grocery list and she could still listen all day.

Minutes later, the limousine pulled into a space outside the hotel entrance. When she saw the media crush, she experienced a rare moment of panic. Publicity was her thing; she had a natural bent for it. But not today. “Isn’t there a back entrance we can use?”

Lucas, seemingly unconcerned, snapped his phone closed and slipped it into his pocket.

She flashed him an irritated look. “The last thing we need right now is to be seen arriving together, looking like we are a couple.”

“Don’t worry, the media will be taken care of. It’s all arranged.”

Something about his manner brought her head up, sharpened all her senses.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.