Harlequin Intrigue May 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 by Carol Ericson

Author:Carol Ericson [Ericson, Carol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

“Lianna.” Shay’s voice, kind and patient, made Lianna want to haul off and punch something. Particularly Reece’s handsome face.

“I understand you’re frustrated,” Shay continued. “But like you said, you’re just a civilian. You can’t—”

“So train me. Help me. I don’t care what you have to do. This has to end. And we all know, thanks to Todd or Charles or whatever the hell his name really was, I’m at the center. I’m the thing they’re worried about or... I don’t even know what they want from me, and neither do you. We won’t find out without me.”

Lianna tried to pretend that didn’t scare her. Tried to brave her way through this like she’d braved her way through the past year. She liked to think she succeeded. Oh, inside she was a petrified mess, but on the outside she appeared certain. Impassioned.

She hoped.

“I’m sorry. No. We’re not considering this,” Reece said, more to Shay and Elsie than to her.

She couldn’t say she was surprised Reece didn’t like the idea, but she was surprised at the...immensity of his conviction. Vehemence pumped off him, barely restrained. He’d begun to pace, something she’d never seen him do.

He’d always been kind and gentle and contained. Even when he’d picked her up and carried her to his car. He’d been certain and determined but not...

Impassioned.

“Lianna.” Reece’s entire demeanor changed. He took a deep breath and then spoke to her in a calm, authoritative manner. “You’ve had a long day. You should rest. We’ll handle all this, since it’s our fault you’re a target in the first place.”

Maybe he’d transferred his fury to her, because it leaped up, hot and reckless. “You will not dismiss me.”

“That’s not—”

“That’s exactly what you’re trying to do. And sure, if you want to point fingers, your little group holds some of the blame, but my home was bugged. Clearly whatever Todd was involved in wasn’t done with me yet, even if they’d let me be. That isn’t your fault. It’s Todd’s.”

“How do you know they wouldn’t have given up after enough time of not getting any information they wanted?”

“How do you know they would?”

His jaw tightened, and he adopted that preternaturally still posture that might have poked some holes in her determination if she wasn’t so mad.

“I’ve protected myself and my son for a year. Without you,” she said to Reece. “Without you,” she said, pointing to Shay and Elsie. “I need help, yes, but I don’t need some mysterious group sweeping in and blowing up my life, no matter how nice you all might be. You can’t take away my free will. You can’t tell me what to do. You are not in charge of me.”

The room went silent. She would have categorized Reece’s silence as tense, at best, but Shay and Elsie weren’t tense so much as...curious. They both gazed at Reece as if they’d never seen him before.

Lianna didn’t know how to read into that. She supposed it was beside the point anyway. “They now know I know Todd’s real name.

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