Honor Bound (2 page)

I’d started to ease myself down from the window, when I felt a pair of strong hands on my waist. They startled me so much that I jerked and turned around too quickly.

I bumped my head on the window and stumbled into the man who was now right behind me.

I would have fallen had he not caught me. I found myself looking up at the face of the best-looking man I’d ever seen in my life.

He was about five or six inches taller than me, with a fine, athletic body. He had vivid green eyes and strong features that were so handsome they were startling. His expression was half-questioning and half-amused as he gazed down at me.

“Ouch,” I said stupidly, rubbing my head where I’d hit it on the window.

His expression transformed to a full smile. “That’s what happens when you try to climb in somewhere you don’t belong.”

Ridiculously—absolutely ridiculously—I wanted to smile back. His expression was just so warm and amused.

He wore a pair of khakis and a black t-shirt, and I figured he must work on the grounds somehow, since he seemed to belong here when I clearly did not.

“I wasn’t trying to climb in,” I lied, thinking as quickly as I could. “I was just looking inside to see what was in there.”

“Why would you need to see inside the guest cottage?”

A guest cottage. Oh. That was what this this place was. Not a secret office hideaway housing tempting secrets. Definitely not worth the embarrassment of getting caught like this. “I didn’t know what it was,” I said, speaking the truth in this at least. “I’m the assistant of the event planner. I was just checking out what the building was to see if we could use it somehow for the big charity gala.”

The man’s mouth tilted up slightly in one corner as his green eyes ran up and down my body. His gaze looked appreciative—as if he liked how I looked—so maybe he didn’t think I looked like a school marm. “I guess you could use it for couples who want to sneak off for sex. Maybe reserve it by the half-hour so you can offer it to as many horny couples as possible.”

He spoke with such a deadpan expression that it took me a minute to realize he was joking. When I realized it, the clever humor hit me so hard that I burst into laughter.

His expression changed as he watched me, and I sobered, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

Like he could see me. All of me. Even the parts I didn’t want anyone else to see.

“Who are you?” he asked at last, his voice softer, something almost awed in his husky tone.

My cheeks warmed with feeling stronger than self-consciousness. “I told you. I’m the assistant to the event planner. Ali.”

“Ali,” he repeated. “You have the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen.”

Okay, I admit it. I blushed even hotter. I could have said the same thing to him. He had the warmest smile I’d ever seen. And the most beautiful eyes. And the best shoulders. I didn’t say any of that, though. I’d always been quiet. Just a little shy. I certainly didn’t tell strange men that they were the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.

Even if it happened to be true.

To distract myself—even more than him—I glanced back at the guest cottage and said, “Well, maybe I can charge a fee for its use and make a little extra money.”

He blinked for a minute, as if it took him a minute to process my words. Then he leaned his head back and laughed.

I had to look away, since he was just too good-looking for my mental health.

“Anyway,” he said at last, “I don’t think there’s anything over this way that’s going to help you with that gala, so you probably should get back to the main house.”

“Yeah. Sorry.” I looked down at the paver stones beneath my feet, feeling a strange jittery excitement that was completely irrational.

Just because I met a hot man who thought I had a nice smile didn’t mean anything about my life was going to change. I would probably not even see this guy again. Nothing to get excited about.

“I’m not sorry at all.” His voice was warm, almost but not quite flirtatious.

I gave him a quick look up from beneath my lashes, and then I started walking toward the house again, telling myself that there was no reason to linger. No reason to keep talking to him. Even if I wanted to.

I had a job to do. And then I had to find out where Ken Gentry kept his home office and his files.

To my surprise, the man fell in step with me.

“This is a beautiful estate,” I said, searching for some sort of innocuous conversation because I was feeling awkward.

“I guess.”

I looked at him in surprise. “You don’t think so?”

“It’s too big and flashy for me.”

I couldn’t help but smile, since it somehow pleased me that he didn’t like this beautiful estate, as it was associated with people I hated.

“Yeah. I think so too.”

He looked like he was going to say something else, but then his phone rang. He glanced at it with an apologetic expression. “Sorry,” he murmured. “Duty calls.”

“It always does. I think I can find my way back.”

He gave me a smile over his shoulder that took my breath away. “I’ll find you later.”

I couldn’t help but smile back. “You might have to look pretty hard.”

“I’m good at hard.”

So I blushed again as I felt a rush of excitement at the innuendo, but at least I managed not to giggle as I watched him walk away.

The man also had the finest butt I’d ever seen.

I spent the next hour collecting the photos and notations that Cheryl needed, trying to suppress the bubbling thrill of interest at the thought of the man I’d met. He was probably one of those guys who flirted with all women he encountered and so it didn’t mean anything at all to him.

I really shouldn’t get excited about him. I didn’t even know his name.

It had been a really long time since I’d been interested in a man, though.

Cheryl and I were leaving when I saw him again. He was talking to Ken Gentry, and something about the way they were interacting made me rethink my initial idea of his being a grounds worker.

Ken waved Cheryl over to where they were chatting in the entry hall, and I had no choice but to trail behind.

The good-looking man’s expression changed when he saw me, and he gave me a covert smile that I was hard-pressed not to return. I had to turn away and tighten my lips to maintain a professional expression.

“Let me introduce you,” Ken was saying to Cheryl. “Sebastian is heading up security for the gala. You’ll want to touch base with him about your final plans to make sure he gives you the okay.”

“Of course,” Cheryl said with her best smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Sebastian. I’m Cheryl Hoover.”

The man, whose name was evidently Sebastian, reached out to shake her hand. “Nice to meet you.” He turned toward me with obvious purpose.

Cheryl blinked, since she may or may not have been planning to introduce me to the men too. Then said, “This is my assistant, Ali.”

“Nice to meet you, Ali,” Sebastian said, taking my hand in his and squeezing around it—firm but not hard.

“Nice to meet you too.”

He didn’t let go of my hand immediately, and I felt another rush of giddy excitement.

He really did seem to like me. Maybe he wasn’t just a natural flirt. Maybe he was genuinely interested.

“Sebastian is Mr. Maxwell’s son,” Ken said to Cheryl, as casually as if he were offering a cup of coffee. “He and some friends have just started a security firm, so I decided to use him for this event.”

I froze, all the warmth and excitement and interest draining out of me in an instant. He finally released my hand, and I managed to get it back to my side, where I wiped it discreetly on my pants.

Sebastian. Sebastian Maxwell. Heir to a fortune. Son of John Maxwell, CEO of Maxwell Industries. The man who, with Ken Gentry, had destroyed my family.

He wasn’t just a nice, hot guy who I happened to run into.

His family was the reason my family was ruined.

He was here to protect the premises. I was here to infiltrate it.

This was not—absolutely not—a man I could be attracted to.

Sebastian

This was like some kind of joke.

A bad one.

And it was pissing me off.

I walked around the entire damn estate with Ken and had to listen to all of his talk about how much he was spending on this and who he hired to design every little thing, and I eventually wanted to punch him in his smug face. I never liked Ken before and, clearly, even after not seeing him for years, that hadn’t changed. Once an ass, always an ass.

This job was a no-brainer. Actually, it was worse than a no-brainer. It was almost insulting. Essentially, I was babysitting this guy.

And getting paid big money to do so.

The weird thing was that Ken knew he was an asshole. He even laughed about it. “People hate me. It goes with the territory,” he’d said, and because of that and the high-profile event he was hosting, he felt the need for a little extra security.

People were starting to get a little vocal in their dislike of him. For whatever reason, this event had brought haters out of the woodwork, and they were picketing the gate and chanting some sort of nonsense. I should probably pay attention to that on the way out, but for now, I’d just take his word for it.

People were pissed. Got it.

A glance at my watch showed that it was time for me to get out of here. Ken wasn’t requiring twenty-four hour protection—yet. God help me if he did. “Listen, Ken, I need to get going. I’ve got a conference call in twenty.”

Ken reached out and shook my hand. “I’m looking forward to working with you, Sebastian. When your old man told me about your little project, I figured you could use a bit of help. Either way, I’m happy you’re here.”

“Um…sure. Thanks.” Those were probably the words my father had used for the security business the guys and I were starting.
Little project
.

“See you in the morning.”

When we parted, I looked around the room in search of Ali. She was the highlight of this entire day. Of course, it didn’t hurt that she had a perfect ass that looked good snugly covered in black. I couldn’t help but imagine that same image—minus the black pants and replacing them with black lace.

Yeah. That was the one.

A smile tugged at the corner of my lips, and for the first time all day, I was actually looking forward to something. She was like a breath of fresh air. All day long I had walked around listening to Gentry yammering on about one pointless thing after another, and when I finally found the time to break away and get some air, there she was. Exactly what I didn’t know I needed.

I knew that I didn’t have a lot of time, but even if I could just catch a glimpse of her, maybe see her sweet smile, it would be enough. Maybe. Actually, it would be nice if I could talk to her again, hear her laugh. I didn’t hear a lot of laughter in this line of work. Or at home. Yeah, Ali was definitely someone who I wouldn’t mind spending a little time with.

By the time I reached the front door, I realized that either she was gone for the day or she was busy somewhere else on the grounds. Maybe she was trying to climb through another window or something. Now, that image made me laugh, and it felt good to think about something light for a change.

I reached the car and cringed. The car so wasn’t me. The black BMW 4-Series was a gift from my parents for coming home alive. It wasn’t something that I asked for or wanted, but whenever I tried to take out my old Mustang, I had to listen to the lecture on how much better the BMW was for the ozone layer and why must I be so selfish.

Seriously?

I wasn’t in the car for even a minute when the call came through. You really could set your clock by them. All of that military training seemed to still be firmly embedded because here they all were, down to the second. Clicking on the Bluetooth, I was instantly connected to the other three callers. “I’m here.”

“Hey, Seb,” Levi said. “How’s it going? How did the walk-through go with Gentry? Are you good on this one alone, or are you going to need help?” Gotta love, Levi. He just got right to the point—completely glossing over the pleasantries.

“This whole thing is ridiculous. I don’t even think I’m needed here.” I hated to have to go into this with the guys, but it was the first case I was doing on my own. It just sucked that it was one that was so damn pointless.

“Why? What’s the matter?”

I drove down the driveway and saw a group of five or six people with their little picket signs that basically didn’t say anything beyond the Gentry name with a circle and a slash through it. Yeah, it was pretty dangerous out here.

I turned out onto the street and put some distance between myself and the property. “It’s a big-ticket event—high profile, lots of big names will be attending. But basically Gentry wants me to oversee things and watch out for him.”

“Why?” Declan asked. “What’s his deal? I don’t remember hearing that there were any threats to him.”

“He’s a prick.”

Cole laughed. “So am I, but I don’t need someone watching me because of it.”

“Yeah, well…over the years it seems that good ol’ Ken Gentry has made some enemies, and as of right now, he’s got a couple of protestors picketing at the front of the property. They’re not being disorderly, just hanging out with their ‘I hate you’ signs. It’s almost cute.”

“So great,” Levi interrupted with more than a hint of irritation. “We’re trying to build a legit business, and your family—who was supposed to have all these great connections—has us playing babysitter to some jackass who doesn’t really have a need for security. Do I have that right?”

“No,” I snapped. “I’m sure they all won’t be like this. In all fairness, this is a big event, and on the actual night of it, we’ll all need to be here. That’s where we’re going to make our connections and get our name out. It’s just that for now…it’s a little ridiculous. Like I’m just a show dog that he’s prancing around just because he can.”

Cole just laughed harder. “So let me see if I have this straight. Levi was protecting Harper because someone wanted to kill her. Declan almost took a bullet last week during a home invasion. I’m working with a family whose daughter was kidnapped and is being held for ransom. And you’re playing show dog and prancing? What the hell?”

“Look, I didn’t ask for this damn case. I told you all about this at our meeting last week, and you encouraged me to take it. ‘
Make connections’
you said. ‘
It will be good for business
’ you said. So here I am playing rent-a-cop, and you’re gonna rag on me for it?”

“Please tell me that you’re not sitting around eating pate and sipping martinis while riding around in a golf cart,” Cole said.

“No.” But that was today. God only knew what tomorrow had in store for me.

“It’s only a matter of time,” Levi said, as if reading my mind.

By now, I was speeding through downtown and realized that I was heading to my father’s office. I looked around, not even sure how I had gotten here. What the hell? Like my day wasn’t crappy enough? I didn’t need a conversation with my dad on top of everything else.

Then I realized what my unconscious mind had been putting together during the conversation. My father hadn’t been straight with me—I could see that now. I felt like I’d been set up. Like this wasn’t the job I was told it was and, as usual, my father was trying to control what I did.

Or didn’t do.

Fucking awesome.

“Okay, okay, calm down,” Declan chimed in. “I’m sure it sucks right now, but it is a means to an end. You’ll just have to suck it up for the time being, and we’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed that it pays off in the end.”

I gave my phone the finger. It made me feel better, but accomplished nothing else.

“But seriously,” Declan said, “do you need anything? Donuts? Maybe one of those Segways to get around on or a scooter?”

“Do you get to wear a badge like a real cop?” Cole joked.

“Fuck all of you,” I muttered. “I gotta go.”

“Wait,” Levi called out. “Don’t go getting all pissy. You have to admit that it’s kind of funny.”

“Do I?”

“If you lightened up a little you would.”

“Well I don’t particularly feel like being light.” I parked the car in the executive lot and turned it off. “I have to go. I’ve got another appointment.”

“With who?” Declan asked. “I thought we were supposed to tell each other when we were scheduling shit.”

“My dad.” I hung up before anyone could say anything else to me. They had worked me up pretty damn good and settled in my mind exactly what had happened—how my father had twisted things around to manipulate me—and now I had a full head of steam and was ready to let it loose.

****

I found my father exactly where I thought I would—sitting behind his ridiculously large mahogany desk in his corner office with its award-winning view of the city. If a photographer walked in right now, they’d get a million-dollar shot of the world of John Maxwell. Or of John Maxwell looking down on the world.

I’d go with the second description.

I cleared my throat after standing there for a solid three minutes without an acknowledgment. When he barely glanced up, I felt the resentment that I had already been feeling kick up a notch.

“Sebastian,” he said as he went back to reading his financial reports. “This is an unexpected surprise. What brings you here?” There was very little emotion in his voice—no warmth, no pleasure in seeing me. Why was I even surprised?

“This job that you referred me to for Ken Gentry is a joke.” He simply shrugged, so I stepped closer and placed my palms down on his desk and leaned in. “We talked about this, and you said it would be a real, legit job. Something that was going to help put my company name on the map. This is glorified babysitting.”

He turned the page.

I didn’t think, I just reacted. Reaching out, I yanked the report from his hands. “I’m talking to you, damn it!”

He let out an agitated sigh and leaned back in his chair. “Yes, you’re talking, Sebastian. You’re always talking. And it’s usually about how disappointed you are in something that I’ve done. Well, I’m sorry that we’re all not as perfect as you are, but some of us actually have to work for a living.”

I saw red.

“I work for a living, too, and you damn well know it. I worked here with you until I enlisted and then I worked for years serving my country. And since I’ve come back, I’ve started a company of my own. I would have thought you’d be proud of that. I would have thought that you’d be impressed that I’m not willing to ride your coattails and that I’m trying to make a name for myself. But does that impress you? No. You act like you want to help me, when in fact you’re doing nothing but setting me up with bullshit assignments in hopes that I’ll just give up and fall in line with what you want. Well, news flash, Dad, it’s not gonna happen!”

“You wanted connections. I gave you one,” he said blandly.

“No, you told me that there was a threat to Ken. You said that he was afraid for his life. Since I’ve been there, there’s been no indication of that ever being an issue. Ken himself told me that he didn’t see the need for me to be worried about his well-being, but he liked the idea of showing the world that he had a bodyguard.”

“Well? Isn’t that what you’re pretending to be? A…bodyguard?” He said the word as if it left a bad taste in his mouth.

“I’m not pretending to be anything. This is who I am, and this is what I want to do. You lied to me. There was never any threat to Gentry’s life, and now I’m stuck there.”

“And out of harm’s way. Let the other boys handle the messy stuff. It wouldn’t look good if the head of the company had to get dirty.”

I could literally feel my blood boiling. “We’ve been over this before—I’m not the boss. I’m not the head of the company. There are four of us—four partners. We’re equals, and they’re all on assignments where people actually
need
them. You set me up to look like a god-damned show dog—being led around by fucking Ken Gentry.”

He yawned. He actually sat there with his eyes on me and simply yawned.

I said, “I work to protect people. It’s not glamorous and it’s not pretty, but it’s what I do and you need to deal with it. I don’t want to wear a suit every damn day.” I held up my hands in front of his face. There were scars, and they were roughened from manual work—unlike his perfectly manicured ones. “My job can be dirty, and sometimes there’s pain involved—the people that hire me pay me to get dirty and sometimes to even risk my life, but it’s what I do.”

My dad stood, took off his wire-rimmed glasses, and carefully placed them down on his desk before walking around it to face me. “Maxwells don’t do grunt work,” he said carefully, almost through clenched teeth. “Maxwells don’t work for other people. Other people work for us. You’re dishonoring the Maxwell name by doing what you’re doing.”

“That’s absurd,” I said, my own teeth clenched so tight that my jaw hurt.

“It’s the way that it is, Sebastian. Deal with it.”

I shook my head. “Maybe that’s the way it is in
your
world, but not in mine. I don’t get off on sitting at a desk while I dictate to others. I enjoy
working
with people,
helping
people, and getting my hands dirty when need be. There’s real honor in that. Not sitting back in my big comfortable chair while other people do the work.” My father just gave me a bland look. “This is what I’m going to do with my life so you’d better get used to it.”