Chapter Seven
Maybe he hadn’t heard her.
Half an hour later, Daisy was still wondering about those
three words she’d said right before the world had exploded.
Nate had carried her up to his desk and set her down,
pointing at the chair, telling her in that super Dommy way of his to have a
seat.
His boss, Tessa Hawthorne, had ordered him into her office
to check his arm and get a report on what had happened. He’d told Daisy to not
move a muscle until he got back. He’d been incredibly bossy, and she wished it
didn’t do something for her.
But then he’d taken a really long time and she needed to see
her da, who was probably looking for her, so she’d left him a note and come
back upstairs.
After all, she was supposed to report for her job. The
phones weren’t going to answer themselves.
“Holy crap, Dais. Are you okay?” Devi Taggart walked out of
her mom’s office. She was dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt, her red hair
in a ponytail. It let Daisy know Devi had likely taken the day off. Devi had a
degree in fashion design and was currently interviewing for jobs with big
design houses across the country. Until then she was working at Top as a
server. “I had breakfast with my mom and I thought I would stop by and say hi
to you, but then the whole place went into lock-down and my mom told me not to
leave the office.”
Daisy stared at her friend. She and Devi and Brianna had
grown up together. Her girl gang. She knew them well, and there was something
Devi wasn’t saying. “You wanted to say hi? Or you heard rumors about last
night?”
“Okay, I might have heard something about you going to the
masquerade party,” Devi admitted.
“And?”
Devi’s ponytail shook. “Girl, why are we talking about this
when you were apparently just shot at? Are you okay? You didn’t get hit?”
“No, and we can’t be certain they were shooting at me. It
could have been regular, normal street violence.” Naturally everyone pointed
fingers her way. It wasn’t like no one ever got randomly shot at in Dallas.
That was a normal Tuesday in Deep Ellum.
“Oh, I think we can definitely say they were shooting at
you.” MaeBe Hawthorne’s head popped up over the walls of her cubicle. Mae was a
super-cute thirtysomething with a pair of adorable moppets and a husband who
worked in the investigative unit. MaeBe had been in the cybersecurity unit for
years. “I pulled the plates, and it didn’t take me long to trace that sucker
back to a known cartel assassin. I’ve been on the Dark Web since your dad went
nuclear yesterday.”
“In the conference room, please.” Ian Taggart was striding
toward her followed by a couple of what she thought of as the old-school crew,
including Devi’s mom, Erin Taggart. “Liam, she’s here. You can rescue her now.”
Her father turned down the hall, his eyes lighting when he
saw her. He rushed up to her, putting his hands on her shoulders as he studied
her. “Daisy. What the hell is going on, girl? Tell me where the little bastard
went. I’m going to send him back Down Under in pieces. I swear it. If he
touched a hair on your head…”
Only her da would call a man who outweighed him by at least
a hundred pounds of pure muscle and had a half a foot on him height wise a
little bastard.
“I’m pretty sure it was her ass he touched,” Uncle Ian
quipped. “That was a warning slap, Daisy. You should be careful with Aussies.
I’m surprised he let you roam around without him.”
He was good at that. Sarcasm was fuel for the parental
units. Most of the time she found it funny, but she had a da on the edge to
deal with. “I’m fine. Nate saved me. He was just a wee bit overstimulated. He
wanted to get me to safety as soon as possible, but see, I’m here and I’m
perfectly fine.”
Erin Taggart had been her father’s partner since long before
Daisy had been born. She had been the sister her father never had before, and
she was usually good at calming him down. “Except for the bullets flying your
way and the massive possessive Aussie you’ve attracted.”
Not today. Nope, today her Aunt Erin had chosen violence.
“Possessive?” Her father’s brow rose. “What the hell would
he be possessive about?”
“Absolutely nothing. Nate was simply saving my brother from
having to drive me in. I had to stay at Aidan’s last night, and he and Carys
had early calls at the hospital this morning. Nate was merely being kind. And
then he went through something traumatic. It seems to have disturbed him.” Nate
had obviously forgotten how to use his words. Or maybe it was a function of his
Australianness. He’d barked orders her way, and she could still feel that slap
on her ass. He’d meant it. His hard palm had come down on her ass like a
promise of retribution for future brattery.
“Is this how you’re playing it, kid?” Uncle Ian asked, a
brow raised over his blue eyes.
Of all the uncles in her world he was both the most tolerant
and the one who saw through twelve feet of bullshit with ease. Still, there
wasn’t anything to see here. He was also the one who should know what happened
at the club should stay at the club. “Playing? Not at all. I was explaining to
my da that Nate is new to all the crazy stuff that can happen around here. It
takes some getting used to. Not everyone handles things with the cool calm we
do.”
“He was a bloody commando, Daisy,” her da pointed out, also
proving he was not in the cool and calm “we” she’d talked about.
Men could be emotional creatures. “I’m sure he’s excellent
on a battlefield, but traffic is a whole other story. It can be brutal, Da. We
have to make allowances.”
Devi stood there looking at her, shaking her head. “This
might be the Daisiest thing you’ve ever done.”
Aunt Erin leaned against the doorjamb next to her not so
mini me. “Nah, calling Liam in the middle of a gunfight and asking him if he’s
had breakfast this morning before mentioning the whole ‘we’re being shot at’
thing—that’s the Daisiest thing she’s done today.”
“Well, he gets cranky if he doesn’t have his breakfast.” Her
aunt should know that, and when had they started using her name as an
adjective? Maybe she should stuff a couple of bangers down her da’s throat. He
was better when he wasn’t hangry.
“My darling girl was being her sweet self and trying to look
out for her old man, but I think Nathan has a few things to answer for,” her da
proclaimed. “He seems to have a mistaken impression of how we handle clients at
this company. He’s a McKay-Taggart bodyguard, and the minute he agreed to take
her to work, she became his client. I’m going to talk to Tessa about her
training protocols.”
“Oh, I think he’s treating her exactly like a client,” Uncle
Ian said under his breath.
“Hypocrite.” Aunt Erin managed to say the word on a cough.
Daisy wasn’t sure what was going on, but she needed to get
the older generation off this particular topic as quickly as possible. “I am
not Nate’s client. We’re coworkers.”
“That’s right,” her da said with a firm nod. “There’s no way
I’m letting that youngster anywhere close to my Daisy. He doesn’t have the
right experience, and it’s obvious to me he’s got some hormones to deal with.
We’ve got a proper guard for you. A married, stable man.”
“Mae, I got your email. Brighton’s on his way in,” Uncle Ian
said, stopping in front of Mae’s desk. “Alex is downstairs dealing with the
uniforms. Call down and give them a plate. I’m sure the feds will be here soon.
It’s going to be a fun day.”
“Devi, love, would you run downstairs and ask Brian to join
us in the conference room?” her da asked. “And bring Tessa up, too. We need a
twenty-four-seven watch on Daisy. We might need to bring in some more people.
Ian, I’m going to move her to a safe house.”
That sounded terrible. “I don’t need a safe house. I want to
stay at my place.”
Her father’s head shook. “Not happening. I’ll be honest, I’m
thinking about shipping you straight to Damon. They can watch you at The
Garden.”
“Hey, Ian,” a masculine voice called out. “I was hoping to
talk to you this morning.”
Liam sighed in obvious relief as Brian Langton walked in,
saving Devi the trip downstairs. “Thank the heavens. Brian, let’s go to my
office and we’ll talk about what we need to keep my Daisy safe.”
Langton was in his mid-forties, and he was about as basic as
a guy his age got. He had a seemingly never-ending supply of khakis and polo
shirts, all in neutral colors. He turned to her father, his face falling as
though this was exactly the situation he’d been trying to avoid. “I was… I was…
Damn it. Liam, I’m not taking the assignment.” He looked Daisy’s way, an
apologetic expression on his face. “It’s nothing against you, Daisy. You’re a
very nice young lady, but I have three kids. My wife is a stay-at-home mom and
honestly, the insurance we have isn’t enough if… Well, if the inevitable
happens.”
What was he trying to say? “What does insurance have to do
with it? And what’s inevitable?”
Devi leaned in, whispering. “I think he thinks he’s going to
die.”
Brian frowned and turned to Ian. “Look, boss, I like my job,
but I like my life more. Daisy O’Donnell is trouble. Send me to protect like a
mobster or something. Anyone but her.”
Rude. No one had ever died around her. Well, there had been
one time, but it hadn’t been her fault.
Her father stepped up to her side, his eyes narrow. “It’s
good to know that now, ain’t it? I’ll protect her myself. I’ll have us on a
plane to London in no time. We’ll hole up at The Garden, you and me and your
mum.”
“For how long?” Aunt Erin asked. “Because I don’t know if
you’re aware, but the wheels of the American justice system can grind slowly,
my friend. Should I pack up your house? Let Serena know she’s losing her
assistant?”
Her mother loved her job. She ran the business portion of
Serena Dean-Miles’s publishing company. It only published Serena’s books, but
there was a lot of work to do. And the conference season was about to start.