Natalie McCabe stared up at the massive dark-haired man
standing in the doorway to her apartment and wondered what
she had gotten herself into. The man blocked the light
from the hallway. His intense gray eyes and sharp-edged
jaw were practically predatory. He looked very much like
trouble, and right now she already had enough trouble in
her life.
"You're not Vincent Fortune, are you?" she asked, unable
to hide her concern.
"None other," he answered in a lazy voice. "Is there a
problem with that?" He glanced down at her and then beyond
her into her apartment.
Yes, there's a major problem, Natalie wanted to say, even
as she bit her tongue. When Daniel Fortune, San Antonio's
assistant district attorney, had told her he was going to
assign her a bodyguard, she supposed that she had expected
someone big — just not someone whose eyes took in so much.
Within two seconds of opening the door, she would swear
the man had registered every aspect of her house and every
inch of her person. A shiver of awareness ran through her.
This was a man who was used to being in control.
If there was one thing Natalie couldn't deal with, it was
having someone else trying to take her control away.
"Of course there's no problem," she finally said, trying
to calm herself.
The man looked down, and Natalie realized that she had
clenched one fist. "I've been hired to protect you,"
Vincent said more gently.
"Yes, I understand that it's a necessity. I'm okay with
that," she finally said.
The man looked amused, as if sensing her lie. "Mind if I
come in, then?"
Natalie thought about that for two whole seconds. There
was no way she was letting Vincent Fortune into her
apartment. It wasn't just that he was big, he was also
handsome, with a killer smile and a low, sandy voice that
promised carnal pleasure. Men like that were the kind that
many women allowed favors. Women in those circumstances
gave up more power than they should. Because they were
lusting, not thinking.
Natalie was always thinking. Right now she was thinking
that she had no business toying with the word carnal.
"Is it really necessary for you to come in?" she asked,
desperately hoping the man couldn't read minds. "Aren't
you just supposed to sit outside my house in a parked car
watching for danger? Isn't that how it works?"
He raised one dark brow, not smiling. When he looked down
at her, Natalie felt small and frail, even though she
wasn't either of those things. At five-six, she wasn't
short, and she visited a club regularly and had taken self-
defense courses.
"You and I need to establish a working relationship and
some basic ground rules before I can decide what the best
course of action is, Ms. McCabe," the man said. "To do
that, we need to sit down and talk, and you probably don't
want to talk in a place where anyone can overhear us."
Okay, he had a point. Natalie took a deep breath, her
options fading. Not for the first time she wished her
situation were different. When she had been assigned to
cover the party the governor had thrown to honor Ryan
Fortune, noted philanthropist and head of the Fortune
family, for his contributions to charity, it had been an
ordinary day. Just as usual, her boss at the San Antonio
Express-News had stuck her with the social circuit when
she wanted the chance to cover hard news stories.
Then she had witnessed Jason Jamison murdering his wife,
and everything had changed. She was no longer just a
reporter but also a witness to a crime.
Not long ago, her tires had been slashed, and recently she
had begun receiving threatening notes. She needed
protection, and Daniel Fortune was convinced that his
brother Vincent ran the best security firm available. Damn!
"I don't mean to be a pain, Mr. Fortune," Natalie said,
still not inviting him in, "but exactly how do I know that
you're who you say you are? Especially given my situation,
I can't just invite a stranger into my house."
Vincent nodded slightly. His eyes crinkled at the corners
in a way that made Natalie's stomach flutter. Don't be
stupid, she told herself.
"You've just become my favorite client, Ms. McCabe,"
Vincent Fortune was saying. "Most people let me in without
asking any tough questions. I'll show you my credentials,
but I'd also advise that you call my brother just to make
sure that I am who I am. That way you'll have some peace
of mind."
That was such a joke. She hadn't had peace of mind since
this whole Jason Jamison business had started. Moreover,
she was currently involved in some sensitive sleuthing for
an article she wanted — no, needed — to write, and having
someone trailing her would be a decided disadvantage.
Besides, this man, with his short dark hair, gray eyes and
hard-muscled body, was not the kind to make any woman feel
peaceful. Unless one counted the afterglow of a sexual
encounter as peaceful....
"I'll call Daniel," she said, chasing her thoughts away as
she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Daniel's number.
"Hi, Natalie," Daniel said when she had told him what she
wanted. "Yes, that's definitely my big brother. He's a bit
imposing, but I can assure you that he's highly effective."
Natalie looked up, and her eyes met Vincent's. For a
minute, she couldn't look away, couldn't swallow. Imposing
was a good word for the man. It was a word she didn't care
for much.
"Are you okay with this, Natalie?" Daniel asked. "I don't
mean to scare you, but until Jamison's case is complete,
and with these notes circulating, you need to be
protected. Vincent will do that. He's more dependable than
anyone I know, and he's capable, as well. He'll get the
job done. All right?"
No, she was not all right. For years, she had been treated
as a cute but inept little doll by her family. Moreover,
Joe Franklin, her good-ol' boy boss, felt that women
should be happy just to write fluff pieces. Now Vincent
Fortune would join the ranks of those who wanted to
protect little Natalie McCabe from the world. He would
smother her with his undeniable presence. But she had no
choice. To change things, she had to remain healthy and
alive.
"I'm fine with that, Daniel. Thank you." She hung up.
"All right, come in and let's get started, Mr. Fortune,"
she said, stepping back and letting the man in her doorway
inside.
"But I'm going to be honest. I'm really uncomfortable
having a man following me around."
"Excuse me," he said, "but I have to ask. Is it just the
prospect of having a bodyguard that bothers you or the
fact that I'm a man?" His eyes turned dark and he didn't
surge forward into her house as she would have
expected. "Because," he continued, "you should understand
that most people are uncomfortable having a shadow at
first. They get used to it. If the discomfort goes deeper,
though, I need to know."
She felt herself growing warm. "I just don't like feeling
helpless. Having someone paid to keep me safe makes me
feel hemmed in, frustrated. I have work to do, Mr.
Fortune." It was important work, too. The story she was
trying to uncover would not only help establish her as a
respected reporter, but it would bring justice to many
elderly people who had been wronged. She couldn't give
that up.
Vincent gave her a curt nod. "I respect your work, Ms.
McCabe. I hope you understand that while VF Securities is
my business and I take pride in my work, this situation
goes beyond that. I take the intimidation of innocent
individuals very seriously. That's what I'm seeing here.
You've been threatened. I've seen the notes that have been
sent to you. Someone wants to frighten you. He or she
wants you out of the picture. I don't intend to let that
happen."
Suddenly the thing she had been avoiding thinking about
came rushing back at her. I'm watching you, Natalie.
You're never alone, Natalie. Don't let down your guard,
Natalie. The notes had frightened her a great deal, it was
true. Her hands had trembled just holding the bits of
paper those notes had been written on, and she felt sick
even remembering those moments. But giving in to that
fear, letting someone else take away her choice to be
strong and to be the one in charge...it just made the fear
worse, in a way. She had struggled all her life for the
chance to follow her own path. This was too much like
admitting that her family had been right all along, like
conceding that she really was weak, parasitically helpless.
The thought threatened to overwhelm her, suffocate her.
She gave herself a mental shake and tried to stand
taller. "Mr. Fortune, I grew up with parents and three
older brothers who felt I was incapable of even walking
across the street without assistance. I do understand the
need for your expertise and your protection, and I am
grateful for all you and Daniel are trying to do for me.
But I have to be able to live my life and do my job
without interference. I have to be able to have some
semblance of normalcy."
"All right," he said in his dark, sexy voice as he entered
her home and shut the door behind him. "I'll do all I can
to make that possible. I'm here to watch your back, and
I'll do my best to make it easy for you."
But as he brushed past her, and she caught a whiff of his
aftershave, a fragrance that only emphasized his
masculinity, she couldn't imagine it ever being easy to
have this man watching her every move.Already she felt as
if she were walking around in her underwear. His eyes were
everywhere. She could see him assessing every nook and
cranny of her living room, noting the locks on the
windows, the open curtains that let in the sunshine.
She could almost hear her parents clucking every time she
took a risk. She could remember her three brothers' frowns
if a boy so much as glanced below her neck. This kind of
scrutiny was not new to her. The old, familiar sense of
beating her head against the wall crept right back in,
only this time she couldn't pretend the scrutiny was
unjustified, that she could handle everything on her own.
Like it or not, someone really was threatening her.
"I appreciate your candor and your promises, but my life
is going to change, isn't it?" she asked softly.
"Yes," he said, turning to face her. "It already has. You
were at the wrong place at the wrong time, and because of
that everything will be different from here on out."
"Some people would say I was in the right place at the
right time. Jason Jamison is behind bars."
He gave a slight nod. "Yes."
But Natalie had to admit that his first comment had been
right, in a way. Because she was a valued witness whose
safety was in question, she was going to be spending a lot
of time with a man she wouldn't ordinarily have ever met,
one she would never have chosen to meet.
Natalie sighed and nodded. "All right, keep me safe, Mr.
Fortune."
"It will be my primary goal."
And hers would be to keep her life as normal as possible,
to make sure that Vincent Fortune remained a shadow, one
she could shed once this mess with Jason Jamison was over.