He’d been wrong, Huck thought darkly, two hours later.

They weren’t paying him enough.

Sapphira wagged the little dogs paw’s in his direction as they pulled away from the Pampered Pet Day Spa. “Now don’t those look lovely? I think the hot pink shade looks absolutely divine with her shiny white coat.”

Huck snorted, unable to think of a single thing to say that wouldn’t be inappropriate considering that, technically, this beautiful but sadly demented woman was his boss. I mean, really, what did one say about a dog getting a manicure? Better still, what nice thing could one say about the dog getting a manicure?

Honestly, when she’d blown off his question regarding the letters with the announcement about her appointment, he’d assumed she’d needed to go to the doctor, or at the very least something equally important. It never occurred to him--though given the cryptic comments McCann had made about Trixie, in retrospect, it should have--that the appointment was for a spa treatment.

 For her dog.

Having grown up on the fringes of the idle rich, Huck knew they could waste an inordinate amount of money on things that were self-indulgent, wasteful and stupid to the point of idiocy, but this--he cast a glance at Sapphira who was currently snuggling her little newly coiffed animal--this took the cake.

And to make matters worse, for reasons he couldn’t explain, he was jealous of the damned dog.

Odd, too, when he’d been certain that he’d caught a glimpse of...something...behind those surprising pretty green eyes. Though he couldn’t put his finger on what exactly, he’d seen it all the same. Longing? Regret? Reticence? A combination of all three, maybe? He couldn’t be sure. But something about this was off, Huck decided, every sense he had going on heightened alert, and ultimately, though he could see where it was going to be difficult to keep the goal in focus, his job was to discover precisely what that was.

Furthermore, considering this was his first assignment for Ranger Security, failure simply was not an option. Frankly, he had to live up to their expectations and allowing Sapphira--he cast a dark look at Trixie--or, more disturbingly, her dog to make a fool of him would not happen. He slid them another look and felt his grim mood plummet even further.

Hell would flood, freeze, and thaw first.

Of course, in a perfect world she’d be fat, ugly, stupid and unpleasant--she would not have an ass as lush and ripe as a Georgia peach, intelligent eyes the shade of a new leaf on an old vine and a body that put him in mind of hot sex on a hotter night. She would not make his skin burn and his lips twitch and she wouldn’t make his dick stir in his jeans. He chalked that disturbing phenomenon up to his recent stint of abstinence--he’d been too busy trying to heal to make sex a priority.

Clearly he’d left it too long, otherwise he was certain he wouldn’t possibly be attracted to this woman.

In fact, were there a picture of “Wrong For Me” in his mental dictionary, then he was fairly certain Sapphira Stravos’s image would be right next to it. Was she pretty? Sexy? Intriguing, even?

Yes to all of the above.

But when the time came for Huck to start thinking about settling down--over even a quick lay--it sure as hell wouldn’t be with a woman who thought the best way to spend her money was on a pedicure for her dog. Though admittedly he hadn’t given much thought to the future Mrs. Finn--he’d been too busy building a career and frankly, having fun, to consider a permanent relationship--he still knew a wealthy, entitled socialite--the very kind his mother had cleaned up after for years, he thought bitterly--certainly wouldn’t fit the bill.

On any level.

No matter how friggin’ sexy, he thought as another bolt of heat seared his groin.

Furthermore, he’d yet to meet a woman he’d want to spend more than a couple of nights with, much less the rest of his life, and at thirty, he certainly wasn’t in a hurry. Right now mending the train-wreck of his life--putting this new career on track--had to be his top priority. And as far as he could see, the only thing standing in his way of that was this little pampered Greek hottie and her equally pampered dog.

Sapphira’s lips curled into a mocking smile. “Let me guess. You don’t approve.”

Huck negotiated a turn, which wasn’t easy in her tiny little car, the one she’d insisted that he drive, citing Trixie’s familiarity with the vehicle and her penchant for relieving herself in new places. His leg throbbed like a sonofabitch, but he’d eat glass before he’d admit it. Just another example of her thoughtlessness, Huck decided. Her kind were generally only concerned with their own comfort and to hell with everyone else. A patently unfair deduction considering she didn’t actually know that his leg ached, but it was easier to dislike her if he took that approach.

And self-preservation, along with the hard-on currently crowding his jeans, told him he needed to dislike her.

“It’s not my place to approve or disapprove,” Huck told her in a voice that didn’t encourage conversation. “I’m here to provide protection and expose the source of your threat. That’s it. Where to next?” No doubt Trixie was having her teeth bleached or some other such nonsense, Huck thought uncharitably, repressing a grim smile.

Furthermore, though he was sure that it drove her bat-shit crazy, until the issue of her safety was resolved, the most secure place she could possibly be was inside her tidy little cottage on her father’s mammoth estate. Mathias Stravos had a top-rate security system. Huck had been given a tour of the grounds as well as apprised of all security systems and protocols onsite before ever being taken directly to his target.

Curiously, while Mr. Stravos was concerned enough to hire additional security for his daughter, he hadn’t been concerned enough to speak to her new detail personally. For whatever reason, it struck Huck as very odd. Ranger Security might be the best in the business, but if had been his daughter who was in trouble, he’d want to assess the help personally.

But talk about a surprise, Huck thought, remembering her little house. He was familiar enough with the layout of an estate to know that Sapphira’s residence had more than likely been an upper servant’s quarters at some point. A nanny perhaps? Odd that she wouldn’t live in the mansion with the rest of her family. Come to think of it, though, there wasn’t a “rest of the family.”

According to the file, her parents were divorced and her only sibling, a brother, had committed suicide four years ago. Was that why she’d moved out of the house? Huck wondered. Had being there alone with her father, who by all accounts was a real hard ass, been too much for her? Though he’d only seen a small portion of the mansion he had to admit, size notwithstanding, there was a marked difference between the main house and Sapphira’s little place.

While certainly furnished with things that were well beyond his price range, the cottage had a warm and cozy feel to it. Almost grandmotherly, for lack of a better description, with large amounts of floral fabric and poofy, overstuffed chairs. Lots of original artwork decorated the walls--hers? he’d wondered at the time--and a collection of antique hatpins lined her mantle, all of them in curious little vases which looked a bit like ceramic toothbrush holders. Out of all the things she could collect with a literal fortune at her disposal, it seemed an odd choice.

 Sapphira inputted the next address into her navigation system. “Regardless of why you’re here, you still have an opinion. You think it’s silly.” She lifted her pert nose into the air, causing the mocha-colored curls around her face to bounce. “I can tell.”

Huck got the distinct impression that she was trying to goad him into an argument. He knew she couldn’t possibly care what he thought one way or the other about the dog’s beauty regimen. Rather than respond, he merely ignored her and headed toward their next so-called appointment.

She heaved a loud sigh. “My, my, aren’t you the conversationalist.”

“I am when there’s something interesting to talk about,” Huck told her.

“You don’t find Trixie interesting?”

He shot a look at the little dog and barely suppressed a snort of derision. “Not particularly.”

“So you don’t like animals?”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

Actually, he’d had a dog--a Black Lab named Blackie (because it was so original)--when he’d been a boy. Unfortunately, the single military life wasn’t conducive to having a pet and he wasn’t altogether certain the life of a security specialist would be either. If he could find a good sitter, perhaps it would be an option. He was suddenly struck with the need to have a dog, a companion, for his new place. Something that he’d chosen, that would be exclusively his. Another warm body in the apartment, one that would be happy to see him when he came home. As soon as he was finished with Sapphira’s case he’d get one, Huck decided, curiously buoyed by the decision.

“So your dislike is limited to my animal, then?” she asked, irritation tightening her voice.

That settled it, Huck thought. She was definitely trying to pick a fight with him. The important and all too illusive question, of course, was...why? Was she inherently annoying and belligerent or was she merely putting on a special show just for him?

“I haven’t spent enough time with Trixie to form an opinion.” He slid the dog another glance. “But her taste in nail polish is terrible.”

Sapphira’s eyes widened and he could have sworn that she almost chuckled. “Terrible?”

Huck shrugged. “Ghastly.”

She stared at him. “Ghastly?”

 “That’s what I said.”

She chewed the inside of her cheek. “Why is it ghastly?”

He shot her a wicked smile and said the one thing guaranteed to set her perfectly aligned teeth on edge. “It makes her look cheap.”

Rather than breathe fire as he’d expected a startled chuckle broke up in her throat. The sound vibrated through him, strummed the back of his spine and pushed a reluctant smile over his lips.

Damn.

“Look here,” she said. “You can call my dog lots of things--as a matter of fact, your partner McCann frequently referred to her as the ‘Spoiled Little Bitch’--she’s delicate, moody, intermittently housetrained, terrified of the vacuum cleaner and will only eat cat food.” She paused and pinned him with an imperious glare. “But she is not cheap.”

Huck felt his lips tremble. “She’ll o-only eat c-cat food?”

“That’s right.” She stroked the little dog’s head with reverent protectiveness.

He negotiated a turn and found a parking space at another damned spa, though thankfully this one was intended for humans. “Well, in that case you shouldn’t mind what I’ve nicknamed her.”

Sapphira paused and her comically suspicious gaze found his. “What have you nicknamed her?”

Another wicked smile curled his lips. “Pussy.”

 

*   *   *

 

Sapphira listened to Cindy Ward’s low whistle as she peered through the crack in the door into the reception area to get a look at Lucas Finn. “I guess it’s really tough to be you,” her best friend and partner at Belle Charities drawled with a sarcastic smile as she pulled away from the door. She sighed dramatically. “Having to spend every minute of every day chained to that single good-looking man out there.” Her face blanked. “Poor you.”

“Cindy, the fact that he’s good-looking and single doesn’t negate the fact that I’m still a prisoner and he’s the damned guard.”

Cindy snuck another peek at Huck. “Oh, and right now he’s playing with your Pussy.”

“Cindy!” Sapphira hissed over her scandalized chuckle, her face flaming. “Keep your voice down.” No doubt she’d rue the day she’d shared that little tidbit with her friend. Honestly, it had been all she could do to keep from howling with laughter--after her initial shock, of course--when he’d shared his nickname for her beloved pet. It was crude, crass and unseemly... which was probably why she’d found it so damned funny. Particularly coming out of that sinfully crafted mouth.

Regardless, she couldn’t allow him to refer to Trixie as “Pussy.” What sort of pet owner would she be if she permitted him to malign her dog that way?

“Would you get back over here and try to focus,” Sapphira told her. “I’m running out of time and have you haven’t finished updating me yet.”

Her friend had been too busy wanting the low-down on Huck to be bothered with the real reason they were sneaking around at the spa doing business under the guise of a pedicure rather than meeting in the inconspicuous offices of Belle Charities as they normally would. Ordinarily Sapphira logged in quite a few hours a week in the office, but given her constant surveillance over the past ten days she’d only been in once.

Considering her every move was being recorded for her father’s benefit, she couldn’t risk going any more than that and arousing his suspicions. Better to let him--and Huck, though it bothered her more than it should--think that she was more interested in making sure her handbag matched her shoes than whether or not a family had dinner tonight.

Careful not to mess up her toenail polish, Cindy duck-walked back to the chaise lounge. “Oh, all right,” she sighed, settling her petite frame onto the chair. “I suppose we’ve lusted about tall, dark and gorgeous out there long enough.”

Sapphira quirked a pointed brow at her friend and applied her hand sanitizer. “We?”

“You might not have been lusting for the past few minutes, but you’ve been lusting the rest of the time,” she said. Her brown eyes twinkled with knowing humor. “I can tell.”

That was the problem with having a best friend, Sapphira thought. She could always tell. Sapphira considered her options and decided that the truth would be more efficient. “If I had the time to argue with you about this, I would lie and say no, I don’t find him the least bit attractive. However, I don’t have time and you aren’t going to be satisfied until I confess, so--“ Sapphira released a pent up breath. “--yes, I do find him extraordinarily handsome.” Mild understatement. If he’d been the cherry on a sundae she would have already devoured him by now. She was hammeringly aware of every move he made--could literally feel him in her bones--and sweet Lord, she didn’t know what sort of cologne the man wore but it absolutely made her want to slither and slide all over him. She bit her lip. “My toes actually curled when he walked into my living room.”

Seemingly satisfied, a slow smile slid over Cindy’s mouth. “What are you going to do?”

“About what?”

“About him?”

She cleared her throat and tried to focus. “I’m going to take the same tact with him that I have with the other three. Wear him down with the empty-headed, vain, shallow heiress routine and hope that he finds out whose sending the letters before Carmen goes into labor.”

Cindy’s shrewd gaze caught hers and held. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

She did. Her cheeks puffed as she exhaled mightily. “It’s a non-issue, Cindy. He’s my bodyguard, for pity’s sake.” There had to be a conflict of interest in there somewhere, not to mention the fact that her father would have him drawn and quartered.

Furthermore, Sapphira didn’t like to date men who were unmanageable and Lucas Finn had hard to handle written on every beautifully muscled inch of his mouth-watering frame. He reminded her of a big bird, fast and predatory, keen and sinfully forbidding.

“No doubt he could guard the hell out of your body,” Cindy said, chuckling wickedly.

Unbidden an image of Huck’s big hands sliding down her bare back, that hot sexy mouth feeding at hers, materialized in her mind’s eye making the air vanish from her lungs. A pulse of heat throbbed between her legs and her palms tingled, aching for the feel his warm skin beneath her hands. How could she ache for something she’d never had? How could she burn when he hadn’t so much as touched her? Better still, how in the hell was she going to mask the attraction if she drooled at the mere sight of him?

Enough, Sapphira thought, forcing herself to focus. “Have you talked to Carmen?”

Cindy nodded. “This morning. She’s doing well. Ready to have the baby, but otherwise fine. Her next appointment is on Wednesday at two. She told me to tell you that she’d understand if you couldn’t make it.”

“Understanding won’t keep her from being disappointed,” Sapphira told her, letting go a sigh. “I’ll have to work something out.”

“You’ve already played the yearly-visit-to-the-gyno card for last week’s appointment. How are you going to swing it again so soon with Huck? Tell him you have some sort of VD?”

“Of course, not,” Sapphira said, shooting her friend a revolted glare. “I’ll tell him that one of my tests needs to be redone.” Pap smears were notorious for that sort of thing, not that he would have ever heard of one. But if he happened to press the matter--which she sincerely doubted--it sounded authentic enough.

“You could always let me go,” Cindy suggested.

“I need you to go where we know I can’t,” Sapphira reminded her. “You haven’t forgotten about the mentoring meeting downtown tonight, have you?”

Cindy made a moue of regret. “No, but I wish you had. I don’t like going down there. It’s creepy.”

She had to admit the inner city after dark gave her a slight pause as well, but the area around Reverend Alton’s church was policed quite well. Having been an advocate for the area for years, the reverend had contacted Belle Charities about making donations to his various causes--after school programs for kids, continuing education for adults and Sapphira’s favorite cause, mentoring young unwed mothers.

Her own experience aside, in many cases these girls were virtually alone with no one to help them become the mothers and providers they would need to be in order to rear a successful, healthy, well-rounded, drug free child. Though she’d lost her own baby, Sapphira still knew that becoming a mother in the best of circumstances was difficult enough--becoming one with little to no education, spotty nutrition and no help was much worse.

In order to accommodate the growing demand for mentors and firmly believing that one could make a difference, Sapphira had asked for volunteer Belles to become mentors. Like Cindy, many had been nervous about that particular area of town, but ultimately everyone who’d begun to participate had decided the risk was worth the reward.

Naturally Sapphira understood Cindy’s reticence--even Ella had been a little worried about her traveling into the inner city area--but Reverend Alton would ensure her safety and bottom line, as second in command, Cindy had to be there in Sapphira’s absence.

“Let’s see,” Cindy drawled thoughtfully. “You get to go home with that good-looking guy out there and I get to go step over used needles and pray that I don’t get mugged--or worse,” she added direly with a delicate shudder. “Who’s getting the better end of the deal here?”

Sapphira couldn’t help but smile. “On the surface you probably think that I am, but let me put it into perspective for you. Yes, I get to go home with that good-looking man out there. But I don’t get to touch him or talk to him about anything of importance.” She winced. “Instead, I get the happy job of making him think that I am shallow, spoiled, self-absorbed and relatively unintelligent.” Her heart drooped a little lower with every unflattering adjective. “Because, at the end of the day, I have to make him dislike me to the point that he quits, or at the very least, asks to be assigned to another case.”

Understanding dawned slowly in her friend’s intelligent gaze. “And you want him to like you.”

“I want everyone to like me,” Sapphira said, shifting uncomfortably.

“You didn’t care of the other three liked you,” she countered. “You didn’t like playing the part, but you didn’t give a rip whether the other security specialists personally liked you or not.” Her gaze narrowed. “What’s different about this one?”

Sapphira sighed. “You mean aside from the fact that he made my toes curl? I-- I don’t know. I just...”

“Like him,” Cindy finished, a slow knowing smile curling her lips. “You like this one and you don’t want him to hate you.”

In a nutshell, she supposed that was the truth. She’d never reacted so strongly to a person before in her life--not just physically, which had been disconcerting in and of itself. Sexual attraction aside, there was something more to Lucas Finn, a wounded look behind those curious gray eyes, a sense of sadness lurking beneath that sexy smile. Something haunted him, Sapphira instinctively knew and the urge to discover his ghosts and exorcise them for him was as strong as her need to breathe. Odd when she’d only been in his company a few hours, but she couldn’t deny it all the same. Those issues combined with that rock-your-world smile and I-could-break-you-like-a-twig strength made him lethally appealing.

Unfortunately, ghosts or no, his very presence endangered everything she’d worked so hard to achieve. Too many people were dependent on her to let a little thing like whether or not her bodyguard liked her interfere. She had to keep the bigger picture in focus, not just the one he presented.

He had to hate her, Sapphira thought resignedly.

And the sooner the better.