Defying Asher (Knight Security 1) Read online

  Jesus, even Lissa’s cat instinctively disliked him.

  “I’ve said what I came to say,” Ash bit out impatiently. “Liam is downstairs, but once I leave, he’ll come and stand guard in the hallway outside your apartment. If you need to go out, he’ll accompany you. Someone else will take over from him tonight.”

  “You?”

  “No.” After what had happened between the two of them just now—for Ash it had been a reaffirmation of the desire he still felt for Lissa—it was just as well it wasn’t him. He wasn’t sure he trusted himself to stand guard outside her apartment all night. “My brother Ethan.”

  “Does he look like you?”

  “Why?”

  “Just curious.”

  Ash didn’t trust the innocent expression in those topaz-colored eyes. “Yes, Ethan looks like me, but his eyes are hazel green rather than this weird color I have.”

  Lissa nodded. “No doubt you’ll be busy continuing to protect my mother?”

  “That’s the plan.” Although Ash had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from checking in with Liam and Ethan on a regular basis.

  She nodded. “If you could let me know the details of Harvey’s funeral once you have them…?”

  “Sure.” He nodded abruptly. “Do you want to go and visit your mother now?”

  “Did she ask me to?”

  “No.” He frowned at this complete lack of familial feeling between mother and daughter.

  “Then I won’t.” Lissa shrugged. “My mother doesn’t like surprises.” Any more than she did. Learning her mother had been shot and Harvey killed, and then sharing those passionate kisses with Asher had been more than enough shocks and surprises for one day.

  “Fine.” Ash accepted. “I’ll be going, then.”

  She nodded. “Thank you for…for taking the time to tell me about Harvey.”

  “No problem.” Someone had to, when her own mother had chosen not to do so.

  “Do you have something to add, Mr. Knight?” Claudia Reynolds’s voice was as cool and composed as always, despite the fact Ash had just told her how upset Lissa had been that morning when he informed her of Harvey Stein’s death.

  For the first time ever, Ash found himself starting to dislike the principal he was being paid to protect. As for Malcolm Arnold, her little prick of a personal assistant…

  Everything about the other man irritated Ash, his boyishly handsome appearance, the smirk that seemed to constantly curve his lips, but most especially his sycophantic deference to Claudia. Ash was pretty sure if the woman told the other man to lie down on the floor while she walked over him in her stiletto heels, the little fucker would do it. The man had a serious case of heroine worship going on.

  Despite Malcolm’s only being thirty or so, and his appearance slightly effeminate—slender build, height just under six feet, slicked back blond hair, designer-label suit, handmade Italian leather shoes—Ash suspected the other man might also share Claudia’s bed on occasion.

  There was no doubting Claudia was a beautiful woman, elegantly so today in a plain black sheath dress. But she was also cold, selfish, and the powerful CEO of one of the world’s most exclusive fashion magazines twenty-four seven. A ball-breaker if ever Ash had met one.

  But then, a man would need to have balls in the first place to break, and Ash wasn’t sure Malcolm had any.

  Claudia had been sitting at her desk, working on some papers with Malcolm when Ash arrived after going back to his apartment briefly to change into the usual suit, shirt, and striped tie Lissa had realized last night was the customary garb for Knight Security employees. The small white bandage around the top of Claudia’s arm was the only evidence she had been shot just days ago. She hadn’t so much as given an extra blink when Ash informed her he had told Lissa of Harvey Stein’s death.

  Not only had the man worked as her bodyguard for the past twenty years, but Claudia also had zero empathy in regard to her daughter’s pain at the death of a friend.

  “Nothing,” he bit out tersely. “Except you might want to call Lissa—Miss Forsythe,” he corrected himself with another inward rap on his knuckles for the familiarity, “sometime today,”

  Those pale blue eyes narrowed assessingly. “How well do you know Melissa?”

  Who the fuck was…? Ah. Lissa was Melissa.

  Considering the estranged relationship between mother and daughter, Ash very much doubted Lissa had ever confided in Claudia about the night the two of them spent together a year ago. Ash wasn’t inclined to do so either. “I don’t, but she really was very upset about Mr. Stein.” An emotion sadly lacking in this woman. As far as Ash was aware, Claudia wouldn’t be returning to the States for Stein’s funeral either.

  “She would be.” Claudia nodded. “Harvey tended to indulge Melissa whenever she visited me in New York.”

  Ash’s hands clenched at his sides. “Maybe someone had to.”

  Blonde brows rose over those cool blue eyes. “What are you implying, Mr. Knight?”

  “You—” Ash broke off as his cell phone vibrated in the breast pocket of his jacket, eyes widening as he took it out and read the text message. “Mr. Forsythe is downstairs in the lobby, asking to see you.”

  Emotion flickered briefly in her eyes before it was quickly masked by the return of Claudia’s usual cool expression. An indication she hadn’t known of the other man’s visit before now? Plus that dislike of “surprises” Lissa had mentioned earlier?

  “Have him sent up, would you?” she instructed as she stood to smooth her dress down her slender thighs.

  Ash issued the instruction even as he bit back the urge he felt to tell this woman he wasn’t her fucking butler or her smirking personal assistant. After all, it was part of Knight Security’s job to check and filter all visitors wanting to come up to Claudia Reynolds’s apartment.

  Although he couldn’t help wondering why Jack Forsythe was now visiting the woman who had chosen her career over being with him or a mother to their daughter.

  Or how Lissa was going to react to knowing Jack Forsythe was in London visiting with her mother. Lissa hadn’t mentioned earlier her father was coming to England, which meant she probably had no idea of his visit either. Nor had Ash picked up any vibes as to how Lissa felt about her father.

  Ash suspected the arrival of the American film producer was going to be yet another fucking minefield.

  As if he didn’t already have enough of those where Lissa was concerned.

  Time to get his professional head in gear. “Did you inform Mr. Forsythe of your whereabouts?”

  She turned to the younger man. “Malcolm?”

  “I sent him an e-mail, as usual,” he confirmed.

  Claudia turned back to Ash. “Jack and I agreed, when we separated, that for Melissa’s sake, we would always inform each other of our whereabouts,” Claudia explained economically. “Why?” Her gaze sharpened. “You can’t possibly think Jack had anything to do with what happened in New York?”

  “Mr. Forsythe isn’t on your list of approved visitors.” Any more than her daughter had been.

  “That’s because I had no idea—” Claudia broke off from completing that sentence. “You may rest assured Jack does not harbor murderous feelings toward me.”

  Well, that was two people who didn’t—Lissa and Jack. But Lissa was right, Ash could easily see how Claudia would have alienated a lot of people. She pissed him off without even trying.

  Ash had heard of film producer Jack Forsythe, had probably watched a few of the movies he’d produced. But Ash rarely went to the movies, and he never read gossip magazines, so consequently he had no idea what the other man looked like until he opened the apartment door to him a few minutes later.

  Aged in his midfifties, the other man was a couple of inches shorter than Ash, at just over six feet. He had iron-gray hair—that might once have been the deep auburn of Lissa’s?—brushed back from a face that was tanned and still boyishly handsome.

  Somehow, Liss
a had managed not to look like either of her parents.

  “Who the hell are you?” Jack Forsythe demanded to know.

  Ash bit back a smile. Lissa might not look like her father, but she certainly had his abrasiveness.

  “Something amusing you?” The older man quirked a challenging eyebrow.

  “I was just thinking how like you your daughter is,” Ash answered truthfully.

  Jack Forsythe’s expression softened slightly. “You know Lissa?”

  Well, at least her father called her Lissa. “I do now, yes.” Ash had thought he knew her quite well a year ago too, after they spent the night together, but the fact Lissa had walked out on him the following morning without giving him an explanation had proved him wrong.

  “And you would be…?” The older man’s tone was still sharp with suspicion.

  What the…? “I’m the man who took over Miss Reynolds’s security in England.”

  “Ah.” The other man’s brow cleared.

  Who the hell had this man thought Ash was? Claudia’s lover? Not only was she twenty years his senior—which he was pretty sure hadn’t prevented Malcolm from sharing his boss’s bed whenever Claudia decided he should—but he wasn’t in the least attracted to cool blondes.

  No, fiery redheads are more to my taste.

  He scowled as he stood back to allow the other man into the apartment. “Miss Reynolds is expecting you, if you would care to go through to the sitting room on the right.”

  Ash remained where he was as Jack Forsythe strode down the hallway, but he would have loved to be a fly on the wall and listened in on that conversation.

  Lissa might not look like either of her parents, but it was now obvious to him why she was such a ballsy lady.

  With powerful parents like Claudia Reynolds and Jack Forsythe, Lissa hadn’t had any choice. Not if she wanted to survive.

  Chapter 4

  “You must be Ethan.”

  The dark-suited man in the hallway turned to look at her with eyes that were, as Asher had said, a lighter hazel color rather than brown-jade. The family resemblance was obvious in the dark hair, chiseled features, and the height and build: wide shoulders and muscular chest, lean waist and hips and long legs. The two Knight brothers she had met were impressively handsome.

  He nodded in answer to her question. “Miss Forsythe.”

  “Would you like me to bring you a cup of coffee?”

  “No, thank you, ma’am.”

  “But you’ve been standing out here all night.”

  “It’s part of my job to stand here all night.”

  Lissa frowned. “Are you always this unfriendly?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “What does that mean…?”

  A devilish smile lit those handsome and chiseled features so like Asher’s. “It means my big brother told me, and I quote “keep your fucking hands to yourself and don’t engage in conversation unless you’re spoken to.’”

  “Gabriel?”

  “No.”

  Her heart rate increased. “Asher?”

  “Yes.”

  “And do you always do what your big brother tells you to do?”

  That smile became a hell no grin. “Only when he has that murderous look in his eyes.”

  Lissa’s brows rose. “And does Asher have that…look often?”

  “Yesterday was the first time,” Ethan acknowledged ruefully. “Until then, I always thought Ash was one of the most laid-back people I know.”

  Lissa remembered that from the first night she met Asher. Not only had he been laid-back, he had also been rude and insulting, all while regarding her with mocking brown, jade-flecked eyes.

  Ethan was right, the tense and abrasive Asher she had met yesterday wasn’t the same relaxed I-don’t-give-a-fuck-what-you-think-of-me man she had met a year ago. Or the passionate one who had made love to her all night. He was now the man who claimed he had owned her that night.

  Lissa had no problem admitting the truth of that statement to herself. She knew there had been no barriers between the two of them when they made love, nothing they hadn’t done to and with each other. Her cheeks warmed just thinking about the depth of those intimacies.

  Ethan gave her a considering glance, making Lissa feel even more self-conscious in the knee-length robe she wore over the white nightgown she had slept in. It was Sunday morning, and she didn’t have work. She also didn’t have any plans for the day, so there was no reason for her to rush showering and dressing. She probably wouldn’t be up at all if Sherlock hadn’t woken her up so she could feed him.

  “Liam tells me you and Ash have met before?” Ethan prompted.

  Warmth colored Lissa’s cheeks as she wondered what else Liam had told Asher’s brother. “We have mutual friends in Prince Alexandre and Princess Anastazia of Androcco.” She still found it a little odd to think of her best friend as being a princess of anywhere, let alone that beautiful island paradise in the Mediterranean.

  “Right.” Ethan didn’t look in the least convinced by that explanation.

  Lissa wondered if Ethan and Liam were friends. If so, Ash’s brother knew far too much about her than she was comfortable with his knowing. “I—”

  “Well, isn’t this fucking cozy!”

  Lissa gave a guilty start as she turned to see Asher powering down the hallway towards them, those jade flecks in his eyes gleaming more prominently than usual, dark hair ruffled, his jaw and cheeks tight. His body was tense, seeming to quiver with anger beneath the ubiquitous black suit, gray shirt, and striped tie.

  She bristled at the accusation she could see in his eyes. “What are you implying?”

  “I stopped by on my way home from working all night to check in with Ethan, and I arrive to find you standing out in the hallway wearing only your nightclothes. So you tell me, what am I implying?”

  Lissa’s head tilted back as Ash came to a halt mere inches away, towering over her in the confines of the hallway, his eyes glittering accusingly. “Go to hell, asshole!” She turned on her heel and walked back into her apartment, slamming the door behind her.

  At least she attempted to slam the door behind her, but Asher grabbed hold of it before it closed. Her eyes widened as she turned to see him stepping into her apartment and closing the door behind him.

  Lissa took a step back as he carried on walking toward her with long, predatory strides. “What is your problem, Asher?” Where was a pair of four-inch stiletto heels when she most needed them?

  “You are my fucking problem.” He glowered down at her as she came up against the wall. “Just how cozy did you and Ethan get last night?”

  “You have a foul, disgusting mind, did you know that?” She glared. At the same time, she felt her body responding to his proximity. Her nipples were tightening to hard and tingling buds, a warmth centering at her core before spreading through the rest of her body.

  “Answer the fucking question!”

  Lissa took in Asher’s clenched fists, the ready-to-spring tension in his body, the furious expression in his eyes, and the accusation in his tone, and decided that caution would be the wisest course of action. “It seems to have escaped your notice that Ethan was standing outside my apartment not inside.”

  Nothing about seeing Lissa and Ethan talking together had escaped Ash’s notice. Nor the way Lissa was dressed. Or rather undressed. Or the admiration in his brother’s eyes as he looked at her.

  Or the fact that Ash had a throbbing erection and his vision had turned red the moment he saw the two of them chatting so cozily together. Like friends. Or lovers… “Maybe that’s because he just left it?”

  “Or maybe because he was never in my apartment to begin with. I was offering to get him a cup of coffee, Asher,” she added exasperatedly.

  “Just coffee?”

  “Your suspicion and accusations are not only insulting to me but also to your brother’s professionalism,” she accused. “Or do you all make a habit of sleeping with the people you’re protecting?”<
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  Ash wanted to kiss the sneer off her lips. To put his hands on her bare bottom and lift her up so that she had no choice but to wrap her legs about his waist, the heat of her core pressing against his erection as his mouth claimed hers in a punishing kiss.

  God, this situation was fucked up. Ash was fucked up. Because of Lissa. He hadn’t so much as thought about her for months—

  Why was he lying to himself? He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Lissa since seeing her again at Alexandre and Stazzi’s wedding six months ago. Wondering what she was doing. Who she was doing it with.

  In the circumstances, Ash had thought it best to keep himself occupied last night and had taken over the whole of the night shift at Claudia Reynolds’s apartment building. Neither she nor Jack had left the apartment during the evening or the night that followed. Curiously, neither had Malcolm Arnold. Which must have been a cozy little threesome: Claudia, her past lover, and her present one. Ash was sure if it came to a showdown that Jack would easily have won the battle to share Claudia’s bed.

  Ash’s cousin Ian had taken over from him an hour ago, and the impulse for Ash to visit Lissa’s apartment on his way home had been purely that, an impulse. One he might have been wiser not to have acted on, considering he had behaved like a Neanderthal once he saw Lissa chatting to Ethan, dressed in her nightclothes.

  His mouth twisted self-derisively. “Have you spoken to your mother recently?”

  Lissa’s eyes widened in alarm. “Has something else happened?”

  “Depends what you mean by happened.”

  “Asher—”

  “Your father arrived yesterday and spent the night at Claudia’s apartment.”

  Lissa drew her breath in sharply. She had thought she was over knowing she came way down her parents’ list of priorities, and for the most part, she was. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t still be hurt by their utter lack of consideration for her or her feelings. Or feel humiliated at Asher knowing of their complete disregard for her as their daughter.

  As far as Lissa was concerned she had been an accident that neither Claudia nor Jack were willing to change or adapt their lives to accommodate. Hence the nanny when she was young and boarding school once she was old enough. Hell, half the time, she had ended up staying with Stazzi’s family over the Christmas break and other holidays, because both Claudia and Jack were busy. Those holidays and Christmases with the warm and loving Carmichael family had been the ones Lissa enjoyed the best.