didn’t answer, which in her mind was an admission by avoidance. ‘Apart from the initial introduction this morning, he’ll remain unobtrusively in the background. You won’t notice him. Nor will anyone else.’
‘This is beginning to sound like a scene from a cheap detective movie,’ she alluded cynically.
‘Indulge me.’
‘How long is this subterfuge to continue?’
‘For as long as it takes.’
‘Do I entertain him for breakfast and dinner?’
Miguel’s faint laughter sent goose bumps scudding down her spine. ‘He has the days, querida. I get to take care of you at night.’
‘My guardian angel,’ Hannah remarked in droll tones.
‘You could thank me.’
‘I’m more likely to hit you,’ she retaliated fiercely.
‘Do you have any plans for tonight?’
‘Dinner with my parents.’
‘Why don’t you stay with them overnight?’
This was too much. He was too much! ‘I’m way past the age of requiring a babysitter.’ She took in a deep breath in an effort to control her anger. ‘Aren’t you taking this protection thing just a bit too far?’
‘No,’ Miguel declared with hard inflexibility. ‘Do as I ask. Please.’
‘I’ll think about it.’
He wanted to reach down the line and shake her. Stubborn independence didn’t come close! Yet it was those very qualities he admired in her. But not when he was several thousand miles away.
‘I don’t want to see you upset or hurt.’ His voice deepened slightly. ‘Comprende?’
‘Okay, you’ve made your point,’ she conceded, and heard him expel a faint sigh.
‘Gracias.’
Sofia escorted a man fitting the bodyguard’s description into the breakfast room, and Hannah lowered her voice.
‘The cavalry has arrived.’
‘I’ll call you later.’
He did, and she was able to report Luc hadn’t telephoned or shown up at the café.
The day had gone well, with new stock snapped up by various clients. Renee called to say there would be a change of plan and they’d eat at a restaurant.
‘I’ll go home and change first, then meet you there. Six-thirty?’
Should she alert Rodney Spears? Just as she thought about dialling his mobile, he rang through to confirm her evening plans, and carefully noted the changes.
Hannah checked her rear-vision mirror as she pulled out from the car park, and glimpsed a dark blue sedan follow at a discreet distance.
Then she lost him in the flow of traffic, and she didn’t catch sight of the sedan until an hour later when she left the house en route to the restaurant.
It was, she reflected silently, totally unnecessary for him to shadow her every move. When did the man eat, for heaven’s sake? Hamburgers and fries at a drive-through? And he had to sleep some time, surely?
Miguel was probably paying him a small fortune, but that didn’t stop her from offering Rodney a one-hundred-dollar bill to eat in the restaurant.
‘Look on it as a bonus,’ she advised when he offered a protest. ‘I’ll go ahead and ensure you get a table.’
She did, and she’d only been seated a few minutes when Renee and Carlo entered the foyer.
‘Darling, have you been waiting long?’ Renee greeted anxiously. ‘We got held up in traffic.’
It was a pleasant evening. The food was superb, each course presented with flair and artistry. Hannah sipped a half-glass of wine throughout the meal, and together they caught up on each other’s news.
‘How is Cindy?’ Renee broached as she forked a few morsels of salad, then speared a sliver of chicken.
‘She was discharged this morning.’
Renee looked at her daughter carefully. ‘One imagines Luc’s appearance at the Leukaemia Charity Ball was deliberate, rather than a chance circumstance?’
‘I have no idea,’ Hannah indicated with a slight shrug. ‘Nor do I care.’
‘It doesn’t bother you that he’s in town?’
‘Why should it? He’s a bad memory I’d prefer to forget.’
‘He hasn’t attempted to contact you?’
‘What is this?’ she queried lightly. ‘The third degree?’
‘You would tell us if he proves to be a nuisance?’ her father countered insistently.
‘He won’t get the opportunity.’ Her omnipotent husband was taking care of it. She spared a glance towards the bodyguard’s table, and saw that he was just finishing up.
She could confide in her parents, but what was the point in worrying them unnecessarily? She opted not to suggest she follow them home and stay overnight. She hadn’t done so before on any of the other occasions Miguel had been away. If she suggested it now, their suspicions would be aroused. And what was the point? In her opinion, Miguel’s precautions were way over the top. Besides, the house and grounds were secure with a state-of-the-art security system.
When the waiter cleared their plates Hannah declined dessert, the cheeseboard, and settled for coffee. It had been a leisurely meal, and nice to catch up with her parents away from the social scene.
‘We should discuss Christmas, darling,’ Renee ventured. ‘I thought I’d do lunch this year, and invite Esteban.’
Christmas? Why, that was—
‘Nine weeks away, darling,’ her mother reminded. ‘The first of the pre-Christmas social festivities begins next week.’
Heavens, it was that close? ‘I’ll check with Miguel, but I’m sure lunch will be fine.’
‘Well, this is a nice surprise.’
Hannah heard her father’s words an instant before she felt a hand touch her shoulder.
‘What will you check with me, querida?’
She turned her head at the sound of that deep, faintly accented drawl, and felt the floor drop away.
Miguel?
‘I didn’t expect you back until tomorrow night,’ she managed an instant before his mouth closed over hers in a brief,
