Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Harlow moistened her suddenly dry lips. She knew where this was going. Now she really couldn’t look at Falcon. He was far too quiet.
“The message said, ‘You’re going to die, bitch.’ ” Wilder’s intense light green eyes moved over her face, examining every inch of her expression.
Harlow forced a reassuring smile. “That’s what upset you? Honey, I’m the daughter of a politician. I work in a hospital and lose patients. I get crap like that all the time.” She kept her tone soothing and consolatory.
There was instant silence. She could hear the clock ticking, but the room felt as if the air had been sucked out of it. Wilder’s features hardened into his usual mask, the one that was both attractive and terrifying. She couldn’t help herself; she glanced over her shoulder at Falcon. He was wearing a similar expression.
“Did you let Rainier know you’ve been receiving death threats?” Wilder asked, his tone very low. Velvet soft. That voice that always sent a shiver of awareness down her spine.
She started to pull away from him, but his fingers clamped around both wrists like twin handcuffs. She told herself she didn’t resist because he was injured and she didn’t want to chance adding to the damage.
“Rainier has far more to do than deal with the nonsense of idiots writing ugly letters or stuffing my mailbox with nasty threats.”
“Stuffing your mailbox with nasty threats?” Wilder echoed, his tone lower than ever.
This was not going well at all. She sat on the edge of the bed, not fighting his hold on her. He was definitely upset simply because she had disappeared when Rainier found the ugly note in her mailbox. That, at least, made sense to her. Wilder was a very protective man. All the men working for Rainier’s security company seemed to have off-the-charts protective instincts. Maybe that was even one of the requirements.
“Wilder, I’m sorry I disappeared without saying anything to anyone. I’m used to going off on my own. I haven’t answered to anyone in years. But had I known you would be upset, I would have texted you my plans.” That much was true. She wouldn’t have done so to Rainier or any of the others, but she would have to Wilder. She didn’t want to examine too closely what that meant.
Wilder sighed, his piercing eyes searching her face. “Babe, you don’t seem to understand you’re in danger.” He released her wrists, but not before he gently turned each one over to inspect it, as if looking for evidence that he’d held her too tightly.
“I’m not—that’s the thing, Wilder. I know you’re used to a life of intrigue or whatever, but I actually live quite simply. I distanced myself from the senator and my mother years ago. I don’t go home for visits. Only my mother has come here, and that’s been three times in the last few years. I work as a surgical nurse and have a small circle of friends. I don’t even date.” She had no idea why she threw that in; it was way too much information.
“You sell your photographs in prestigious galleries and get written up in magazines all the time. You aren’t exactly flying under the radar, Harlow.”
“Maybe not, but I don’t do anything to make enemies who despise me enough to do me in. The people sending those threats are venting. They lost a loved one, or hate or love my father, and they need a way to vent.”
“The message said that you were going to die. That’s a threat to take seriously.”
There was no use in arguing, so she nodded. What was there to say? It wasn’t as if she were Shabina with a pack of guard dogs surrounding her when she went anywhere without her husband. Harlow had Misha, who would probably greet an assassin with joyous abandon.
“You said you’ve gotten threats before,” Wilder persisted. “Did you keep them? Send them to the FBI? What have you done with them?”
“I keep them. I have a file.” She detested admitting it, knowing he would want to see them.
“That’s good. I’ll need to see them. Rainier will want to as well.”
She sat back, pulling completely away from him. “You’re the one someone is trying to kill, Wilder, not me. Rainier and his team are here to look after you.” She stated that firmly.
“I don’t give a damn if they’re here to look after me. I can look after myself. It’s keeping you alive that matters to me. That and making certain you’re happy. If that means standing in the doorway to keep your parents out, I will be doing that.”
She was grateful he wasn’t holding her wrists. Her pulse leapt and heat shot down her spine. It would be so easy to fall in love with him. So easy.
“Fortunately, I made it very clear they aren’t welcome here.”