Bare Witness Read Free

doorway that led to the executive hallway right next to his vacant secretary’s desk. She was vigilant in her stance, her eyes scanning the room. There was an aura of danger around her that was at odds with her fragile exterior.
    “Can I help you?” he asked.
    “I’m sorry to interrupt, Mr. Carter. I’m Justine O’Neill, from Liberty Investigations,” she said, striding forward and offering her hand.
    This was his bodyguard? He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but given the reputation of Liberty Investigations, he imagined he’d have a big hulking ex-football player, not this…damn, if she didn’t remind him of the fairies Piper was constantly coloring and leaving in his briefcase.
    But a warrior fairy, he thought, struggling not to grin at her.
    He shook her hand, automatically lightening his normal handshake, but her grip was firm and hard. She pumped their hands up and down and started to draw away before he was ready to let her. He realized she’d had him at a disadvantage since she walked into the room. She was forceful and in charge—and clearly used to that.
    And she was managing him.
    He didn’t let go of her hand and she didn’t tug on it, but simply looked up at him. He saw the keen intelligence in her eyes, and the wisdom there as well. She knew he was holding on to make a point, and he thought she might be amused by his actions.
    He dropped her hand. He wasn’t here for her amusement. Nor was she here for his. He needed the very best in the business to protect his family, and he wouldn’t settle for anything less.
    “Let’s go in my office and we can discuss your employment.”
    He hoped the reminder that she worked for him would put a dent in what he came to realize was her pride. She held herself stiff and tall. She was out of place in these executive offices, wearing a pair of black skintight jeans and a T-shirt that looked like it would fit his eight-year-old daughter.
    Her midnight-black hair was cut close to her head and her features were fey. Bloody hell, he needed to stop thinking of her as some kind of sexy fairy sent to him for carnal pleasure. She was a bodyguard, and the last time he checked, sexual harassment was still illegal and frowned upon in the circles in which he ran.
    “Yes, I’m interested in discussing this with you.”
    Her eyes were a bright electric blue and there was a steely intelligence in them. At once, Nigel felt a tingle of desire. Intelligence was such a turn-on for him, and he knew from that one look there was more to this woman than her exterior revealed.
    He led the way back into his office. He was proud of the large corner office with the bank of windows on two sides. He’d worked hard to get where he was today, and had come a long way from the kid he’d been.
    He never denied his past because it had shaped him into who he was and he knew without that street-punk kid he’d been, he wouldn’t be the executive he was today.
    “Have a seat.”
    She perched on the edge of one of the big leather guest chairs that sat like sentinels in front of the large walnut desk he’d personally selected. Nigel propped one hip on the edge of his desk, instead of retreating behind it.
    “I’m waiting for my daughter and her nanny to arrive, and then we can leave for the airport. Did Sam tell you Piper would be accompanying me?”
    “Yes. And I’d like to ask you to reconsider. The Amazon Basin sounds like an exciting adventure at any age, but it is a very dangerous place.”
    “Ah, but that’s why I hired you,” Nigel said.
    “Indeed. I know Sam has probably already explained this, but you are a very high-profile executive, and going into a dangerous situation like this is—
    “ Idiotic. That’s the word Sam used. But as I told him, without this facility opening, we’re not going to make our fourth-quarter revenues. And I’m not about to let that happen.” But in the end, Nigel knew he had to go to Peru; there was no one else who could do what needed to