Defying Asher (Knight Security 1) Read Free

figure was also curvy, her clothes casual: short tan leather jacket over a yellow sweater, and jeans that clung to her ass and thighs.
    Claudia Reynolds also didn’t look a day older than thirty-five, definitely not old enough to have a daughter aged in her late twenties. If anything, the two could have been sisters rather than mother and daughter.
    That was hardly the point, was it, when Knight Security had asked Claudia Reynolds for full disclosure before taking on the job of protecting her while she was in England on business. Omitting to mention the existence of her daughter certainly wasn’t doing that. Making Ash wonder what else the older woman had forgotten to tell them.
    “Where and who is your father?” He stalled for the time he needed to get his head around this unexpected development. For all he knew, there could also be an unnamed husband popping out of the woodwork sometime soon.
    “He lives in Los Angeles. He’s Jack Forsythe, the film producer.” She shrugged. “I took my father’s name, even though my parents were never married and my mother left shortly after I was born.”
    “You were brought up by your father?”
    “Yes.”
    “Hasn’t he been married three times?”
    “Four,” Lissa corrected. “Having that many stepmothers has been…interesting to say the least. He’s between wives at the moment,” she added dryly.
    Fucking hell. This just got more and more complicated. “You don’t speak with an American accent.”
    “English boarding school.”
    “Your parents both live in the US, but you live in London and work in a travel agency? At least you did a year ago.”
    The question Ash wanted to ask was, why did she? when she had a megarich fashion guru for a mother and a famous and equally rich film producer for a father? Whether her parents were married or not, most young women in that position would have lived the life of wealth and privilege she had obviously been born into.
    “I’m twenty-eight, Asher, not eight, which means I can live where I damn well please. I also happen to own the travel agency where I work,” she added dismissively.
    Well, that made a little more sense. A little. It still didn’t explain why Claudia had forgotten to mention her daughter. Or how Asher was now supposed to deal with that information.
    He winced as he handed Lissa her cell phone. “I’ll call up and tell Miss Reynolds you’re here—”
    “Don’t bother,” Lissa snapped in disgust. “Just let her know I came by for our required monthly visit. She knows how to contact me.” If she wants to was tacitly added to that statement as Lissa turned and walked over to the glass entrance door, hips swaying provocatively, her head held high.
    “Lissa—”
    “Don’t give it another thought, Asher. Whatever game Claudia is playing, I want no part of it.” She didn’t even turn as she gave a dismissive wave of her hand on her way out the door.
    “Well, that went well.” Asher gave Liam an uncomfortable grimace.
    The other man frowned. “Miss Reynolds has been holding back on us.”
    Yes, she had, and now Asher was going up to one of the two penthouse apartments to demand to know if there was anything else Claudia Reynolds had omitted to tell them.
    What sort of mother scheduled monthly visits with her own daughter, for fuck’s sake? A daughter Claudia hadn’t even thought to put on the list of approved friends and associates she had given for people allowed to visit her apartment.
    And how the hell was Ash supposed to deal with having the disturbing Lissa Forsythe back in his life?

Chapter 2
    “How’s your foot?”
    Ash’s gaze narrowed on his oldest brother, Gabriel, sitting behind his imposing desk in the Knight Security office building. Ash sat opposite, his booted feet propped up and crossed at the ankles on the front of the antique piece of furniture. At thirty-seven, Gabriel was the eldest of the four Knight brothers. Ex-military, he now preferred to wear a tailored suit and