Trace of Fever - Lori Foster [47]
“Maybe the makeover will help her chill.”
Obviously Chris hadn’t read Priss very well. “Fat chance. It’s going to be a cluster-fuck, so prepare yourself.”
“She’s not keen to the idea, I take it?”
Trace shook his head. “Especially since she knows why Murray wants it done.” And that just fired his blood all over again. “Speaking of Murray, I have to be back earlier than I thought. He wants me in his office by seven.”
Though Chris was well trusted by both of them, he rarely involved himself in business. “Matt will be here soon. Send him in when he arrives, and I’ll go—” he bobbed his eyebrows “—prepare your girlfriend.”
“She is not my—” Damn it, Chris was already walking away, rendering his protests useless. After a deep breath, Trace redirected his thoughts. “I don’t like her being in there alone with Molly.”
Dare clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Molly is reasonable.”
Forgetting about Chris’s keen hearing, Trace said, “Then she’s the only woman I know who is.”
Chris, now several yards away, waved a hand back at them. “I don’t believe I’ll tell either woman that Trace said that. Some women like to kill the messenger!” Carrying the cat and followed by the dogs, Chris went up the walk and in the front door.
“You trust this friend of his?”
“Yeah. Chris and Matt have been friends forever, and Matt’s been over before. He’s okay.” Dare leaned back against a thick tree trunk. “I take it Priss has you tied up in knots?”
There wasn’t much point in denying it. And maybe admitting things to Dare would help him get them under control. “I want her.”
“No shit. Tell me something I don’t know.”
Trace had trusted Dare forever, as a good friend, a partner in the business and as an honorable man. He knew Dare had uncanny instincts and deadly skills.
But he thought he had covered his reaction to Priss.
“Damn.” Trace ran a hand through his hair. “Do you think Molly and Chris picked up on it, too?”
After a short sound that might have been a stifled laugh, Dare said, “They’re neither blind, deaf or stupid. So…yeah. I’m betting they noticed.”
Trace frowned.
With a shake of his head, Dare dismissed his concern. “It’s not a big deal, Trace. Don’t sweat it.”
The mild, even amused reaction to his predicament surprised Trace. “She’s off-limits.”
“You think so?” Dare looked down at the dappling of sunshine through tree limbs, then back at Trace. “Why’s that?”
“What do you mean, why’s that? Hell, Dare, I barely know the woman.”
“You knew her well enough to take her picture.”
If Dare smiled, he was going to flatten him. Period. “She’s somehow involved with Murray, claiming to be his damned daughter while plotting…something. From what I can tell, she’s hiding more than she’s sharing.”
“Hmm.” Dare turned his head, studying Trace. “You know, she sounds a lot like you, except you claim to be Murray’s bodyguard. Maybe Priss has her reasons, just like you do.”
God, Trace hoped so. He wanted her to be…righteous. “Until I know what those reasons are, I have to leave her be.”
There was no disguising Dare’s laugh this time. “Good luck with that.”
Trace bunched up as he faced his longtime friend. “You don’t get it, damn it. Murray wants me to fuck her. The prick told me so. He even made it a damned order.”
Dare’s expression went taut. “What reason did he give?”
“You know Murray’s type. It’s probably twofold. He says he wants to know if Priss is as innocent as she tries to portray.”
“Innocent? Are we talking about the same girl?”
“Woman,” Trace corrected, because even though Priss was young, only twenty-four, he couldn’t bear to categorize her as a kid, not when his thoughts were usually mired in lust. “But yeah, one and the same.”
Disbelief had Dare shaking his head. “I’d say ballsy, proud, even conniving. Definitely contrary. But innocent?” He looked more than dubious. “Of what?”
Trace made a lame gesture. He believed Priss to be sexually innocent, or at the very least, inexperienced. In Priss’s defense, Trace said, “You should see how she is with Murray. The charade is convincing.”
“Didn’t convince