“Mr. Engalls.” The voice was dark, low, and warning.
Kita’s gaze jerked up to meet the dark lenses of Creed Raines’s sunglasses and the tight expression behind them.
“What the hell do you want?” Her father turned on him then, enraged.
“I think you want to back off,” Creed drawled. “I didn’t sign on to watch a father that supposedly loves his daughter suddenly begin abusing her. Now did I?”
“Supposedly love,” Kita choked out as she backed away from both of them. “That’s a fairly apt description for a liar.”
She didn’t wait for her father to turn back to her or to see Creed’s response. Kita all but ran from the two of them, the anger and the pain converging inside her to tear at her heart until she felt as though it were nothing but shreds.
Rushing into the house, she moved quickly through the first floor, up the stairs, and into her bedroom where she slammed the door closed and locked it.
Laying her head against the door, Kita blinked back her tears and knew the decision she had been on the verge of making for the past months had been made the second her father’s large hand had connected with her cheek.
It was time to leave, no matter what it took.
CREED HADN’T EXPECTED this. Staring into Horace Engalls’s eyes, he had to admit that even though he had sensed the tension and the anger building in Kita’s father, he never imagined Engalls would strike his daughter.
Hell. Had he realized what was about to happen, he’d have stepped in sooner. The girl loved her father. She called him “Daddy” with that soft voice that bespoke a soul-deep affection.
He never would have allowed Engalls to do anything to threaten that affection or damage the precious emotion his daughter felt for him.
“Did I ask you to interfere?” The fear lay about Engalls like a particular stink, rancid to the senses.
Creed inhaled slowly, his senses amplified for some odd reason, the animal genetics that shared his body rising to the fore as though a true animal paced within his soul.
“You didn’t have to ask,” he assured the other man with the subtle Texas drawl that went with the identity he had stolen for this little adventure. “I offered. Do you really want to make her hate you? I’d say you’re riding that line with that slap to her delicate face.”
He could see the imprint of her father’s hand on her creamy flesh, and he’d never had such trouble holding back the primal growl that edged at his throat.
In that second he watched Horace Engalls’s lips tremble as emotion, a father’s love, overrode anger and fear.
Engalls lowered his head, gave it a brief shake, then turned and stomped into the house, leaving Creed staring after his retreating back.
Creed almost smiled; definitely he felt a flare of satisfaction. For the past year he’d been working as one of Engalls’s security specialists, slowly replacing the men that had originally come in with him with men he trusted himself. Men who would stand aside and ensure that when the time came, Creed would have a clear path to his objective.
To Kita Claire Engalls, the reigning, mostly spoiled princess of what was left of the Engalls empire.
He had been with her when her mother had died, just after he came to the estate. He’d been here each time she’d tried to slip from the estate for a bit of harmless feminine fun.
Sometimes shopping. Sometimes a late dinner with friends. A few times a bit of dancing at the exclusive nightclubs she and her friends enjoyed.
He knew her.
He knew her habits, he knew her expressions, her scents, and her flirtatiousness.
And he knew his dick was rock hard when she blew him those mocking kisses or watched him over the rim off her glasses as though he were a sensual treat and she wanted to lick him up a drop at a time.
Blowing out a hard breath, he strode to the house and entered as well. Hell, he’d be more than happy to let her have a lick or two, then he’d have his turn.
And he could well imagine the pleasure to be had there. A soft, delicate woman as heated as the hottest fire. Silken flesh. Sharp little nails.
His dick was vicious hard as he moved up the steps. The scent of her reached out to him, drew him. Hell, it was all he could do to keep his senses intact at the scent of her fear and her pain.
Betrayal was a bitter seed, and it was festering inside her. A father who had betrayed so many others surely would have no problem betraying one tender, trusting daughter.
And when he betrayed her, Creed Raines would be there. To deliver the final betrayal.
At that thought, he paused on the final step.
A feeling of reluctance stirred within his chest. Suddenly, fleetingly, the idea of betraying her seemed so very wrong.
Forcibly shaking the thought away, he took that last step, determination steeling him against these other emotions. He’d made a vow. He was a part of something far greater than a twinge of conscience.
Moving to the closed bedroom door, he rapped his knuckles softly against the heavy wood and waited. She was in there. He could smell her tears, her pain. The delicate scent of a woman who had reached a limit.
TWO
Kita swung the door open, expecting to find her father. Instead, she saw Creed Raines standing on the other side.
He’d witnessed her humiliation, witnessed her running. God, she hated that.
“What do you want?” For some unknown reason, she wanted to throw herself against him, to release the tears she was holding inside and feel his arms surround her.
Comfort. She wanted his comfort, and she had never wanted or needed that with the same strength as she did now.
He stepped inside, moving around her as though it was a foregone conclusion that he was welcome.
As though he belonged there.
“Close the door.”
She turned and stared at him in mocking amazement.
“Did someone call and inform you that you were in charge or something?” She gave the door a hard push, though, before turning to face him.
Damn, she was just fucking pretty.
Creed watched her brush back a stray strand of hair, tucking it into the rest of her shoulder-length, dark blonde waves as she glared back at him with soft, doe brown eyes.
Damn, he loved her eyes. He also loved the way she pulled her lower lip between her teeth and pressed down, just a little bit. Just enough pressure to make his body tighten, his dick throb harder.
She hadn’t changed out of the miniscule bikini she had worn by the pool, though it was somewhat obscured by the thin violet wrap she’d put on over it.
She looked good in that dark purple color. Good enough to eat and come back for seconds.
“Would you like to get away for a while?” Where the hell had that offer come from?
She blinked back at him before her gaze narrowed. “Where?”
“Does it matter?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “Let me surprise you.”
There was a part of him standing back in amazement and simply shaking his head in amused resignation. But the part of him inviting her out, that was standing there with his cock throbbing in anticipation, and his blood pounding in unusual excitement sent a sense of life burning through him.
There were times when he had felt like a robot, like a man without a course. But that was before he had stepped into the Engalls’s home and met the princess he was to stay close to, close enough to gain her trust, her father’s trust, so he could turn her over to Jonas Wyatt if needed.
“You’ll surprise me?” He watched those dark, doe brown eyes suddenly gleam with anticipation. “What if I don’t like your surprise?”