Page 4 of Lone Star Target

High-end ones.

Then again, the low-end ones likely wouldn’t be able to afford the lofty price tag for Maverick Ops’ services.

Jace certainly wouldn’t have been able to on his military or cop’s salaries. Now, of course, he could since he was on the receiving end of those lofty payments. He also knew that Ruby often offered her services free to those who needed them but couldn’t afford them.

Kit would not fall into that category.

Jace didn’t know the Barclay family’s net worth, but it had to be in the millions.

“Did Ruby tell you I just finished my training,” Jace told Kit as they took their seats. Jace and Jericho on the loveseat facing Kit and Ruby on the sofa.

Kit nodded. “She did, and Ruby feels you’re more than capable of handling my situation.” She paused a heartbeat and looked Jace straight in the eyes. “Do you feel capable of being my bodyguard?”

That was a damn tricky question. He could do personal protection and do it well. But could he take an impartial approach as he should do with a bodyguard assignment?

No way in hell.

Rule two of being a bodyguard was don’t get personally involved with the client, and the personal was already there in spades between Kit and him.

Always would be.

But rule one topped rule two. Keep the client safe. That was the ultimate priority, and Jace had to figure that Kit had a reason for needing that safety.

And for believing he was the one to ensure that.

“Why do you want me as your bodyguard?” he came out and asked.

She didn’t jump to answer. Instead, Kit gathered her breath. “I’m scheduled to testify at a trial in two days, and I, uh, need you to keep me alive. Because someone is trying to kill me.”

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Chapter Three

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Kit watched Jace’s reaction to what she’d just said. And she wasn’t surprised that there wasn’t much of a reaction at all from him.

His expression didn’t change, and nothing decipherable flashed through those ice-blue eyes. He was in the cop mode, but even that mode was always tinged with the whole Viking Warrior vibe he had going on.

A vibe that was even more pronounced now that his blond hair wasn’t regulation length.

It was touching the collar of his black tee, and unlike some men, he hadn’t styled it within an inch of its life. In fact, it didn’t look as if he’d styled it at all. It was rumpled and incredibly hot. Like the rest of him.

And that was something Kit so wished she hadn’t noticed.

But she always did.

Always.

“Monitor on,” Ruby said, causing Jericho, Jace, and Kit to all shift their attention back to the woman in charge.

A large monitor slid down in front of one of the massive windows, and Kit immediately saw a photo of herself there. Beneath it was her name and some numbers. Probably a case file.

That put a knot in her stomach.

Kit had always thought things might come down to this. To her being in danger and in need of personal protection. That threat came with her father’s lifestyle and choices. And while she’d known about some of those choices, she figured her knowledge was a tip of the iceberg sort of thing, that her father had kept the worst of it from her.

Ruby picked up a remote from the coffee table and clicked to the next page. Kit’s bio. A very detailed bio, she realized, and yes, her brief marriage to Jace was indeed there.

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