Page 59 of The Bodyguard

I stare at him, but I don’t respond. I don’t know what he’s trying to do, but I’m not in the mood for mind games.

My father takes a deep breath; another sip of cognac, and turns his head to glance over at my mother, who’s holding court in the middle of the room. This is where she belongs, centre of attention, surrounded by admirers willing to hang onto her every word.

“You know I love you, don’t you, Lena?”

I frown as my father’s eyes once more meet mine. “I know. Of course I know.”

He finishes his drink, and casts another glance back in my mother’s direction. Is something going on here I’m not privy to? Sorry. SomethingelseI’m not privy to.

“I just want you to know that you mean the world to me. You’re my princess, and I know you hate it when I call you that…”

“Because I’m not twelve anymore.”

He smiles. “You will always be my little girl, Lena. Always. Nothing will ever change that.” He glances past me, I’m guessing he’s checking Bodie is still doing his job. “Nobody will ever take you away from me.” His gaze falls back on me. “Do you hear me?”

I’m aware I’m still frowning, because I have no idea what he’s talking about. And he doesn’t wait for me to say anything anyway, he just looks past me again, over my shoulder, he’s definitely zoning in on Bodie. For some reason.

“He won’t let me out of his sight, Dad.”

“No.” My father keeps his gaze fixed on Bodie, and – I don’t know. I’ve suddenly got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I just don’t know why. “He won’t.” And then he shifts his gaze back to me, and he smiles. “I should probably go and mingle. Maybe you should think about doing that, too. We have some important people here tonight, it wouldn’t hurt to try and drum up a couple of new contracts. Arrange a few meetings.”

“Okay.”

I watch him walk away, and I’m only aware of the metallic taste in my mouth when I feel a sharp pain, and realise I’ve been biting down hard on my lip.

“Shit!” I mutter to myself as I root around in my ridiculously small handbag for a tissue I know I don’t have.

“Here.”

I look up to see Bodie holding out a handkerchief, which I gratefully take from him and press it to my lip.

“We need to talk,” he says, his hand slipping into mine, and he’s guiding me away from the party whether I want to leave or not. And I do, want to leave, but I should really stay. My father’s right, I should be working. I still have a job to do, a genuine job, a real job. And after leaving the last Nielsen function early, it probably wouldn’t be a good look to do that again.

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere quieter.”

We head outside, to the garden terrace, and because it’s a slightly cooler evening there aren’t that many people out here, despite the fact there are a handful of small firepits placed between the tables and chairs to give out some much-needed heat.

We sit down at a table on the edge of the terrace that looks out over the hotel’s expansive grounds. Tonight they’re lit up in an almost ethereal way with tiny, twinkling fairy lights decorating the trees and lanterns strung up around the roof of the pergola.

“I’m sorry.”

I look at him, and frown. “For what?”

“For everything.”

Is everybody talking in some kind of code tonight? “Bodie, what’s going on?”

He clasps his hands together and drops his head, and I watch his shoulders rise and fall as he takes a breath.

“Bodie?”

He slowly raises his gaze, his eyes locking on mine, and the expression on his face… I can’t read it. I can’t. But something’s different. Something’s changed.

“I was in love, once. A while ago.”

I don’t know what to say to that, because this was the last thing I expected him to say. I mean, I don’t knowwhatI was expecting him to say, exactly, but it wasn’t that. And I have no idea where this is going, but that bad feeling that’s been kicking around in my belly for the past few minutes, it’s still there.

---