Page 63 of Trick's Trap

He proceeded to give her more instructions, pointing out the clutch and pedals and explaining how different the race car handled from normal vehicles.

Jerking in fits and starts, Tahlia managed to drive the insanely rare vehicles a few dozen yards from where she’d started. She was relieved when they switched, and Patrick took the wheel. He zipped through the amazingly windy roads with natural ease. They went through the tunnel under the Fairmont Hotel and lapped the gorgeous harbor full of gleaming white boats.

For the next few days, Patrick showed her Monaco the way it was meant to be experienced. They walked the streets of Old Town, shopping and eating their way across the city. At night, Tahlia donned spectacular gowns. They wiled away the time gambling before retiring to her hotel suite to make love for hours.

Tahlia initially believed Patrick would want to dismiss the bodyguards she hired, but she was wrong.

“I think hiring them was smart,” he said when she asked over breakfast a few days into his stay. “I took the liberty of making a few calls, and they’re both solid professionals. I think they can be trusted.”

“You checked them out?” She shouldn’t have been surprised. Patrick wasn’t the kind of man who left anything to chance.

He mumbled something, but his manner was a little evasive. “Is there something else?”

“You didn’t tell them about your family.”

Her throat was suddenly tight, which was unfortunate as she tried to swallow a large bite of omelet. She gulped juice to help it go down and cleared her throat. “But you did.”

Patrick reached for her hand. “Tahlia, they needed to know. It’s important they be aware of the nature of the threat to you. Based on what you told them, they assumed this was a routine job protecting a high roller when it’s not.” He leaned back in his chair. “Your bodyguards need all the information about the past attacks and the resources your family might throw at them.

She stared down at her half-finished plate. “I didn’t think about it that way. God, they must hate me for putting them in danger. I should have known better than to drag more people into my mess. I have to apologize to them.”

Patrick shook his head. “I’m not saying that. You did the right thing hiring them. And honestly, I think those guys can handle this. But forewarned is forearmed. They should be prepared. Not that anything is going to happen. Who in your family would expect you to be here of all places?” He gestured to the sumptuous suite around them.

Tahlia still felt terrible. “I should have told them. I just don’t like talking about my family.”

“I know, Ace.”

She put her fork down, her appetite gone. “I was supposed to stay pure…”

He blinked at her. “What?”

“They kept boys and then men away from me. For the longest time, I thought I was going to be sold into the rich people’s equivalent of white slavery—marriage to some rich old guy who would slap me around. I thought my virginity was a commodity to them. Now I think what they want is so much worse. And the kicker is if my brother hadn’t died, my dad would have been okay with whatever it was… I don’t think he even registered I was his child until both my brother and stepmother were gone, and he had no one else.”

His smile was confused. “I know your whole world in Florida was messed up, but I have to believe your father was proud of you. I mean, you got your doctorate in math from Harvard for Pete’s sake.”

Her mouth twisted in a wry smile. “I don’t have the Ph.D. yet.”

“You do now. It came in the mail.”

“It did?” Well, that was something.

“Yes. And one more thing—sex doesn’t make you impure. There’s nothing you can do that can change the goodness in your heart.”

Tahlia tossed a strawberry at him. “Here’s something to go with that cheese.”

He tossed it right back, his aim infallible. It landed in her cleavage.

Patrick grinned, a wicked glint in his eye. He reached for her. “Here, let me help you with that.”

They got a very late start that morning.

“Where did you get this?”Tahlia asked.

Patrick had surprised her with a trip to the harbor in the afternoon after they’d finally gotten out of bed. A sleek wooden speedboat gleamed in the bright sunlight. It looked like something that should be zipping along Venetian canals.

He shrugged. “I know a guy. I thought we could meander along the coast for an hour or so until the sun sets. Then we can go to this amazing little bistro a friend recommended for dinner.”

He gestured to the two guards who’d accompanied them. “Alfonse spent some time in the navy, so he’s going to drive while we split a bottle of this walnut wine and Armagnac aperitif I just discovered. Nolan’s going to wait here and do whatever you do when there’s only room for three in a boat.”

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