Page 28 of Fergus

Much as that realization hurt her, and inwardly she just wanted to sit and cry, Thea refused to do so until she could be completely alone.

She now knew that coming to Paris and talking to Fergus at all had been a mistake on her part. Asking for his help had been an even bigger one. She’d never needed or asked for anyone’s assistance before, and she didn’t need or want this cold and distant Fergus’s begrudging help now either.

“Whatever you’ve been thinking about the past few hours, I advise you not to waste any more of your time on it,” Fergus told her as he sat beside her in the back of another black SUV on the drive to her apartment. Declan sat behind the wheel in front of Thea, a member of his team seated beside him.

A second black SUV followed behind them, the other two men inside.

“Declan and his team are staying in your life until this situation has been settled, and so am I,” Fergus continued grimly.

“Really?” she challenged. “And in what world do you think I’d be willing to accept the help of a man who so obviously not only resents me but doesn’t like me?”

“What the fuck!” A nerve pulsed in his clenched cheek as he turned to face her. “I don’t resent or dislike you,” he insisted.

She gave a scornful snort. “Your every word and action since I came downstairs this morning says differently.”

He flicked a glance at Declan sitting behind the wheel. “Can we talk about this once we’re inside your apartment?”

Thea’s mouth tightened. “There’s nothing to discuss.”

“What does that mean?”

She snorted. “That I’ve decided to take my chances and report this situation to the English police.”

* * *

Over Fergus’s dead body!

Or possibly Thea’s, if the police didn’t monitor this situation closely enough, and Fergus had no reason to believe they would.

Thea’s accusation of having a stalker in London—her claim that someone had broken into her apartment and stolen apillow, one which had suddenly reappeared in her Paris hotel suite—wouldn’t be strong enough for the police to feel the need to give Thea 24/7 protection. The attack in Paris, while she was alone in that same hotel suite, came under another country’s jurisdiction.

Fergus released a heavy sigh. “Look, if for some reason you’ve decided you don’t like the idea of Declan guarding you, we can?—”

“I like Declan just fine,” Thea cut in icily before adding. “It’s you I don’t like.”

What the hell…!

Fergus glanced at the rearview mirror, only to find Declan looking straight back at him with mocking blue eyes before the other man’s gaze returned to the road ahead.

Bastard!

Fergus scowled before muttering. “You liked me just fine last night.”

Her cheeks colored a fiery red. “And now I don’t,” she snapped. “I wonder why that is,” she scorned before turning to look out the side window.

Fergus knew exactly why Thea was so angry with him, and he knew it was all his own fault.

But he had felt wrong-footed when Declan arrived at his house this morning before Fergus had a chance to go back upstairs and speak to Thea again.

Last night, making love with Thea, had been more momentous, a deeper intimacy, than Fergus had ever experienced before.

He’d had good sex in the past, the occasional mediocre sex too, unfortunately, despite all his efforts for it to be otherwise. But he’d never had the spectacular sex he’d experienced last night. And he knew a big part of the reason for that was because he felt an emotional connection to Thea that he’d never had with any other woman.

Something he had intended to tell her before they left Paris.

Then Declan had arrived, shortly followed by Thea coming downstairs before Fergus could take her the coffee and croissants he’d been preparing for her up to his bedroom.

Thea hadn’t even looked at him as he introduced Declan to her, leading him to the conclusion she must regret last night’s intimacy.

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