Page 29 of Reclaiming Izabel

Cindy grew alarmed. “Izabel, if you don’t say anything?—”

I pressed a forearm across my stomach because the spontaneous laughter started to hurt somewhere in the vicinity of my diaphragm. I held up a finger to signal Cindy to give me a moment.

“I’m sorry.” I gulped a deep breath and tried not to think that my “dead” husband wasn’t really dead. “I’d love to talk about it, but not right now.”

Cindy crossed her arms over her chest. “Something happened between Friday and now. I wish I had checked on you over the weekend, but I didn’t want to interrupt…just in case.” She resumed her teasing and waggled her brows.

A short laugh that was completely genuine this time escaped my lips. “Okay, Lake, we’ve got a busy day ahead.”

Cindy rose from the chair and clucked her tongue. “You’ve got a busy day with site visits. I’m stuck in the office all day while you get to spend time with hunky Harrelson. Hey, do you think he and I…?”

I cleared my throat as I looked over Cindy’s shoulder at the tall, sandy-haired gentleman who appeared at the door.

Cindy froze, face paling. “He’s standing behind me, isn’t he?”

“I didn’t hear anything,” Marcus drawled. Drake’s former commander still had an imposing look about him, but tragedy had taken its toll, evident in the brackets around his mouth and a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

And now it was hard to meet his gaze, much less imagining spending an entire day with him.

Flustered, I shuffled papers on my desk. “I don’t think I need your escort today, Marcus.”

The dead silence in the room forced me to look up. I ignored Cindy’s penetrating stare and held Marcus’s flinty regard.

“Something going on, Izzy?” Marcus asked, tone level.

I shrugged. “No. Why do you say that?” My tone went high-pitched with those last two words, so much so that I couldn’t help wincing.

“She’s been acting strangely this morning,” Cindy announced, crossing her arms again.

“Uh-huh, I can see that.” Marcus mimicked her movement.

“I’m right here, people,” I muttered, dropping onto my chair and spinning around to give them my back as I woke up my laptop to go through emails. “The Solace Foundation site visit in Glen Ford is in the middle of the afternoon, and I’ve made enough friends in the community to be comfortable among them.”

Marcus grunted his displeasure. “I gave you my report on them last week.”

“And I appreciate it, but I can’t be walking around their neighborhood with an armed escort beside me.”

“Tell me the reason again?” Marcus challenged. “Because we’ve played it so I’m your driver and not your bodyguard. So why is it suddenly a problem?”

I swiveled around and faced him. “I can’t be a hypocrite. I fought so hard for this project. We gained enough sponsors because I believed in the industriousness of the immigrant population. Given the same chance and the same support as everyone else, they can realize their American dreams. If I show up with a bodyguard every time, it’s like I don’t trust them to live a life other than being a criminal.”

His face softened. “I get you now, but as part of this company’s security team, let me be the judge. All right?”

I was about to protest when Marcus held up his hand. “Can’t mess up, Izzy. I’m on probation right now and the evaluation of the Solace site is ongoing. We can’t let idealism trump operational procedure, especially after Bose got attacked by one of his foremen.”

Well, Mr. Bose could be an asshole, as I remembered the lone dissenter in the boardroom when I proposed the Solace project. It was a good thing the other owner, Mr. Stockman, threw his support behind me.

“Whew, so that’s settled, right?” Cindy asked. “Marcus’s going with you?”

I sighed. “Guess so.”

My driver/bodyguard glanced at his phone. “We’ve got Little Creek at ten, Newport News at one, and Glen Ford at three. Sound good?”

“Sounds about right.” I leaned back against my chair. “Thanks, Marcus.”

He tipped his chin at us, pivoted on his heel, and strode out the door.

Cindy bit her bottom lip. “Now that’s a gorgeous ass.”

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