Page 25 of Dragon Bodyguard
Where thehellhad he gone off to?
She felt like a spoiled brat one second and then the indignation would rise like smoke through her and make her want to kick something, anything, because why didn’t he care about her? Why hadn’t he stayed? Why did she care that he hadn’t told her he’d missed her too, no matter how out of it she’d been when she said it?
“He’s on the premises,” Fabian admitted.
At least that was something.
He wasn’t far.
“Yes, please, text him and tell him to meet me in the rose garden.”
“Can’t allow you to leave the house, I’m afraid.”
“What?”
“Not until the property parameters have been secured.”
Oh. So, that was what he was doing?
She felt an alarming warmth spread through her at the thought that he was doing what he was doing to ensure her safety. More than that, she felt a little foolish. Had she thought he’d just dropped what had happened an hour and a half earlier as though it was nothing?
I’m a mess, she thought.I should go back to my room and stay there.
“Right,” she said.
There was a buzz in Fabian’s pocket. He pulled out his cell phone.
“Misha is back,” he declared. “But…” He trailed off.
“What?” she prompted, only in that moment she heard the booming voice of her father calling her name.
Oh.
She got moving back into the hallway and down it to the entrance hall, her bodyguards quickly catching up with her to flank her on either side. She almost told them to chill. It was just her father, after all. Still, she was rather pleased they were there. She could show him that Misha was doing a good job. Not that Misha needed his approval. She stopped that train of thought before it ran away from her completely, entering the space where her father and Dmitri were waiting.
Misha lingered in the doorway of the still open front door.
He was standing straight-backed and chest out, the same way he had when she’d arrived. He looked ridiculous and hot in equal measure. It was too damn confusing, and she focused away from him and onto her father instead.
He was wild-eyed, and she hadn’t even noticed how he was approaching her, too distracted by Misha, but now Ilya was meeting her, hands going to her shoulders in a hard grasp. His gaze searched her face.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Well,” she said, almost being smart with him but thinking better of it. It was a stupid question, but just because she’d stood up for herself against her attackers didn’t mean her father would respect her more for talking back to him. “I’m a bit shaken up,” she said earnestly.
“Of course,” he nodded, a solemn expression on his handsome face.
He looked older, somehow. Was it worry she saw in that crease on his brow? She couldn’t be sure. She’d never seen it there before.
“I don’t understand how this could have happened,” Dmitri said. “In broad daylight? Who would be this stupid?”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Misha and Kristina said at the same time, their eyes meeting for a brief moment.
Kristina looked away first, but she could tell her father had noticed.
Had he really had something to do with their break-up? Why had her stepmother been to see Misha? Why would they go to such lengths at all? It didn’t make any sense to her. Unless they had truly felt it would bring shame on the family to have her connected with someone who was beneath them in every regard. Even though Misha had such a strong bond with Aleksander, and he’d proven himself a valuable asset to the family for over three decades. Some constructs were unshakable, and the family hierarchy was one of them.
But hadn’tshebroken through?
