Chapter One
“I need a car,” she told Clive while avoiding direct eye contact.
He slowly lowered the notes Alice had just handed him, all his considerable focus locking onto her. It was so hot all her parts fluttered and warmed.
“Why is that, my dearest Hunter?” he practically purred as he flowed toward her with all his predator’s grace.
She held her ground but knew her heartbeat kicked up. Let him know it as well.
He smirked. “I’m waiting for your answer, Rowan.”
“Okay look. It wasn’t even my fault. I mean. I’m not a mechanic. It’s not in my skill set, though I wish it was. It would be very handy to be able to fix things for myself.”
Clive just stared at her so she went on.
“Some dingus pulled out in front of me. A tourist most likely. I had to slam on my brakes and yank pretty hard into the next lane. That’s when my tire blew out and then as I managed to get to the drive at the Mediterranean the grinding started. Meanwhile tourist guy is probably already on the way back to wherever he came from and I’ll never ever get to punch his stupid face. Anyway, I had my car towed to my mechanic before heading over here to borrow one of your cars because you have a fleet and you’ll be ever so British if I rented anything instead of asking you.”
He tipped his chin, accepting that he would have worked up a snit if she hadn’t come to him.
“Are you injured?” He cocked his head and took a deep breath, his eyes closing slightly.
“That’s weird.” She waved him back. “Stop. I’m not hurt. I wasn’t going very fast. My airbag didn’t even go off.” Thank the Goddess for that. The last time she’d been in an accident the airbag had inflated and had given her a black eye. “Not looking forward to the bill for the repairs to whatever that grindy thing is all about, though.”
“Given that your usual signs of injury are absent in our link, I’ll accept your assurance of well-being. However, are you entirely sure it was an accident?” A good question and one she’d asked herself as it had all unfolded.
“I took precautions when it happened. I didn’t see or sense anything out of the ordinary. Genevieve warded my car so I think it was just something random. Annoying. But random. And now I need a car because I need to get home for a call.”
“You can take my personal vehicle. I’ll make my own way home in a few hours. Unless there’s something else I should know?”
“No. Nothing new to report.”
He made a quick call to Alice to have the car fueled and sent around for Rowan to pick up before he stalked over and pulled her close.
“I’ll expect recompense for this later on, Hunter.”
She grinned. “I like the way you think, Scion.”
“I’ll remind you of this the next time you complain about the way I think, shall I?”
Rowan rolled her eyes but kissed him quick and headed out before he changed his mind and decided he had to be her escort.
* * *
Downstairs, Rowan eyed the cab line but knew he’d arranged to have her pick the car up in valet. It was best for all involved if she didn’t have to stand in a knot of tourists jostling to jump into a taxi before the others. Like there wasn’t a line of cabs all waiting for tourists to jump into the backseat one after the next.
People agitated her. But her man knew it and made her life easier. Despite his being a control freak, she knew a good thing when she had it.
Rowan caught sight of the sleek black nose of the car and moved to the drive, cash in hand to thank the valet, thoughts already on the call she would need to make with Susan in less than an hour.
The driver door opened and she didn’t realize the valet was on the passenger side until she did a double take when no one exited.
That’s when she realized who sat on the passenger side. In an orange camo novelty cowboy hat and neon green camo pants. His T-shirt sported a raging bear on a motorcycle blowing into a bugle.
“Hey there, Carl. Been a while since I’ve seen you.” The appearance of her kooky sage cab driver meant he had something to tell her. Something important.
He grinned like a loon. “Good evening, Dixie! Get on in. We have things to