Tempted By The Bodyguard. Elle James

not leaving. Unless you plan to hog-tie me and throw me in the back of your car, I’m not going anywhere.”

      Marisa whooped. “Yeah, baby. I gotta see this.”

      Daniel’s adrenaline spiked and he fought to control the urge to do just what she’d said. With a deep breath, he resisted and played on her father’s fears. “Mr. O’Hara?”

      Patrick shook his head. “No, sweetheart, you need to go with Daniel.” Her grandfather frowned. “I don’t want to leave you, knowing you could disappear again.”

      “Go, Granddad.” Shelby touched his arm and Lana’s. “I’m fine, and I’ll be here when you get back. Take care of Lana. She needs you now.”

      Patrick’s gaze went to Daniel. “Don’t let anything happen to my girl, will ya?”

      Short of dragging Shelby out of the bar, Daniel wasn’t convincing her to leave until her grandfather returned. Resigning himself to waiting this one out, he nodded at Patrick. “I’ll do my best.”

      The older man’s eyes narrowed. “Do better. She’s the only family I have left.”

      “Yes, sir.”

      “Come on, Lana, let’s get you sewn up before you bleed all over the place.” He winked at her and led her out of the bar.

      Ignoring Daniel, Shelby clapped her hands together. “Come on, people. We have a party arriving in twenty minutes. Let’s get this place cleaned up and ready.”

      The waitresses, busboys and bartender hurried back to their duties. Shelby snagged a mop and a bucket of cleaner and headed for the kitchen.

      Daniel followed.

      “If you’re going to hang around, you might as well help.” She shoved the mop into his hands, stepped over the puddle of blood on the floor and, using a strainer, scooped the broken glass out of the sink and deposited it in the trash.

      While she cleaned the dishes, Daniel mopped the floor, thinking there was no glory in being a Secret Service agent. Once again, he wondered what he’d been thinking when he’d agreed to be Shelby’s bodyguard.

      Trouble. With a capital T.

      As expected, a group of thirty men from a rowing team out of D.C. converged on O’Hara’s, shouting, laughing and raising good-natured hell.

      Daniel helped by bussing tables while keeping a close eye on Shelby. He studied all the men, searching each face for a clue as to his intention.

      Most of them wore polo shirts with their club logo on them. They were healthy, muscular men with innocent faces out to have a good time. For the most part.

      Daniel wished Shelby was serving behind the bar. As she wove her way between the tables, any one of the men could attack and he’d be too late to help her.

      He tried following her around, but that only made her mad, and she told him to back off.

      At one table, she smiled and chatted with several of the rowers while serving fresh drinks and collecting the empties. When she turned back toward the bar, she tripped and would have fallen, but one man reached out and yanked her onto his lap, saving her, but not the contents of her tray.

      Bottles and mugs toppled to the floor. Only one broke; the rest remained intact. Rubber tub in hand, Daniel hurried to her side.

      “Oops.” Shelby laughed. “Thanks for the save, but you can let me up now.”

      The man who’d pulled her into his lap laughed and refused to let go of her, his buddies egging him on.

      Shelby retained her ever-present smile. “You really should let me up.” With a glance at Daniel, she looked back at the man. “My boyfriend doesn’t like it when other guys touch me.”

      The man immediately let go. “Sorry, dude. Didn’t mean to poach.”

      Daniel’s fingers clenched around the tub he’d been about to throw at the man. He still wanted to throw it, but he held back with a considerable amount of effort.

      Shelby’s lips twisted into a crooked smile. “See? He gets all hot and bothered when other guys so much as look at me, don’t you, baby?” She kissed his cheek and slid a hand along his shoulder as she passed by him.

      The guy in chair held up his hands, apparently seeing the danger in Daniel’s eyes. “Like I said, man, I didn’t know.”

      After a moment, Daniel shrugged. “No harm, no foul.” He bent to clean up the bottles and mugs. When he had the mess cleared, he went to find Shelby.

      She wasn’t in the bar.

      His pulse ratcheting upward, he hurried for the kitchen. Not there either, nor was the cook or anyone else.

      The back door stood open as if someone had gone out in a hurry.

      Daniel slammed the tub of bottles and mugs on a counter and ran for the back door.

      Outside, the cook was tossing a heavy bag of trash into the Dumpster.

      “Where’s Shelby?” Daniel demanded.

      The young man lost control of the bag he’d been hefting up into the trash container and it crashed back behind him, breaking open. “Well, damn.” He glared at Daniel over the mess. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

      “Shelby? Where is she?”

      “How should I know? You’re the one who’s been following her around all night.”

      Daniel glanced left then right. Nothing moved in back of the building and there was no sign of Shelby. He ran back into the building and down the hallway toward the bar. A door opened immediately to his right and someone stepped out of the ladies’ room and smacked into him. Reaching out, he grabbed the woman to keep her from falling.

      His hands wrapped around Shelby’s arms. As soon as he realized it was her, he crushed her against his chest. “Where the hell have you been?”

      “To the bathroom,” she said breezily.

      “You just about gave me a freakin’ heart attack.”

      “I didn’t go far,” she whispered, her mouth close to his, her breath warming his skin.

      With her body pressed to his, his adrenaline still running high, he couldn’t hold back. “Woman, you’re making me crazy.” He crushed her lips with his in a brutal kiss. His fingers knotted in her hair and he tugged, tipping her head back more so that he could trail his mouth along her jawline and down the side of her throat to that place where her pulse raced beneath her delicate skin.

      Shelby’s hands circled the back of his neck, drawing him closer, her calf rising up the side of his leg, curling around. “Missed me, huh?”

       Chapter 9

      Shelby could have kicked herself.

      From hot and fiery to cold and distant, Daniel pushed Shelby away and stepped back. “That shouldn’t have happened.”

      “But it did and you can’t take it back.” Her lips curled upward in a smirk. “You wanted to kiss me. Admit it.”

      He stared at her for a long time. Then he pushed his hand through his hair and turned his back to her. “We’d better get back to work.”

      She grabbed his arm. “Would it hurt so much to admit you find me attractive?”

      He whipped around, his eyes blazing. “It wouldn’t matter. You’re in a different stratosphere entirely. I’m your bodyguard, not your lover. Don’t get the two confused.”

      “What do you mean, I’m in a different stratosphere? We’re both human. What’s so different about