Marine Force Recon. Elle James

looked around, found a chair and promptly sat.

      “You don’t have to wait,” Declan said. Appalled that he would be caught out in his lie.

      “I want to make sure the police don’t decide to reacquire their prisoner.” She glared at the nearest officer. “He’s not one of the terrorists who attacked me,” she reiterated.

      The officer held up his hands in surrender. “I’m not saying he is, but we can’t have a crowd in the building. We have work to do.”

      The older woman harrumphed and rose to her feet. “Fine, we’ll wait outside for Mr. O’Neill’s transportation to arrive.” She nodded toward the four men in suits. “Come along.”

      Charlie led the way to the exit. Before she could open the door, Declan stepped in front of her. “Let me,” he said.

      Charlie smiled. “Such a gentleman.”

      “No, ma’am.” He stepped through the door and closed it in her face. After scanning the area around them, he turned and opened the door for her to come out.

      She stood with her arms crossed over her chest, a frown wrinkling her brow. She leveled her glare at the men in suits. “You should have gone out first and checked for potential attackers. Instead, you let this young man do it for you.” She flicked her fingers. “You’re all fired.”

      The men in suits frowned. One of them stepped forward. “But—”

      Charlie held up her hand. “Uh, uh, uh,” she said. “No excuses. You may go home. I won’t be needing your services.” She dug in her purse and pulled out a one-hundred-dollar bill and handed it to the man who appeared to be in charge. “To get you back to your own transportation.”

      The man took the bill and left with the other three to find a taxi back to wherever they’d parked their vehicles.

      Charlie sighed. “Now what am I supposed to do?” She gave Declan a bright smile. “I don’t suppose you would like to come to work for me, providing my protection?”

      A job? Declan didn’t want to appear too needy, but hell, he’d just been offered a job.

      “What exactly would it entail?”

      “Oh, I don’t necessarily want you to be a bodyguard. However, I’d want you to be in charge of hiring a bodyguard for me, or four or five. I lost three good men today. And two more are in the hospital, fighting for their lives. I’m tired of terrorists getting away with murder, and the authorities are doing so very little about it.

      “And after I’m situated with personal protection, I might want you to do a lot more.”

      “More what?”

      “More making things right where they’ve gone completely wrong.”

      He held up his hands. “I’m not into being a vigilante.”

      “And I’m not into spending years on red tape and bureaucratic nonsense while good, honest people are taking the fall, literally. Like today. Not that I’m all that good or honest, but what happened shouldn’t have.”

      “Why did it happen? What did they want with you?”

      “I’m sure they were going to hold me for ransom or some such nonsense. I’m loaded. Everyone always wants to get their hands on my money. Hell, if they asked for it nicely, I’d probably give it to them.” Charlie waved her hand. “You haven’t answered my question. Do you want a job or not?”

      He wanted one, even if it was with a slightly deranged older woman. But she had to know the truth about him. “Don’t you want to see my résumé, do a background check, see if I have a criminal record?”

      She ran her gaze from his head to his toes. “I’ve seen all I need to see.”

      He bristled at her perusal. “I’m not a gigolo.”

      She laughed out loud. “Now, that conjures way too many tempting thoughts.” Her smile faded. “Not that you’re hard to look at. But I loved my dearly departed husband completely, despite what the tabloids might have said. I don’t anticipate any man filling his shoes anytime soon, if at all.”

      With the possibility of being hired as a sex toy cleared up, Declan still had one more obstacle. “I was dishonorably discharged from the US Marine Corps.” There, he said it flat out. It still hurt to say the words. He’d put his entire life into his career as a Force Recon marine.

      Charlie slipped her purse over her shoulder. “I know.”

      Declan stared at the woman, shocked. “You know?”

      “You don’t think I’d offer you a job if I didn’t know what I was getting into, do you?” She looked at him with raised eyebrows.

      “No, ma’am.”

      “Charlotte or Charlie. Not ma’am.” She held out her hand. “You’re coming to work for me?”

      He hesitated only a moment longer before taking her hand. “Yes, ma’—” he took her hand “—Charlie.”

      “How soon can you start?” she asked.

      “As soon as you want me,” he said. “Preferably sooner than later. I don’t have a ride and the five dollars in my wallet is going toward a hamburger.”

      “Dear Lord, why didn’t you say so?” She nodded toward the parking lot. “I’m hungry, too. I haven’t had a decent hamburger since I hired a French chef. It’s well past time to indulge.” She held out her arm.

      Declan gripped her elbow and glanced at the parking lot, where a long black limousine stood, blocking police cruisers into their parking spaces. He chuckled. “I’m surprised you don’t have a handful of tickets on that boat.”

      “I left my driver in the driver’s seat for just such an occasion.” She waited for him to open the door before slipping inside. Charlie patted the seat beside her. “I’d feel better if you rode back here with me. Although, you might not want to. My other bodyguards—God rest their souls—didn’t fare well earlier today.” Her smile dipped into a frown. “Those bastards deserve to die for killing my men and all of those innocent bystanders.”

      Declan slid into the back seat, next to Charlie.

      She captured his gaze with a shadowed gray one of her own. “Don’t you see? Those are the kinds of wrongs I want to right. I have more money than I could ever spend. I want to do something to help others. If it means going around the law to see it’s done right...so be it.”

      “I’m not in the habit of breaking the law, despite my lousy military record,” he warned her.

      “I’m not asking you to break the law. Maybe bend a few rules, but not exactly break the law.” She reached for his hand. “Sometimes the authorities get in the way of justice or let people off who we know good and well are as guilty as sin. I’ve seen it happen more often than I’d care to admit. Someone like me, with more money than sense, buys his way out of jail or buys his son or daughter’s way out of serving time. No one should get away with murder.” Her hand clutched his tightly.

      “Why are you so passionate about this?” he asked.

      For a moment, she stared down at his hand. Then she released it and stared out the window. “My husband was murdered. The police got nowhere. No matter how much money I threw at private investigators, they couldn’t tell me who pulled the trigger. I know how I felt, losing my husband, who should have been around to grow older with me. I don’t want others to have to go through what I did.”

      “I’ll work for you and do what I can,” Declan said. “But I won’t break the law.”

      “Unless you have to in order to save a life,” Charlie said. “I had to pay a big bribe to get you out of hot water for using that submachine gun.”

      Declan hadn’t considered