Body Guard Read Online Free PDF Page B

night around him. Sabrina had never known real fear before in her life, she discovered. It washed over her now, intermingling with rage.
    "I'm sorry about the theatrics, Sabrina," Jake Devlin went on quietly, leaning forward to reach around behind her body and untie her wrists. "But I had the feeling an object lesson was in order."
    "An object lesson," she repeated, dumbfounded. She gave her head a dazed shake.
    "You did this to teach me a lesson?" When her hands were freed, she edged as far away from him as possible. "A lesson? "
    "You made it pretty damned obvious today that you weren't taking the threats seriously. I thought it might be helpful if you were made to realize that no one is invulnerable."
    Sabrina tried to respond and found her lips were parched. Moistening them with the tip of her tongue, she drew in a deep breath and tried again. "You're not actually kidnapping me? This was all some sort of scheme to teach me a lesson?" Each word was uttered with great care. She wanted to be absolutely certain.
    "I wanted you to see for yourself how very easy it would be for someone to find you, catch you and use you," he replied deliberately. "I wanted you to understand why Teague and your mother think you need a bodyguard."
    Sabrina sucked in her breath again and said the first words that came into her head.
    "You're fired!"
    Devlin stared at her for a second and then his mouth crooked unwillingly into a semblance of a slow grin. "You can't fire me."
    "Because you're going to quit?" she shot back, fiercely hopeful.
    "No such luck. I told you, your mother's money is already in my bank account. I've accepted the job of looking after you, Sabrina, and I intend to do my best I thought it might be easier on both of us if we got a few of the ground rules established tonight, however."
    "I'm the client! I make the ground rules!" she hissed.
    "I can't let you do that, not when your way leaves you vulnerable. Sabrina, I could have been anyone tonight, don't you see? It was easy to follow you to that party and even simpler to pick you up on the street when you left Anyone else could have done the same thing I did. Hell, you didn't even take a good look around before you walked away from the house to get into your car. Why didn't you at least have someone walk you out to it?"
    "Because I was tired of the particular someone I might have asked. Just as I'm getting tired of you," she tossed back too sweetly. "And if you think I'm taking you with me to Hawaii after this ridiculous stunt, you've taken one too many falls during your martial-arts practice!"
    Jake said nothing, shifting in the seat to switch the car's engine back on. Without a word he pulled away from the shoulder and started the MG back toward the city.
    "I mean it, Jake Devlin," Sabrina lashed out furiously. "If you think—"
    "We'll talk about it back at your apartment. It's getting late."
    "There's nothing to talk about! If you won't accept the fact that I'm firing you, I'll call my mother and have her do it!"
    "That's all your mother needs, isn't it? She's already worried sick about your safety.
    If you were to leave for Hawaii without any protection, she'd really have something to concern her."
    Sabrina bit back a sharp retort, knowing perfectly well that he was correct in his assessment of the situation. She was, after all, submitting to the notion of hiring a bodyguard purely for her mother's peace of mind. Firing the chosen nursemaid on the eve of the Hawaiian trip would not be a move calculated to set her mother's mind at ease. Sabrina closed her eyes briefly in disgust, feeling trapped.
    "What you did tonight was absolutely uncalled for," she finally got out after a few minutes, staring straight ahead at the oncoming traffic.
    "I needed to make you aware of how vulnerable you really are, Sabrina." There was no apology in the rough, gritty voice now.
    "Just doing your job, is that it?" she muttered. It was ironic that he talked of her vulnerability. She had always