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intimidated her at the moment. He cocked an eyebrow in silent challenge when she continued to stare at him. “You want my BUD/S class number so you can check up on me? Call up NAVSOC headquarters and have them run my records?”
    Her gaze snapped up to his, a hint of steel entering her expression at his acidic tone. “And how would I know if you gave me the real one?”
    Okay, to hell with this. He whipped his cell phone out of his pocket and thrust it toward her. “Call Tom and ask him yourself about my credentials.”
    Flushing, she waved his hand away and lowered her eyes. “I’m sure that’s not necessary,” she murmured, clearly embarrassed at being called out.
    No? For her it seemed pretty goddamn necessary. “Maybe you’d rather speak to my former commander at Little Creek instead. I’ve got his number programmed in here too.”
    That intelligent gaze lifted to his once more, and he felt a shock in his gut as the underlying hint of vulnerability in her eyes finally registered. He’d seen that look enough to know what it meant. Whatever was going on for her, it was based on fear, not rudeness.
    She held up her hands in self defense. “Okay, I realize I must seem pretty rude by questioning you like this, but I promise I’m not doing it to insult you. I’m sure you’re aware of what happened to my father here a few weeks ago.”
    Better than she’d ever realize. “I’m sorry for your loss. But I wasn’t on his protective detail—our company wasn’t even involved—so I can’t be held accountable for what happened to him.”
    “Yes, thank you, and I never meant to imply that you were.” She took a breath, let it out slowly and glanced away before continuing. “I don’t know if you’re aware of what happened, but… The head of my father’s security team claimed he was a SEAL and it turned out he wasn’t, not even close. The truth is he washed out of BUD/S after three weeks. The company he worked for lied about him, his background, and pretty much everything else, including the rest of the men on the team. It turned out they were a bunch of friends who wanted to cash in on the westerners hiring security contractors over here. No one found out about it until…after.” She swallowed.
    Well, shit. Hunter frowned, his annoyance evaporating. Tom hadn’t said a word about any of that. No wonder she’d felt the need to question him. Guys lied about being SEALs all the time, mostly to pick up women, but he’d never heard of one of them making it through the rigorous background checks necessary to land a job as a contractor. Which meant the owner of the company John Patterson had hired was a slimy piece of shit too. “I’m sorry. That should never have happened.”
    She waved his words away. “Despite how that sounds, my father was a very intelligent man. The security company was recommended to him by someone he met here in Pakistan. Someone he trusted. But they had to have known the company wasn’t legit. I think they may have been in on it, hoping to get their hands on some of the initial ransom demanded when my father was kidnapped.” She rubbed a hand over the back of her neck, visibly distressed.
    For some reason Hunter found he didn’t like seeing her upset. “Is anyone investigating that?”
    “Yes. So when you said you’d been a SEAL, it made me suspicious. I’m sure a lot of guys in your line of work claim to be SEALs when they’re not, and I’m not exactly comfortable putting my life into a stranger’s hands after what happened to my father. Sorry if I offended you. That wasn’t my intention, and I apologize.”
    Okay, so maybe she was likeable after all.
    He inclined his head in acceptance of the apology because he could totally understand why she’d reacted the way she had. And he didn’t appreciate Tom failing to mention the incident with the asshole SEAL wannabe when he’d asked Hunter for this favor. But for now he needed to reassure her that he was the real