To the Edge Read Online Free PDF

fact, the man he claimed to be. "I asked for him specifically. His firm's reputation is solid. So is his," her father continued. "I wanted the best for you, baby, and these guys are the best in the business."
    "I don't care if he can shoot the dorsal off a great white at a hundred yards; I want him out of here." Only hard-fought control kept her from shrieking as, apparently oblivious to her fury, Garrett shouldered around her and sauntered into her living room.
    He turned on a floor lamp, found her TV remote, and sank down on her sofa. When he spread his arms across the length of the sofa back, propped his feet on her marble-topped rosewood table, and started flipping through the channels, Jillian gritted her teeth so hard she was afraid she'd crack a cap.
    "I want him out of here " she repeated, clench jawed, and, clutching the towel that had begun to slip, stormed back to her bedroom before she acted on the growing urge to smash her Cameo Favrile vase over Garrett's head.
    "Jillian—you do realize that you're acting and sounding like a spoiled, recalcitrant child."
    "Yeah, well, I tend to get a little testy when someone packing a gun breaks into my home." She punched off the CD player with an angry stab of her finger, then sank down on the edge of the bed. The pounding of the blood in her ears like kettledrums was the only sound that broke the sudden quiet filling the room.
    "You've always been headstrong, but I gave you more credit than this. I haven't asked much from you, Jillian. All these years when I could have helped, you wouldn't let me. I respected that. I backed away."
    She lowered her face to her hand, drew in a deep breath, then let it out.
    "Well, this time I'm not backing down. It's too important. You are too important—to me and to your mother. If she knew about these horrible threats—and God willing she'll never find out—she'd worry herself sick over this deplorable situation. This is all about keeping you safe, sweetheart," he added after a long pause. "This is about keeping you alive."
    She squeezed her eyes shut as love and guilt and the lingering and unwelcome threads of fear joined forces to undercut her anger. Justifiable anger, she reminded herself. He'd set her up. Railroaded her into this position.
    "I love you, Jillian." He paused, waiting for her to reciprocate the sentiment.
    She was too angry, felt too violated, to find it in her to respond in kind.
    Another long moment passed before her father ended the discussion with two concise words: "Garrett stays."
    The line went dead.
    Jillian stared at the cell phone for a long vacant moment before winging back and hurling it across the room. It smacked the wall above the doorjamb with a resounding crack. It wasn't until the phone hit the plush white carpet and landed directly in front of a pair of black leather running shoes that she realized she was no longer alone.
    She looked up the length of long legs covered in black denim, past a flat abdomen and broad chest wrapped in black cotton knit and a shoulder holster, until she reached those laser blue eyes. Along with a roiling anger, she felt run over by the overwhelming sting of defeat and a slowly dawning truth. He'd watched her undress. He'd seen her naked. Soaping herself in the shower. Moving to the music.
    A knot of humiliation joined the anger and her sense of vulnerability.
    "How much money is he paying you?" she asked in a flat voice.
    Legs braced wide, arms crossed, hands tucked under his armpits, he rolled a shoulder in a negligent shrug. "Enough to know that you're one hot property, princess ... not that it matters. What matters is that I managed to breach your high-security building and get access to you. It could have been anyone. It could have been someone who'd have left you dead instead of alive and pissed off. You can recover from pissed off."
    At the moment, she wasn't so sure she could. Her heart leveled several hard, irregular beats. "Get out." He considered her with a