Page 43 of Her Noble Protector

She watched as he slowly smiled. “Well that’s a very good thing, now isn’t it?”

“I really think it is. Who is Harry?”

“I told you, he’s a friend of mine.”

She unzipped the sleeping bag and slid her legs over the side of the lounge chair. “Yeah, I got that part, but where did he come from, and why is he at the Marriott with Camilla?”

Raiden rubbed his jaw and watched her.

“Are you going to answer me?”

“You wake up feisty, don’t you?”

She used to. She used to be a morning person. She remembered that. She also remembered that she wouldn’t let someone get away with not answering a simple question.

“Raiden, tell me why your friend is staying at the Marriott with Cami.”

“I didn’t like the sound of your prowler. Plus, Nic would hand me my ass if I was having Cami driving around a strange town at night to go to her hotel when she’s still recovering from Mexico. Therefore I called in Harry.”

“All the way from Cochise? That’s two hours from here. You should have driven her to the hotel.”

His brown eyes flared. “I wasn’t going to leave you, Lisa.”

“That’s stupid. It’s how long to get to the hotel? Thirty minutes? You’d only be gone for an hour.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. His massive chest. The chest that she’d seen naked last night for just a moment. “I wasn’t going to leave you.” This time his words came out as a rumble.

Lisa jumped at the sound of a car horn honking. Raiden grinned. “Guess we’re not arguing anymore, food is here.”

“We weren’t arguing,” Lisa argued.

He grinned. “Whatever you need to believe, honey.”

He turned to the gate and Lisa panicked. “You’re not going to let Harry in, are you?”

“No, Lisa, I’m not. He’s just dropping Cami off. He’s going back to the hotel to get some work done. He’ll come back tonight to pick her up.”

Lisa gave him an incredulous look. “Wait a minute, are you seriously telling me that he is nothing but a glorified Uber driver? Are you out of your mind?”

Raiden let out a loud laugh. “There’s my girl. I knew she was hiding in there.”

Lisa’s eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”

“Always knew you were full of piss and vinegar. I like it. Now let me let Cami in.” He turned away from her and she sat there stunned. He was right. She had actually gotten upset with him. A big man. She was outside of her house giving ‘what-for’ to a big man. She wasn’t hyperventilating and getting ready to scurry back inside; instead, she was waiting for him to come back so she could either find out what was for breakfast or continue their argument.

Her fingers touched her lips as she felt the beginnings of a small smile. Maybe things would get better.

* * *

It was nice listening to Camilla and Raiden talk about all of Raiden’s team members. Plus there was the added advantage that she didn’t really need to enter the conversation. After the morning spent cleaning, an early lunch on the patio was relaxing. Raiden had gone to his motel and showered after physical training and he was looking… Well, Lisa didn’t quite know how to describe how he looked.

She kept taking surreptitious glances at him underneath her lashes. He was wearing some kind of silver athletic shirt that looked like it had been painted onto his body, that along with cargo shorts and running shoes. This wasn’t like her; she never looked at men. She didn’t. Never. Ever. But she was now. Then there was his voice. It was smooth and warm. But last night and this morning she’d heard it rumble. She’d liked it both ways. Even when it rumbled, his voice had never scared her.

“—is taking another shift today, I’ll call her tonight.”

Lisa looked over at Camilla, trying to catch onto what she was saying.

“What about your classes, do you need to get back to them?” Raiden asked.