4

“He’s here.”

Khalia blinked and looked up from her laptop at Ray Dunlop, the fifty-eight- year-old co-founder of Fair Start Foundation, standing in the hotel room doorway. “What? Who?”

“Your team leader.”

Huh? Was her jetlag so bad that she’d screwed up the date somehow? A quick check of her calendar assured her she hadn’t. “He’s a day early.”

“Yeah, how about that.” Ray’s sun-weathered features gave nothing away about what he thought of the head of her newly arrived security detail. She knew nothing about the man in question except that he’d been handpicked by Tom, the owner of Titanium Security. Normally she would have at least read a file on the men in her detail before arriving here in Pakistan but in light of recent events, Tom had been left scrambling to find replacement contractors for the job.

“Downstairs?” she asked, a little nervous about meeting the man who would be responsible for her safety for the duration of her visit.

Ray nodded. “In the lobby.”

Okay then, apparently for some reason Ray wanted her to see this guy for herself before forming an opinion. She hit save on her list of talking points for the upcoming meeting with the Education Minister and closed the laptop, giving Ray her full attention. “So, did you meet him?”

“No, just saw him talking to one of the guys on my detail. Thought I’d come up and let you know, so you can meet him and help put your mind at ease.”

Given what had happened to her father here a few weeks ago? Not likely. But meeting the man might make her feel a little better about things.

Or not.

“I’ll come down right now.” She grabbed her black lightweight sweater and threw it over her shoulders on her way to the door. Ray followed her into the

hallway and to the elevator without a word. As the digital numbers on the panel in front of them ticked off the decreasing floor numbers, she cast Ray a sideways glance. He stood near the mirrored side wall without looking at her, face serene, hands clasped in front of him. His silence was really starting to annoy her. He knew how wound up she was—why couldn’t he say something to reassure her? She was jittery enough at the moment without having any more unpleasant surprises to deal with. The last few weeks had been full of them.

She tried again. “So what’s he like?” A little smile this time. “You’ll see.”

Khalia blinked in surprise. “You’re not going to tell me anything about him?” If he was keeping something from her to spare her, she’d prefer to know ahead of time so she could prepare herself.

“Nope.”

Classic Ray. Either he had nothing to report, or there was a reason he was looking forward to watching her reaction to meeting her bodyguard. That didn’t ease the anxiety grinding in her belly, but she’d find out soon enough who Titanium had assigned to protect her. “Is he American or British?”

“American.”

“Former military, or law enforcement?” “Military.”

Ray had managed to find out all that without meeting him? “What branch did he serve in?”

A telling pause. Then, “SEALs.”

An answering pang of dread ricocheted around her suddenly hollow stomach. She struggled to keep the spike in anxiety from showing on her face, and hoped she managed it well enough. “Really? Well that’s impressive.” If it was true. God, she prayed this guy was legit. “How long ago?”

He shrugged as though it wasn’t important. “My guy didn’t say.”

“Lot of help you are,” she muttered as she exited the elevator and reached the lobby door. True to form, Ray grinned and reached past her to press down on the metal bar, swinging the door open for her. The heels of her nude-toned pumps clicked on the highly polished marble tile as she crossed to the foyer of the lavish hotel. Tom had booked them here. It was supposedly one of the safest hotels in the city because of its solid security presence due to all the diplomats and foreign contractors who stayed here.

Despite knowing that, Khalia had barely slept at all since they’d checked in two nights ago. She probably wouldn’t get a full night’s sleep again until she made it home safely, far away from this part of the world where armed militants would kill her simply because of what she represented.

The modern sparkling glass and tile lobby was busy, filled with wealthy tourists and businessmen dressed in suits. A far cry from the places where she’d be staying in a few days once they entered the mountainous tribal region bordering Afghanistan. In light of the circumstances she’d have felt a hell of a lot better if Tom would guard her personally, but that wasn’t going to happen and she had to accept it. In their last conversation before she’d flown here he’d told her he was working on finding a solid team for her and promised to find someone he trusted. That would have to be good enough.

The bar came into view, a polished mahogany expanse tucked away into a cozy corner of the lounge. She spotted a group of six well built men seated on leather sofas set against the far wall. Two she recognized as belonging to Ray’s detail, so she assumed the others must be here for her. The oldest, maybe around forty with reddish-blond hair shaved close to his head, had to be the team leader. Khalia drew a calming breath to battle her nerves. “That them?” she asked Ray, but the men had spotted her and were already rising from their chairs. To her surprise the redhead didn’t approach her. A slightly shorter man with dark hair broke away from the group and when she got her first good look at him,

something inside her stilled. Was this who Tom had sent to lead her detail?

He was way younger than she’d expected. Around the same age as her, in his late twenties if she had to guess. Her palms went damp. Was he experienced enough to lead the group of men charged with keeping her safe over here? When Tom had promised to send her one of his best, someone with a lot of experience, she’d assumed he’d assign someone much older.

The man kept coming, scrutinizing her just as closely. He was around six feet tall or so, with short dark hair and light brown eyes that were a little startling against his tanned complexion. His features were rugged, too harsh to be called handsome, and from the amount of stubble on his face it looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few days.

His expression remained neutral as he sized her up, but there was something in his gaze that made her insides tighten in reflex. The flat line of his mouth and the hard glint in his eyes made him look cold. Unapproachable. A light gray polo shirt stretched taut over his broad chest and shoulders and showed off his well- defined arms. His build spoke of hard work and discipline. His confident posture, the controlled way he moved told her he’d definitely spent time in the military. But a SEAL?

She’d recently learned the hard truth that not all claims about being a SEAL were legit.

He was almost to her now. The dark caramel of his eyes should have made them seem warm, but instead the look in them sent a chill of unease through her.

Now that he was closer she realized he didn’t look at all happy to see her. In fact, it looked like he either never smiled or had forgotten how to. Unless there was yet another problem she was unaware of?

Never let them see you sweat.

Over the years her father had told her that more times than she could count. Easier said than done right now, however. She was totally out of her element here and had to keep reminding herself why she was doing this. Because she was doing this. No matter the consequences.

Though having no consequences would be awesome.

Ray stood a step or two behind her, offering the silent support of his calming presence. Smoothing her hands against the sides of her dress to wipe away the dampness that had gathered on her palms, Khalia straightened her spine and put on a polite smile as she prepared to meet this hard-edged man who would hold her life in his hands during the next week.