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After several minutes of silence, she tried to initiate some polite conversation. “Do you live nearby?” The thought made her stomach lurch. What a cruel irony it would be if he’d been living in the DC area this entire time and she hadn’t known.
“No. I recently moved back to London from Paris.”
“Paris. How exciting.”
“More than you realize,” he mumbled. She waited for him to explain, but he didn’t.
“Family?” She tried to make the question sound casual. The loud thumping in her ears begged to differ.
He looked up from his plate. “If you’re asking if I moved to London to be closer to my family,” his lips thinned, “the answer is no.”
“That’s not what I…” her mouth snapped shut. His personal life was no longer any of her business.
His eyes lit with understanding, then cooled. “You’re asking if I have a wife? Children?”
She pretended an interest in her forkful of sesame chicken.
“No.”
The brusqueness of his reply didn’t stop her mood from lightening, a traitor to all the painful memories she’d relived since he appeared in her company lobby earlier this afternoon.
“When did you get out of the military?” She wasn’t about to ask why he joined in the first place. If the answer involved her, it would be yet another boulder in the truckload of guilt she already shouldered when it came to him.
Ryder stopped chewing, appearing to do a mental calculation in his head. “About three years ago.” A shadow crossed his face, whatever memory that sprung to mind clearly an unpleasant one. “It wasn’t the same after…”
She waited for him to finish that thought, too. No such luck.
“So, you decided to go into security work rather than work for your father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” she prodded. For God’s sake, getting information out of him was like pulling teeth.
Maybe because he thought his life was none of her business.
Hadn’t she just told herself that? Yet here she was. Being nosy. Because she wanted—no—neededto know why he hadn’t chosen the life of privilege laid out for him.
His striking blue eyes met hers. “Because I finally found something I’m good at. That has meaning for me.”
Oh.
“I’d like to have my colleague upgrade your home security tomorrow,” he said before she had time to process his statement and ask more questions. “And I’ll be arranging residential surveillance.”
She frowned at him over a sip of wine. “I thought you were only assessing my situation this week and providing recommendations?”
A flicker of impatience darkened his eyes. “I pulled a GPS tracker off your car. I think it’s safe to assume at this point that security measures are necessary.”
The sticky rice turned to sand in Nathalie’s mouth. She’d been doing her best to forget that detail. Someonehadbeen following her. It wasn’t her imagination. She thought she’d have more time before the details of her software design became public knowledge.
Blame it on someone at Air Force Materiel Command who got overly chatty with an attractiveDefense Newsreporter.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, her former lover had shown up, without warning, in the role of her protector, scattering her wits and emotions to the winds. He made her feel things she didn’t want to feel.
Didn’t have time to feel.
Her open dining room suddenly felt like a closet. Taking a deep breath, she set down her fork. “Look, it’s been a long day. I’m sure it’s been a long day for you as well.” Her hand moved toward her ear before she caught the movement and forced it back to rest on the table surface. “You’ve checked my house. My doors and windows are locked, and I have a monitored alarm system. I’m perfectly safe here. The rest can wait until tomorrow. Go to your hotel or wherever it is you’re staying while you’re in town.”
A muscle twitched in Ryder’s jaw. “My job is to protect you. I can’t do that if I’m not with you.”