Protecting Lulu (Global Protection Agency) (2 page)

She
knew why Wilder was frantic to keep her safe. Twenty-two years ago their
parents had been murdered at their family estate in France in what everyone
assumed was a botched kidnap attempt. Lulu and Wilder had barely escaped. The
assailants had never been found or brought to justice and a part of Wilder
still lived in the fear they would return to finish the job.

A
second before they reached the penthouse floor, Lulu pushed the stop button the
elevator. “How do I look?”

Aiden
took off his glasses, twirling them around as he studied her. “What are you
going for?”

What
did she need to be in order to get through this meeting as quickly and as
painlessly as possible? “Cooperative comes to mind.”

Aiden
laughed. “So not happening.”

Lulu
closed her eyes and tried to think of something pleasant like beautiful Dutch
men running naked through the garden or a new pair of Brian Atwood shoes.

“Wipe
the look of disdain off your face,” Aiden waved his finger over his forehead.
“You’re doing that crinkle thing with your eyebrows.”

“I’m
trying.”

Aiden
cringed. “You look like you’re having a fit. Careful or you’ll get a wrinkle.”

God
forbid. Lulu took a moment to focus. She took several deep breaths and relaxed
her facial muscles. “How do I look now?”

Aiden
squinted at her. “Hair magnificent. Make-up flawless.” He reached up and
unbuttoned the top two buttons of her blouse. “As always the girls are at their
awe-inspiring best.”

“The
type of men Wilder hired are trained not to be inspired.” He would only get the
best and that probably meant they were all ex-FBI or CIA or some other alphabet
agency with absolutely no sense of humor.

Aiden
put his glasses back on. “I’m a gay man and the girls inspire me.”

“You
just want them for yourself.” She started to button her blouse back up. Today she
wanted to ooze self-confidence, not sell sex.

Aiden
pulled her fingers away from her dress. “Oh darling, it is a universal truth
that all men, be they gay or straight, love boobs. Straight boys think of sex
and gay boys think about food, or what blouse would make them look their best.”

Lulu
laughed. “I’m giving you that one.” Her hand strayed back to her buttons, but
Aiden slapped it away. She pressed the elevator button and they finished their
journey to the top floor. Seconds later the doors opened to a reception area
decorated in muted grays with a gold sofa and matching chairs. Sylvia, Wilder’s
assistant was sitting at her round desk gazing at the computer screen to the
other side.

Behind
the woman, the double doors to Wilder’s office stood open and Lulu could see
her brother speaking to a man who just about took Lulu’s breath away. He was
tall, taller than Wilder who stood an even six foot three.

“Your
brother is waiting, Lulu,” Sylvia said. “Go right on in.”

Lulu
swallowed another spurt of irritation. “Thank you, sweetie.”

As
she and Aiden stepped into the large office, she stopped short. A number of very
impressive examples of manhood stood around the office. She bit her bottom lip
to keep it from quivering. “Oh my.”

Aiden
leaned toward her. “Lulu, your brother is having a man buffet,” he whispered

Lulu
couldn’t agree more. She tried not to sigh at the sight of so many men and the
one lone woman who stood off a little by herself.

“If
I knew the boy candy was going to show up,” Aiden continued. “I’d have tried to
kill you myself.”

“I
think I would have let you.” Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad after all. The
day was looking brighter and if it continued to improve, she might let Wilder
off the hook for his arrogant summoning. After she made a trip to Cartier on
his dime, of course.

Noah
turned at the sound of voices in the doorway and found a beautiful, dark-haired
woman standing in the doorway with a sly
do me
smile on her lips. Noah’s
mouth fell open as he gazed at her. She was six feet of curves, elegance, and
the kind of beauty that sank ships. He closed his mouth with a snap and glanced
at Harrison to see if he’d noticed Noah’s lapse. Harrison hadn’t. In fact, he
was staring glassy-eyed at the gorgeous woman entering the office with the same
awed intensity as Noah.

“Hello
boys,” she said in a low seductive, smoky voice that reminded Noah of aged malt
whiskey and sent hot shivers down his spine.

She
was curvy in all the right places and the blue skirt and blouse she wore
accentuated every one of those stunning curves. Long black hair with was piled
on top of her head and wispy tendrils framed her face. She looked like she just
rolled out of bed and not alone. Startling sable brown eyes seemed to stare
right into Noah’s soul.

She
grinned revealing the sexiest, whitest teeth Noah had ever seen. She walked toward
him, hips swaying to some hot little beat. “Hi, I’m Lulu.”

With
those three words, Noah’s resolve to turn the job down crashed and burned. He
glanced at Wilder and saw the man cough to cover a look of amusement in his
bland eyes.

Noah
liked his women blonde and athletic, but Lulu with her seductive lips and sexy
walk brought a whole new kind of want to Noah’s suddenly stretched nerves. Tall,
with killer curves wrapped in flawless ivory skin, she was the kind of woman who
adorned pin-up posters in the 1940s and 50s. Those pouty ruby red lips looked
like they were made for all kinds of sin.
Angelina Jolie eat your heart out.

Noah’s
palms started to sweat.

She
walked passed Noah to her brother and kissed him on the cheek. “Sorry I’m late,
the show ran a bit over.”

Show,
Noah thought. He ran through what he knew about her. She was a mogul in her own
right with a magazine and a talk show. The facts kept jumbling in his mind, his
thoughts kept skittering away while he studied her. Focus, man, focus.

Bennington
gave his sister an indulgent smile. “For you, this is early.”

Noah
observed the interaction between the two. Even he could see they were tight. That
worked to his team’s advantage. They looked a lot alike with their dark hair
and dark eyes. They carried themselves well. She was breathtaking in soft
seductive way that screamed all woman while the brother was stiff and uptight.

“Introduce
me, sweetie.” Lulu twined her arm around her brother’s. She glanced around the
room, her gaze lingering for a moment on Noah. “I’m assuming I will be spending
a lot of time with these people.”

Noah’s
mind went blank. While he groped for a comment to make, Harrison took the
initiative and stuck out his hand. “Harrison Bain, ma’am.”

“Lulu.”
She smiled at Harrison, her eyes moving from his brown skinned face, down his
toned body and then back up again.

Noah
felt as though he were melting. He wanted to touch her; he wanted to thread his
fingers through her hair. He wanted…he wanted … oh hell no, don’t go there.

“How
do you do?” Harrison gazed down at Lulu with her hand clenched in his.

“Very
well, thank you.” She studied him. “Are you by any chance related to Debra Bain
at the district attorney’s office?”

Harrison
grinned happily. “She’s my wife.”

Lulu
smiled widened. “I adore her. We’ve done several fund raisers together. Please,
tell her I said hello.”

“Of
course.”

Dante
held out his hand. “Dante Jimenez.”

She
shook his hand and gave him her dazzling smile. “Texas?”

“Yes
ma’am.”

Noah
could see the big Latino was already smitten with her and generally Dante was
immune to charm. The former West Point grad was folding like an old lawn chair.

Lulu
shook her finger at him. “You’re not a Cowboy’s fan are you?”

Dante
shook his dark head. “Never heard of them.”

“Good
answer,” she said with a throaty laugh. “You Texas boys are always so polite.”

She
was flirting with them. In two seconds, she’d charmed them all and would be leading
them around by their noses. Noah was going to have nip this shit in the bud
real quick, or they’d have a client who’d be dead in a week. That was not good
for business.

“Roman
Baptiste,” Roman said quietly as she shook his hand. His blond hair flopped
over his forehead as he looked down. Lulu was tall, but Roman was six five in
his bare feet with muscles on his muscles. He could bench press an elephant.

Lulu
rattled off something in French too fast for Noah to catch it. His French was
adequate enough to get around, but he wasn’t fluent. Roman smiled. In all the
years since Noah had met him on a joint French-American exercise in Iraq, Roman
had rarely smiled. Noah wasn’t sure who was more shocked, him or Roman.

Lulu
winked at Roman with a saucy tilt to her head and the former French commando actually
blushed like an adolescent school boy. They were in trouble.

E.
J., the lone woman in Noah’s employ, stepped forward with a grin. “E. J.
Wexler. I’m pleased to meet you.”

E.
J. was nice to look at. She cleaned up pretty good too, from her deep red hair
to her pale baby face.

Lulu’s
eyebrows rose. “How did you .get into the boy’s club?”

E.J.
being the straight shooter she was, told the truth. “They needed a thief.” E.
J. slanted a glance at Noah with a hint of pride in her eyes.

E.
J. used to be one of the best in the business. They didn’t call her The Snake
for nothing. She could get in and out of spaces that made Noah cringe.

“Impressive.”
Lulu leaned forward. “We’re going to have some serious girl talk.”

E.
J. nodded. “I’d be happy to have some serious girl talk with you. I don’t get
that chance too often.”

Noah
couldn’t help but admire Lulu. She flirted with women just as easily as men. Shit,
Lulu Bennington was lethal. Who could dislike her enough to want her dead?

“Gideon
Lazlo.” Gideon stepped forward. Built like a soccer player, he was slim and lithe;
the dark haired, retired CIA mechanic was the perfect edition to the team.

Noah
had met Gideon in Afghanistan while both had been hunting terrorists and he had
seemed a logical addition to Noah’s staff besides bringing some valuable
training to the table.

“What
do you do?” Lulu asked.

“I
can neither confirm nor deny what I do,” he grinned. It’s not like he could
bring up ‘I was a hired gun on the government payroll’. That didn’t make for
polite chit chat.

She
giggled in the most charming manner. “This is rather exciting.”

Gideon
shook his head. “Ms. Bennington, we don’t like excitement.”

She
gave him a small pout. “I’ll see what I can do about that.” She turned to Ian
Richardson. “We’ve met. Ian Richardson, or should I say Lord Chattsworth?” She
held out her hand.

Ian
bent over and kissed her fingertips. “I’m in America now; titles are for when
I’m back in England playing the Earl. Who could forget you? Ten years ago,
wasn’t it?”

Suave
English bastard, Noah thought, a spurt of envy hitting him. Ian was one of best
agents MI-6 ever produced, because no one would think a titled English playboy
had what it took to be a spy. Ian could have shown James Bond a thing or two. Never
at a loss for words, always polite, and the kind of man ladies fought over.

Lulu’s
eyes lit up. “London at the Vivienne Westwood fall show.”

“I
remember as though it were yesterday,” Ian half purred. “You wore the black
wedding gown at the end of the show and brought down the house. I’m honored you
remember me.”

Lulu
laughed. “I never forget tall, blond, and titled. What are you doing here?”

“Aiding
a damsel in distress,” he said.

Oh
for Christ’s sake, Noah almost grabbed Ian to pull him away from Lulu. Ian could
turn on the bullshit and now everyone was knee deep in it. All they needed was for
these two to be swapping crap for the next couple of weeks or however long it
took to catch her stalker.

Noah
closed his eyes, working to contain his irritation.

Lulu
turned to Noah and he felt the urge to flee. Already he could tell this woman
was a force to be reckoned with and Bennington was afraid that one minute with
this over-powering woman would send Noah running for the hills. Noah was made
of sterner stuff than that, but still he’d felt the urge to get away from her
as much as he wanted to kiss her. What the hell was wrong with him?

Noah
forced himself not to walk out the room. All of a sudden, he knew exactly why
Wilder Bennington had hired him instead of using his own security force. Lulu Bennington
was no one’s fool and she’d run rings around anyone who knew her well. At least
with Noah, Wilder had a chance to keep to her safe because he wouldn’t be
influenced by her dynamic nature.

Her
gaze moved up and down him like she was studying him. “And you are?”