Dangerous Promise by Megan Hart

2018

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Author:	Megan Hart
Genre:	Contemporary Romance
File Name:	dangerous-promise-by-megan-hart.epub
Original Title:	Dangerous Promise (The Protector)
Creator:	Megan Hart
Language:	en
Identifier:	MOBI-ASIN:B076BCXW12
Publisher:	St. Martin's Press
Date:	1514822400
File Size:	706447.36

A female bodyguard with enhanced abilities. A billionaire playboy committed to destroying people like her. A romance they didn’t expect…
Nina Bronson used to be all human — until the experimental surgeries and internal technology that saved her life and enhanced her as a soldier also forced her to leave the army for private service. Now she and her peers are facing slow, painful deaths unless their technology is upgraded, and the one man keeping those upgrades illegal and unavailable is an obnoxious billionaire. A man too gorgeous for his own good.
A man she’s supposed to guard with her life.
Ewan Donahue is the public voice speaking out against the enhancement procedures of injured soldiers. But when his lobbying leads to death threats, he needs someone to protect him around the clock. He doesn’t want to rely on an enhanced soldier—Nina’s tech goes against everything he stands for. But he really doesn’t want her to be beautiful like she is. Doesn’t want her to suffer like she will.
Doesn’t want to succumb to the searing desire he feels for her.
As a series of attacks on his life send them to a remote cabin, their close proximity brings them together in ways they never imagined. They know they must prevent the need simmering between them, resist each other at all costs. But when tensions are high and danger is close, passion burns hottest of all…

Table of Content

1. CHAPTER ONE Assess the situation. Protect the client. Eliminate the threat. —Nina Bronson Ewan Donahue looked like the worst kind of trouble. And, despite those broad shoulders, the sleekly perfect slope of his jaw as he turned to glare at her, and that habit he had of tossing his slightly overlong dark hair out of his flashing hazel eyes, he was not the sort of trouble Nina Bronson was going to let herself get into. Not because he was her boss, since technically he was just the guy paying for her services and not the person in charge of her. No, Nina had a lot of other reasons for putting distance between herself and one of the world’s most eligible billionaires, and Donahue himself had already made it clear precisely what he thought about her. He’d looked her dead in the eyes but gripped her hand a few seconds too briefly to keep their greeting polite. As though her skin had burned him. Like there was something distasteful about touching her. She couldn’t be surprised at his reaction
2. CHAPTER ONE
3. CHAPTER TWO He should fire her and demand his money back—it had been an obscene amount of money, even for Ewan, who hadn’t bothered to ask the price of an item or service in at least a decade. The cost of keeping him alive hadn’t mattered to him, but he hadn’t realized the services would come along with such a load of bullshit. Selective sight and hearing, she’d said, as though this was news to him. What Nina didn’t know was that Ewan had funded the research that allowed for those functions in the first place, along with most of the others she could brag about. More than funded; he’d invented and programmed the original tech and enhancement software that had transformed her from a normal, human woman into some kind of super soldier. Not a cyborg, he reminded himself as he used the toilet, his back facing her but with full awareness that she stood close enough to grab him if she wanted to, or that all she had to do was lean in a little bit to see everything nature had blessed him with.
4. CHAPTER TWO
5. CHAPTER THREE Donahue had ordered a special tech crew to come in and clean his bathroom of any residual gas as well as test to see what kind it had been, and he hadn’t resisted at all when Nina had given each of the crew members a complete pat down, one at a time, before she’d let any of them over the front door threshold. They’d come in with their gear and been gone in an hour or so, promising results as soon as possible. Donahue had been very quiet for the rest of the morning, at least with her. The medicinal gel on Nina’s eyes was gooey and disgusting, but it had thoroughly rinsed them free of whatever gas had been coming out of that tube. She’d be coughing a bit for the next few days as her lungs recovered, but she’d refused the inhaler Donahue’s personal doc had offered. Irritated lungs weren’t going to slow her down. If anything, Nina was glad that the first attack had happened so fast and had been so easy to neutralize. She was no stranger to hand-to-hand combat or weaponry enga
6. CHAPTER THREE
7. CHAPTER FOUR It had been a long time since there’d been anyone in Ewan’s life who’d felt free enough to give him a hard time the way Nina seemed to feel so free doing. He didn’t count the journalists or social media commentators who viewed him as fair game and tore him apart for everything from his politics to his choice of socks. Or, of course, the various self-appointed social justice groups like the League of Humanity that had made it their goal to wipe him off the face of the earth. He meant just regular people. Like . . . friends. He couldn’t think of the last time he’d been able to trust anyone enough to consider them any more than an acquaintance. Even Dominic Rodriguez, the CFO of Donahue Enterprises, was more of a business associate. Ewan had been to the man’s wedding, sent him gifts at the birth of all his children, set aside money in trust funds for them, even. Still, Ewan couldn’t think of a time when he and Rodriguez had ever joked around or simply hung out socially, not a
8. CHAPTER FOUR
9. CHAPTER FIVE “We could go ten miles in any direction and never reach the end of your property,” Nina said as they both stepped off the grand front porch of Donahue’s faux Victorian-style mansion and onto the circular gravel driveway. “You really want to run ten miles?” he asked. “I could. No sweat, and by that I mean pretty much literally. The question is, can you?” “I used to be able to, no problem. Now . . . not so sure. For I am old and no longer fit.” He put one arm across his chest to stretch his shoulder. Then the other. Lean muscles rippled. “Old, please, you’re what. Forty?” “Thirty-five,” he said with a frown that meant she’d gotten him. She knew of course exactly how old he was, but she’d wanted to poke at his vanity. He’d changed into a pair of ass-hugging shorts that could kill a girl who wasn’t careful. She thought of his accusation that she’d been flirting with him. He hadn’t been entirely wrong. He probably thought she actually wanted him, though, Nina thought as she eye
10. CHAPTER FIVE
11. CHAPTER SIX Ewan knew, of course, all about Nina’s capabilities. He’d been the one to design them, after all. The automatic biofeedback that allowed her to shift more energy into muscles being used for fighting or fleeing. Her body’s ability to slow her breathing while gaining more oxygen from each breath. The way she would be able to go faster, higher, harder just by a few simple shifts in her neurological responses. He hadn’t realized how irritating it would be when she used those enhancements on him. Or how sexy. She’d dropped him like it had meant nothing at all. He’d been on the ground watching her make that super jump into the sky before he had time to blink. Flat on his back with his cock aching and rigid in his shorts. Thank the universe for the tight briefs he wore that had kept his erection in its place. He’d never reacted that way to a threat before. If he were mad or scared or upset about something, the very last thing in the world on his mind was getting laid. Hell, he’d n
12. CHAPTER SIX
13. CHAPTER SEVEN Donahue had been quiet since yesterday, which was all right with Nina because she didn’t have much to say to him. Nina had used sexual tension as a way to keep clients in line before, but it had always been nothing more than surface. What happened in the garden, her reaction to him in those tense moments after the drone attack, had left her unnerved. Something deep and dark had uncoiled inside her, triggered by his scent and the faint thunder of his heartbeat, the warm brush of his body heat. She was always aroused after the danger had passed, all of her enhanced senses firing on high until the tech returned her to normal, but this had felt different. Undefinable, but undeniable. It rankled a bit that he seemed to be outright ignoring her as though she were no more than a piece of furniture. When her personal comm pinged, she glanced toward him to see if the noise had caught his attention, but he was concentrating on his computer and didn’t even glance her way. Nina stood
14. CHAPTER SEVEN
15. CHAPTER EIGHT Having Nina as his constant shadow made it a little harder for Ewan to set up the dinner he’d planned. But what had she said about fighting without her weapons in top shape? Difficult but not impossible? Ewan didn’t have weapons in his arsenal. He had skills, one of which was making things happen. Not that arranging a meal in his own home was anything close to hand-to-hand combat, but he still felt accomplished at pulling it off without her finding out until he took her into the dining room. Her words had stayed with him long after she’d said them. No matter how hard he tried to shove them away, he couldn’t shake the idea that somehow, she was right. That the tech had somehow stolen even more from her than he’d thought possible. Ewan had spent a number of hours going over old records, the ones nobody else had access to after Gray Tuesday. The tech had never been meant to suppress emotions. He could find nothing in his original specs that indicated anything like that had b
16. CHAPTER EIGHT
17. CHAPTER NINE The blond man in the ridiculously trendy outfit was trying not to show it, but Nina had infuriated him. She hadn’t put her hands on him or anything like that, but she had put him in his place, and it was not the one he was used to. Nina didn’t give a good onedamn about the daggers shooting from Petro Vanslyke’s eyes, nor did she care about the insults he was dropping. The rest of the guests at Ewan’s dinner party, two women and one other man, weren’t quite as vociferous as Vanslyke about their opinions, but on the other hand, none of them contradicted him. Ewan’s guests were all donors to his campaigns, so it was no shock to her that they were all bigots, nor that he would be interested in keeping them happy so they’d keep funding his lobbying efforts. What surprised her was how much it bothered her, the longer the jabbing went on, that Ewan was not making any attempts at defending her. She didn’t need him to, of course. She hadn’t needed anyone to stand up for her in year
18. CHAPTER NINE
19. CHAPTER TEN “It wasn’t actually the worst dinner party I ever had.” Ewan, settled in his big, comfortable bed, heard the squeak of Nina shifting on the folding cot. He lay on his back, hands folded on his chest, staring into the darkness. His knee ached and he could feel a few tingling bruises beginning on top of the ones that had just started to fade from the day in the garden. He wasn’t going to be a baby about it and complain out loud. “I’m not surprised, actually. You run with sphincters, you’re bound to get spattered now and then with shit.” He laughed at her wry tone. “So eloquent.” “It’s something my dad used to say when I complained about anything I’d chosen to do. He said it about my going into the service, once or twice.” Nina paused, looking contemplative. “I’m glad I remember it.” “Did it stop you from complaining?” “No. He died,” Nina said, but so matter-of-factly that it didn’t make Ewan feel bad. “And then I stopped complaining.” “I’m sorry. It’s hard to lose your parent
20. CHAPTER TEN
21. CHAPTER ELEVEN Ewan’s kiss overtook Nina harder and faster than any attack with fists or weapons ever had. It stunned her into inaction, only for a second or so, only for the time it took for her heart to beat a few times. To take a breath or two. Then she pulled away to take his face in her hands and stare deeply into his eyes. With her mouth still wet from his kiss, she tried to tell him not to worry. Not to struggle. In the emergency lighting that had come on in the aftermath of the decibel bomb’s blast, he should have been able to see her clearly, but his gaze was clouded. He didn’t know what he was doing, that much was obvious. This was not the time, not the place. Definitely not the man to be kissing her. Yet something in her could not resist brushing her lips over his once more before the security team swarmed in and hauled the attacker off the floor. It was Dima. “Trust me, I’m here, you’re safe,” she said even though she knew Ewan couldn’t hear her. He’d recovered a bit by tha
22. CHAPTER ELEVEN
23. CHAPTER TWELVE The plan had come together surprisingly well, once he’d gotten it into his head that this was the right thing to do. Nina had been right, she was no strategist, but her vivid imagination had been what started it all off, and Ewan had to admit—it was crazy. But it was going to work. If he survived it, anyway. “You’re sure you’re comfortable?” Nina asked. “Absolutely,” he assured her. “So long as they don’t aim for my head.” She frowned before realizing he was teasing her. Then she ran her hands over his chest, feeling for the lightweight, shockproof vest he’d donned beneath his T-shirt. They’d decided it wouldn’t be suspicious for him to be wearing it, not after all the recent threatening activity. “It fits you well.” Her palms rested on his chest as she looked up at him. He couldn’t feel her touch through the layers of material, and yet a flash of heat flooded him. His memory of the kiss had joined his repeated reimaginings of the other things he kept thinking about. His
24. CHAPTER TWELVE
25. CHAPTER THIRTEEN The drone had arrived right on time, proving to him that someone on his team was selling information or was outright involved with any one of the number of organizations determined to end his life. Nina stepped in front of him, drawing her shockgun from the thigh holster and aiming it at the drone. She fired, because they’d agreed this had to look as real as possible, but missed on purpose. When the drone fired at him, Ewan’s instinct was to duck, to run, but Nina had warned him to stand his ground. He had every faith she would keep him safe, but he had to take the hit in a place where the vest would keep the bullet from causing major damage. If he were running, the hit could get him anywhere. “Stunbullets,” Nina cried. “Stay still!” After that, everything happened so fast Ewan couldn’t keep track. Three hard pops hit him in the vest, knocking him a few steps backward. It did hurt, just as Nina had promised, but worse was the spreading tingle of what felt like electric
26. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
27. CHAPTER FOURTEEN Nina had made her rounds of the cabin and the immediate surrounding property under the pretense of making sure it was safe and secure, and of course she did all that within the first half hour after they arrived. This glimpse into Ewan’s life before the money and the fame fascinated her. She’d given him the all-clear to stay in the kitchen while she looked over the cabin’s small upper level. The peaked roof meant she had to watch her head as she moved through the single bedroom to look out one of the windows tucked into a gable. To say the view was breathtaking felt like a cliché, but was the truth. A vista of forest and fog-shrouded mountains in the distance, a hint of water through the trees, clear blue skies. There couldn’t have been a prettier sight if Ewan had paid to have one installed. The room itself included a cozy double bed with a white iron headboard and covered with a blue and white quilt that looked handmade. A battered wooden dresser with a mirror. A roc
28. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
29. CHAPTER FIFTEEN The smell of breakfast greeted him as soon as he woke. Even after the stress of the past few days and the long trip from Woodhaven, made longer because of the circuitous route they’d taken to avoid being tracked, Ewan had assumed he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep at all. Now the morning light that shone through the small attic window looked more like the glow of late afternoon. He stretched, scratching, and turned onto his side to look through the glass. It had been a long time since he’d used this cabin, but the view from the window hadn’t changed. He had, though, and maybe not for the better. Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, he let his toes find the fringes of the rag rug his grandmother had inherited from her great-grandmother. His entire body ached, though dully, nothing sharp or insistent about any of the pains. A dream came back to him. The details were fuzzy and fading rapidly, but he remembered Nina’s smile. The taste of her kiss and the feeling of h
30. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
31. CHAPTER SIXTEEN They got back from the hike, both sweating but only Ewan seeming winded and sore. Nina had done a check of the house before she let him go in, but he didn’t protest even though he was certain nobody had trespassed while they were out. By the time she came back outside to let him in, night had started to fall. “I’m going to rummage up some dinner,” he said. “I’m sure you’re hungry.” Nina patted her lean belly. “Always. I’m going to do a little workout, if you don’t mind.” “The hike wasn’t enough of one?” He paused, looking her over. She gave a rueful laugh. “It just reminded me how long it’s been since I really did my normal routine. It will only take me about half an hour. Then I can come help you with dinner, if you want.” “You don’t have to. I’ll grab a few of the premade meal packs from the storage cellar.” He lingered in the doorway to watch her for another minute before he ducked inside and grabbed a few of the foil packages from the shelves in the basement. He cou
32. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
33. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Nina had not gone back to reading her book. Instead, she’d moved to the bank of shelving below the living room windows. If everything he’d told her had shocked or upset her, she wasn’t showing it. She was strong in more ways than just physically, Ewan thought, again with admiration. What had been so important and awful was the question she’d asked him. The truth was that he couldn’t afford for her to know it, and he would never allow her to be reset on his behalf, because if anyone was able to link him to the original tech, they would come after him and not merely with death threats. Ewan had never worked directly with torture tech, but he knew how well it could work. They would use it on him and force him to hand over the existing enhancement tech upgrades, and he could not allow that. “I haven’t seen one of these in . . . well, I haven’t ever,” Nina admitted as she bent to look at the wooden cabinet and the record player inside it. She glanced over her shoulder at h
34. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
35. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN She had woken before him to the first pale, cold light of morning streaming through the attic bedroom’s small window. Nina could not remember the last time she’d slept so deeply, or came awake with such disorientation. She’d opened her eyes, dozy and warm, snuggled against Ewan so that she’d been the big spoon, and it had taken her several deep in-and-out breaths before she could figure out where she was . . . and who she was with. If someone had come into the house, breaking in while they slept and creeping up the stairs to assault them in their shared bed beneath the sloping eaves, Nina knew she’d have woken out of whatever depths of sleep she’d sunk into. She would have protected and defended her client as fiercely as necessary, and chances were very good she would have slaughtered any attacker even while she was still half-asleep. Still, guilt pricked at her. The sex in the living room had been fantastic and much needed, since she hadn’t had a good, strong orgasm i
36. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
37. CHAPTER NINETEEN “There’s something about watching a man putter in the kitchen,” Nina said as she sipped at a glass of fresh spring water and gave a happy sigh. She lifted the class to look at the clear liquid. “You know what, this is probably teeming with bacteria, and I don’t even care. It tastes so good.” Ewan looked over his shoulder at her. He had a towel slung over the other one and an apron tied around his waist. He smiled. “Not like city water.” “Nope. Reminds me of where I grew up. We had a well. City water tastes flatter, somehow.” Nina looked up from the plate of sliced apples, cheese, crackers, and a few smears of mustard they’d found in the cupboard. She licked some off her finger now and eyed him. “This mustard is amazing. It’s the real stuff. Grainy and tart and tangy, an explosion of flavors on my tongue. Sometimes things taste so good I can hard stand it. A lot of the time, food is sort of bland. But every once in a while there’s some combination of something that trig
38. CHAPTER NINETEEN
39. CHAPTER TWENTY She would get used to waking up next to Ewan, maybe, if they had time for her to become accustomed to it. For now, it had been a surprise every morning for the past week or so. Nina stretched, naked, enjoying the silence of dawn. Ewan snored lightly, and she rolled onto her side to study his face in the first rays of sun slanting through the attic window. Nina had been in places others had called paradise. Idyllic beaches, serene landscapes. She’d never been as content as she was right now. This meant something, this rough and rasping thing between them. Without waking him, she slipped from the bed and went downstairs, still naked but carrying her harness and gear in one hand. Naked, she went outside into the cool late autumn air and went through her daily workout of stretches. She breathed in, breathed out; she gave herself up to the flow of the universe inside and through her. When she’d finished, her muscles ached deliciously, and her upper lip tasted of sweat when sh
40. CHAPTER TWENTY
41. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Through the living room windows, Ewan could see the trees changing leaves. If they didn’t leave soon, they’d be snowed in here. Not simply safe. Trapped. Surviving on the stores he’d laid away, never thinking he’d need to use them. Already he was growing tired of synthbeef and pasta, of the quiet, endless days with nothing to occupy him but the books on the shelves . . . and Nina. Everything was making him weary, but he didn’t think he’d ever get tired of her. She was the first woman he’d ever brought to this cabin. The first, too, that he’d spent this much time with. Other relationships had turned sour quickly, often after spending as little as a single weekend together. Yet here they were, weeks and weeks into this, and he looked forward to every minute with her as much as ever. Maybe even more, he thought with a glance toward her. Nina didn’t look up, but she did smile. “You and the staring thing.” “I’m bored,” Ewan said abruptly. At this, she put down her book an
42. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
43. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO The trip into town had started off with an argument and an ultimatum, and he wasn’t proud of that. Ewan was far from knowing all of his flaws, but stubborn pride and insistence on having his own way was definitely one of them. He’d grown too used to getting his own way. Money had given Ewan a lot of things, but never a day as perfect as this one had been. Deer Park was indeed a town so small it could barely be called a village. Most of its residents owned property, like him, that included vast expanses of undeveloped land with hidden estates, so although it was small, the town had all the amenities you’d expect wealthy eccentrics to want. He and Nina had spent the day sampling local delicacies and looking in all the tiny shops. They’d also stuffed the buzzbike’s saddlebags with enough supplies to bring something fresh to their current pantry. They’d walked holding hands. They’d kissed over their shared dessert in a cozy little bistro. They’d tossed a few virtual coin
44. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
45. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Nina woke to a ringing in her ears and throbbing pain from half a dozen bruises all over her still naked body. Blakely would definitely not have had a problem kicking her when she was down. She hawked out a metallic taste, her spittle blood-tinged, and ran her tongue along her teeth. One seemed loose, but none were missing. Through the blurry veil of pain, Nina could see Ewan in the chair across from her. His head sagged to his chest. She could see blood dripping from his nose. That was all it took. Gritting her teeth, she tested the restraints Blakely had used to tie her to the chair. She tested, too, the pain where the bastard had hit her. Both eyes would be black. Her nose, definitely broken. Nothing she couldn’t handle. With a slow, deep breath, Nina concentrated on her injuries. Contrary to what at least a couple of the anti-enhancement groups thought, she didn’t have supernatural powers, but she could focus on the parts of her that had been hurt and shift ene
46. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
47. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Ewan heard the voices, one of them belonging to Nina and the other, feminine and familiar but yet unknown. He blinked hard, trying to clear his vision, but everything swam and blurred, and no matter how hard he tried to pull in a breath to clear his head, all he could manage was to let out a soft moan. Slim, strong fingers stroked along his cheek. Settled on his shoulder. Squeezed. He drew strength from the touch. It was Nina. He didn’t have to see her to know it. Time passed. He didn’t know how much, but the next time he struggled to open his eyes, he managed to focus. A chill prickled his skin into gooseflesh. He was naked, a bundle of soft material covering his lap. With a groan, he came fully aware, struggling. Nina was still there, murmuring his name and putting her arm around his shoulders. She looked into his face, cupping his chin until he looked into her eyes. “Shh,” she said. “I’m here. You’re all right. You’re going to be fine. I’m going to take care of y
48. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
49. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE Three things happened in the moment after Ewan Donahue destroyed Nina’s faith in him. First, he took several steps toward her with his hands out, as though he meant to touch her, and she moved away the same distance immediately, afraid she would hurt him if he so much as brushed a fingertip across her naked skin. Second, Blakely got to his feet. And third, Nina lost her mind. Blakely, splattered with blood, had eyes only for Ewan. Crosson might have been able to call him off, but she was unconscious, sprawled on the bedroom floor. Despite Crosson’s insults, Blakely was no watchdog. He was an attack dog, and it was clear he intended to take great pleasure in following through on Crosson’s orders. Nina breathed. Tensing, she waited until Blakely was close enough to Ewan that his big fists had closed on Ewan’s upper arms. Then she launched herself at the men, leaping at the last second to land a kick directly to Blakely’s left kidney. It didn’t drop him, but it caught
50. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
51. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX “All I wanted to do was to help my sister. My entire life, we’d been at odds. She was my parents’ favorite. I was their disappointment. But still, she was my sister. Family. When we lost our parents, she was all I had left.” Ewan filled two mugs with steaming water from the electric kettle and added some tea. He pushed one across the table toward Nina, who did not take it. She’d showered and dressed in her usual uniform of black leggings and top, but the harness and belt with her gear was folded neatly on the table in front of her. She would not stand by and allow him to come to harm, she’d told him, but she was no longer in his employ. No longer bound to protect him with everything she had. He was no longer hers. “She’d done such great work, see. Her efforts with conservation. The environment. She was only eight years older than me, but she’d spent so much of her life doing whatever she could to make the world a better place. No wonder my parents preferred her. Thou
52. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
53. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN Nina didn’t need to take another assignment. The money she’d made from working for Ewan would last her a good long time, even if she lived a life of extravagance and indulgence for as long as she could, which wouldn’t be very long. She didn’t need to work, but she wanted the distraction. This job had taken her all over the world. Literally. She’d spent twenty-two out of the past twenty-four hours on planes or trains or luxury cars, sitting by the side of one of the wealthiest men on the planet. Roger Germain was easy to get along with. Did as he was told, in regard to his personal safety. Didn’t talk much and therefore, didn’t expect her to have a conversation with him. He let her do her job as needed, which fortunately for both of them, wasn’t really needed. He’d given her a nice bonus, too, along with a stellar review. It didn’t necessarily matter in the long run, not when there were only a few people in the world who were capable of offering the services she cou
54. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
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