Forbidden Stranger by Megan Hart

2018

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Author:	Megan Hart
Genre:	Contemporary Romance
File Name:	forbidden-stranger-by-megan-hart.epub
Original Title:	Forbidden Stranger (The Protector)
Creator:	Megan Hart
Language:	en
Identifier:	MOBI-ASIN:B076H7NLSJ
Publisher:	St. Martin's Press
Date:	1520265600
File Size:	711578.624

A female bodyguard with enhanced abilities. A billionaire playboy committed to destroying people like her. A romance they didn’t expect…

Nina Bronson and Ewan Donahue have put their love to its limits. To Ewan, she’s the only woman he wants to be with for the rest of his life. To Nina, whose memories have been ripped out of her, Ewan is her kind and generous boss who’s helping her recover after an accident she also can’t remember. The more time they spend together, the more she begins to feel for him, but Ewan knows the truth — she loved him once.

As Ewan tries to do whatever it takes to get Nina back to herself without putting her in danger, the two of them have to build a brand new relationship from the ground up. Sometimes, a lie isn’t a betrayal, it’s a lifesaver. Can Nina forgive Ewan for not telling her the truth about why she lost so much of her memories, or are they doomed to never be together again?

Table of Content

1. CHAPTER ONE This was the wrong knife. Nina Bronson studied the bin of root vegetables in front of her, along with the small paring knife she held in her right hand. It had gone dull already, or at least that’s how it felt to her. Aggie Sheeran, the cook and housekeeper, had assured her that the knife was more than sharp enough for the job. Nina couldn’t think of any reason why Aggie would lie to her, but she didn’t quite believe her about the knife, either. Nina hefted it, uncertain what she was testing it for. Only knowing it didn’t feel right in her hand. It wasn’t heavy enough, not well balanced. Something. On a whim she tossed it in a circle to catch it again by the handle and looked up to see Aggie frowning at her. “You’ll cut your fingers off, you keep that up. And that look on your face. Be careful, it will stay that way, and then what will you do?” Aggie asked in her lilting accent as she waved her own, much larger and obviously sharper knife in Nina’s direction. The older woma
2. CHAPTER ONE
3. CHAPTER TWO The ride to the island from the mainland took nearly an entire day by Ewan’s private airtranspo, which was the only way to get there. Boats couldn’t make it, not without capsizing or coming up hard on the enormous, jagged rocks that Ewan had paid to install around the entire island. The lighthouse he’d built sent out not only a broad beam of bright light to warn them away, but also it and all the boulders had been fitted with an electronic pulse warning system that was supposed to automatically interact with navigation and communication systems, turning any crafts, including public airtranspos, away well before they were in danger. Ewan had bought the island, an uninhabited block of stone covered in broken shells, sand, and struggling sea grass, more than a decade before, but he hadn’t done much with the property until right after Gray Tuesday. With the catastrophic data loss created by hackers, it had been easy to keep the island a secret from the groups determined to hunt
4. CHAPTER TWO
5. CHAPTER THREE “I could go over the last batch of files with you, if you want,” Nina said when Ewan didn’t reply. He’d caught her staring, so she made sure to keep her tone light. Casual. Inside though, her guts fluttered like she’d swallowed a jarful of moths. Ewan’s hazel eyes glinted in the firelight that cast shadows on his profile. His hair was getting long, she thought, and wished she could lean forward to brush it off his forehead. How would he react if she did? Would he laugh? Would he reach up to grab her hand and push it away? Would he pull her closer? Maybe take her in his arms, she thought with a shiver. Maybe he would . . . do nothing. He did nothing, because of course she kept her hands to herself and did not sexually harass her employer. He shook his head. “No work talk tonight. We can do that tomorrow. For now, just tell me about yourself, Nina. How are you doing?” “I’m . . .” Shiny fine, Nina meant to say. Terrific. Great. Not a care in the world. Grateful, she wanted t
6. CHAPTER THREE
7. CHAPTER FOUR Ewan hadn’t yet told Nina he’d be living full-time on the island, but Aggie and Jerome knew. He’d offered them both a severance package, fully expecting them both to take it but grateful when Aggie informed him that if it was all right with Ewan, the pair of them planned to stay on. “We both only have a few more years until retirement,” she told him over mugs of hot, sweet tea in the morning. Nina had gone out for her daily run, leaving Ewan and Aggie the freedom to talk without fear of being overheard. “As far as jobs go, Mr. Donahue, I could scarcely ask for a better one. I’ve grown quite fond of your Ms. Bronson, as I’m sure you can tell. I’d like to stay on to see her get better.” “She might never get better,” Ewan said. Aggie smiled. “She might not ever remember everything, but that doesn’t mean she won’t get better. Now, tell me all about the new laws.” Ewan gave her the rundown on what had been passed. The enhancement tech itself was still illegal for use in any new
8. CHAPTER FOUR
9. CHAPTER FIVE Ewan wouldn’t have cared if Jordie Dev spent the rest of his life in shackles, gibbering and drooling in a cell without windows. The kid who’d shown such promise as one of Ewan’s interns in the tech lab had turned out be the worst kind of thief and traitor. The kid had been directly involved in organizing Nina’s kidnapping, in collusion with Ewan’s former partner Wanda Crosson, and although Jordie had ended up getting screwed over by the League of Humanity, Ewan had no sympathy for him. Jordie had made his choices, and every one of them had been self-serving and greedy. For Katrinka Dev, however, Ewan had a little more pity. Jordie’s mother had been one of Ewan’s strongest longtime supporters, starting with the lobbying efforts to make the original tech and upgrades illegal, and when Ewan had done a complete turnabout, she’d joined him in those efforts, too. Having her only son in a prison for the criminally insane had ended up wrecking her emotionally, and she’d stepped f
10. CHAPTER FIVE
11. CHAPTER SIX Boxes and boxes of files and documents, none of them dated more recently than fifteen years ago. Nina knew that because she knew what year it was currently, and she knew that because she’d been asked if she knew it, repeatedly, by the med team in the first days of her recovery. At first, her name and the date. A bit later, her location. The names of Ewan, Aggie, and Jerome, as well as the med team docs. Nina had the feeling she had not remembered anything close to all of that at first, but she was certain she did now. Today it had only taken her half the usual time to finish up the work she’d allotted to herself. She’d portioned it carefully so she wouldn’t run out of material before the end of the week, since the airtranspo would not have returned with its monthly supplies until then. If she finished before the next delivery, she wouldn’t have anything left to do. Ewan wouldn’t be worried about that, but Nina already struggled to keep herself fully occupied. Running out of
12. CHAPTER SIX
13. CHAPTER SEVEN Hands on her body. Stroking. A sleek, wet tongue flickers along her throat and to the slopes of her breasts. Nina arches into the touch with a moan. It’s been so long since anyone touched her this way. She wants the pleasure to go on forever. In the dark, the scent of her lover and the touch of his strong fingers along her spine are the only sensations she wants. She gives up to him. Her body is his. Her heart. Her mind. With a start, Nina woke sitting upright in the bed with the blankets tangled around her ankles. The room was chilly, yet she was sweating. Her nipples peaked beneath the heavy nightgown she’d worn to bed, and when she cupped them, her breasts were heavy. A little lower, she slipped a hand between her thighs and pressed against the tingle of fading pleasure there. That had been some dream. Nina pressed her head into the pillow’s soft comfort, closing her eyes. She had no idea how long it had been since the last time she’d made love or fucked or even gotten
14. CHAPTER SEVEN
15. CHAPTER EIGHT The weather-tempering system Ewan had paid a fortune to set up around the island didn’t stop storms, and this one had started shortly after the airtranspo left after dropping off the next month’s supplies. Lightning forked the sky in the distance, far enough away that the thunder rumbling after it was still covered up by the sound of the waves surrounding them. A tension crackled in the air, though, and while he wanted to blame it on the electricity in the sky, he knew it was because of what had happened between him and Nina. He couldn’t blame her for being angry at him. He was mad at himself for being so careless as to let her see the comm and the tracker. He hadn’t, of course, really deleted the app, and he was angry, too, about still lying to her about it. Of course she’d felt violated when she found out; he could not, however, tell her the truth, nor could he have the tracker disabled, in case something went wrong, and all of this had become a clusterfuck he could not
16. CHAPTER EIGHT
17. CHAPTER NINE It killed him to see Nina in pain. To hear her tell him about how much it hurt, and where. Yet a part of Ewan rejoiced at her emotional outbursts, because it hadn’t been so long ago that she’d been incapable of the highs and lows of feeling. She’d worried she wouldn’t be able to have any depth of emotion ever again. He also hated how helpless watching her cry made him feel. This morning in the office, he’d pulled her into his arms because he’d been unable to stop himself from offering her comfort. It was crossing a line, no question about that, but she’d allowed it. Now, he’d locked his bedroom door to pull out his personal comm so he could call Doc Zulik. Ewan had hired an entire team to take care of Nina in the first days after her accident. The best the world could offer. One by one, their expertise had no longer been needed, until finally only Zulik remained. He hadn’t been to the island in months and wasn’t scheduled to return for a few more, but Ewan knew the doc tal
18. CHAPTER NINE
19. CHAPTER TEN The message blinking on Ewan’s personal comm came from an unrecognized number. The groups that had been threatening his life and livelihood because of his connection to the enhancement tech had all been disbanded or had turned their attentions to some newer, trendier focus, but that didn’t mean he could stop being vigilant. The security team he’d put together to scrub his publicly accessible information and essentially make him a cipher was top-notch, and with Aggie and Jerome here on the island, as well as the island’s defenses, he wasn’t worried about any physical threats coming his way. Still, the unknown number gave him a long pause before he swiped to read it. Got a new comm. Wondering about Nina. How’s she doing? The message was from Al, Nina’s friend and the fellow enhanced soldier Ewan had hired when Nina had been taken by the League of Humanity. Ewan didn’t bother typing a message in reply. He thumbed the screen to place a call. Al answered after a single ping. Her
20. CHAPTER TEN
21. CHAPTER ELEVEN Ewan had always preferred the woods and mountains to the ocean, but he had to admit that since he’d started coming to his island, the constant crashing of the waves and the smell of the salt water had come to feel more like home to him than any other place. Today he’d woken in the pearly light of early dawn to meet the airtranspo that had arrived with the island’s supplies. He’d ordered something special for Nina, and he wanted to be sure he got to it before anyone else, so he could surprise her. Zulik had told him he was suggesting Nina have some options for entertainment. A hobby, Zulik had said, and Ewan had wracked his brain to think of something that might appeal to her. He’d set up the easel and paints in the office where the light was best, not that he knew dick-all about painting or light or even art, for that matter. He had wanted to give Nina the gift personally, but since she’d demanded that he delete the tracking app they’d barely spoken. Instead, he’d left i
22. CHAPTER ELEVEN
23. CHAPTER TWELVE She couldn’t say she hadn’t meant to kiss him. That would be like saying she hadn’t meant to eat the last piece of cake, or hadn’t meant to sleep past her alarm for that extra twenty minutes. Maybe she knew she shouldn’t, but that hadn’t stopped her from doing it. Nina couldn’t remember if she’d always been an impulsive person, but kissing Ewan had definitely been an impulse. At least the first time. The second had been pure, wanton need. Inescapable. Relentless. A compulsion she didn’t understand but had been unable to fight. It had left her both weakened and yet feeling strong—a contradiction in her emotions that she couldn’t get straight. Why did kissing Ewan Donahue make Nina feel as though she might fall to the ground, only so he could help her back up? “We should get back to the house,” she told him when he didn’t say anything more. “I’m hungry.” Something in the way his lips tipped up a little annoyed but also intrigued her. “Why does that make you smile?” she dem
24. CHAPTER TWELVE
25. CHAPTER THIRTEEN “You took a risk with that girl, and you know it.” Aggie put her hands on her hips and glared at Ewan. “You hired me and Jerome to be here in case she tried to hurt herself again, and then you go and do this? If you’re not going to let me know what you’re doing, Mr. Donahue, you might as well as hire Greta back.” The first nurse he’d hired had been capable of dealing with Nina’s medical issues, but without special training in the security field, she’d been useless for all the rest of it. “Nothing that had happened here was Greta’s fault, but you have to know I appreciate how much better you’ve been for Nina, Aggie.” “And yet you take it upon yourself to force her to face her fears without me or Jerome there. What would you have done if she’d broken, let me ask you that? She might’ve . . . Mr. Donahue,” Aggie said in a frustrated hiss, keeping her voice low, “she might have done something to kill you both!” It would have sounded melodramatic to tell her that if Nina die
26. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
27. CHAPTER FOURTEEN Nina had woken early again, although if she’d suffered nightmares they’d faded on their own before she opened her eyes. The house was not dark but still quiet, everyone else sleeping, when she got up and dressed. She wasn’t thinking much about it, but she went to the attic and the easel with its brushes and paints. Turned half toward the window, so the light of dawn filtered over the blank canvas, Nina set everything up and stood, waiting for . . . Inspiration? She took a brush and held it at arm’s length, squinting down the brush end. Like she knew what in the universe she was doing. She chuckled at herself, shaking her head, then decided to simply start. “Here we go,” she muttered. The first few strokes of paint on the canvas felt wrong. The brush, unwieldy in her hesitant hand. The paint, too thick in globs, no delicate way to lay its path in anything resembling a picture. That was the problem, wasn’t it? She didn’t know what she wanted to paint in the first place.
28. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
29. CHAPTER FIFTEEN “The weather’s cleared enough for us to go,” Jerome said from the kitchen doorway. He gave Nina and Ewan a brief nod. He looked exhausted and worried, and Nina couldn’t blame him. His and Aggie’s departure from the island had been delayed by a few hours because of the storms outside, and Nina knew they were both quietly frantic at not being able to get to their son sooner. “I’m ready,” Aggie said as she wiped her reddened hands on her apron. She’d put it on over her blue dress and cardigan at the last minute, so she could check on the roast in the oven. “I can take care of that,” Nina said pointedly as she stood from the table where she’d been eating a thick slice of buttered bread. Her heart ached for Aggie and Jerome, but her stomach had still insisted on being fed. “You both go. You didn’t need to cook us anything at all.” “I needed to do something to pass the time instead of worrying myself into sickness,” Aggie said as she took off the apron and hung it on the hook
30. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
31. CHAPTER SIXTEEN “Nina.” He repeated her name in that same yearning, greedy voice. She shut him up with another kiss, harder even than the first. She wanted it to hurt, like somehow that would make it easier. It didn’t. When she took his tongue between her teeth and bit, Ewan didn’t try to pull away. He gave her more of himself. His breath, his body, his palpable need. Nina had gone upstairs to confront him, but the moment she’d walked into the room to see Ewan naked from behind, the only thing she’d wanted to do was . . . him. His hand on her breast tightened before his thumb passed over her nipple, already erect and sensitive even through her shirt. She moved him toward the bed, and he went without protest, until she pushed him back onto it and she climbed his body to straddle his hips. She’d changed into a pair of soft leggings and a matching shirt while he’d been outside. He’d lost the towel on the journey to the bed, so now there was only the thinnest layer of material between his
32. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
33. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN The sound of the wind and rain whipping at the windows might have sounded ominous or threatening, but to Nina, the crackling fire and glass of wine were comforting enough to chase away anything frightening about the night. It was Ewan, too, she had to admit to herself as she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He’d gotten up to adjust the fire, and as he leaned over to tinker with the controls, she couldn’t stop herself from admiring the way his soft pajama pants clung to that hard, muscled butt. What the hell were they doing? They’d spent the day exactly as she’d suggested. On the couch, watching movies, although they’d now made their way through more than one bottle of wine. They were taking a break from viddies to read. She kept waiting to be drunk, but so far all she felt was warm, cozy, and cared for. Lazy, too, since she had dressed in a nightgown after her post-workout shower. They’d cuddled on and off all day. Kissed a few times, but had not been making
34. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
35. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN She wouldn’t sleep with him again. That should be easy enough, right? She didn’t have to give in to every impulse she had. She could resist. It was only sex. Wasn’t it? Disgruntled with herself for caring so onedamned much and at Ewan for being exactly the sort of dick he’d promised he wasn’t going to be, Nina kept up the pattern of stretches and positions she’d been working on. She didn’t care where she’d learned them or how long she’d known them. This felt like her normal, and she needed that. Desperately. The rain had already soaked her to the skin, but other than having to push her hair out of her eyes, she didn’t mind. The chill was a relief, something to focus on as her body warmed through the exercises. She breathed. Moved. This wasn’t a cardio workout, but it did work up a sweat. The ground had turned to sandy, gritty mud. It covered her shoes. They’d be ruined. Nina didn’t care. She had to do this. Working her body was a comfort. The wind, the rain, the cold,
36. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
37. CHAPTER NINETEEN They had to get off the island. Ewan thumbed away Al’s last message and brought up the news channel with another swipe of the screen. The comm frizzed with static again, but finally provided the information he needed. Zulik had been right about the series of natural disasters. Although emergency crews would be working frantically to deal with the damage and aftermath, it was going to be some time before Ewan’s private airtranspo would be able to make it back to the island. At least a couple days longer than he’d planned. “Who is Al?” Nina’s curious voice came from the kitchen doorway. He turned, startled. “What?” “Al,” she repeated, entering the room. She wore familiar clothes, and he wondered if that meant more memories had returned to her. Her hair, wet, curled around her face. She’d pinned her bangs off her forehead. “I had a friend. Al. Who is it? We worked together, right?” “Yeah. You worked together.” Ewan scrambled to think of a way to describe Al that wouldn’t
38. CHAPTER NINETEEN
39. CHAPTER TWENTY This is war. The sound of engines. Confusion. Attacks. This is her job and her purpose. To protect. To serve. Assess the situation. The airtranspo was on an unsteady trajectory, so close overhead that Nina swore she felt the brush of metal against her hair as she ducked. Cursing, she went to the ground, rolling onto her back so she could get up on her feet again as soon as it passed. It circled the house, dipping low to the landing area before swirling up into the sky again for what looked to be a second pass. Behind her, Ewan’s shout turned Nina toward him. Protect the client. She didn’t think. She moved. The cliff’s edge had fallen away, taking Ewan with it. She watched like this was a viddy put into slow motion. She lunged. She grabbed. Her hand slapped into Ewan’s arm right below his elbow. Her fingers gripped. His wrist twisted, his hand turning so his own fingers could circle her forearm. She had him, tight, but he was completely suspended now and the jolt of her s
40. CHAPTER TWENTY
41. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Nina let out a long, low, and horrified groan. Her shoulders shook. Ewan tried to put his arms around her, but she stepped neatly out of his embrace. “I’m sorry.” He knew it wasn’t going to be anywhere near enough. Al stood, pushing her chair back from the table. “Katrinka Dev was trying to outrun Donahue’s team to get patches made for all of us, and it looks like she made it first.” “She was unethical,” Ewan spat. Al sneered. “Like that matters? Her team came up with something that seems to have worked, at least for that crazy fuck Jordie. So far nothing’s been released, but eventually everyone’s going to get called in to have their heads messed with. Again. So I came to get you, before something could happen to you.” “You could have called first,” Ewan told her. “At the least I’d have given you access codes.” Al’s eyebrows flew up. “Really? You’re going to scold me about that? Did it occur to you that I tried and got no answer? I thought something excremental might
42. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
43. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO In the time before his airtranspo returned, Ewan closed up the island house. He spent a few hours making sure Aggie and Jerome knew they didn’t need to come back and arranging for a final bonus payment to their accounts. Spent a few more hours checking in with his team and following up on their progress. Then there was nothing left to do but head back . . . “home” didn’t feel like the right word for it. Home had become the island, but without Nina, the island was nothing but a barren slab of rock. Home was not a place for Ewan anymore. Home would always be Nina. Still, he had more than one house to choose from, and it seemed like a natural choice to go back to Woodhaven, where he’d first met her. The house that had once seemed perfect for him now loomed large and too empty, but the grounds surrounding it gave him enough room to run and run and run. Every place he ran reminded him of Nina, but Ewan had already realized that everything would for the rest of his life. H
44. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
45. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE The operation had been completed without issues. Zulik had not been on the surgical team, but had attended the procedure, and had assured Ewan it was all going to be fine. Nina had been one of the last to finish. Ewan had been waiting for nearly an hour for her to wake up. She’d stirred slightly a few times, once with a mutter as though she were dreaming. Ewan had tensed, watching her expression twist, but she’d calmed when he laced his fingers through hers and squeezed. He had no idea if the sound of his voice was helping her, but it made him feel better to talk to her, so he’d been doing that, too. Exhausted, Ewan had been fighting sleep for the past twenty minutes, but now his head dropped onto his chest and he struggled to keep his eyes open. A jaw-cracking yawn rumbled through him, and he let it, thinking it would help him wake up. A few moments later, though, his head was bobbing again. He shifted in his chair. He didn’t want to let go of Nina’s hand or to le
46. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
47. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR You jumped off the cliffs. Nina didn’t remember doing that, but if the impulse then had been anything like the burning fury consuming her, she understood why she’d done it. This was not pain, nothing physical. It was unceasing, unyielding, unending torment. A compulsion. Her fingers itched to jam themselves between her own ribs, to tear herself open and hold out her own beating heart. But first, the man in front of her. He had information that could not be allowed out into the world. He had knowledge that needed to be kept secret. He had to be prevented from sharing. “I have to stop you,” she said aloud. Each word dropped from her lips like fat, ripe berries dripping with poison instead of juice. Even as she spoke, Nina knew this was wrong. Ewan Donahue had lied to her. He had betrayed her. He had broken both her trust and her heart. But he was not a spy, not even of the corporate sort. He’d been a lobbyist, not a politician. “You should run, Mr. Donahue. Run fast,”
48. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
49. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE There was no saving the hospital. Anatoly Nguyen’s demolition skills had begun the building’s collapse from the ground up. Nguyen had timed the location of the explosions on purpose to allow for escape. Most of the patients had been evacuated in time, and Nina knew what that meant. He might still go to prison because of what he’d done, even though it had been forced upon him by Jordie Dev, but something inside Nguyen had resisted long enough to do his best to make sure everyone had least had a chance. The way she’d resisted hurting Ewan as much as she could have. Jordie hadn’t made it out alive, or least his body had not yet been recovered. Nina had seen enough terror viddies to know what that meant. He could turn up at any time, twice as evil. Nina had made sure Ewan got set up with oxygen, fluids, and whatever else the EMTs were doing with him in the back of one of the ambulances in the parking lot. Of her fellow soldiers, so far only Anatoly and Haven had shown u
50. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
51. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX Ewan ought to have been better at giving speeches by now. He’d done his share of public speaking, spent his time in the public eye. He should have been used to it, yet every time he had to get up in front of a crowd and talk, he had to psych himself up for it. The truth was, for a big portion of his life he’d been compelled to pursue a career that necessitated talking to large groups and being in the public eye, but he was tired of it. The constant attention, the threats to his life, the need to flog his causes to death for them to gain any kind of traction with public opinion, the government, or both. He was tired. What he really wanted was to move back to the island where he’d spent eight months of his life falling in love with Nina and having her fall in love with him all over again. That was never going to happen, though. He’d failed. More than Nina, Ewan had failed every single one of the enhanced. He would never be able to make up for it. The best he could do w
52. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
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