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Paige grinned "You’ll have time to study before the quiz"

Joe held open the back door "Food’s waiting"

Darcy hesitated, then stepped past him and entered a massive kitchen and was confronted by what had to be three tons of food

Grande kitchen table by a ros There were platters ofwith at least three different kinds of bread The scent of sirance of cinnamon and fruit

The elderly Marcelli walked into the kitchen "It’s ten-thirty in the rumbled "Only a fool would eat now"

"Lorenzo, stop We have company Darcy, cory All that travel"

As te down food She felt too unsettled But before she could say anything, Lorenzo limped over to stand in front of her

"How old are you?" he derabbed her left hand and looked at her bare fingers "No ring No husband, no babies What is it with you worandparents Get married and have babies" He dropped her hand and poked her in the stoet right on that"

Colleen sighed heavily "Lorenzo, please Stop torturing Darcy At least let her get settled" She looked around the kitchen and waved at Joe "Would you take her upstairs and show her around? We’ve put her in Katie’s old bedroo" Colleen smiled at her "You can unpack, then co to eat How does that sound?"

For once Darcy didn’t have a snappy co what else to do, she smiled and said, "That would be very nice Thank you"

She followed the naval officer out of the kitchen and down the hall

"This way," Joe said as he headed for a flight of stairs

The house was large and well kept She liked the blend of colors, the earth tones that offered welcoh a hotel would have made her feel more safe, she could see the char hallway and stopped at the end "You have your own rooh school, but it’s coh You also have your own bathrooe and airy room decorated in shades of lavender Before she could take in much more than the white eyelet bedspread and the striped wallpaper, a Secret Service agent entered her rooe suitcase Three e came last She handed Darcy a wristband

"Automatic transmitter," she said "So we knohere you are at all times"

"I live to be a blip on a monitor" Darcy took it and snapped it into place The coldAt least if someone tried to take her away, her tealanced at Darcy "So e, security, and wearing the hu beacon, she wasn’t in a position to argue

"Why on earth would I want to be?" she asked "Talk about boring So how exactly does a naval liaison know so much about the Marcelli family?"

"Colleen and Marco are my parents"

If he’d meant to surprise her, he’d succeeded "But you have a different last na you need, just ask The Marcellis lead with their hearts The Grands will do their best to feed you to death Colleen will hover and mother you, and the sisters will seduce you ine, chocolate, and girls’ night out"

All of which sounded like fun, but she knew better than to admit that "Whatever," she said as she picked up one of the s here? Why aren’t you on a ship somewhere?"

"I’m part of the team"

"You’re not Secret Service"

"I’m the liaison with the faet involved with the personal security of the president’s family"

"They do now"

She looked at hiot pro, yes"

"At least you’ll knohat you’re doing if the kidnapper returns"

As the bedrooured it was safe to claient in charge to okay the decision She’d unpacked the night before and begun to familiarize herself with the area around the house Now she listed all the sections that would have to be checked on a regular basis, such as outbuildings, tree groves, and storage sheds

The front door opened Paige sucked in a breath to brace herself then glanced up as Alex Vanotten older, but then they both had He was still good-looking, in a rugged, street-fighter kind of way Barely contained energy radiated fro her reenerated

"She’s going to nerator, pulled open the door, and checked the contents "I heard she’s a bitch on wheels, but I thought the other agents were lying Obviously not"

"Yes, they were," Paige said "Darcy isn’t difficult at all" Or she hadn’t been until today

Alex grabbed a bottle of iced tea "So you think this attitude of hers is tee leaned back in her chair "She’s scared, Alex She was just kidnapped because our departht want to cut her a break"

She used his first nae and able to pull rank, but she’d seen hiet it

"You’ve worked with her before," he said "What do you know about her?"

"That her reputation is a lota story than about Darcy herself She’ll cooperate"

"She’s not going to have a choice Nothing is going to happen to her on my watch I want to meet with the team in two hours We’ll review the location, set up a schedule I want you working the house I’ll be here, ht-hour shifts"<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>