Read Online Operation Saving Daniel (Entangled Covet) by Nina Croft - Free Book Online Page A

to be happy.”
    Sophia came to stand beside him and stroked one finger down his cheek. He fought the urge to flinch. “How sweet. And did you see your other little friend?”
    Shit. How had she known Melissa was staying with Julia? He hadn’t. But then he hadn’t taken the time to check out where she was staying.
    Sophia always checked everything.
    Maybe it was a lesson he should learn, though he hated to learn anything from Sophia. His biggest fear was he would turn into something like her.
    But he didn’t like the way she was asking about Lissa. He needed to get someone to guard Lissa, keep her safe until she left London. He should never have led her on this morning. By kissing her, he’d no doubt given her the impression that her “plan” had a chance of working. Somehow, he had to find a way to take that back, push her away, convince her that his relationship with Sophia was real.
    “I saw her briefly,” he said, keeping his tone bland. “I asked to speak to Julia alone. Melissa isn’t family.”
    Sophia pursed her lips but nodded and moved away. “Inform me if you leave again.”
    A red-hot wall of rage rose up in his mind. Inside his beast paced, wild and elemental, howling to be free.
    Each month, the struggle to hide how powerful his wolf had become grew more difficult, as though the pressure inside him built until it must explode. And he couldn’t allow that, because if they saw him as a threat, then his whole family could die.
    Sophia stepped back and something flickered in her dark eyes. Fear? She rubbed her arms as though she felt something strange in the air.
    “What was that?” she asked.
    “What was what?”
    He kept his voice expressionless, his body relaxed, and she shook her head.
    “Nothing. My imagination.”
    One day she would discover it wasn’t her imagination. That he was far more powerful than anything she could ever conceive.
    Soon.
    …
    Lissa slipped off her shoes, wriggled down in her seat, and took a restorative sip of chilled white wine as she allowed the subdued elegance of the terrace restaurant in Harrods to soothe her battered body and soul. Five solid hours of haircuts, beauty treatments, and shopping would do that. But much to her own surprise, she’d enjoyed the outing.
    She glanced across at Julia, but was distracted by the image of herself in the huge mirror behind her.
    Holy crap. Who was that woman?
    She’d always worn her hair long, mainly because she couldn’t be bothered with hairdressers and a ponytail had kept it neat and out of the way.
    Now, it was cropped short. Really short. Styled close to her head, her hair couldn’t have been longer than an inch anywhere, except maybe the tendrils curling on her cheeks. The cut made her eyes appear huge, an effect enhanced by the black liner smudged under her lower lashes.
    “Stop admiring yourself,” Julia said, but there was a smug, self-satisfied expression on her face as though she was responsible for the transformation. Which she was. “So, how do you feel?”
    “I feel plucked, shaved, waxed, and filed. My rough edges have been smoothed away.”
    “Well, the rough edges you can see, anyway.” Julia cast her a comprehensive glance. “We’ll work on the ones you can’t see next.”
    A trickle of unease ran through Lissa. “You leave my rough edges alone,” she said. “I need them.” Her rough edges were what kept her safe, her defense against the world.
    “No, we reckon you’ve run for long enough.”
    “We?” A light sweat broke out on her forehead.
    “Me, Debora, and Marcy.” Julia confirmed her worst fears. “You know, a lot of people have dysfunctional childhoods and don’t end up screwed up.”
    “Screwed up? Is that how you see me?”
    “A little. But you’re not a hopeless case, and we’re not giving up on you.”
    “Crap.” Was the come-and-help-Daniel scenario merely a ruse to get her back here, so they could save her from herself? She didn’t want saving. Did she? She ran a