complicated? Jax should have known not to trust the desire coiling in his gut. He should have held strong.
The anger spilled over and before he quite knew what he was doing, he’d walked forward, getting in Garret’s face. “If you think you can intimidate me—” he began.
The bodyguards closed in instantly, guns at his head.
“Easy boys.” Garret flicked his fingers and the men stood back. “I’m not intimidating you, Morrow. I’m blackmailing you. I want Morrow protection, respectability, and I’ll do what I must to get it.”
“So you can keep on doing what you’re doing?”
“Of course. You’ll keep the heat off. I think it’s a fair trade, don’t you?”
“Dad,” Pandora said quietly, though her vibrated with fury. “Don’t do this. Why can’t you just … leave me alone?”
“I’m a businessman, sweetheart. I always have been, I always will be.”
“Is that all I am? Just business to you?”
Garret stared at her, his expression unreadable. “I do what I have to do, you know that. And like I said, it’s for your protection.”
“Dad—”
“Well, Morrow? Do we have a deal?”
Jax glanced at Pandora, standing with arms wrapped around herself as if she were cold. Her dark eyes were huge, shadows from their eventful night marking her pale skin.
No wonder she hadn’t wanted to tell him who she was, when she had this bastard for a father.
God, he hated the look on her face, her expression closed up, all the heat and fire and challenge he’d seen the night before extinguished.
“It’s okay, Hunt or Jax or whoever you are,” Pandora said before he could speak, her voice not quite level. “I’m not dragging you into this. I’ll go home with him, it’s fine.”
“Very noble, sweetheart,” Garret said with a shrug. “I’m sure Sergei will appreciate you if Morrow isn’t coming to the party.”
Jax’s fingers curled in the pockets of his jeans. She looked so defeated. So what the fuck, what was he doing standing here? Saying nothing? Doing nothing? He always knew what to do, never had any problems with making the tough decisions. Cool and calm and detached, that’s how he worked it.
But you’re not cool and calm and detached now, are you?
No. He wasn’t. He was angry. No, shit, he was furious. And frustrated. And … possessive. Christ, he didn’t know where the hell that particular emotion had come from but it was certainly there. The thought of his Snow White being given like a thing to someone else was so not happening.
Jax looked Nick Garret in the eyes. “In that case, yes. I’ll marry your daughter.”
Chapter 6
Pandora gazed out of the window of the limo as it pulled up to Morrow Tower, the massive skyscraper that housed Morrow Incorporated. She was still in her red silk dress from the night before and felt vaguely ridiculous. The ultimate walk of shame.
Hardly. You’re an engaged woman now, aren’t you?
She forced that thought back to the darkness it came from. No, she wasn’t engaged. Not really. This was all supposed to be for show, to get her father off her back.
“You’re insane. You know that, right?” she said, looking up at the glittering glass and steel edifice.
Jax finished sending a text or e-mail or whatever it was from his phone and put it away in his jacket pocket. He was dressed in an expertly tailored suit and tie, all that primitive, exciting masculine power firmly encased in his civilized armor. His expression was unreadable, his blue eyes opaque. “I told you not to worry. Nobody’s going to be marrying anyone.”
“Yeah, you keep saying that.” She swallowed, trying not to let the panic choke her.
“You need to trust me. In fact you probably should have trusted me last night.”
Pandora glanced at him. “What? And told you my name?”
“Yes.”
“And what would you have done if you’d known I was Nick Garret’s daughter?”
The look in his blue eyes flickered, giving her the answer she’d expected
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