Read Online Ugley Business by Kate Johnson - Free Book Online Page B

amazed and cheered that there was something Luke couldn’t do.
    He scowled at me. “Angel,” he said, “look, there’s something we need to talk to you about.”
    She looked wary. In fact, ever since she’d come to SO17 yesterday she’d looked wary.
    “It’s just that we’re not sure this set-up is going to work. All this handing over and shadowing at work—especially if you’re not going to be at work. It’s not that you’re any trouble to guard,” he added, and Angel gave him a small smile for it. “But Sophie is still sort of learning the ropes and I need to keep an eye on her too. I just think our time could be better spent investigating things.”
    “Like each other?” Angel said, and Luke grinned.
    “Well, on our off-hours,” he said, and I thought, Liar. We’d “investigated” all over the office in the weeks before Karen Hanson’s arrival. “We need to try and trace those e-mails you’ve been getting, analyse the handwriting on all these letters—” he waved at a pile that I hadn’t even noticed, “—we need to find out the truth about how your father died and what it is this person wants. So what we’re going to do is get someone in who’s more experienced at this bodyguarding thing. Twenty-four-seven.”
    “Who?” Angel asked nervously, and I didn’t blame her. God only knew who Luke had in his address book.
    “A friend of mine. We trained together. He’s very trustworthy.” Luke looked up at me. “I got a call from Maria this morning,” he said. “She wanted me to tell you she hadn’t been able to access the report you wanted.”
    Well, duh.
    “Also that she’s going down to MI5 to try and get something on it. If we can’t reason with the computer—and who bloody can,” he slammed the screen with his palm, “then maybe we can reason with them.”
    Fat chance.
     
    It was dark when I left Luke with Angel so I could go home and get some clean clothes and feed Tammy, who was crying out with hunger. Poor baby. I made a mental note to buy her one of those automated feeders so she wouldn’t starve when I got stuck at work.
    I’d promised to go straight back and wait with Luke and Angel until this person Luke knew turned up, but I wanted to take a shower first. As I was leaving Luke had said to me, “Angel’s single, right?”, and I’d glowered at him until he laughed and said, “I’m not interested, I’m just checking. Docherty has been accused of home-wrecking before now.”
    “Docherty?” I repeated, liking the way the hard H clicked at the back of my throat.
    “Yeah. Her new bodyguard. I gave him a call earlier. He’s on his way over.”
    Over from where? I wanted to ask, but didn’t, and rushed to Ted to drive home and make myself prettier. Poor Ted was absolutely baking, and he’d only just cooled down by the time we got home. I left his windows open a crack for some air and went in.
    There was a time when I’d have walked straight into my flat without looking around at all, but I knew differently now. It was roasting and I ran around opening all the shutters and windows and chugging cold water. Then I got in the shower, turning the water to cold, washing the sweat and the tension away, or at least trying. At the back of my mind and in the knots on my shoulders I felt horribly guilty for leaving Angel like that. And for what? A man who defined our relationship as “sleeping with” not “being with” or even “going out with”.
    “He’s a bastard,” I said to myself as I switched the water off and pushed back the shower curtain. “He’s a sexy, irresistible bastard.”
    Then I nearly had a heart attack, because a voice replied, “That’s very nice of you to say, but you don’t really know me all that well yet.”
    There was a man in my bathroom—a dark-haired, dark-eyed, dark-clothed brooding man, a Heathcliff template—eyeing me with an expression that really could only be described as sardonic.
    I stared at him for about a full minute