Her Scandalous Protector (The Book Club 4) Read online

  Her Scandalous Protector

  By Elizabeth Lennox

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  Copyright 2022

  ISBN13: 9781950451555

  All rights reserved

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Any duplication of this material, either electronic or any other format, either currently in use or a future invention, is strictly prohibited, unless you have the direct consent of the author.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from The Sheik’s Redemption

  Chapter 1

  “Go away!” Lena hissed, not looking up from her notes. “I’ve got this.”

  “Not gonna happen, Red” the big jerk replied, referring to her auburn tresses. He didn’t simply ignore her assurance that she could handle this alone, but he moved to the hard, wooden bench where she was sitting, forcing Lena to move – fast – or he’d sit down on top of her. The courtroom was filling up quickly, the noise level increasing as more journalists shuffled around, trying to get a seat for the main attraction.

  Lena gritted her teeth at the man’s obnoxious presence, but still refused to look up at the jerk. “Connor, I don’t need you here. I have the information and-”

  “I don’t trust this man, Lena,” Connor told her, his deep, rough voice grumbling from his chest. “He’s a man with nothing to lose now. So I’m here.” He shifted on the uncomfortable bench. “Deal with it.”

  Lena moved further away from him, so angry with the big, huge head of security that she couldn’t even speak. With everyone else, she was cool and composed, easily able to maintain a professional demeanor under all circumstances. It was just when this man, Connor Griffin, came close to her that she just…well, she seriously hated him!

  “I’ve…” She started to argue with him, again, but a door opened up at the front of the courtroom and the bailiff bellowed, “All rise!” as the judge walked in and sat down.

  “Be seated,” the judge said, barely looking out at the people seated in her courtroom as she straightened her glasses and shifted the papers on her desk. “We’re here today to listen to pre-trial arguments on bail, I understand?” She looked up over the top rim of her glasses at defense and prosecuting attorneys.

  Both lawyers stood up. It was the defense lawyer who spoke first. “Yes, Your Honor,” he started. “My client has been denied bail and has resided in the county jail for the past three weeks. He’s asked for a speedy trial, but…”

  “Is he a threat to the community?” the judge demanded, her demeanor looking impatient.

  The defense attorney immediately shook his head. “No, your honor. He’s never made a threat to anyone. The accusations against my client are financial. Not physical.”

  The assistant district attorney spoke up at that point. “Your Honor, the defendant embezzled more than one hundred thousand dollars from his previous employer and was in the process of embezzling more than a million dollars from his current employer. To date, we have frozen his bank accounts, but the money he stole isn’t in those accounts and we haven’t been able to locate the funds. Because of this mystery, we’re confident that Michael Finnegan poses a serious flight risk.”

  The judge took her glasses off, leaning forward on her elbows as she looked down at the lawyers. “Were all of his bank accounts frozen pending trial?”

  “Yes, Your Honor,” the assistant district attorney replied. “But we don’t know if he’s done this to other employers. Michael Finnegan obviously has additional financial assets that we don’t know about.”

  The judge’s features didn’t change. “Have you looked for hidden financial assets?” she asked.

  “Yes, Your Honor,” the ADA replied. “But…”

  The defense attorney interrupted, smoothing his silk tie down as he stood up. “You’re honor, my client is willing to surrender his passport. He’s also put his house up as collateral for the bail. He’s not going anywhere.”

  The judge adjusted her glasses. “Bail is set at ten million dollars,” she announced. “The courts will maintain the defendant’s passport until the conclusion of the trial.”

  Lena watched, horrified as the judge lifted her gavel and banged it down on the podium. A moment later, Michael Finnegan smiled triumphantly and shook his lawyer’s hand.

  “Knew that was going to happen,” Connor grumbled as he stood up with a heavy, resigned sigh. “Ready?”

  Lena stared at the man, still stunned. She wasn’t sure if she’d heard correctly. “Wait! The courts are releasing the guy? They’re just…letting him go?!”

  Connor nodded sharply, still watching Lena. “Yep. He’s out on bail until the trial next month.”

  “But…!”

  “It’s done, Lena,” Connor said, his voice gruff, but with an oddly gentle tone. Since Lena was obviously too stunned at this latest twist, he put a hand to her elbow, guiding her out of the courtroom.

  Connor didn’t stop until he and Lena were on the other side of the wide hallway, out of the flow of traffic moving along the corridor that serviced the other courtrooms in the building.

  Standing next to her, his wide shoulders blocking her view of the area, he looked down at her with a grave look in his grey eyes. “You did an excellent job in compiling the evidence, honey, but the jail is overcrowded. So they generally release anyone who can afford bail as long as they are relatively sure that they aren’t going to hurt anyone.” There were still too many people moving hurriedly about, so he shifted again, leading her further away from the crowds.

  Lena followed, but she kept staring over her shoulder at the man who was still in the courtroom, still too shocked by how quickly the bail hearing had gone! “But…he did it! I have everything here!” She tapped the file folder in her arms. “All the evidence is…!” she lifted the heavy accordion file in the air, still too stunned to finish her statement.

  “Yeah, we both know that he did it. And once he goes to trial, then he’ll be convicted and sentenced to prison.”

  She followed beside Connor, not because she wanted to but because she didn’t really have a choice. He was six feet, four inches of pure power and lethal knowledge.

  Plus, he made her feel safe.

  Not that she was going to tell him that! No way! He was already obnoxious enough, tormenting her several times a day. If he ever discovered how much she loved walking beside him…well, she wouldn’t be able to deal with him!

  Despite her dislike of the man, Lena moved slightly closer to the big guy. “Until then, he’s a free man? He’s a liar, Connor!” she hissed as they moved through the busy hallways of the federal court house building in downtown Chicago. “He’s a horrible man who stole from both Annie and Stavros!” Since both she and Connor worked for Stavros, Connor as the head of security and Lena as the man’s executive assistant, they were both aware of the risk that Michael posed for them.

  He put a hand to the small of her back, his body shifting as if to keep all strangers away. “I’ve already updated the security systems at Annie’s bakery and her warehouse. And you know that Stavros’ place is completely secure.”

  Lena sighed, pressing the file fil
led with the evidence against her chest as she nodded her head. “I understand. I just…it isn’t fair that he’s going free.”

  “Just until the trial,” Connor assured her, sliding his hand slightly against her back as if trying to silently reassure her. He steered both of them over to a corner of the wide hallway, then looked around before focusing his attention at her. “I need to talk to the prosecutor for a moment. Will you be okay?”

  The question caused Lena to return to the present. With that renewed focus, all of her animosity towards the man who tormented her on a daily basis came rushing back to her mind. She scowled up at Connor. “Of course I’ll be okay,” she replied stiffly, then realized how harsh her tone had come out. She closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep, cleansing breath, and forced her temper to calm down. When she opened her eyes again, she forced herself to smile up at the big guy. “Sorry, Connor. You don’t deserve my wrath.”

  He laughed and for about the millionth time, she shivered at the sensual sound. And for the millionth time, she glanced up at the big guy, hoping that he hadn’t noticed.

  But of course Connor noticed her reaction. The jerk noticed everything! Which was why he was the head of security! He was extremely good at his job, but she really didn’t like him knowing…well, everything! A woman liked a few secrets. Lena wanted her reactions to this man to be a mystery because there was absolutely no chance that she would act on any of her secret desires. She had dreams and goals and she wasn’t going to risk losing those dreams by losing her focus.

  “I get it, Lena,” he replied softly, briefly touching her arm. It seemed as if he might say something more, but a movement to the right of where they were standing distracted him and Lena turned, watching as the prosecutor signaled to him. “I’ll be right back.” He looked around at the rest of the crowd. “Don’t go anywhere, okay?”

  “I’m just going to head back to the office,” she told him, pulling her keys out of her purse.

  “Wait for me…please?” Lena suspected that he’d added the “please” only because her expression turned stubborn. He wasn’t normally a man who asked politely. As a former Navy SEAL officer, Connor preferred issuing orders and was used to those orders being followed without hesitation. There wasn’t a man or woman in his security department who didn’t obey his orders completely. It was just her that constantly challenged his authority.

  Mutinously, she considered her options. But Lena knew that, if she didn’t agree, then he’d probably drag her over to join in the conversation. Right now, Lena wanted to forget about this mess and just get on with her day.

  Shifting on her feet, she glared up at him, but gave him a curt nod. “Fine. I’ll be right here.”

  Connor stared down at her for another long moment, then nodded. “I’ll be fast.” He walked over to the beautiful prosecutor with long, brown hair and brilliant, clear, blue eyes. Lena had to clamp down a spurt of jealousy as she watched Connor lean down to listen to whatever the assistant district attorney was telling him. She clenched her teeth when the woman rested a hand on Connor’s arm. It was an obvious ploy and Lena wanted to scratch her pretty blue eyes because of it.

  Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, trying to calm her raging temper. Compared to the tan, lovely attorney, Lena felt like a ghost. Her auburn hair came with the traditional pale skin that freckled if she ever dared to stay in the sun for longer than thirty seconds. She wished that she had brown eyes or green eyes or some other color than blue. Her coloring was trite, she thought. Especially compared to the attorney with her confident, artificially-white smile and her perky boobs that had to be fake! Surely boobs weren’t that…perky.

  Lena resisted looking down at her own figure. She wasn’t a slouch, but Lena suspected that the other woman ran marathons and could bench press an elephant. Lena loved running, but her exercise routines consisted of two or three miles three or four days a week, then pretending to lift weights on her non-running days.

  Connor wasn’t interested in the woman, she told herself. When she opened her eyes again, Lena noticed that Connor was stiffly polite as he listened to whatever the woman told him, nodding sharply in agreement, but he didn’t seem overly impressed with the woman.

  That didn’t mean that the assistant district attorney wasn’t interested in Connor! The woman’s body language screamed, “take me!” She leaned into Connor, touched his arm, laughed up into his eyes and even touched her hair. All signs that she was trying to entice the big jerk! Not that Lena wanted Connor! Nope! That wasn’t her…!

  “I’m going to kill you for this, you know.”

  The casually conversational tone belied the savage meaning of the words. Lena’s head jerked around, trying to identify the person speaking to her, sure that someone had simply made a mistake. But as soon as she swiveled her head towards the sound, Lena’s throat choked in fear as she looked at the man standing next to her. Instantly, she cringed away. “Get the hell away from me, Michael,” she hissed, already starting to move herself. She didn’t like being next to the man. He literally made her skin crawl!

  “Don’t go, my pretty lady,” he urged softly, reaching out to pull her back. To a casual observer, the gesture seemed polite and innocuous. But there was a bite to his grip as he pulled Lena close again.

  Lena desperately tried to hide her sudden fear, but the smug smile on the man’s face warned her that she was failing in that effort.

  “You’re smart to be afraid of me,” he said softly, lowering his head so that he could look into her eyes. “I know that you’re the one that discovered where and how I was hiding the money from your bastard employer. If you had kept your nose out of my business, I would have been gone by now, off on some other adventure. Hell, you and all the others might not have even figured out what I’d done for another couple of months. Enough time for me to get out of the area and find a nice place to hide for a while.” His tone lowered, his eyes sharpening as he said, “And just for that, I’m going to kill you.” He paused as his smile increased with both venom and humor. “Trust me, everything I do to you is going to be slow and painful!” He paused, his eyes lighting with humor before he said, “You’re mutt over there can’t protect you either. I’ll just kill him if he gets in my way.”

  Lena’s whole body cringed in horror. “Get the hell away from me,” she hissed, jerking her arm out of his grip.

  Michael’s only response was a soft, blood chilling laugh. “Until we meet again, Lena!” he mocked, saluting her with two fingers on his forehead as he strolled casually away.

  Lena glared at his back, trying to pretend that her legs weren’t shaking and her heart racing from his vicious words. Had he really just threatened her with torture and death? The man hadn’t ever been violent, had he? Of course, he’d never been arrested before. Until she’d discovered his embezzlement, Michael hadn’t ever been caught at whatever crimes he’d perpetrated. Perhaps a few weeks in jail could turn a person violent.

  Thankfully, Michael sauntered away, whistling a pointless song, but leaving her alone. She didn’t dare look over at Connor because he’d know that she was upset about something.

  Unfortunately, Connor was fully aware of everything that happened within his orbit. Within seconds, he was once again by her side. “What did he say to you?”

  Lena’s eyes hadn’t strayed from Michael’s retreating back, sort of like when a huge spider was in the vicinity, one didn’t lose track of it. For the second time in too short a period of time, Lena jumped at a man’s words. Connor reached out to steady her, then turned her so that she was facing him. Those hard, grey eyes of his bored into her eyes, searching out the truth.

  Lena opened her mouth to tell him what Michael had said, but she froze. Not from the man’s threat towards Connor, but because Lena remembered her vow to never depend on anyone. Plus, she wasn’t sure what Michael would do. Would he fight fair? No, she thought. He wouldn’t! And Connor could be hurt!

  Why did the thought of this big, annoying jerk bein
g hurt cause her heart to clench with terror?

  “Nothing of importance,” Lena finally replied, trying to shrug off the conversation and hide the fear created by the man’s threats.

  Connor didn’t believe her. Turning carefully so she didn’t reveal any of her trembling fingers, Lena pulled her tote bag higher onto her shoulder and forced her lips into a smile, trying to pretend like nothing dire had just occurred. “I’m going back to the office. I have things to do for Stavros.” She started walking, wishing she could out run him. But Connor wasn’t just big, he was strong and powerful and more agile than a guy his size should be. Graceful was a word she’d surprisingly applied to Connor on too many occasions.

  They were in the parking lot before he spoke again. “He’s wrong, Lena,” Connor told her as he pulled her car door open.

  “Who is wrong?” she asked, tossing her tote bag into the passenger seat of her precious car. It was just a simple four door hatchback, but it was hers. All hers! She loved the power she felt every time she stepped into her small car, knowing that it was paid off and no one could take it from her. No one could control her through her car.

  “Michael,” he filled in. “He’s wrong.” His body blocked her from stepping into her car by sort of trapping her in the triangle made by her car and the door. “I can protect you.”

  “How…?!”

  He stepped back but Lena stood there for another few seconds while he walked over several rows in the parking lot until he reached his big, bold SUV. It was large and powerful, just like the man.

  Lena realized that she was just standing there watching the man and jerked into motion, ducking into her car. She pressed the start button and took a slow, deep breath. As she backed out of the parking lot, she dismissed Connor’s words, not sure what they meant.

  She also came up with a plan. She wasn’t going to wait for Michael to follow through on his threats. She’d take action. She’d get cameras and upgrade her front and back door security systems. She’d change her morning running route and the times she left her house. She’d change up the way she drove to work in the morning and the direction in which she drove home. She could even stop by the hardware store and pick up…a bat? No, hardware stores didn’t have baseball bats. She could get one of those heavy flashlights though. That would serve a dual purpose of being heavy enough to bash anyone who came through the door and provide additional light in an emergency.