Her Enemy Protector Read Online Free Page A

tears of relief.
    A new set of jitters attacked her as she turned in the direction the bartender had indicated. Over there. In a booth tucked into the darkest corner of the room. What would he look like, her mysterious savior? She’d been pretty freaked out that night, but she did recall that he was incredibly strong, and his eyes had looked black in the moonlight. His voice had been gravelly, but that might’ve been from the cold water and the dry oxygen in his scuba tank.
    Julia had sent him, he’d said. How had he known she would come racing out into the ocean like she had? Was he some sort of mind reader?
    She approached Joe from an oblique angle, taking a moment to study him before he did the same to her. The first thing she noticed was his thick, dark hair. Its silky, sable waves begged a girl to run her fingers through them. And he had a face worthy of Michelangelo. A plastic surgeon would kill to create a nose that straight or a jaw that firm. His age was hard to peg. Maybe in his mid-thirties. But his tanned skin was so smooth and taut that she could easily be wrong by five years in either direction.
    He glanced over toward her just then, his eyes not showing the faintest recognition. Startled, she watched as his gaze slid past her cautiously, and only when he saw she was alone did his eyes return to her. He smiled. Oh, Lord, he was so gorgeous it almost hurt to look at him.
    He slipped smoothly out of the booth and stood up, waiting for her. Tall. Six foot two, maybe. Lean. But muscular. Fit. Really fit. Wow. Just wow.
    She walked toward him, hyper-aware of her body, of how she tingled everywhere his gaze touched her. His smoky gaze slid downward slowly and thoroughly, approval registering as he lifted his eyes once more. She was completely mesmerized by the way his dark eyes looked straight into her soul. He all but consumed her with that intense look. Get a grip, girlfriend! He’s only a guy. The little voice at the back of her head whispered, Yeah, but what a guy.
    He wore competence like a cloak enfolding him, but it did nothing to hide the sex appeal rolling off him in waves. She could seriously see herself devouring him whole, which was completely unlike her. Although she was a flirt and openly generous with her affections when she was out, she cultivated an image among the party crowd of being the unattainable prize and, as such, pretty much never threw herself at any man, or let any man actually get too close to her.
    But this guy was to die for!
    The thought jolted her. She wasn’t about to die for him, and she darn well had no intention of letting him die for her.
    One of his hands came up to grasp her elbow and guide her to a seat in the booth. He slid in across from her and smiled again. Handsome didn’t even come close to describing him. Hypnotic was more like it.
    “Miss Ferrare, my name’s Joe Smith.” His voice was like melted chocolate, rich and dark and warm.
    Somehow, she managed to refrain from fanning herself with the nearest thing at hand. “Uh, nice to meet you. I’m Carina Ferrare. But you already know that, don’t you? My friends call me Cari, but I bet you know that, too…” She cut off her babbling abruptly. Good grief, she sounded like some teenaged airhead.
    “Like I said before,” he continued easily, “your sister sent me to rescue you from your father.”
    Alarm shot through her. The very fact that he’d just uttered those words made him a target of her father’s wrath. She couldn’t help but glance nervously over her shoulder at the stairs. No sign of Freddie and Neddie. “How do you know my sister?” she asked cautiously.
    “She’s engaged to a friend of mine. And she’s very worried about your safety.”
    “Julia’s engaged? To whom? When did that happen? Why didn’t she tell me?” It was so implausible to imagine her sister meeting some guy and falling for him in a few weeks’ time that she almost laughed. If this guy was lying, he’d have to come up