Operation Saving Daniel (Entangled Covet) Read Online Free Page A

everything you do, Daniel.” She rested a hand on his arm, the touch like a brand. “So don’t you forget it.”
    He let out a humorless laugh. “As if you’d let me.”
    A longing welled up inside him for the boy he had once been. You believe in fairy tales… Lissa had told him that long ago night. Well, he still did, the only difference was these days he no longer assumed he was the prince.
    No, these days, he was definitely the big, bad monster.
    “You know,” Sophia said, “things would be so much easier for you if you’d just accept what you are.”
    He glanced down at the hand on his arm, the nails crimson as though she’d dipped her fingers in fresh blood.
    “Never,” he replied.

Chapter Two
    Lissa was still trying to get her head around the lunch with Daniel and Sophia as she let herself into Julia’s house in Notting Hill. There was something very strange about that couple; she just couldn’t put her finger on what was wrong.
    The sound of muted voices drifted along the narrow hallway. Julia had company. Unclipping Spot’s lead, Lissa left him to get a drink and have an afternoon nap while she made her way to the living room. The dulcet tones of Julia’s sisters, Marcella and Debora wafted from the open doorway, and she hesitated before entering. Despite the fact that all the Melville sisters were small, blonde, blue-eyed, and cute, en-masse they could be quite intimidating. At least on the surface. Lissa had always felt like some sort of alien in their midst.
    Debs, the youngest, was seated on the sofa looking cool and collected. She’d changed beyond recognition since she’d married four years ago. In contrast, next to her, Marcy looked positively scruffy in khaki combat pants, a black T-shirt, and Doc Martens. Julia was pacing the room; she very rarely sat down when she could stand and very rarely stood still when she could move. Small, curvy, with curly blond hair, big blue eyes, and a penchant for all things pink, she was the cutest of the lot—and Lissa loved her dearly.
    Without Julia, Lissa’s time at boarding school might have been very unpleasant and probably very short. Lissa’s accent proclaimed she came from a council estate in inner-city Manchester, and she didn’t have the clothes or the attitude to fit in. Her natural reaction to the teasing and bullying was aggression. You didn’t survive where she came from without being able to stand up for yourself, and Lissa had always had a smart mouth and not been afraid to use it, or her fists.
    But once Julia had taken her under her wing, the other girls, at least most of them, had accepted her.
    All three stopped talking and turned to Lissa as she entered the room.
    “What’s up?” Lissa asked, hovering inside the door.
    “Daniel called about ten minutes ago,” Marcy said.
    “He did? What did he want?”
    Debora shook her head in obvious disapproval. “To tell us he’s taking Sophia to Spain.”
    “To the party?” Lissa frowned. He must have called soon after she’d left. But she couldn’t decide whether that might be because she’d said she probably wouldn’t go or because she might. Of course, it was more likely nothing to do with her.
    “It’s good he’s taking her,” Julia said. “Lissa has got him rattled. He obviously thinks he needs protection from her.”
    “He didn’t act rattled.”
    “You saw him?” Julia grinned. “So, how did he act?”
    “Weird.” Lissa thought about it. How best to describe her impressions. “He acted like a robot. I know it’s been ten years since I’ve seen him, but he was like a different person.”
    “He’s got everything so tightly wrapped up inside that there’s no real person coming through,” Julia said. “And The Evil One doesn’t help. You’ll meet her at the party.”
    “I met her today.” Lissa crossed the room and flung herself on the sofa next to Debs. “We had lunch.”
    “I bet that was fun.”
    “It was. She alternated between groping Daniel and