Page 7 of Her Sensual Protector

She pulled her hand away and put it into her lap, foregoing the food on her plate.

“Really, it was fine after that.”

Leo nodded to her water. “Take a sip, you need it. As for the fact that you were fine after that, if that’s what you need me to believe, then I’ll believe it.”

He nudged her water glass closer to her.

“You’re kind of bossy.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “I believe you were the one who slapped the table at six men in a conference room and told them to get their shit together. I’m a pussycat.”

“Yes I did, so what are you going to do about rescuing my father?”

“We’re doing it. Right now, my team is doing reconnaissance. There are a lot of facets to this operation. Me getting information from you is just one angle. They’re going to ping me when they have more news. In the meantime, I’m going to continue to ask you questions.”

“Like what?”

“Like how you had the gumption to stand up to all of those men. I gotta tell you, you made quite a picture slapping that table. You say I’m bossy? Well compared to you, I’m a pussycat.”

Daisy’s lip lifted. “I might could remember doing that,” she said as she picked up her water glass.

“Might could? I recognize that turn of phrase. What part of the South did you call home in the States?”

“My mom’s dad worked for the state department. He and grandma have a big house in Ashburn Virginia. That’s where Brian and Karen had been staying while Mom and I were in the jungle. Jim was already attending college at Georgetown University.

“When Grandpa Eddie found out about everything that happened in Brazil, he went ballistic. At least that’s what Karen told me. I wasn’t there when it happened. He didn’t allow my father to stay at the family house. He closed ranks around Mom and us kids. Apparently, he hired the best lawyer in D.C. for his youngest daughter, and had the marriage dissolved in less than two months.”

“I’d like your grandfather,” Leo said with a smile.

“Just so long as you never got on his bad side,” Daisy nodded.

3

“I’m surprised that after everything your mother went through, she would be willing to get married again, especially so soon after the divorce.”

“So was she.” Daisy was eating her food again. She had a sparkle in her eye. “Alistair was everything my father wasn’t. She met him when he came to visit Granddad at the house. He had been working for him at a mid-level cabinet post when he met my mom. According to Alistair, it was love at first sight. He put my mother and me first in all things. We were treated like the sun and moon in his universe. He hadn’t been angling for an ambassadorship. When he got selected to run the Tajikistan embassy he was ready to turn it down. It was Mom who had to talk him into taking the post. She was convinced he could do great things. And he did.”

“I saw that you went over there. Didn’t you stay until you were sixteen?”

Daisy nodded.

“And your siblings?”

“They stayed back home. By that time Karen was going to NYU, and Brian was immersed in high school and didn’t want to leave. So he stayed with my grandparents.”

“So it was just the three of you in Tajikistan?”

She nodded. “I went to the International School. I loved it there. Every day I learned something different, and I’m not talking about school, I’m talking about the country and culture. Not to mention all the things I learned living at the embassy.”

“Like what?”

“Since I was so young when I arrived, nobody paid any attention to me, so I was in and out of Alistair’s office all the time. As long as I was quiet and out of the way, it was amazing how many meetings I got to attend. I was small for my age, so that lasted until I began to develop. Up until that time, most people thought I was seven years old at the most.”

“Really? The other diplomats really put up with that?”

“Not everyone. The autocratic countries were paranoid, but most Western countries didn’t give it a second thought, unless there were delicate topics being discussed.”

“No wonder you can handle your charity at such a young age. It must have been child’s play. Most people in your position would have a master’s degree or Ph.D., but you haven’t even graduated college.”