Lori Foster - Men of Honour - Ready, Set, Jett / When You Dare / Trace of Fever / Savor the Danger / A Perfect Storm / What Chris Wants / Bare It All

But that could be gratitude as much as anything, which Dare had to realize, too. Dare had saved her, had slain her dragons, and he was now protecting her.

There was more than enough room for misconstrued emotions—on both ends.

Poor Dare, to find himself in such a complex romantic situation. It was going to be interesting to see how things rolled out.

Chris turned around on the desk stool. “Did you want me to clean up after you’re done in here?”

“I can do it,” Molly volunteered.

“Morning is soon enough for that, too.” Dare checked the veggies with a fork and decided they were steamed enough.

Since Chris didn’t care much for cleaning—immaculate conditions were Dare’s forte—he finished off his juice and put the glass in the dishwasher. “I left messages on your desk in the library, but did you maybe want them on your bedroom desk instead?”

“That’d be fine.”

“Some of them were from Trace. I think he’s hoping to somehow help with your …” He started to say complication , but when he glanced at Molly, he decided to censor the usual mockery and instead nodded toward her with his head. “With her.”

“I’ll touch base with Trace tomorrow, but he should really just concentrate on Alani right now.”

“True,” Chris said. “I’ll put an updated calendar in your room, too, although the next few weeks are pretty clear—”

“Dare?”

They both looked at Molly.

Chris noted her unease.

Dare must’ve, too, given how he gave her his full attention. “What is it?”

Hesitation had her fidgeting, but in the next breath she straightened her shoulders. “You said you don’t want me signing in to any of my online accounts.”

“No, I don’t.” He served up the meal on two plates. “We don’t yet know who wanted you taken, and I don’t know how smart or connected that person might be, but someone with a little computer experience could trail you here through your online activity.”

“I don’t think I know anyone with those types of skills.”

“You didn’t think you knew anyone who would have you shanghaied to Mexico, either, right?”

Expression tight, she said, “Which is why I’m happy to defer to your expertise.”

Chris stared at her with new respect. A lot of people quailed under Dare’s intense manner, but the way Molly said that was patronizing as hell.

No quailing for her.

“The thing is,” Molly continued, “I need something more respectable to wear, especially if we’re going to be four hours on the road. And it’s not a complaint, but it’s downright cold here in Kentucky, and in Ohio, too. I’ll need some warmer things.”

Dare looked over her casual clothes and agreed. “I suppose you do.”

“I think she looks comfortable,” Chris said. “Sort of sloppy-cute.”

“That’s because you have the fashion sense of a goat.”

Glad that he’d led Dare into that one, Chris said, “So you don’t think she’s cute?”

“Excuse me?” Molly looked at each of them with clear censure. “Do you think we could use your account to do some online shopping? I know my credit-card numbers and can charge it to myself but have it delivered here overnight. I don’t need much, because once we get to my apartment, I can grab my own things.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Chris said before Dare could. “I’ll take care of it for you.”

“Oh, no.” Opposed to that idea, she shook her head. “You were ready to go to bed. Really, I can do it.”

But Chris was already back on the computer. “Do you have a favorite place to shop and an idea of what you want? We can get it done right now.”

Dare didn’t hide his exasperation. “I wanted to talk to her about her disgruntled readers.”

“I multitask, as you know. Once she tells me what she wants, I can take care of most of it.” He went back to the computer. “Where do you shop?”

Deflated and probably overwhelmed, Molly gave in and told him.

Dare set her plate and a tall glass of water in front of her. “Eat up. And be sure to stay hydrated.” Ever so briefly, he touched her cheek. “I know you feel better, but you aren’t fully recovered yet.”

She smiled, then inhaled the fragrance of real food. “It smells fantastic.”

“Told you he was a good cook,” Chris said, amused by that telling exchange. “Okay, got it. Where to first? Slacks, tops, dresses or jeans? I’d put an outfit together for you, but as Dare already told you, I’m a fashion disaster. So, what are you thinking?”

Molly gave him direction in between eating.

Dare kept nudging the water at her until she drank half the glass.

Pulling up certain brands she’d suggested, Chris found that she was very easy to please. With little fanfare she chose dark designer jeans, black ankle boots, a simple white blouse and a thick charcoal pullover sweater with a self-tie belt.

“Here’s a nice corduroy blazer that’d go with it. What do you think?”

“That’ll work, but get it a size larger so it’ll fit over the sweater. Maybe a scarf, too?”

“Not a problem.” When he was ready to check her out, she came over and, leaning around him, typed in her credit-card numbers.

“To stay on the safe side, I’ll have it delivered to our post-office box in town. But don’t worry. I can go pick it up as soon as it arrives.”

“You make an amazing assistant.”

Dare gave a rude sound over that. “He’s a pain in the ass, but I tolerate him.”

Grinning, Chris turned on the stool toward him. “I’d like to say that you’d be lost without me, but that would be a lie. However, I know for a fact that I make your life more comfortable.”

Lifting his glass, Dare saluted him. “Yeah, I’ll give you that one.”

Chris accepted his due with a nod. To Molly, he said, “Dare has many areas of expertise, only one of them being organization and a certain finesse at details. But I excel at comfort—my own and others’.”

Molly smiled. “Comfort is high on my list of priorities, too. It’s one reason I’m a writer. I can write from my own home, in my jammies, drinking hot cocoa and listening to the music of my choice.”

“A dream job. If only I had the talent to write …”

“But you don’t, so you’re stuck with me.” Dare focused on Molly. “Tell me why you think a reader could be responsible for your abduction.”

She waved off his question. “I didn’t really mean that. I was just being snarky.”

They both waited for an explanation of that.

She pushed away her mostly empty plate. “Well, the thing is, my last book garnered a lot of controversy. There was a vocal group of readers who really …” She looked from Dare to Chris, and shrugged. “They were really pissed off with a certain twist in the plot.”

“How do you know?” Chris asked.

“Trust me, readers make sure you know when you’ve let them down.”

Chris noticed that she didn’t look overly hurt by that.

“They reach authors through online reviews, emails, written letters. And that’s a good thing, just not so fun when there’s so much of the negative stuff.”

Dare sat back in his seat. “How’d the book do with all that reader disgruntlement?”

“Great, actually.” In an effort to explain to them, she leaned forward, elbows on the stone bar. “With every book, there are good reviews and bad reviews, rants and raves, readers who love it and readers who hate it, and a whole bunch of reactions that are in between those extremes. You know the old saying where you can’t please all the people all the time. The same goes for reviewers and readers.”

Dare didn’t look convinced. “So it wasn’t a big deal?”