Challenging Gabriel (Knight Security 2) by Carole Mortimer Page A

had never thought about herself in that way. As Clive’s wife she had always been the perfect corporate wife, the well-dressed hostess, the gracious female partner on Clive’s arm socially. Nor did she feel particularly beautiful or sexy today.
    Besides, she was pretty sure that every pair of female eyes in the building was fixated on Gabriel. He really was impressively handsome at six feet five inches tall and dressed in his tailored suit and silk shirt and tie.
    She shook her head, silky wisps of hair caressing her bare throat. “I hate what’s in there.” She nodded at the unlocked box she hadn’t actually opened yet.
    “You hate what those contents represent, which is why you have to concentrate on what they will give you in return.”
    “Daniel and Lena.”
    “Yes.”
    She straightened her shoulders and approached the safe deposit box before lifting the lid, half expecting Clive’s sins to burst out, as in the story of Pandora’s box. Instead, it contained only the small, innocuous padded envelope in which she had placed the four memory sticks.
    “Word of advice if you ever have to do something like this again,” Gabriel said as he watched her put the padded envelope into her shoulder bag. “It’s an amateur’s mistake to put all your bargaining chips in the same location. I’ll be separating them as soon as we join up with my brothers.”
    Angel flushed at the rebuke. At the time, she had just wanted the evidence out of her possession, felt tainted just knowing what was on there. Except she hadn’t, not completely, until Gabriel had told her the truth last night. It still made her feel ill to contemplate how many deaths Clive’s illegal arms dealing was responsible for.
    “What now?” she prompted nervously as they made their way back to the doors exiting the bank. Even Gabriel’s reassuring hand on her arm and the presence of Asher and the other two bodyguards weren’t enough to take away that hunted feeling she’d had ever since they left Gabriel’s apartment earlier.
    “Now we give one copy to my tech guy and the others to each of my three brothers—it’s better if you and I don’t have a copy on us,” he explained as she glanced at him. “We have no idea yet what—Fuck!”
    “Gabriel?” Angel gasped. His fingers tightened about her arm before he pushed her roughly to the ground and threw his heavy body over her, rolling them both behind the protection of a parked car. “What—”
    “Someone just shot at us.” Gabriel snarled the warning in Angel’s ear.
    “Are you sure?” Angel was having trouble breathing beneath his heavy weight, and they were attracting a considerable amount of attention where they were. Considerable? People were openly gawking at their strange behavior.
    “Of course I’m— Where the fuck are Asher and my men?” Gabriel’s narrowed gaze searched the crowded sidewalk as the pedestrians gave them a wide berth.
    He had barely registered the whistling sound of a bullet before reacting instinctively, throwing Angel to the floor and protecting her with his own body. Which meant he was probably squashing her. Well, he couldn’t help that. He wasn’t moving until he knew a second bullet wasn’t coming their way.
    “The bullet was fired from the top of a building across the street.” A breathless Ash arrived and crouched down beside them. “Ian has gone to investigate, but the shooter will probably be long gone by the time he gets up there.”
    “Let’s get Angel out of here for now.” Gabriel’s heart was still beating in double time from the near miss they’d just had.
    Ash nodded. “Zander is bringing the car round now.”
    Angel looked at them both. “Shouldn’t we call the police—”
    “We’re getting you out of here now,” Gabriel told her firmly. “I’ll deal with any fallout from the police later.”
    “But—”
    “Now is not the time to be a concerned citizen, Angel,” he snapped. “Now get in the damn car,” he barked as she