“A few weeks at most, maybe. My private investigators are second to none and they work fast.”
She gave him an oddly assessing look. “You know, I could get the info you need and quicker than a few weeks.”
He frowned. “How?”
“I’m quite good with computers as it happens. There’s dirt I can dig up on him easily enough.”
It was tempting, he had to admit. And yet … No matter how vital this was and no matter how much of a prick Garret happened to be, the fact remained that she would be working against her own father. Putting him in prison if it came to that. Maybe he’d treated her like crap and maybe she hated him but he was still her father.
“No,” he said flatly. “I won’t have you ratting out your own father on your conscience.”
Pandora rolled her eyes. “Y’know, I think my conscience can stand it. He’s a bastard who—”
“I don’t care what he’s done. He’s still your father and family is important. If the dirt needs to be dug, I’ll be the one doing it.”
But she still didn’t look happy. “Yeah, but … a few weeks?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Where does that leave me? I mean, where am I supposed to go?” She took an audible breath. “I don’t have anyone.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you’re literally the only person I know who isn’t associated with Dad. At least in real life.”
“Real life?”
She lifted a shoulder. “I have a few online friends but that’s it. A bit hard to make friends when you’re followed everywhere you go by bodyguards.”
“Everywhere?”
“Yeah. I’m never allowed to go out by myself, never allowed to see anyone who isn’t associated with my father or his friends, never allowed to talk to anyone who hasn’t been personally vetted by him.” She turned away, glancing out the windows, the exquisite line of her back left bare by her red silk gown.. “I don’t even have any other family. My mom died when I was seven and dad cut off all contact with her side of the family. I’m entirely dependent on him. I don’t even have a bank account. Even my credit card is linked to his.”
Unwanted sympathy twisted inside him. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like to be so isolated. So cut off. All that passion and vitality trapped. Nick Garret needed a jail cell and fast.
Pandora turned back, her dark eyes meeting his. “All I have is the clothes I’m wearing and nothing else. I mean, if I could borrow some money I could go get a hotel, get some clothes, get something—”
“You won’t need a hotel. You’ll be staying here.” The words came out of him before he even had a chance to think.
You weren’t supposed to be going there again.
Well, he wouldn’t. Of course he wouldn’t. This was entirely logical. As his fiancée, she would be living with him.
Because she’s yours?
No, of course not. There was her father to consider—he might try to snatch her back and there was no way he was risking that happening to her. And if she’d led the kind of sheltered life he thought she had, then he didn’t want to let her out on the streets by herself yet. Not without making sure she had a few support systems in place. A bit of independence.
Yes, that made perfect, logical sense.
Her eyes had gone wide. “Stay here?”
“Of course. You’re my fiancée, aren’t you?”
An expression he couldn’t read crossed her face. She turned away, pacing restlessly back to the windows, looking out of them. “But that’s the thing. I’m not. Which makes me … what?” There was a slight edge to her voice. “Your roomie?”
You want her in your bed …
Jax ignored the thought. That wasn’t going to happen. He couldn’t afford another slip like he had last night, not considering the consequences of this one. As it was, the news that Jax Morrow was engaged to the daughter of a notorious criminal was so not what Morrow needed right now. Sleeping with her again would only add more complications to the mix and erode his self-control still further. All he had to do was stop thinking about it.
“I would never expect otherwise,” he said coolly. “I have plenty of guestrooms so you can take your pick.”
Pandora gave him an unreadable look. “And I can leave whenever I want?”
Like he’d ever do to her what her father did. “Naturally.”
“So, if I wanted to go to a hotel and stay there, I could? I mean, you’d have to give me the money initially but I’d pay you back once I’d found a job. If I could find a job.”