Her Enemy Protector by Cindy Dees

with her devil-may-care, little-rich-girl act. Her mask firmly in place once more, she looked around the club to gauge the crowd’s reaction to the hot vignette playing out between her and Joe. Ah, all the world’s a stage. At least, in her world it was.
    Gavarone’s superrich social set was actually quite small. Inbred, she snorted derisively. Everybody knew everyone else. So when a new face—especially one as spectacularly handsome as Joe’s—showed up on the scene and staked out a woman as notorious as her for himself, it got noticed in a big way.
    And then, of course, there were Freddie and Neddie. Hopefully, as long as Joe’s attention stayed firmly glued to her, he’d be safe from the loving attention of their fists. She seriously didn’t want to find out what her father’s orders to the thugs were if Joe happened to show interest in some other woman after showing such intense and public interest in her.
    Joe’s fingers trailed up her arm, and then he looked at her with sharp concern. “You okay?”
    “Why do you ask?” she replied.
    “You have goose bumps. You can’t possibly be cold in this gaudy sweat pit.”
    She grinned at the description of the posh club. She’d always thought the place’s neon decor was a little garish, too. “It’s nothing,” she assured him.
    He gave her a speculative look. And then dropped her jaw with his next words. “Let’s get married tonight.”
    “Tonight?” she squeaked.
    “Sure. Why not?”
    Her mind went completely blank. Fear crowded forward in her head until it all but choked her. It was one thing to toy around with her father, but the reality of it was another thing entirely. Was she truly prepared to go through with Joe’s scheme? To face down her father’s wrath? To make the break for real?
    It hit her like a sledgehammer that she’d known all along on some level that the plan with Tony wouldn’t work. Somehow, she’d known her father would find out and foil it. She hadn’t anticipated how violently he’d do it, but she’d known subliminally that Eduardo would stop her.
    Joe, on the other hand…
    This guy might actually be able to deliver on his promises. He could get her out once and for all. For the first time ever, she truly faced the prospect of making the break with her father.
    But as violent and cruel a man as he was, he was still the man who’d raised her. She frowned.
    Joe swore quietly beside her. She looked up, surprised. “What?” she asked.
    “I know that look. It’s cold feet if I ever saw it. Don’t lose your nerve on me now, princess. We’re in too deep to back out.”
    “No, we’re not,” she argued. “You can just walk away and you’ll be safe. My father will never know a thing.”
    “Oh, yeah?” Joe growled. He turned her around, his hands encircling her waist, and nodded toward the front door.
    Cari looked in the direction he indicated. And gulped. Freddie and Neddie had their heads together and were staring straight at her and Joe. Both men’s faces were thunderous. As she looked on, Freddie pulled out a cell phone and pressed it to his ear.
    Oh, God.
    He said quietly, “That last dance of ours crossed the line. We have no choice but to go forward now.”
    “Joe, get out of here right now. They’re calling my father. If you’re lucky, they’ll just put you in the hospital for a few weeks, but if you’re not…”
    Joe chuckled.
    She stopped midsentence. And stared at him in shock.
    “You’re laughing about this?” she demanded incredulously. “They’re telling my father right now that we’ve been pawing all over each other in public. He’s going to tell them to kick your teeth into last month. This is serious!”
    Joe smiled down at her gently. “Thanks for worrying about me, sweetheart, but those two jerks couldn’t lay a hand on me if they tried. I’d put them flat on their backs in ten, maybe twenty, seconds.”
    Cari rolled her eyes. “Don’t you go all macho on me, Joe Smith. Those guys