Free Taking Tiffany by MK Harkins Page A

than a super-model. I can’t believe you’d have a problem with that.”
    How many English people were here anyway?
    “But she’s awful!” The door swung open, and I locked eyes with Mr. Sullen, Stupidly Handsome, No-Name…Pig. 
    “You! You speak English!” I stated the obvious. For a fleeting second, I saw his hard expression lift. But it went right back to stony.
    Bastard.
    His eyes lowered to my leg, which had lost its circulation due to the creature strangling it with superhuman strength. I saw it again; his expression went soft. He smiled at Mirela and asked, “How are you, luv?” in a soft voice that did all sorts of sparkly, thrilling things to my insides.
    That voice was meant for the child, you idiot.
    “She’s fine. She’s with me, and we’re going…” I shifted my eyes to Dottie, “We’re going…?”
    “To the cafeteria,” she finished for me. “First, I’d like you to meet my husband, Jerome.” She narrowed her eyes at Stefan and said with controlled calmness, “It looks like you’ve already made Dr. Stefan’s acquaintance.”
    And just to make Stefan look bad, I put on my most sincere, sweetest expression and greeted Jerome, “Pleased to meet you. I’m so glad to be here to help.”
    Jerome cast a sidelong glance at Stefan and replied, “We’re honored to have you.”
    A choking sound came from the good doctor.
    Take that.

Chapter Twelve
    Tiffany
     
    I FELT LIKE I was a child again. I really did.
    Covered with green paint and caught by my dad making out with Todd was not the way I imagined today would go. Not even a little. Still sleep-deprived, and judging by my behavior, deprived in other areas, I turned to greet my dad—who was so angry his face was a dark shade of red. I’d seen him upset before, but his coloring had only made it to pink. This was a new record.
    “Dad.”
    “What the hell are you doing?” he said through clenched teeth.
    “We were painting and tripped?” I lied a little. Yep, no older than five.
    He stared angrily at Todd, who stood straight and met my dad’s intimidating glare head-on. He was brave, I’d give him that. Maybe what Colin said about my dad scaring off potential dates was true. If I were Todd right now, I’d be shaking in my boots, or in his case, Nikes.
    What was my dad doing here anyway? “Dad, aren’t you supposed to be fishing?”
    He took his scary, angry eyes from Todd and looked distracted for a moment. “My secretary called me on the satellite phone. She said someone called in an emergency, and I needed to come here right away. I didn’t get much else from her.” He looked around the empty house. “Where is everyone? Did something happen?”
    “No. Everything’s been quiet. The volunteers are at lunch.”
    Todd cleared his throat. “Mr. Thompson. I think if someone tried to lure you here under the guise of an emergency, it might be wise to leave the house and call the police.”
    “Dad! Todd’s right.” I grabbed his arm and started for the door. “Oh, by the way, this is Todd. Todd, this is my dad.”
    He followed close behind, gave a nod and greeted, “Sir.” He was so serious.
    Once we cleared the doorway and were outside, I took a good look at him. Laughter bubbled out when I saw that his lips were green.
    He leaned in and whispered, “I wouldn’t laugh too hard, you look the same.”
    My dad flipped his phone closed. “The police are on their way. I’m afraid you’ll have to shut down for today, Tiffany. I’m sorry, I know you’re trying to meet a deadline, but they’ll need to get their detectives out here to make sure this wasn’t some sort of set-up. Only a few people have my secretary’s direct line, so they’re taking this seriously. Whoever set up this prank went to a lot of trouble.”
    “This is scaring me, Dad.”
    All the emotions from the past day, combined with my lack of sleep, hit me all at once. And, I did what any five-year-old would do—my face reddened and my eyes began to fill