Page 132 of Silver Fire
Sophie pushed back from her chair. “I won’t let you—”
“Sophie,” Derek interrupted her. “It’s fine. I had expected nothing less. Go ahead, Theresa.”
Theresa Cassidy’s perfectly arch brow shot up, and a knowing smile formed on her lips. “I’ve always kept tabs on my daughter throughout the years. I know something happened in the past month or so, but I couldn’t get any information even from all the connections I have, and let me tell you I am quite well-connected. It coincided with the same time you showed up in my daughter’s life. Your reputation as a womanizer is well known, but I’ve also heard rumors that you are involved in dangerous activities. Is this true?”
Derek had not expected this line of questioning, so he answered carefully, “Then you know I was in the Special Forces.”
“And that you worked in security for eight years after that,” Theresa added. “And now you’re a VP at a defense company. But my private investigator has dug up evidence that you may be involved in something more nefarious.”
“May I have this private investigator’s name?” Derek asked smoothly. He and Jack might just pay him a visit and make him disappear.
Theresa blanched. “Absolutely not.”
Derek leaned in closely. “Theresa, I assure you, I’m not into anything illegal. I love your daughter, and the last thing I want is to put her in danger. This is DC; there’s plenty of misinformation out there. Don’t get caught in the web or you may not break free.”
“That sounded like a threat, Derek,” Theresa replied stiffly.
“Not at all.” But the look he cast her held a warning. He hated to intimidate Sophie’s mother on the very first meeting, but hiring a PI to dig up shit on him might just have the poor guy end up in Viktor’s bunker, never to be heard from again. Derek was doing them all a favor.
“OK, that’s enough!” Sophie said. “Mom, do not make me regret contacting you after all these years. I love Derek. Nothing you say or unearth is going to change that. I don’t care if he was a gigolo in his previous life—”
Derek chuckled. “Thanks, Angel.”
“—but he makes me happy and that should be enough. Sheesh, your interrogating him like I’m about to marry the guy.”
OK, that stung, but he didn’t know why. Derek scowled at Sophie.
She looked back at him innocently. “What? We’ve only dated for a couple of weeks.”
“Almost two months, actually.”
Theresa covered her mouth to hold down her laughter. “Poor man, I see you’ve got your work cut out for you.”
She was not wrong, Derek thought. He was still glaring at Sophie, who still had no clue what set him off.
Theresa quickly changed the subject to Sophie’s plan for rebuilding her grandmother’s home. Derek listened dutifully, giving his input when appropriate. That was another item he needed to discuss with her. She was still talking as if she was just living with him temporarily. True; he had not broached the subject of officially moving in together. But hell, he’d never had such a conversation with any woman before. First time for everything.
* * *
Six weekslater
“Sorry I’m late!”Sophie announced as she quickly strode into the lab while shrugging on her white coat. “The contractor had an issue about some interior molds and needed to get it addressed quickly.”
“No problem, Sophie,” Jan said, smiling indulgently.
The lab renovations had been completed a week ago. There was a section added exclusively for enriching zefinium for MDI. She had hired three new lab assistants to help her with testing different methods for isotopic enrichment to achieve different levels for different uses. The events of the past three and a half months had shown her how little she had lived and that there was life outside her little lab. Hiring more help meant more time to spend with Derek and experience the world. She would like to travel more and probably go back to South Africa without the shadow of a bomb hanging over her head.
But first, business is business. She had tweaked the design of her molecular laser isotope separator and was about to test it today.
“Do you have the rock mounted?” Sophie asked Jan as she put on her protective glasses.
“Yes, I have.” Her assistant had a silly smile on her face. Maybe someone was just as excited as she was about testing the new design.
“You’re the best, Jan,” Sophie said and peeked through the lenses for a visual of the target zefinium rock. At first she couldn’t tell what it was. Instead of a gray craggy rock the size of a pebble, what she saw was a clear, quartz-shaped rock on prongs and it was dazzling.
“Oh my god. Is that…” Sophie whispered. She yanked her glasses off and opened the eighteen-inch square glass chamber. Sparkling dizzyingly at her was a huge, princess-cut diamond that was set in platinum. Smaller but no less gorgeous diamonds were paved on either side of the bigger rock. Mesmerized, she reached out her hand to touch it, but a large masculine hand covered hers, and she felt the heat from his body before she felt an arm curling on the other side of her to reach for the ring.
Derek’s voice whispered in her ears. “Marry me, Sophie.”