Defending Destiny (The Warrior Chronicles) by Leigh Morgan Read Free Book Online Page B

why she loved working with Lauren. What she found went into his museums to be shared with anyone who paid the dollar donation to get in. It was good work and she was proud to be a part of it. Before long, she planned on being not only good, but the best.
    Daisy was so lost in thoughts of her future grandeur—hell, Oprah was going to come back just to interview her—that she didn’t hear Magnus’ question. His tone said he’d repeated it more than once.
    “What are you thinking about?”
    Besides doing Oprah and doing you?
    “Nothing.”
    Daisy needed him to recognize she was a woman now. A woman who’d earned her way, not one who bought it. She earned her doctorate in Celtic Studies from the James Campbell School of Celtic Studies in Milwaukee under her mother’s name, not her father’s, and graduated with honors. She earned her fifth-degree black belt working endlessly with Sensei Schwartz and with Lauren. No one held her hand on the dojo floor. She trained with ancient weapons, Celtic and Oriental, and could wield most with alacrity.
    She’d earned her way, Daisy thought, setting her jaw, sitting up straighter in her seat. Being a rich bitch hadn’t gotten her anything she considered important, with the exception of an introduction to Lauren MacBain and his world. And for that, she was eternally grateful.
    “Whatever’s eating you is not nothing. You’re grinding your teeth, you’re unleashing your inner giant, and I can feel the invisible laser beams of death you’re shooting at me.” Magnus looked at her with narrowed gray eyes. He couldn’t hold her gaze long, the road was too narrow and too winding for that, but those few seconds were enough for him to let her know he saw right into her.
    Magnus downshifted quickly, swerving to miss a lone sheep in the middle of the road. Now you show up? Perfect. Daisy slid into the door from the force of the car’s movement. Magnus straightened the car with little effort, moving back to the center of the road. Grinning, he up-shifted twice in rapid succession, taking the next curve faster than any sane person would have. Always a good driver, Magnus had honed his talent to a precision few drivers could match. Not for the first time, Daisy found herself wondering what other secret things he’d been up to since she left home.
    A flash of Magnus spinning her in the air after she passed the test for her driver’s license suddenly came to her. She passed her motorcycle test shortly after that, something that did not win Magnus any points with her family. Daisy was thrilled and surprised that she’d passed both the first time. Magnus wasn’t surprised at all. She could still hear his words in her head: I knew you would do it, Daisy. You can do anything. He believed it. He was always sure of her success, even when she had doubts. She’d loved him for that too. Then.
    “Spit it out, Daisy. I can tell by the cloud forming above your head, you want to give me hell. Stop brooding and have done with it. I don’t want to spend the time we have together with you gearing up to snipe at me for things I can’t change. If you’ve got an issue let’s deal with it.”
    Daisy thought for a moment, trying to form words that would relay how she was feeling. This job with Lauren meant success for her. It signified her independence. It was vital to how she was perceived by others in her field of study. It was vital to how she wanted Magnus to see her. She was worthy of respect for what she’d made of her life, independent of what she was given, and Daisy needed Magnus to see that.
    “We’re here for me to do a job. A job that is much more than just filming Lauren’s documentary. More than finding Celtic artifacts.” Daisy swallowed past the lump swelling in her throat. She took a deep breath and stared at his profile. So strong and so familiar, yet unfamiliar in a way that made her long to explore every new line, especially the new scars: one on his chin, one on his left