by Cindy Dees
Silver’s jaw dropped. Mark would go ballistic if he heard Austin say something like that! Everybody knew to tiptoe around his hair-trigger temper. She thought she heard tinny laughter emanating from Austin’s phone.
“We’ll be arriving at the underground entrance of your hotel in…driver, how long till we’re back at the Grand?”
“Twenty minutes, sir.”
“…in twenty minutes. Right. Thanks. No sweat.” Austin pocketed his phone.
She liked to think of it as healthy inquisitiveness, but nosiness was one of her greatest weaknesses. She liked to know everything that was going on around her. When Austin made no comment, her curiosity quickly got the best of her. “So, what did my father say?”
“He’ll have someone waiting at the gate for us.”
She huffed. “No. About the shooting? Did the police catch the guy?”
“No.”
“Who was he shooting at? Was anyone hurt? C’mon, Austin. Gimme the scoop.”
Amusement glinted in his green gaze. “I don’t need the police to tell me the gunman was shooting at you. I saw the guy make his move. And, no, no one was seriously hurt. Some guests and staff have cuts and bruises from twisted ankles and falling glass.”
She was still stuck on his first sentence. “The gunman was shooting at me? Are you sure?”
That earned her an annoyed look. “Yes, I’m sure. It’s what I do, remember?”
“How do you know?”
He sighed. “I saw the gunman dart out of hiding and pull out his weapon. He timed his move for when Bubba had stepped away from you to give the cameras his best profile. He really is a jerk, you know.”
“The shooter or Mark?”
Austin grinned. “Both of them.”
She rolled her eyes. The guy was trying very hard not to be informative with her. She prompted him again. “Then what did the gunman do?”
Austin crossed his arms. “He took aim at you with a large-caliber handgun and fired. One thing we know about him—he’s a crappy shot. He should have nailed you cold. Any eighteen-year-old raw recruit could make that kill.”
“Well, thank God for small favors,” she replied dryly.
He glanced over at her. “Seriously. It tells us a lot about the guy. If he were a professional hit man you’d be dead. This guy’s an amateur with something personal against you. Can you think of anyone who might want to kill you? Maybe get revenge for some past wrong?”
She frowned hard, not liking the turn this conversation was taking one little bit.
“Any old boyfriends you had ugly breakups with? Anyone you crossed swords with during your career? Anyone who might feel slighted by your success?”
She gifted him with an annoyed look of her own. “Yes to all of the above. Times about a hundred. In case you didn’t know it, my former singing career was…slightly tumultuous.”
He laughed. “The way I hear it, that’s an extreme understatement.”
Sometimes it got really old having a public past like hers to live down. With a long-suffering sigh, she replied, “There you have it. The list of people who want to see me dead is long and distinguished. Take your pick of who the gunman could be.”
For a moment sympathy shone in his eyes. But then his gaze went flinty hard. “Never fear, honey. I’ll figure out who he is and take the bastard out. Nobody shoots at someone I’m responsible for and lives to tell about it.”
She sank deeper into the plush seat, taken aback at his abrupt shift of mood. Maybe Mark was the one who ought to be worrying about ticking this man off, and not the other way around.
“What’s the Tears of the Quetzal?” he asked abruptly.
“It’s a diamond. It’s set into a ring, and my father calls it his most prized possession.” As Austin quirked a skeptical eyebrow, she added, “It’s a super-rare stone that changes color. It’s called a chameleon diamond. When you heat it up it changes from violet to green.”
“Cool.” A pause. “Why do the police have it?”
She sighed. “Candace borrowed or stole it—depending on who you talk to—the night she was murdered. The ring was gone when her body was found.”
Austin’s face lit up. “So if the cops have the ring, maybe that means they’ve got a lead on her killer.”
Silver replied fervently, “I hope so. That would be great news.”
“Yeah, but if the police are closing in on her killer, the guy’s probably hiding or on the run.”
His question sobered her sharply. “I dunno.”
“No idea at all?” he asked.
“Nope. None.”
Austin went silent, tugging absently at his left ear and staring out the window broodingly. She didn’t interrupt his thoughts, whatever they might be. She’d like to think a little of his steely resolve to keep her safe had to do with their two intimate exchanges, but that was probably wishful thinking. Now that she was sitting up in her own seat, not in physical contact with him, the crazy attraction of before seemed a little hard to believe. She’d been scared and high on adrenaline and had overreacted. Yeah, that was it. Her temporarily heightened senses explained it.
But they didn’t explain the thick sludge of disappointment that abruptly chugged through her veins. It had been an amazing feeling while it lasted.
A few minutes later the driver swung smoothly past the Grand’s acres of swimming pool and tennis courts and into the black maw of a gated entrance that looked like it led to a parking garage.
Before their rear fender had barely cleared the entrance, a reinforced steel gate was already sliding closed behind them. Darkness closed in. The limo spiraled down a long ramp, and then light flared ahead. She spied a familiar silhouette and started. Her father was down here personally to meet them? Either she was in big trouble for her display to the press, or Austin was about to get fired.
Reluctantly she reached for her door handle. Time to face the music.
A big, warm palm clamped down lightly over her hand. “Lesson number one in being a good protectee. Never get out of the car first. I will always get out before you and have a look around. Please don’t come out until I tell you it’s safe. Ever. Got it?”
She looked up at him, startled. Mark had never made her go through any routine like that. “So you’re pretty much always going to be a gentleman and get my door for me? I think I can get used to that.”
That killer grin of his flashed briefly, then was replaced by an expression more akin to sympathy. He seemed to understand that she was joking about this security procedure to hide her dismay at the seriousness of the situation.
His finger brushed her temple, pushing back that pesky strand of hair again, and then the quick, light touch was gone. But the earthquake it left behind continued to shudder through her for several long seconds. Whoa. No adrenaline heightened senses could explain away that.
Eventually her breathing restarted as she stared at the back of his head. Who was this guy whose casual touch made her all but orgasmic?
“Here we go,” he muttered.
As advertised, Austin stepped out of the vehicle and paused directly in front of the door. Heck, she couldn’t have gotten out even if she’d wanted to. It did, however, give her an excellent and isolated view of his buns. Tight. Muscular. Made for driving into a woman strongly enough to know she was with a man—
Good grief! She had to get control of herself! Heat climbed her cheeks just as he murmured, “Okay, you can come out.”
Her heart all but palpitating, she took the hand he offered and climbed out of the limo. Sheesh. She was a mess.
Her father exclaimed, “How’d you get her to do what she’s told like that? I’ve been trying for twenty years and never got her to behave.”
Without stopping to think, she snapped, “He said please.”
She wasn’t in the habit of sassing her father—she never won and it wasn’t worth the hassles to follow. But it had been a rough day. She braced herself, waiting for his explosion. But today Harold made no co
mment at all. Which was testament to just how upset he must be over the shooting.
She was stunned when he merely turned to Austin and said quietly, “I suppose it goes without saying that I’m grateful to you for pulling my little girl out of there.”
Her jaw dropped. Her father never said things like that! She frequently wasn’t at all sure he actually felt softer emotions like love or concern for his family.
Harold passed a small white object to Austin. “Your room key.”
Austin nodded his thanks. “You understand that nobody is to know that she’s with me. Nobody. The staff can just think that I eat like a horse and like to make my own bed for a few days.”
Harold nodded. “It’s taken care of.”
“And maybe you could thank Mr. Coddington for letting us commandeer his limo like that.”
Harold grinned. “I know just the thing. I’ll give the guy a fat stack of thousand dollar chips, which he’ll promptly lose back to me at the tables.”
Silver snorted. That was vintage Harold. Give someone a generous gift that he knew was going to come right back to him. But then he did surprise her by pulling out his wallet, extracting a thick wad of hundred dollar bills and handing them to the limo driver. “Here’s a small token of my appreciation for helping save my daughter’s life.”
Silver stared as the driver stammered his thanks. Well, knock her over with a feather!
Austin said, “Oh, and one more thing, Mr. Rothchild,” Austin said. “Fire that Sampson guy. He’s worthless as a bodyguard.”
Harold grimaced. “Believe me, I’d get rid of him if I could. But I don’t employ the guy. You’ll have to take that up with Silver. He works for her.”
Austin’s eyebrows shot up, but he made no comment to her. She got the distinct feeling they were going to converse more on the subject very soon, however.
While Austin steered her toward the elevator, she chewed on her father’s vehement comment about Mark. She’d had no idea Harold disliked him that much. Why hadn’t her father said something to her about it before now? Although, to be brutally honest with herself, if she’d known it would tick off her father, she might have made the relationship with Mark real just to get her father’s goat.
Maybe Harold wasn’t as dense as she thought he was. Maybe he’d finally learned not to push on the subject of her boyfriends and let her discover their schmuck-like qualities for herself. And they always turned out to be schmucks in the end. The sad fact was she had terrible taste in men. It was why she’d taken the drastic measures she had to have a baby.
As the elevator door slid shut, Austin called, “Thank you for your help, Mr. Rothchild.” Examining both sides of his plastic key, he asked, “Where’s my room?”
“Lemme see.” She took the card and turned it over. Wow. The New Yorker villa. It was one of the Grand’s four incredibly swanky penthouses that shared the roof of the forty story tall hotel. “You’ve got one of the penthouses. You put your key card in this slot to activate the elevator to the top floor.” She demonstrated, and then passed the key back to him. With a quiet, powerful whoosh, the elevator shot upward.
The metal encased space took on a heavy silence she had no interest in disturbing. At some point, Austin was going to start asking her questions—lots of them—and not a one of them was going to be easy to address.
The door opened on a quiet, oak paneled hallway lit by lamps on console tables. Fresh flower arrangements and thickly padded carpeting added to the overall ambience of European style.
“Let me guess. You want to get out of the elevator first, too,” she mused.
“Fast learner,” he murmured as he stepped out and took a hard look around.
“Your suite’s the one to the left.”
He nodded and gestured for her to follow. He all but ran down the hall, and for a man as tall as him, that was really moving. She had to break into a jog to keep up. Note to self: wear flats around this guy. She would only come up to his armpit that way, but at least she wouldn’t be forced to run in heels.
Austin hustled her into the suite and closed the door quickly behind them. His mental sigh of relief was nearly audible. She knew the feeling. The last hour had been a heck of a ride. Literally. Man, she was getting old. There was a time when this amount of excitement wouldn’t have fazed her. But now, the danger and racing around in fear for her life were simply exhausting.
A single thought exploded across her mind. I’m pregnant.
She really shouldn’t be doing crazy stuff like getting shot at anymore. Her wild days were, indeed, officially over. Now, they just had to convince an unnamed gunman of that fact.
“You hungry?” Austin called from the far side of the living room. He’d been looking carefully out of each of the floor to ceiling windows—probably checking for snipers or something.
Actually, she was vaguely nauseous. “Not really. You?”
“Starving. Adrenaline always makes me hungry.”
“Typical man.”
“Honey, I’m a lot of things, but typical isn’t one of them.”
She grinned over at him. “I gather modesty isn’t on your list of major attributes, either.”
He shrugged. “I call it as I see it, darlin’.”
“Want me to order up a steak for you from Room Service? The prime rib here is to die for if you’re a carnivore.” She started to reach for the phone, and Austin moved to her side so fast he was practically a blur.
He snatched the phone out of her hand. “Nobody’s to know you’re here. As of now, you’re officially in hiding.”
A moment’s relief at the idea of being safe gave way to dawning horror. “Small problem, big guy. I don’t have time to hide. I have only six weeks to pull together the show of my life.”
He scowled down at her. “Sorry. Not happening. What part of ‘someone just tried to kill you’ didn’t you get?”
Chapter 5
Silver stared up defiantly at him. Taking temporary precautions in case her sister’s killer tried to harm her was one thing but screwing up the rest of her life by ruining her comeback was another thing entirely.
He had to be wrong about someone from her past coming after her. Sure, she’d stepped on a lot of toes in her early days. But that had been a long time ago. Anyone who’d had it in for her had had more than enough time to get even with her before now. And as for Candace’s killer? Her stepsister had made plenty of her own enemies through hard and selfish living. Besides, the past several years her path and Candace’s had barely crossed. Silver had a very hard time believing that she and Candace shared any enemy in common. Yeah, there’d been a shooting downstairs, but incidents like that weren’t unheard of in this town. Gambling did funny things to people.
Austin pulled at his ear again, looking impatient. But he said evenly enough, “What exactly do you think happened in the lobby?”
“We were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nothing more. Somebody snapped under heavy gambling losses or got ditched by one of our showgirls.”
“Silver, I’m not just your run-of-the-mill bodyguard. I guard heads of state. I train the people who guard heads of state. I’m one of the top personal security experts in the entire world. And I’m telling you that shooter was aiming for you.”
She sat down heavily on the nearest sofa as she reluctantly acknowledged the possibility that he might be right. “But…why?”
“That’s what you and I are going to figure out.”
“How?” she pressed.
“You’re going to tell me everything about your life, and I’m going to develop a list of people who might want to see you dead.”
Everything? She had no intention of telling this man everything about herself! She said lightly, “If you want to know everything, it’s going to take a while.”
He looked around the suite. “We’ve got nothing but time, kiddo. You and I aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.”
“About that. I’ve got things I have to do. Urgent, time sensitive
things that can’t wait.”
“Like what?”
“Well, I never made it to Stella’s office today.”
“The costume lady?”
“Don’t let her hear you call her that. Her client list is a who’s who of the entertainment industry.”
He looked unimpressed. “I suppose I can arrange a meeting for you with her in the next few days. I’ll scout out a secure route to get you down to see her. What other meetings were you hoping to have?”
“I told Saul I’d take a look at the stage tomorrow morning. Then, I’ll have to meet with executives from my old record label, the set designer, choreographers, the Grand’s band leader. I need to audition and hire backup singers and dancers, start rehearsals, do costume fittings, press conferences, publicity appearances—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you talking about?”
“My father gave me a one-week headliner gig here at the Grand for my birthday. The show’s in six weeks. It’s going to take scrambling every waking minute between now and then to get it ready.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t approve it.”
She stared. Closed her hanging jaw. And then laughed in patent disbelief. “I’m not asking for your permission, Austin.”
His dark gaze drilled into her. “That’s good, because you don’t have it.”
“I don’t need it. I turned thirty years old today, remember? I’m an adult. I can do what I want.”
“I am responsible for your safety. And that gives me the final say over what you do and don’t do.”
Outrage at his high-handedness surged through her. “Do you tell the president of the United States what to do like this?”
“I’m not in the Secret Service. But if I were assigned to his security detail, I most certainly could—and would—tell him what to do regarding his security. I tell foreign princes and prime ministers what to do all the time.”
Panic threatened to choke her. He had to stay out of her way! This show was incredibly important. Everything rode on it! If she got her career going again, she’d never have to worry about financial security for herself or her child, let alone the fact that singing was in her blood. She couldn’t imagine her life without it.