by Dana Marton
They had the elevator all to themselves on the way up. Tsini lay at her feet.
“So how are you surviving your first day at the dog show?” she asked in a tone that told him she knew very well he hated the damn thing. She probably enjoyed every moment of his misery.
“All in all, I think I’d prefer armed combat.”
She grinned, her face lighting up with humor, her strawberry-glossed lips stretching wide. “I bet.”
He needed to focus on something other than those lips. “You don’t always come. Why are you here this year?”
The smile slid off her face. “I didn’t want Tsini to come without me. I know we kind of think that those notes and the coat are about me, but if she’s in any danger, I’m not going to let her go across the country without me being there.” She shrugged. “Some work came in, too. Everyone’s here in one place. It’s convenient. Fisk and Ivan can make their deals.”
“You trust both of them?”
“Yes.” She didn’t hesitate as much as a tenth of a second.
He followed her out of the elevator and down the hall, held his hand out for her room key.
She gave it with a roll of her eyes. “We’re in a conference hotel with thousands of people around. Nobody is going to be stupid enough to try to hurt me here.”
Maybe she was right and maybe she wasn’t. Her parents and brother had been killed when they’d been alone, no witnesses. But Nash wasn’t about to take any chances. He scanned the rooms. “Where’s Greg?”
“Probably went down to look for us. I’ll call his cell.” She dialed. “Hey, I just came up with Nash. We’re going to order some food. Want to eat with us? Okay. Have fun.”
“All clear.” Nash told her when he was finished checking the room.
“He’s in the casino. He won’t be long. He doesn’t like places with a lot of people.” Kayla let Tsini off her leash and headed for her bedroom. “He decided to try out the slot machines. Mike is with him. I hope he’ll win at least a little and have fun.” Then she thought for a minute. “Or maybe not. A couple of years ago he had some trouble with gambling.”
“A casino rat?” He couldn’t see it. He was having some difficulty pinning Greg down. In fact, he had trouble getting near him. Kayla was superprotective of her brother.
“Illegal street racing.” She shook her head, all wide-eyed. “Can you believe that?” she asked as she disappeared behind her door.
“Sounds more fun than pushing coins into a machine,” he called after her. Maybe Greg wasn’t as done with it as Kayla thought either. He’d asked her for money for something. Nash still needed to look into that.
He picked up the room-service menu from the desk, but had barely opened the thing when Kayla screamed.
He had to fight Tsini to get through the door first. He had his gun out, grabbed Kayla with his left hand and pushed her behind his back, ready to face anything. Then he saw what had scared her.
Someone had sliced open her pillow. Feathers were all over her bed.
She had probably pulled the comforter back when she’d come in. It had been in place when he’d checked the room, so he hadn’t seen any of this mess.
He swore under his breath as he stashed his gun back into his waistband. “Don’t touch anything.” He backed out of the room with her, already calling Mike and Dave to get up there and bring Greg with them.
“He’s here.” Kayla’s eyes were huge in her face, her voice broken. “You were right.”
Her admission gave him no pleasure. “It has to be one of the staff.” She had to accept that.
“They were all down with us except for Mike and Greg,” she said, stubborn to the end.
“I couldn’t keep an eye on everyone every minute. Any one of them could have snuck back up here after Greg and Mike left.”
“Other than me, Greg, Mike and you, only Dave has a key card.”
Definitely something to consider. Along with the gall of the bastard. That he would do this right under Nash’s nose. His blood heated.
“Hotel doors are easier to open than you’d think. Fire them all. Now. Send them home.” He could protect her, Greg and Tsini for the rest of the show, or ask Welkins to send in more men. They’d figure out what to do once they got back to Philly. He could even take her to a safe house while he launched a serious investigation into who among the staff was responsible.
“No.”
Man, she loved that word. “One of them is out to get you.”
“Maybe. But the rest aren’t. They’ve been loyal to me for years. I’m not going to dump them. They deserve more than that.”
She was loyal. He couldn’t say he didn’t like it, even if just now the quality was to her detriment. “You deserve to stay alive. You can’t be surrounded by people we can’t trust. Fire them. Seriously.”
“Somebody else could have gotten in here.”
He couldn’t argue with that. He’d broken into more hotel rooms than he cared to count.
“My staff stays.” The fire in her eyes told Nash she really meant it.
Someday he was going to have to ignore her wishes and save her despite herself. And get fired shortly after, most likely. But today was not that day. He could humor her a little longer. He was with her round the clock. The cocky bastard wouldn’t be able to help himself. He’d do something else to scare her, and Nash would be ready.
He rubbed a hand over his face. “Fine. But I’m taking over your security. No more hiding that I’m here to protect you. I can’t keep you safe with a hand tied behind my back. I will talk to everyone. They will answer my questions.”
She glanced at the feathers on her bed, the vicious slice in the pristine white pillow cover. “All right,” she agreed at last with a haunted look on her face that twisted something inside his chest.
“But you can’t be rough on them. I still think they have nothing to do with this.”
“Of course you do,” he told her, having just figured out something about her. “You’re a middle child. You’re a peacemaker. I work differently.”
“Going after everyone who moves?” she accused him.
“Just the enemy. Look, I used to be military. Find the bastards, kill the bastards. That’s pretty much me.” And he wasn’t going to apologize for it.
“You’re a warrior,” she summed up with a dismayed look that said she wasn’t the least impressed by him.
Which shouldn’t have bothered him nearly as much as it did.
KAYLA SAT on the edge of the couch, a bundle of nerves as she watched Nash take apart her staff, one by one. Nobody had an alibi for the time when her pillow had been sliced. Everyone had been off doing their own thing, except for Mike and Greg, but even they had split up for a while in the casino. Which she didn’t like in the least. Mike should have been more careful than that. She couldn’t bear if anything happened to Greg.
She couldn’t help but think that Nash would never have been that careless. He hadn’t let her out of his sight save for their bathroom breaks. And then he’d arranged for backup.
“Who the hell are you to question my loyalty to Kayla?” Mike was getting right in Nash’s face on the other side of the living room.
She half lifted from the couch, ready to intervene if they came to blows, but Nash stood completely still, the epitome of calm strength. And she sank back down.
She would have been lying if she said that his strength didn’t draw her. Her father had been a powerful man. Not as physically powerful as Nash, but powerful in other ways. But her father had always used his strength to dominate other people for his own good. Nash was using his strength to protect her.
Mike threw his hands in the air and walked away from him, giving up at last.
Everyone was tired. Nash had been questioning them about the photo and the sliced pillow for over two hours, as they came back into the suite for dinner, one by one. Dinner was artfully arranged on the table, food that nobody touched. Kayla wasn’t hungry either. Her stomach felt as if it had a le
ad ball sitting in it.
“Who the hell do you think you are to bust his chops like that?” Dave took Nash to task, standing up for Mike.
They were second cousins, had worked together forever. Those two made a tight team and didn’t take it well when their authority was challenged.
“I’m the new head of security.” Nash looked around the room, daring anyone to challenge him as he broke the news at last.
All eyes flew to her for confirmation, and then went wide with dismay as she gave a weary nod. “I don’t know what else to do. I don’t think anyone here has anything to do with this, but if someone is out to get me, any of you could get hurt. Nash has the most experience.”
“He knows nothing about you,” Dave protested, taking a couple of steps toward her, his muscles rigid with anger, his neck turning red.
“For now.” She tried to placate him, placate all of them. “We’ll figure out the long-term plan when we get back home.”
The day was almost over. Only three more to go. Tomorrow Tsini would attend the Group Ring and compete for the Best of Group title in the Non-Sporting category. Then, if she did well, she’d be in the Best of Show competition on Sunday afternoon. There was nothing but the closing gala after that, then various club meetings Monday morning before everyone headed out.
Kayla normally enjoyed these events. They were the only public functions she attended where the attention wasn’t on her. Everyone who came here came for the dogs, was fanatical about the competition, and seeing someone famous was nothing but a minor ripple in the day. She liked these shows and unless she had conflicting engagements, she made a point to be here for Tsini. But this time around, try as she might, she couldn’t get into all the excitement and anticipation as she usually did. Her nerves were on edge.
As if sensing that, Tsini came over and put her head in Kayla’s lap.
“Starting tonight, I’ll be sleeping in the living room here.” Nash pointed at the couch Kayla was sitting on. “Mike can have my room.”
Mike glared at him. Animosity simmered in the air. She hated how her safe inner circle had gotten turned upside down in the past two hours. Everyone was filled with negative energy all of a sudden.
She still couldn’t believe that any of them would betray her, wouldn’t believe it until she saw solid proof. She prayed that would never happen.
“I’m going to be with Kayla full-time,” Nash went on. “Dave and Mike will back me up and watch Greg. Everyone else, keep your eyes open. And don’t forget about Tsini either. She shouldn’t be left alone for a minute, not even in the suite. Obviously,” he added.
He’d asked them all a lot of questions and had reshuffled the power structure of the team, but he hadn’t outright accused anyone. He’d said that technically anyone could have gotten into her room. He’d mentioned the picture from her home, as well, but had left open the possibility that whoever was behind all this could have paid off a member of the camera crew who had been there that night. He didn’t want her team to know that he suspected one of them.
Not yet.
Lull the bastard into a sense of complacency, were the words he’d used when they’d discussed his approach earlier, although discuss was a rather strong word for what had really happened—he’d told her what he was going to do, and this time he hadn’t listened to any of her objections.
She’d been crazy to ever think that she could keep him in check. Nobody was the boss of Nash Wilder. He stood in the middle of the room now like a general mustering the troops. He watched, assessed, gave orders.
She knew a ridiculous number of powerful people. But their power came from the outside—from their companies, their money, their social and political connections. Nash’s power came from within, and every other man she knew simply paled in comparison.
On a very basic, primal level, the incredible maleness of him spoke to her feminine core. She found it difficult to take her eyes off the man. Trouble was his middle name. And his first. And his last. That her heart beat faster every time she looked at him was completely ridiculous. They had nothing in common.
If she got involved with him, the media scandal would be out of this world. Popcorn Princess Takes Bodyguard as Lover. She flinched at the imagined headline. But at the same time, the thought of them being lovers stirred something deep inside. She was a woman. That was it. Nothing more. She couldn’t imagine any woman not responding to all that male energy. But he was not what she needed.
She’d made so many mistakes in her past relationships. Painful mistakes. Public mistakes. Figuring out what she needed, what she wanted in a man, had taken a long time, but she had it now at last. Nash Wilder was definitely not that man.
She wanted someone in her own social circle, someone who would be less likely to be interested in her money. She wanted someone with a business background who would help her run the company. Help her. Not take over. A sensitive, diplomatic, wonderful beta male. Nothing like Nash Wilder.
Okay, maybe similar in looks and sexiness. But not as sexy. She couldn’t imagine anyone as sexy as Nash. Which was fine. For a sensitive, quiet man who supported her every step of the way, she was willing to give up the washboard abs and those wide shoulders.
“Kayla?”
His voice snapped her out of her musings.
“Did you want to add anything?” One dark eyebrow arched. He watched her as if trying to figure out what she’d been daydreaming about.
God, she hoped her face didn’t give anything away. “No. That’s it. Thanks.”
“All right.” He turned to the rest of the team. “I know this was difficult. I appreciate everyone answering all my questions. Let’s grab something to eat then get to bed. We have a big day tomorrow.”
His attention being focused elsewhere, the tension in her shoulders eased, and she got up to check on Greg. She’d talked him into staying in his room while Nash talked to the others. Being in a strange environment was already hard enough on him. She didn’t want to add any more stress on top of that.
She walked in after knocking. “How is the movie?”
“Almost over. Pretty much everyone’s dead.”
Greg had developed a fondness for mafia flicks of late. She couldn’t figure out what the appeal was. Maybe the rules that governed them. Greg liked rules. They made him feel safe. He liked any kind of orderliness in general.
His room was as superclean and organized as Nash’s. Greg didn’t deal well with a mess. He was so highly functional in other areas that his small idiosyncrasies took people by surprise sometimes, but Kayla was used to them.
She went over to the armchair where he sat and pressed a kiss to his head. “Good night.”
“Good night, sis.” He patted her hand on his shoulder, but didn’t take his eyes off the screen.
She might not have liked Nash shaking everything up, but she did appreciate that he’d brought Greg under his umbrella of protection. She’d been telling herself that nobody could possibly consider Greg any sort of a threat. He was barely involved at the company, he didn’t even have full say over his own trust fund, but under the layers of denial she’d been worried. She couldn’t stand it if anything happened to Greg. He was the only close family she had left.
She stepped back out into the living room, her hand on the doorknob.
“You should leave that open,” Nash told her from the couch. “Yours, too.”
“We’re on the sixty-third floor. What do you think the chances are of someone coming through the window?”
He watched her unblinking. “Even if it’s one in a million, I want to be prepared.”
He was always prepared, she had no doubt about that. She was the one who’d been caught unawares. But then again, she doubted anything could have prepared her for Nash Wilder.
He’d come to keep an eye on Tsini, and then he had taken over.
She understood that all this was for her own good, but on some level she resented the intrusion in her comfortable life. He was changing everything,
making her question herself, making her question her staff. Making her want him, dammit.
That was the hardest admission to make.
Even if she lost complete control of her surroundings, she liked to think that she, at least, always had control over herself. She hated the feeling that she was losing that. Nash was getting to her without half trying. She didn’t want to think about what would happen if he ever actually put his mind to it and came after her.
She rolled over and tangled herself in the sheets, kicked to free her legs.
Her awareness of him was driving her nuts.
And there was no getting away from him. Even now, from the couch, he could see her in her bed. She could see him. How on earth was she supposed to fall asleep like that?
Chapter Five
Nash sat between Kayla and Ivan as they watched Tom lead Tsini around the ring. Greg sat on Kayla’s other side, playing on his iPhone, looking up now and then to keep track of the show’s progress. Dave sat on Greg’s left, while Mike had a seat in front of them. Their side of the arena was set up as the Group Ring. The other side was for the Breed Classes. Tsini didn’t participate in that. Thank God.
Everything took forever as it was. They’d waited all morning for the Non-Sporting group, the group in which standard poodles competed, to have their turn.
He scanned the people around them, looking for anything suspicious. Everyone else’s attention was riveted on the dogs in the ring as they walked in a circle, led by their handlers. The crowd quieted as the dogs stopped and lined up for the judge.
A couple of handlers held up their dogs’ tails to offer the perfect stand.
Nash shook his head.
“I know what you mean,” Ivan said under his breath, low enough so Kayla wouldn’t hear.
Nash had noticed that she was rather sensitive to anyone making fun of the whole dog-show business. She was prepared to take all this completely seriously for Tsini.