Lenora Worth - Her Holiday Protector

“Okay, sweetie pie.” Peggy said good-night and Rikki went back to the dark silence of her room.

Thinking about the horror of seeing her best friend dead, Rikki closed her eyes but opened them wide again, the shadows of the spacious room chasing each other into dark corners. She checked the door. Locked and bolted. She looked at the heavy curtains. Closed tight. She listened for footsteps and remembered a cruiser was supposed to be parked outside her hotel room door. But each shift of the wind caused her to panic and recheck the locked door.

Then because she couldn’t sleep, she thought about Detective Blain Kent. Tall, dark and dangerous. But on the good side of the law. Well, that was different at least. The man knew his job, no doubt about that. He’d done his best to get information out of Rikki and she’d given him what he needed and kept the rest to herself.

While her heart hurt for her friend and she’d mourn that loss of the rest of her life, Rikki took comfort in knowing if anyone could figure this out Blain Kent would be the man. He struck her as the honest, determined type.

And what if he figures out who you are?

At this point, she didn’t really care if the detective with the midnight-blue eyes and clipped black hair found out she was an Alvanetti. She had been married once, to Drake Allen. A good, simple name and a good simple man. No, a boy, really. A boy who’d loved her in spite of her name. He’d been willing to fight for her and that had been a tragic mistake.

He’d died too young and her heart had not recovered.

He’d died at the hands of her family, something she could never prove. Something they’d denied. But she knew. Drake had been in a horrible accident not too far from the Alvanetti estate. A foggy night, a slick road. And alcohol. But Drake didn’t drink.

No one had wanted to hear her shouting that at the top of her lungs. No one cared enough to investigate. And she surely would never recover from that, either.

But once she’d been strong enough to come up with a plan, she’d walked away from her father’s rules as soon as she could escape. Walked away and tried to stay away. Except her beautiful, stubborn, scatterbrained mother always called her back. Sonia Alvanetti had a heart so big Rikki wondered how she’d become so frail. Had often wondered how her sweet mother could not see the truth regarding the family “import-export” business. Rikki had always believed her mother would live forever since Sonia loved everyone in such an unconditional way. She couldn’t imagine her mother not being there. Rikki had got her strong faith from her mother, thankfully.

That faith would get her through this long night.

Now Rikki had to wonder about what Blain Kent had pointed out to her earlier. She and Tessa did look a lot alike.

Which made Rikki wonder if her worst fears and the detective’s not-so-subtle hints were correct. Had that bullet been meant for her?

* * *

Blain’s phone buzzed a rude alert. He sat up in bed and watched his phone dancing across the nightstand. Then he jerked it to his ear. “Kent.”

“I...I need your help again.”

“Rikki?”

“Yes.”

She sounded muffled, scared.

Blain shot out of the bed and started grabbing clothes with one hand, the cell phone tucked between his ear and his collar bone. “What is it?”

“Someone came to my room.”

Blain’s pulse bumped into overdrive. “Are you still in the room?”

“No. I shouted that I was calling 911 and then I started screaming and banging on the walls. Then I called the front desk. The security guard apparently came out and scared away the intruder. I don’t know where the patrol officer is.”

Blain hopped on one foot trying to get his boots on. “Okay, where are you now?”

“In the lobby bathroom. I didn’t know who else to call.”

“I’ll be there in five minutes. Do not leave the hotel lobby area.”

“I won’t.”

“Stay on the phone with me,” Blain said. “I’m leaving right now.” He glanced around and saw Pebble the cat staring at him from the end of his bed. He’d found the cat by the back door of her place, meowing and scared. The mostly black-and-white long-haired calico did look like a pile of pebbles.

So now he had custody of a cat. He’d worry about Pebble later. He hurried out the door of his apartment and hoped Rikki Alvanetti would stay put until he could get to her.

She did as he asked and by the time Blain made it to the hotel, he’d gotten more information out of her. She’d been awake, unable to sleep, when she’d heard someone outside her door. Then the door handle had jiggled. She’d screamed out and threatened to call 911.

But she’d called him instead. Blain radioed in while he kept her on the phone. When he pulled up, two units were parked in the drive-through in front of the bright lobby. But he didn’t see the other cruiser or Rikki, either.

“I’m here,” he said into his cell. “Come out of the bathroom, Rikki.”

“Okay.”

He ended the call, furious that someone had tried to get to her in spite of their efforts. But this attack supported his suspicions. Someone was after Rikki Allen.

“Where’s our man?” he asked one of the uniformed officers as he slammed out of his unmarked sedan.

“He was knocked out in the bushes but on his way to the ER right now,” one of the patrolmen said. “He’ll be okay.”

The man they’d put on Rikki had gotten out of his patrol car to stretch his legs and chat with the pretty front-desk clerk. When he’d returned to his car, he’d been hit on the head and knocked out. Another officer had taken him to the hospital in his patrol car.

Sometimes, small-town police officers did things in a backward kind of way but Blain knew his fellow officers were all hardworking men. He was just glad everyone was okay.

Especially the woman emerging pale and sleep-tousled out of the bathroom. She looked at Blain and walked straight toward him, wearing a dark red zipped jacket and matching pants that his mother would call lounge wear.

He called it nice-looking wear right now but he kept his mind focused on the task and not the way that combo fit Rikki. “Hey, you okay?”

“Yes.” She glanced around, not looking so okay. “Did you find anyone out there?”

“Not yet. My men are searching every nook. We’ll double-check the area around your door, but I’m guessing whoever found you knew to wear gloves and not leave any clues.”

She nodded and pushed at all that tumbling hair. “Now we know, Detective.”

“Know what?” He didn’t like the gleam of acceptance in her eyes.

“That they were after me.”

“Yes, I believe you’re right on that,” Blain replied. “But they could have been after both of you.” At the look of horror on her face, he said, “Listen, you’re gonna have to tell me where your mother lives. You can’t stay here alone.”

“I can’t have them in her house, either.”

“But you’ll be with someone and...I’ll make sure no one bothers either of you.”

“And what are you, a one-man type of superhero?”

“No, but I think I can patrol a home and keep intruders out.”

“He’s a former marine, ma’am,” a passing officer said in a matter-of-fact tone. “He can take care of you.”

She quirked a dark eyebrow and took a calming breath. “A marine? So that should make me feel safe, I suppose.”

“One of the best,” the young patrolman said before Blain could reply. “An MP at that. Only, he don’t like to brag.”

Blain shook his head. “Look, I can watch over you tonight.”

She stared at him with a new regard, her dark gaze sweeping over him and making him squirm. “I don’t want to go to my mother’s house.”