Martha Kennerson - Protecting the Heiress

Francine pushed out a slow breath before responding. “Meeks is tripping about my stepping in to cover for Karen last night,” Francine explained to her sister.

“What...why? Did something happen? Cine, you know what the doctor said!”

“Not you, too, Farrah,” she said, reaching for one of the bottles of water that sat in the center of the table. “I’m fine and no, nothing happened. Besides, it was just a party.”

“Yeah, a party that went all night,” Meeks said. His hand brushed against Francine’s retreating arm as he too reached for a bottle of water, their eyes meeting instantly. “And one where you had to physically remove two people by yourself, which is why I suspect you were hurting so bad when you got in this morning.”

Francine glared at Meeks through narrowed eyes, which she hoped expressed just how mad she was about his oversharing as she took a sip of her water. She was trying to extinguish the fire his touch had ignited in the lower half of her body. He had obviously read the required incident report, but he’d failed to mention that she had handled things smoothly and hadn’t triggered any alerts on her tracking device. Anyone working in the field was required to wear a tracking watch. If necessary, all the agent had to do was push a button, should they need assistance.

“Did you really have to tell all that?” she challenged.

“Maybe your sister can talk some sense into you, since I obviously can’t.”

The room was quiet for several moments as the sisters stared at each other.

“It really wasn’t...” Francine said.

Farrah nodded. “...that serious, I get it, but—”

“You’re right, it could have been worse, but it wasn’t,” Francine declared.

“But...” Farrah stared at her sister.

“They’re doing that weird twin-triplet communication thing again,” Robert whispered to Mary.

“Hush up,” she replied, smacking Robert on his arm.

“All right, I might have overdone it a little last night,” Francine conceded.

Farrah tilted her head and raised her left eyebrow.

“All right, I overdid it a lot, but I wasn’t in any danger. Happy now?” she asked her sister.

“And?” Farrah nudged.

“And I won’t do it again. Can we move on? We do have a client coming,” she said, glaring at Meeks as she flipped through the pages on her tablet with far more gusto then she intended. Francine hated to feel like she was being scolded by anyone, but especially by one of her sisters. She was just thankful that Felicia was on the other side of the world; otherwise, as the doctor in the family, she’d demand to give her a physical exam.

“As I said, I think we should pass on this one,” Meeks reiterated. “Surely there are other less notable celebrities we could use for this...test.”

Like hell , buster! Keep it professional , Francine . After Francine gave herself a quick pep talk on the best way to handle the situation, her eyes searched the room before landing on Meeks. “While I appreciate your concern and input, we won’t be passing. I’ve already advised Mr. Morgan of that fact and accepted his very large retainer, so unless Robert’s found something in his background check...” Francine paused long enough to give Robert time to respond.

Robert looked at Meeks, then back at Francine before he reluctantly said, “Nothing that sends up any red flags. Daniel’s team is available, so if we’re taking the job, we’re ready to go.”

“That’s great. Let’s move forward.” Francine shot Meeks another look that challenged him to say anything.

He didn’t.

“Now, I know Daniel and his team are some of the best guys we have, but I promised Mr. Morgan that I’d stay close to things, so I’m taking the lead on this one.”

“Hell, no!” Meeks declared, slamming both hands of the table.

Everyone froze and stared at him. “Excuse me?” Francine said, her eyebrows standing at attention.

“How many times do you need to be shot to get it through that beautiful stubborn head of yours that—”

“That what?” she asked, thrusting her chin forward. “We’re not kids that need your protection anymore. You do know that, right?”

Before he could say anything else, there was a knock on the conference room door just before Kelly flung it open.

“Excuse me, Mr. Morgan and Tiffany... the Tiffany...just arrived,” she said in an excited voice.

“Looks like our young intern is starstruck...and a little fickle, too,” Robert said, laughing from behind his sunglasses.

“Robert,” Mary scolded, hitting his arm again.

“They’re not supposed to be here for another hour,” Francine protested, glaring at her sister. “You forgot to have Paul reschedule the appointment, didn’t you?”

“May...be,” she said, giving her sister a sheepish look that a little kid would give when they knew they’d done something wrong. “Look, there was a lot going on with planning the wedding and all.”

“It was Paul’s wedding, not yours.” Francine reminded.

Robert smiled at Farrah.

“I...I mean, he’s basically the brother we never had, and he needed my help. We paid for it,” Farrah declared.

“Again...still not your wedding.”

Farrah laughed.

“They sent them up from the lobby, so I put them in the VIP lounge,” Kelly said.

Tiffany Tanner was the current big thing in entertainment—a young starlet whose most recent movie had made millions within hours of its opening. She was beautiful, rich and a household name, which made her need for a bodyguard a no-brainer. What was strange was her immediate need for a complete security overhaul.

“Please show our guests to the conference room next to my office,” Francine said. “Thanks, Kelly.”

After Kelly closed the door behind her, Francine focused on Meeks. “We are taking this case. The board agreed to this trial period for celebrity personal protection and it’s my job to select which celebrity we’ll be working with. We’re just fortunate that Tiffany was looking for a new agency. Daniel’s team will be assigned, and Farrah and I will be taking the lead. Any questions?” She gave him no time to respond. “Good!”

Francine stood, collected her things and said to her sister, “Shall we?” She gave Meeks a parting nod before she swept out of the room.

“Right behind you, sis,” Farrah said. She looked at Meeks, smiled and said, “I guess she told you.”

“One of you might want to change your hairstyle or something so the client will be able to tell you apart,” Meeks said before they cleared the table.

Farrah unbound her hair, bowed her head and shook out her long curls. She rose up, fluffed her hair with her fingers and smiled.

Robert lowered his sunglasses and said, “Damn!”

Farrah laughed, winked at Robert and left the room.

Chapter 3

D amn , man , you sound like a girl! Meeks chided himself for the hair comment.

He remained at the conference table, fuming at the ridiculousness of it all. He was reluctant to contradict Cine, as his earlier outburst had surprised everyone—including himself. Was the woman trying to get herself killed?

It was bad enough that that bastard Raymond Daniels—a former enemy who blamed Francine for his arrest—came gunning for her even when he was out on bond. Too bad the cops got to him and put him back in jail before I got ahold of him . Does she have to keep putting herself in dangerous situations ? Meeks thought as he picked up his tablet and phone.

When the board approved the expansion of the personal protection division to include celebrities, Meeks had tried to keep an open mind. However, the clients they assisted other agencies with only confirmed his worst fears, and Meeks was determined to change the board’s mind. Meeks was already having problems with the personal protection division since Francine insisted on continuing her fieldwork; adding celebrity to that mix only enhanced his resolve to eliminate the line completely.