Holding Out For A Hero: SEALs, Soldiers, Spies, Cops, FBI Agents and Rangers (116 page)

But she recognized the entrance to her suite.

“That’s the guy?” Her heart thumped.

“Yeah,” Jack said gruffly. “You recognize him?”

Shelley tried to study the man objectively, searching for some clue to his identity but too much was hidden by the way he avoided the cameras. “No.”

This man had gone into her room, cut up her clothes, dumped out her cosmetics, and violated her stuff.

It was just stuff.

But what if she’d been in that room?

Sweat bloomed on her chest as the destruction of her room came back to her. He’d sliced her clothes. If she’d been there would he have sliced her? Her heart picked up the pace as horrible possibilities flashed through her mind. Her breath shortened and her finger trembled as she traced it over the man’s face.

“I don’t even know him,” Shelley whispered. “Why would he hate me so much he’d destroy my things?”

Ric’s knees touched hers. “Hey. You weren’t there.” He rested his elbows on his knees and leaned in to smooth his palm over her forearm and linked his fingers with hers. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

His touch soothed her immediately.

Shelley lifted her gaze from the picture. His dark, brooding eyes were sincere and she fell into the bottomless promise of safety. She wanted to respond to his pledge. The solemn words felt like more.

Not just here and now. But weighty as if she could depend on him forever.

Instead of making her run, fast and far, she leaned closer until they were only inches apart. “Okay.” The air was heavy with expectation.

Con tapped the picture, breaking the connection that thickened the air around them. Shelley and Ric leaned away from each other at his interruption.

“We’re pretty sure that this was only meant to scare you.” Jack’s voice was gentle.

“They did a good job of scaring everyone.” Shelley’s sense of humor rose again.

“How so?” Con asked.

“There are three of you in Ric’s suite, and you’re all hovering.” Her lips quirked, and she tried to find the humor in the situation. It was either that or curl into a fetal ball and retreat from the world.

“Good point.” Jack’s lips quirked. “But the fact is that if you look at the mess he made it’s too neat, too methodical. Initially we thought rage, but after looking at the larger pictures, we think this was supposed to be intimidation.”

“So what do you think they want?”

“They want you to leave,” Ric said. The message had been sprayed over the walls.
Leave or else.

Shelley’s ire rose. “No. Not happening. I am not missing your wedding,” she vowed to Jack fiercely.

“Okay.” Con popped open his laptop. “We need to go over the other threats you’ve gotten.”

“It’s just a few random emails.” Shelley dismissed the weird letters and proposals she’d been receiving. Really, there wasn’t anything in those fishing communications that was truly threatening.

“That’s my specialty.” Con smiled, the action softened the skin around his eyes. He was so much more relaxed and happy with Ava in his life. “I trace things.”

“You know, sometimes I think we should thank Fernandez,” Shelley said softly to him.

Con lifted his inquisitive gaze from the screen to her. “What?”

“He brought you and Ava together.”

Prior to his relationship with Ava he’d still had traces of that defensive teen. Con had needed someone just for him. And he’d found her in Ava. He deserved the bone deep happiness that bled from his pores and bathed him in a soft content light. Shelley brushed her fingers over the lock blond of hair that always seemed to tumble into his tawny eyes.

“True.” Con hesitated, then curled his fingers around hers and held her hand for a moment. The unconsciously affectionate gesture rolled over her like a wave of joy for his happiness, and his ability to finally settle in his own skin. “Was there a reason you brought up Fernandez? You think he has something to do with your current problem?”

“Don’t knock intuition.” Jack stared at the computer screen.

“Fernandez.” Ric frowned. Oddly, his gaze was on Con’s hand on hers. “Shelley didn’t have anything to do with taking him down.”

“Not really.”

Con launched into a quick rundown of the situation with Jose Fernandez, the politician from Monterey who had used a horrific kidnapping of four young Hispanic girls to advance his career. “We exposed him for the fraud he was. But you’re right, Shelley wasn’t really involved, with the exception of giving Ava a place to hide until we were ready to confront him.”

“True.” Shelley smiled reminiscently.

“He could be attempting to get to you and Jack through Shelley,” Ric mused. “Does he know how close you all are?”

“Everyone knows how close we are, ever since that article about the farm—”

“What article?” Ric clipped out.

“It should have been nothing.” She hated the attention on her. “The article was supposed to be about the program we, I, implemented. A new kind of way to support the Food for Life food bank. Supporters sponsor an acre of land. The cooperative farm grows the food. Then the harvest goes straight to the food bank so that the recipients have access to fresh produce.”

“Instead, the reporter profiled Mom,” Jack said.

“I knew having my picture taken in front of the house was a mistake.” Shelley shook her head. She’d tried to finger comb the tangled mess of her hair but it was still untidy around her face, distracting her from their serious discussion. She couldn’t control the shiver as she remembered how it became so messy. Ric’s hand fisted in her hair, holding her head tightly. Like he’d never let her go. Her body reacted to the visceral erotic memory, zooming her right back to that moment in bed.

“The end result was still an increase in people willing to adopt an acre of land and a big boost for Happy Tummy Farm and the food bank, but it also brought attention to me personally. I’ve gotten several proposals and, um, offers.”

“Proposals?” Ric said slowly.

“Um, yes, marriage proposals.” Shelley shuddered. “From strangers.”

It had been so weird to be the focus of that much attention. She tended to stay in the shadows. She supported plenty of causes but quietly behind the scenes. She’d learned long ago that having money meant many people wanted you to part with it. She’d finally had to pick a few philanthropic efforts, get involved in the process, and choose those projects that spoke to her.

Ric’s lips quirked.

“Laugh all you want but having a stranger show up on your front lawn with a marquee and marching band to ask for your hand in marriage is a little disconcerting.”

The attention made her uncomfortable.

Even the regard of the three other people in this room made her squirm. She was much better at lavishing attention on the kids, or her charities, than taking it for herself.

“Okay.” Ric was suddenly all business as if he sensed her need to fade into the background.

Con pulled up her email account.

Her email. “How’d you do that?”

He just looked steadily at her. “This is what I do, Shel.”

“Invade privacy?” Indignation rose in her. First her hotel room, now Con was invading her personal email. “How’d you get my password?”

“We need to have a talk about your password,” Con said.

Shelley’s face burned. She knew it was dumb but that date changed her life. The day she’d gone to the live at the Stone mansion. And it was too personal to share with Ric Santana even if they had shared bodily fluids. “Not now.”

Ric got them back on track. “Show me the emails.”

She pulled them up. She wasn’t sure she should tell him. “I deleted the ones that were um, more personal.”

“Personal how?” Ric was back in her space, his chest puffed and his body somehow bigger. He’d morphed into Mr. Protection.

“More proposals offering to…satisfy me.”

“How many exactly?” Ric pressed.

“I didn’t count. I just deleted.”

“Con?” Jack prompted.

“On it.” Connor’s fingers flew over the keys and within about a minute he had an answer. “Around one hundred.”

“A hundred? Seriously.” Ric’s eyebrows raised in surprise.

“It’s that surprising?” She hopped up and strode to the windows, focusing on the skyline instead of her currently complicated life. She curled her toes into the plush carpet and tried to ground herself. She was spiraling out of control and she couldn’t seem to stop it from happening. “I’m not dog meat.”

“Shel,” Ric’s voice softened. He approached her, his reflection in the glass was concerned. He cupped his palms over her shoulders. “Of course not. Tactically, I’m trying to figure out how many people we have to investigate.”

The heat from his hands burned through the thin t-shirt. She was out of sorts and out of control and she hated it. “This is so crazy.”

“One step at a time.” Ric tugged her so that her back pressed against his front and his arms wrapped around her tightly. “We’ll figure it out.”

Accepting his help felt strange. She looked out for herself. She had since she was eighteen and pregnant, her mother kicked her out of the house, and Jackson Stone shoved money at her for an abortion.

“Let’s get back to the heart of the matter.” Jack glared at the way Ric was touching her, staring intently at the contact of Ric’s hands on her shoulders.

Ric lifted his hands off.

“Well, I would think you should start with the people who asked me for money,” Shel said reluctantly.

She thought about the other words on her hotel room wall.
You have what’s mine, I want it back.
Although how her money was theirs, she had no idea.

“How many of those are there?” Ric turned her around so that she could looked into his gaze. Without her shoes on, their height discrepancy was far more pronounced. His larger broader frame dwarfed her but the effect was comforting rather than menacing.

“Can’t say as I counted.” She snarked.

Jack cleared his throat. “I’ve got the full list.”

Her eyebrows rose. “The full list?” Her voice got softer.

“I started intercepting the emails and diverting them into a separate follow up account.” Jack said, “You didn’t need to see all that crap.”

“I can handle my own life.”

“Sounds like it’s more than any one person could handle.” Ric diffused the tension that blossomed between her and her two sons.

“We were just trying to take care of you, Shel,” Con said. “The way you took care of us.”

With his words, everything in her softened. She loved her kids. “I really can take care of myself, sweetie. Been doing it for years.” But the their intention was sweet.

“Now it’s time to let us help you.” Ric turned on his charm, the same charm that convinced her to go with a stranger to his hotel room. But thinking about it now, she’d made that decision without all the facts. What if Ric had been one of the crazies that had been dogging her life for the past few months?

Ric’s gaze had darkened. He was thinking the same thing.

“Connor, your job is to track the emails,” Ric directed then he turned to her. “Any other people who physically invaded your space?”

Tension sloshed in her stomach, making her realize she hadn’t eaten much of the breakfast and she hadn’t had dinner last night.

Shelley shared the details of the people who had actually approached her in person. “But none of those people seemed intent on harming me.”

They discussed the logistics of getting to the bottom of the mystery.

“So we’re all on the same page here.” Ric seemed to have taken over. “Jack, you need to keep working on that other thing. Con, keep at the computer investigations.”

While they were discussing the details of her stalker—how weird was that?—things were easy to overlook. But as the conversation wound down and everyone had their assignments, Ric said, “I’ll be in charge of physical protection detail.”

The reality that she was essentially stuck with Ric Santana, the man who was supposed to be nothing more than a one night stand, hit her again.

A knock on the door had all three men reaching for weapons.

Ric peered through the peep hole. “It’s Jess.” He stowed his weapon in the holster at his waist, and unlocked the door.

Jess breezed in with several shopping bags. “Got you set up.”

“Thanks, Jessy.” Shelley hugged her daughter tightly.

“Let’s connect again in a few hours,” Ric said. He looked around, “By the way, where is Riley?”

“He and Di are on their way back from the Philippines.” Jack said, “They’ll be here in a few days. But I already gave Ry a heads up.”

“I’m just going to put on some fresh clothes.” Shelley flushed. Awesome. No one had been paying attention until she brought up the fact that she was wearing Ric’s clothes.

As if she sensed her mother’s discomfort, Jess said, “I’ll be along in an hour to get you.”

Ric barked. “I don’t want you going anywhere without me.”

“Spa day,” Shelley said brightly, trying to distract everyone from the fact that his immediate response had been over the top proprietary. Even if he was supposed to be protecting her, there had been an extremely unprofessional note in his voice.

“I’m going with you.”

Jack and Ric exchanged another weighted glance. Ric nodded at Jack.

“I’m out,” Jack said.

“See you later mom.” Jess headed for the door.

“Keep her safe,” Jack commanded Ric.

Con gave a chin lift to Jack and Jess. “I’ll be along in a minute.”

Queen of Hearts: Chapter Eight

Connor Stone was a wildcard, a little out of step with his brothers. Ric could predict Jack and Riley’s response to a situation but Connor played his hand close to the vest.

This was going to be interesting.

Ric waited.

Shelley had already made a dash for the bathroom. She disappeared to put on the new clothes that Jess had brought up from a boutique in the massive mall attached to the Palazzo and Venetian.

Con stood at parade rest, hands clasped in front of him, body relaxed yet ready. “I’d like to ask your intentions.”

Ric blinked. “My…intentions.”

“Yes, sir.”

He hesitated. His intentions last night had been to engage in hot, anonymous sex with a sultry woman. But he didn’t think that’s what Connor wanted to hear and he wouldn’t embarrass Shelley by revealing the truth of their encounter.