Daddy's Angel (Montana Daddies Book 7)

by Laylah Roberts

  Larry grabbed her arm again. Bain stepped up beside her, scowling down at him. He didn’t like how handsy the agent was with her.

  “Let her go. Now.”

  Larry glared up at him, but he did remove his hand from her arm and step back. “You are being ridiculous! I’m no danger to her. Arianna and I have been together for years.”

  Together? He made it sound like they were a thing. But Bain had seen her reaction to the other man. There was nothing romantic about their relationship. In fact, Larry seemed to enjoy bullying Arianna one minute then being a condescending ass the next. Why the hell did she put up with this guy?

  His surge of protectiveness caught him by surprise. It was just because she was the client. That’s all.

  “They’re staying, Larry. Caleb hired them so I know they’re the best. He’s going to find me a permanent bodyguard.”

  Larry moved his gaze from her to Bain then his lips curled up. “Fine, keep your bodyguards. I guess I can do something with them, but it’s a missed opportunity, Arianna. You get a guard with more of a following and it’s only going to help with sales of your next single. It flops and I’m gone. Not going to grab hold of a sinking ship, babe.”

  Fucking asshole.

  He could feel the slight woman standing beside him tremble, but she never made a noise, and she slipped slightly in front of him. What did she think she was doing?

  “But don’t worry,” Larry said with an oily smile, as though he’d sensed he’d gone too far and was now working clean-up. “I can make anything work. I’ll have the media lapping all of this up. I can probably spin this. Yes, why didn’t I think of that before?”

  “Think of what?” Dominic asked.

  This guy was getting on his last nerve.

  He clapped his hands together gleefully. “Singer’s courage in the face of her stalker. That’s some great publicity right there.”

  “No,” Bain told him.

  “No? What does that mean, no?” Larry blinked.

  “It means that we can’t allow you to make these threats public,” Dominic said smoothly.

  “Excuse me? Do I tell you how to do your job? This is gold, I just can’t believe I didn’t think about working this angle before. I can get behind this, definitely.”

  “Protecting Ms. Silvers is our job,” Dominic interjected before Bain could do something stupid, like plant his fist in the weasel’s face.

  Damn, that would be satisfying.

  First thing first, though. He needed to get the client out of the line of fire. He stepped to her side and moved so he was standing halfway in front of her.

  “Our job is to protect Arianna, and making these threats public could just serve to anger her stalker or it could give them what they want. Feed into the delusion. It could increase the risk to her,” Dominic said reasonably.

  Bain didn’t know how he managed to stay so patient.

  “What the fuck do you know about stalkers?” Larry gave Dominic a derisive look. “I’ll do what I have to in order to keep Arianna’s career alive and the money coming in. You do your job, I’ll do mine.”

  Larry scowled at Bain. “Will you get out of the way? I need to talk to Arianna. We have work things to discuss.”

  Bain crossed his arms over his chest. Like fuck he was leaving her with this dickhead.

  But then a small hand touched his forearm. He glanced down into wide, moss-green eyes set in a calm face. He had to hand it to her, she knew how to hide her emotions. If he hadn’t felt her trembling, he’d have thought she was completely unaffected by this douche.

  He felt certain she was about to ask him to remove Larry. And that would definitely be his pleasure.

  “Could the two of you please give us a minute?” she said to Bain then turned to Dominic.

  She wanted him to leave? What the fuck? He glanced over at Dominic, who was frowning. Two frowns in the space of an hour from Dominic. That didn’t bode well for his state of mind.

  “Ms. Silvers?” Dominic asked. “You want us to go?”

  She nodded. “Yes, please.”

  Larry gave them a superior look as Bain stared down at her.

  “We can get rid of him for you.”

  “I’m her agent,” Larry sneered. “She needs me. Not like the two of you. Bodyguards are a dime a dozen.”

  “Larry,” Arianna said warningly.

  “Have they even signed NDAs, Arianna?” Larry walked over to where a decanter sat, half-filled with what looked to be bourbon. Despite the fact it was only two in the afternoon, he poured himself a generous glass and took a sip. “They shouldn’t even be here without signing those, you know that, Arianna.”

  What a condescending fucking ass.

  “Ms. Silvers?”

  She looked from him to Larry then sighed. “Please leave us. I will speak to you soon.”

  She obviously didn’t give a shit about what he and Dominic thought or advised, she’d rather listen to this guy bullshit and bully her.

  He knew his reaction wasn’t entirely reasonable. He barely knew her. She was the client. She obviously knew Larry well. He just didn’t like being dismissed by her.

  Turning, he strode from the room, aware of Dominic behind him. The other man closed the door quietly.

  “Bain, man—” Dominic started to say.

  “Fucking bullshit. How are we meant to guard her when she won’t let us? Did you see the way he talked to her? And she didn’t say a word back.”

  “Bain. Calm down. So he’s a douche? He’s not the client.”

  Thank God for that. But it seemed they needed to have a chat with the client. She needed to learn that they protected her. Not the other way around.

  3

  They were summoned back to her office an hour later. Okay, maybe he was being a bit grouchier than usual. But that douche just put him on edge.

  When they walked in, Arianna was standing at the windows, looking out. She turned and gave them both a small smile.

  “Please, have a seat.” She gestured at the sofa and two armchairs across the other side of the room. “I’m sorry about Larry.”

  “That’s all right, Ms. Silvers.” Dominic sat on the sofa, but Bain remained standing.

  “Call me Arianna. We’re going to be living together, right?” She went bright red after saying those words. “I mean. . .uhh. . .umm. . .”

  She studiously ignored his gaze as she sat and nervously picked at a thread in her jeans. That was a surprise. He thought she’d be more polished. He’d done a bit of research on her. She came from a wealthy family, youngest of three children, her family was well-immersed in society. There hadn’t been much information about her brother, but her sister was on her third marriage, this time to some famous model.

  He’d expected someone snobby and cold.

  “Thank you for sending a driver,” Dominic said, smoothing things over.

  “Oh, no problem. Joe and Estelle have worked for me for years. Estelle does most of the cooking and cleaning. If you have any favorite meals or don’t like anything, you can let her know.”

  That was amazingly good of her. And again, unexpected.

  “Thank you,” Dominic said gently. “Arianna, we need to have a talk about your security and protocols. Have you ever had a bodyguard?”

  “Uh, no. I mean, I’ve had temporary security for concerts and things. But no, never. I, umm, oh, Larry insists on you signing NDAs. I’m so sorry. He said he’ll send them over with a courier.” She gave Dominic an apologetic look then glanced up at Bain.

  “You. . .would you like to sit?”

  “No,” he said abruptly.

  Dominic sent him a warning look. Then turned back to her. “Don’t worry about Bain. He prefers to stand. He thinks it makes him look more intimidating.”

  “He doesn’t need any help to look intimidating,” she said. Then her cheeks went red again as though she realized she’d said that out loud. “Sorry.”

  “You shouldn’t have stepped between me and that jerk
,” Bain told her abruptly. He ignored Dominic’s exasperated groan.

  “W-what?” She managed to actually meet his gaze for a few seconds before looking away. “What do you mean?”

  “Our job is to protect you. We stand between you and danger. Not the other way around. Don’t do it again.”

  “I. . .I. . .Larry wasn’t a threat to me.”

  He just raised his eyebrows. “He was acting erratically. He touched you.”

  “He’s always like that,” she murmured. “He doesn’t like me making decisions without him.”

  Bain glanced at Dominic who gave him a puzzled look. Didn’t Larry work for her?

  “Look,” Dominic said, leaning forward with a gentle smile. “It might take a bit of time for us to figure each other out. Why don’t you get us a list of any upcoming events you have? Do you have any plans to leave the apartment today?”

  “Oh no. I hardly go anywhere,” she murmured. “I’ll be home most of the time. It’s just when I have to go to the recording studio or rehearsals for the upcoming concert.”

  “We’ll need information about the venue and security,” Bain told her.

  “S-sure, I’ll get Larry’s assistant on that. Just let me get my notebook.” She moved to her desk and opened a drawer, pulling out a notebook that had glittery sequins on the front. That surprised him.

  She sat and started writing a list. She needed a bright and sparkly pen to match her notebook.

  Okay, man. Getting off course. She isn’t a Little.

  “We’ll need to go through protocols with you,” he told her.

  “Okay.”

  “Also need to talk to head of security of this building.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “His name is Rob Andrews.”

  “Something we need to know about him?” Dominic asked.

  “I just. . .I don’t want to be mean, but I don’t think he’s terribly competent. After that first letter was delivered, I asked to see the camera footage. I thought we might need it for the police. He said the camera in my foyer was broken. When I tried to ask for it the second time, he said he would check it. When I followed up, he said there was nothing on it. He wouldn’t give it to me. Said he’d only release it to the police. Which I can’t understand since I’m the only one living on this level.”

  “And this third time?” he asked. This guy sounded fishy as hell.

  “I couldn’t get hold of him for a few days, apparently he was ill. He said when he was able to look that it had automatically been erased.”

  “Why didn’t you call the police?” Dominic asked.

  She looked away from them both. “Larry said they wouldn’t do anything about a couple of threatening letters. That I’d look like an idiot, especially as nothing was showing on the cameras. Maybe he’s right. . .maybe I’m worried about nothing.”

  “This person got to your apartment and slid a letter under your door,” Dominic told her. “That is a threat to take seriously. You did the right thing.”

  She nodded.

  “And don’t worry, we’ll deal with Rob,” Bain told her quietly.

  This job was quiet.

  Other than the confrontation with Larry, and butting heads with Rob, the head of security, these past few days had been peaceful.

  Almost boring.

  Rob had refused to let them change the security for the penthouse access. Because no one had contacted the cops, he hadn’t bothered to keep any of the footage.

  The guy was an incompetent dickhead. They had Corbin looking into his background, but so far he’d found nothing. Still, Bain had a bad feeling about him.

  But they had put in another camera in the small foyer to cover any blindspots, and an alarm system which notified them whenever anyone entered.

  The strangest thing? They’d barely seen the client. She spent all her time in her bedroom, even getting her meals taken there.

  The few times he had seen her, she was barely able to make eye contact, basically racing back into her room. She was friendlier towards Dominic, obviously preferring to talk to him. Which suited Bain just fine.

  “Hey, man. You set for tomorrow?” Dominic joined him in the living room. Arianna never used the room, so they’d taken it over.

  “Yeah. You get that information from Larry?”

  “Finally,” Dominic muttered with a frown. “That guy’s a prick. He stalled on purpose just to be difficult, even though we’re protecting his client.”

  Larry was a class-A prick for sure. He did his best to block or undermine them. Tomorrow, a series of interviews had been booked for the lead up to the concert. At least Arianna had agreed to limit it to three interviews, and they were being held here at the apartment.

  “You sure you want to stay with Arianna?” Dominic asked. “You can take the door and I’ll remain with her.”

  “No. I got it.”

  Dominic just gave him a look.

  “It’s my job, I’ll do it.”

  “Just. . .don’t be too hard on her, okay? If you gave her a chance, you’d find out she’s actually really sweet.”

  “Sweet? She ignores me. She runs each time she sees me coming. She spends all her time in her room, making Estelle serve her food there instead of coming out and eating with the staff. I wouldn’t exactly call her sweet.”

  Dominic sighed and leaned forward in his chair. “I think she’s a bit intimidated by you.”

  “What?” He was a big guy. And he could be a bit abrupt. But he was here to protect her. Why would she be intimidated by him? She got up onstage in front of thousands of people regularly and she was scared of him?

  “All I’m saying is give her a chance. You might find you quite like her. And you got to admit, you judged her before you even met her.”

  Had he done that?

  Yeah. He totally had.

  “Fine. I’ll give her a chance.”

  “I think she doesn’t have many people to talk to. She’s a bit shy. Well, maybe shy isn’t the word. Socially awkward? Hmm, maybe the two of you have more in common than you think.”

  “Shut up,” he snarled at the other man stood and walked away, chuckling to himself.

  Something in common with the ice princess? Yeah, he so didn’t think so.

  Bain walked over at the knock on Arianna’s office door. For the last two hours, a crew of make-up and hair stylists had been in here, primping Arianna in preparation for these interviews.

  He didn’t know how she could stand it. But he supposed women like that sort of shit, didn’t they? Seemed like a waste of time to him.

  Now everyone had cleared out. Including Larry, who had gone off to greet the first interviewer. When Bain opened the door, he was surprised to see Estelle standing there.

  “Hello, dear,” she said sweetly. She held a small tray with two glasses of water with lemon in them.

  “Here, let me take those for you.” He reached for the tray, but Estelle shook her head.

  “I’m fine, dear. I need to talk to Miss Ari.”

  Arianna turned, gifting the woman a small smile. Come to think of it, it was the first time he’d seen her smile all day. Maybe she didn’t like all this primping and attention? But why do it? He shook that thought off. Wasn’t his problem to try and work her out. He just had to guard her body.

  The older woman approached Arianna. She looked perfect. Not a hair out of place. Almost like a freaking doll. Estelle set the water down on the small table that sat between the chairs that had been set up for the interviews. Arianna picked up a glass and he noticed that her hand shook. Estelle put her wrinkled hand over Arianna’s hand. Steadying her? Comforting her? In that moment, Estelle almost appeared to be the stronger one.

  He frowned, watching as Estelle slid something out of her pocket, handing it to Arianna. What the fuck? Were those pills?

  “What the hell are those? Are those drugs?” He stormed over.

  Not your business. Not your problem.

  But if she was taking something illegal, he sure a
s shit wasn’t going to just stand by and watch without saying something.

  Estelle turned, standing between him and Arianna. Guarding her? From him? He was the fucking bodyguard. And if Estelle was enabling her drug habit then he needed to get her away from Arianna.

  “What the fuck did you just give her?” he demanded, tempted to grab hold of the older woman and drag her away.

  “None of your business, dear,” Estelle said, but that sweet note in her voice was gone.

  “Don’t you take those,” Bain snapped at Arianna.

  She stared up at him with wide, frightened eyes. That didn’t sit right with him. Was Dominic right? Was she intimidated by him?

  “What are you taking?” he demanded.

  “That’s none of your business.” Estelle glared at him.

  A small hand crept up and slipped into the older woman’s hand.

  “It’s okay, Estelle,” she whispered. “I’ve got it from here.”

  The other woman glanced down at the younger one. “You sure?”

  Arianna smiled up at her. And he felt his heart skip a beat. She was gorgeous. And it wasn’t due to her make-up, hair or clothes. Her beauty shone.

  “I’m sure. Thank you so much for bringing me the water. Why don’t you and Joe go hide before Larry starts demanding things.”

  “All right. It’s time for my shows, anyway. Just relax, dear. It will all be over soon.”

  As soon as Estelle left, Bain gave Arianna a stern look. “You can’t take those pills.”

  She sighed. “They’re herbal. Something to help me relax.”

  All right. So at least they weren’t what he thought.

  “Relax?”

  “I get nervous during these interviews.”

  That shocked him. “You don’t like doing this sort of stuff?”

  She snorted. “No. I’ve never been great in social situations. People often confuse me. I worry about saying the wrong thing. I. . .just. . .maybe these have no effect and it’s a mind over matter sort of thing. . .” she trailed off, looking embarrassed. “I know I should be strong enough not to need them.”