Secret Protector

by Ann Voss Peterson

  “Amazing? Not really.” She held out her scraped palms. Her fingers trembled visibly.

  He reached out his own hands and gently folded hers in his. “I’m sorry I didn’t notice that woman. I should have.”

  “For crying out loud, Gray. It’s not your fault. You have nothing to be sorry about.”

  He did, but he couldn’t see what good belaboring his apology would do. “I’m just so glad you’re okay.”

  “I’m only okay because of you.” She slipped her hands from his. But instead of stepping away from him, she moved closer. She looped her arms around his shoulders. She looked up at him, lips slightly parted. As she had out on the sidewalk and yet…different. Not desperation and fear this time, but desire.

  Close calls stoked the libido, he knew that. Danger. Sex. In circumstances like this, one twisted into the other. But although reason niggled somewhere in the back of his mind, he didn’t want to listen. He’d spent a lot of time reading those lips all the times he’d watched over her when she didn’t know he was there. He wanted to taste them.

  He dipped his head and fitted his mouth over hers.

  She tasted like exotic spices. But underneath there was something sweeter, warmer, a flavor that was purely Natalie Kendall. He wanted more.

  He knew he shouldn’t do it, but he pulled her close against his chest and delved deeper into the kiss.

  A sound cut through the elevator music. The chime announcing they’d reached their floor. The whoosh of the door opening. “Natalie.”

  Gray recognized the voice. He forced himself to release Natalie and end the kiss.

  Then he turned to face Devin Kendall.

  NATALIE HAD HAD A BAD DAY. Two bad days, really. Having her home violated last night seemed like child’s play compared to being almost run over by cars today. She was shaking. Her knees and hands ached. And her beautiful new trousers were smudged with dirt and dust and one of the knees looked tattered. Now her only joy was being taken away from her by her big, overprotective brother.

  She was less than happy. She was downright annoyed. “Hello, Devin.”

  “Ash called.” Devin peered down at her, projecting his best stern, big brother look. Almost as tall as Gray, everyone always said he resembled their father almost exactly. But as stern as Devin came off sometimes, and as mad as she was at him now, Natalie always felt how much he cared for her. So much he came close to smothering her at times.

  Times like right now. “So you know what happened. I hope Ash also told you that Gray pulled me out of the street. He saved me.”

  Devin didn’t spare Gray a glance. He motioned to the inside of the elevator. “Is that was this is about?”

  Natalie raised her chin. She was not in the mood for this. “If you must know, I was the one who kissed Gray.”

  Devin shifted his shoes on the floor. He finally pulled those sharp, blue eyes off Natalie and focused on Gray. “I need to talk to you.”

  Natalie resisted the urge to physically step between the men. Devin wouldn’t dare fire Gray over this. At least she hoped not. But she was pretty sure he was set on embarrassing her. “You’d better not be planning to lecture Gray about kissing me,” she warned. “It’s none of your business, Devin.”

  “I need to talk to him about security matters. Alarms and such,” Devin said in a flat voice.

  Right. She opened her mouth to speak.

  “I’ll be right there, Mr. Kendall,” Gray said before she could get out another word. “As soon as I see Natalie to her office. After what happened out on the street, I don’t want to take any chances.”

  Natalie’s heart gave a little hop. Devin wasn’t her dad, and she was no teenage girl, but Gray’s respect for Devin, yet polite defiance for her sake, thrilled her far more than it should.

  If she wasn’t so stressed over what had happened last night and on the street, and if Devin wasn’t glaring at them right now, she’d be tempted to try for another kiss.

  And she’d make it a doozy.

  BY THE TIME HE WALKED Natalie to her office, took the elevator to the twenty-fourth floor and made the trek to the executive office suite, Gray was ready for whatever the CEO had to throw at him.

  At least he hoped he was.

  The door had barely shut when the first words erupted from Devin Kendall’s mouth. “What the hell do you think you were doing?”

  Gray stepped over to the leather chairs in front of Devin’s impressive desk and lowered himself into one. He might send other employees quivering with that commanding tone, but he’d have to try harder with Gray. Nothing could beat the drill sergeant he’d had in basic training. That guy could shout paint off walls and fur off puppies.

  Devin stood up and pushed back his desk chair. He gave Gray a quiet glare, eyes like blue lasers. “Kissing my sister is not part of your job description.”

  Gray gave a nonchalant nod. Couldn’t argue with that.

  “Jolie told me about your lunch plans today. What kind of game are you playing here?”

  “No game.”

  “Really? That doesn’t jibe with what Jolie said.”

  Jolie, Devin’s fiancée. One of the women Natalie met at the bridal shop last night. Natalie must have told her about their lunch plans. He’d love to know what else Natalie might have said.

  “I hired you to be Natalie’s bodyguard, not some kind of boyfriend. I want you to stay away from her.”

  “And how am I going to justify watching her? She’s seen me now. Talked to me. That’s going to make it a lot tougher to keep her from noticing that I’m following her. If we’re dating, I have a built-in excuse to be near her. I can more effectively protect her.” He eyed Devin. “It’s the only story I could come up with that would allow me to stay near her without her suspecting the truth. Of course, that wouldn’t be a problem if you’d just tell her you’ve hired a bodyguard.”

  “No.”

  “Why not? She doesn’t need you to coddle her like this. She’s a grown woman, not a little girl. Tell her the truth.”

  The CEO shook his head and paced across his office. “You don’t know Natalie. She won’t cooperate. Even after what’s happened these past two days, she’ll still maintain she doesn’t need a bodyguard. She’ll think I’m being overprotective.” He rolled his eyes as he passed Gray’s chair.

  “Aren’t you?”

  Devin spun around.

  Gray held up a hand. “I don’t mean hiring a bodyguard is overprotective. Obviously something is going on here. But you should tell her. She’ll deal with it.”

  Devin blew out a hard breath of air and shook his head. “I see she’s told you how controlling I am.”

  “Not controlling. Overprotective. And it’s not just you. She says she gets the same treatment from her brother Ash. And Thad, when he’s back in the States.”

  “Did she tell you why?”

  “No.” But he found himself really wanting to know. “Care to fill me in?”

  Devin shook his head and resumed pacing. “She just had a hard time when she was a girl, that’s all.”

  He assumed Devin was referring to The Christmas Eve Murders. Gray had been only a teenager when it happened, but he remembered the stories about Joseph and Marie Kendall’s deaths. It had shocked the community. St. Louis was a pretty big city. It saw its share of murders, but rarely were the victims part of the wealthy elite. And rarely did violence come to upscale neighborhoods like Hortense Place. The tragedy had been all over the news, and the recent developments in the case had consumed the media, as well. “Natalie was awfully young when your parents died.”

  “She was.”

  Seconds ticked by. Apparently Devin wasn’t going to say more. Unlike his blustering first approach, the CEO seemed to draw into himself, as if he was watching Gray, carefully considering his next move.

  Gray had the distinct feeling he’d underestimated Devin Kendall.

  Finally the CEO spoke. “So what do you want? Besides my blessing to date my sister?” he asked in a to
ne that suggested a glacier would cover St. Louis before that would happen.

  “I want you to either tell her I’m her bodyguard, or let me come up with my own cover story. Lucky for you, the second option is already under way.”

  “Lucky for me. Right.”

  Gray probably shouldn’t say any more. Devin could fire him any moment and hire another bodyguard, one Natalie wouldn’t recognize. But despite that risk, Gray knew he had to speak. Sometime in the past two days, the job had stopped being the important thing for him. Sometime Natalie had taken the number one spot. “For the record, I think she should know the truth. It would make things easier on all of us.”

  Devin paced to the window and stared out at the city below. The sun streamed in through the window, turning the rich brown of his hair to milk chocolate. His shoulders hunched, holding so much tension it was visible. He unbuttoned his jacket and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his expensive slacks. “This family has been through too much. Not just over the past couple of months, but the past twenty years. It’s my job to make sure nothing else happens, that no one else gets hurt.”

  It seemed as if they’d already been over that ground. “I understand that.”

  Devin let out a heavy breath. “You’d better make sure Natalie doesn’t fall in love with you. She’s had far too much pain and sadness in her life. I don’t want to be responsible for another bastard breaking her heart.”

  Chapter Six

  After the traffic incident, several days passed without anything notable happening. The bruises on Natalie’s knees and hands turned from angry red to purple to an ugly yellow. A glitch with a local bakery had left Rachel scrambling to find a new baker to make her wedding cake. Natalie had the nightmare nearly every night and had used the early-morning hours to restock her collection of paintings she’d never show. But other than the creepy feeling that someone was watching her now and then, nothing bad or dangerous or even that unusual happened.

  Gray hadn’t even kissed her.

  She couldn’t see Devin scaring him off. Not the way Gray had refused to back down when her brother had interrupted them in the elevator. So she’d chalked up the step backward to her usual mistake of moving a little fast.

  At least he still seemed interested.

  He’d eaten lunch with her every day at the café in the Kendall building atrium and had insisted on following her to work in the morning and home at night. He’d even volunteered to make a run to the coffee shop tonight when she told him she needed to work late.

  There was still hope.

  That wasn’t the case with the investigation into who had pushed her into the street. Ash had found nothing. No one who remembered a woman in a powder-blue sweatshirt. No one who noticed the vicious shove. No one who could tell them anything.

  At least nothing like that had happened again.

  Knuckles wrapped on the open door. Gray poked his head inside. “How’s the work coming?”

  “I’m craving my drug of choice.”

  He stepped into the room, two cups from her favorite coffee shop in his fists. “Caffeine, it is. Double shot, low-fat latte.” He crossed the room and handed her one of the cups.

  The rich scent of espresso perked up her senses. She brought it to her lips and took a long, creamy sip. “Ahh, you’re my savior.”

  “You’re staying awfully late.”

  “I need to get caught up. Rachel needs my help with some wedding details, but the work doesn’t wait, you know?”

  “Not unless you tell it to wait. You need to do that sometimes, you know. You don’t want people to start calling you a workaholic.” He gave her a smile and took a sip out of his own cup.

  “Me? A workaholic? Nah, that would be my brother.” At least it used to be Devin. Since he had asked Jolie to marry him, he’d mellowed and become a little more well-rounded. Jolie had a good influence on him.

  He smiled and plopped down in one of the chairs facing her desk. “You can’t like hanging out here this late at night. Everyone else has gone home.”

  It was true. Even Devin had left. “I’m a little nervous. But there’s no reason. Being from security, you of all people can see I’m pretty safe here.” Of course, the parking ramp would be empty and dark. And even though Devin had ordered increased security and she’d be driving instead of walking, the streets downtown were pretty vacant this time of night. She took another soothing gulp.

  “But?”

  Funny that she just met him, and yet he seemed to read her mind. She shook her head. “It’s not logical.”

  “Fear often isn’t. But that doesn’t make it not real.”

  Where did this guy come from? He couldn’t be this perceptive, could he? Could an actual man be this in tune with what she was thinking? Know just what to say and how to say it so she didn’t feel like a wimp? She shook her head.

  “What now?”

  “You’re too good to be true.”

  He looked away, as if expecting someone at the door. No one was there.

  Natalie bit the inside of her lower lip. Leave it to her to go too far, say too much. Just like kissing him the day he’d saved her from traffic. Whenever she found a decent man, the one or two in existence, she had a habit of falling too hard, too fast. She couldn’t help it. She wished she could skip the games, just get that ring on her finger and know he was always going to be there.

  But men never saw it that way. They seemed to want the chase, the hunt. If she gave herself to them too fast, they no longer wanted her.

  And that’s when they would leave. “I’ll be fine.”

  He unfolded himself from the chair and straightened to his full height. “I’ll let you finish what you have to do. I’ll be right outside the office catching up on some of my own stuff. Whenever you want to leave, I’m ready.”

  “You know, your security job doesn’t require you to follow the executives home.”

  “This has nothing to do with the job. Don’t you know that yet?” He gave her a smile that made her bones feel soft. “Unless you want me to install an alarm system at your place while I’m there.”

  She let out a laugh. It felt good. Normal. And she had to admit, she was glad he was willing to stay until she was finished with this project. She had been dreading the trip home without his reassuring headlights shining behind her more than she wanted to admit. “Can you give me about two hours?”

  He didn’t hesitate. “No problem.”

  She still felt guilty. Two hours was a long time to sit around and wait. She was probably pushing it. “You sure you don’t mind?”

  He held her gaze, his hazel eyes clear and sincere. “I’m sure. And the next time you ask, I’ll still be sure.”

  Warmth spread over her skin. Her knees felt a little wobbly. Crazy. Flushing. Weak knees. She was turning into a cliché. The next thing she knew, she’d be picking out a song for their wedding and he’d be running for the hills.

  “I’ll meet you at the elevator in exactly two hours.”

  He gave her a nod, not breaking eye contact for a second. “Two hours it is.”

  He took his coffee out into the hall and closed the door behind him.

  By the time she’d gotten herself composed, almost ten minutes had passed, and she had to work as fast as she could to accomplish all she needed to by the two-hour deadline she’d set.

  He was waiting for her at the elevator as promised. She’d never known a guy this considerate, let alone dated one, if one lunch and one kiss and a lot of following her in his car could be considered dating. Here she’d just met him, and yet he made her feel so cared for, so safe, she wanted him to put a ring on her finger right now, recite the vows and be done with it.

  God, she was pitiful. Give her a double shot, low-fat latte, and she’ll promise her life. Maybe Jolie was right, in a way. But instead of it being Gray who couldn’t be trusted, it was Natalie herself.

  She took a gulp of coffee and willed the caffeine to clear her mind and bring her back to reality. Unles
s she wanted to chase him off, she’d better watch it.

  She behaved like a perfect lady, yet as they rode down to the parking garage, got in their cars and he followed her through the dark streets to Hortense Place, all she could think of was how hard she could fall for this guy. How much she wanted to kiss him again.

  And how much she wanted more than that.

  She turned into the long driveway and passed through the gate. The grounds were quiet, only a single light gleaming from the mansion’s first floor. She wound past the pool house and through the gardens. She pulled up in front of the little garage. Lights flicked on. For a second, her heart jolted, then she remembered the motion sensing lights her uncle had promised to have installed.

  She hit the button on her remote, and the garage door rose. But instead of driving inside, she pushed open the door and stepped out into the drive.

  She had to be out of her mind, doing this. But she couldn’t resist. This tension between her and Gray either had to lead to another kiss, or she had to put the friend label on him and make sure it stuck. This not knowing if there was something between them was driving her crazy.

  A tremor seized low in her belly. She forced her feet to carry her to his car.

  When she arrived, he already had the door open and was uncurling his body from behind the wheel. “Is something wrong?”

  “Ahh, no.”

  “Then what is it? The garage door not working or something.”

  “No. I was just wondering…” She swallowed into a parched throat. She couldn’t go on. She had no idea what to say.

  “You’re going to show me your paintings?”

  The request caught her off guard. She’d totally forgotten he wanted to see her paintings. Paintings she hadn’t purposely shown anyone except Ash the night of the break-in. Paintings which would not make him interested in her, but likely have the opposite effect.

  To her horror, she found herself nodding.

  “Great.” Gray reached into his car and shut off the ignition. He slammed the door and turned to look at her.

  Her paintings. A quiver started in her chest and moved through her whole body. Could she really show Gray something that personal? Something that raw?