by Lisa Hughey
“We can’t.” He protested.
A loud knock at the door startled them both.
Shelley jumped off the sofa so fast she swayed, perilously close to falling over.
“Lock yourself in the bathroom. If you hear anything suspicious, climb in the tub and use the phone to call security.” He shot instructions at her like bullets. Ric eased his weapon from the holster and headed to the door, covering his bases, even though he doubted her perpetrator would just knock on the door.
The banging got louder. “Shelley!”
Connor. Cockblocked by her stepson. Ric still peered through the peephole to verify it was indeed Connor Stone. The guy had impeccable timing.
Connor’s grim face stared back at him. Ric unlocked the door and let him in.
“What took so long?” Connor growled.
“Con?” Shelley came out of the bathroom, still in the short robe, her hair mussed and her lips reddened. “Is everything okay?”
Connor’s attention shifted between Shelley’s attire and Ric. He scowled at Ric who fought the urge to smooth his hand over his hair. Shelley was a grown woman, dammit.
“You took forever to answer the door,” Connor finally replied.
Shelley flushed. “Ric was just being extra cautious.”
“I’ll bet he was.”
“Was there a reason you stopped by?” Ric tried to divert Shelley’s focus away from Connor’s sarcasm.
Connor blinked. “Oh, uh, yeah. I found four email addresses that I want you to take a look at.”
They sat on the sectional sofa. Shelley intuitively returned to the spot she’d just vacated. Ric had a primitive compulsion to be close to her. He forced himself to sit at an angle so that Connor could show her the addresses. “By analyzing several variables, language, tone, and type of message, I was able to distill all the possible matches down to these four as potential matches.”
He had printouts of each address along with the emails sent. Ric leaned closer so he could read the contents. “Can you look at these and see if you know the senders?”
Shelley studied the four sheets.
“Are any based in Las Vegas?” Ric asked.
Shelley was so close that he could see the small mole at the corner of her mouth. She must cover it up with makeup most of the time because he hadn’t noticed it before.
Her scent rose from her skin and he lost himself in the bottomless pools of her eyes.
Connor cleared his throat, and they broke apart. “Why Vegas?”
“I’ve been thinking about it.” Ric concluded, “Prior to coming to Vegas all the love letters and threats had been verbal or written. No physical contact. But since Shelley arrived here, there’s been an escalation.”
Both acts against her seemed perpetrated with the aim of getting her to leave Las Vegas. “Why would someone want you gone from here?”
“I don’t know.”
Connor said, “You recognize any of the screen names associated with these email addresses, maybe from another form of social media or as a nickname for someone you know?”
“No.” Her heart was beating so hard that her breastbone shook her entire chest.
“Hey, it’s just a line of investigation.” Ric covered her hand, squeezed her fingers, amazed all over again at how delicate she was once you got past the force of her personality.
“Good point.” Con nodded. “Two of the addresses are from Vegas but both have decent security.”
Shelley shivered.
“Shel, you know we would never let anything happen to you.” Connor consoled her.
“Oh, sweetie.” Shelley’s smile was bittersweet. “I’m more worried about all you kids.”
“We’re hardly children.” Connor hesitated for a second, then patted her hand. “Don’t worry, I will figure this out.”
“Everyone is working to make sure you’re safe.” Ric couldn’t help but add. But if anything that seemed to make Shelley more uncomfortable. And he understood. She didn’t like being the center of attention. He got that. He preferred to travel under the radar too.
“It’s almost as if we’re dealing with two different perpetrators.” Connor frowned.
Ric rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. So far his relaxing vacation was turning out to be higher stress than he’d anticipated. “I’ll keep her physically safe. Think you can handle the cyber aspect?”
“I’m going to run a different analysis program and see if I can get a legal name and location for all four of these addresses.”
“Sounds good.” Ric shook Connor’s hand.
It may have been his imagination but it seemed as if Connor squeezed a little too long during the shake. Another warning. What Connor hadn’t seemed to figure out was that Ric would do anything to keep Shelley safe.
Eleven
She didn’t have a good feeling about this.
Shelley and Ric entered the private dining room at the steakhouse. They walked in to the dimly lit, atmospheric restaurant.
Ric had placed a possessive hand at the small of her back, his fingertips burned through the thin material of the sexy black dress. Desire sizzled in a direct line from his fingertips to her clit. She’d spent extra time on her makeup and slathered a shimmery lotion over her bare arms and legs hoping to distract herself from the real worry that she was putting everyone in danger.
Shelley recalled the last time she was here. She was wearing the same LBD and heels that she’d worn just last night.
It seemed almost impossible that she’d only been here twenty-four hours ago with Ric. The sexy stranger. Now he was Ric, her sexy bodyguard, and they had barely been out of each other’s sight. With that thought her muscles twisted into a bunched mass of frustration and fear.
She’d coiled her hair up into a complicated twist leaving her neck bare.
“It’s going to be fine,” Ric murmured in her ear. His breath puffed over her neck and goose bumps skittered across her arms. The hum of spirited conversations greeted their arrival as Ric had Shelley precede him into the private dining room.
“Shel.” Jack pushed back from the head of the table. Her protector was all grown up and in charge. She really hoped Jack and Bliss had worked out whatever was wrong. Bliss rose from the table, stunning in a little black silk dress with a Mandarin collar and red silk accents, silk buttons down the front, and black patent Louboutins with the signature red sole. Shelley noted that the strain around her dark exotic eyes, high cheekbones, and tight smile hadn’t gone away.
Shelley impulsively hugged Bliss. “It will be okay.”
“I think that’s supposed to be my line,” Bliss said ruefully.
Jack slapped Ric on the back in a man hug, and they spoke quietly. So quietly, Shelley couldn’t hear a word.
“Looking good, mom.” Jess hugged her tightly. “How are you doing?”
“Better.”
Colin kissed her left cheek, then her right. “Always here if you need another bodyguard, love.”
Shelley squeezed him in an appreciative hug. “Thank you.”
Jess held Colin’s hand loosely in hers. Shelley was thankful her daughter seemed happy, settled. Although she worried a little about Jess working for Jack, she also knew that Jess could take care of herself.
Shelley glanced around the room. “Where’s John?”
“He’s working an angle on finding Fernandez’s contact in Vegas,” Jack explained. “For right now, we aren’t advertising that he is part of the family. He’s staying in a condo with Maria and Marissa who works with Bliss at Adams Larsen.”
Bottles of corked wine sat at even intervals on the table. Platters of seafood, calamari, oysters, and tuna were scattered at each end.
“Did someone vet the food?” Ric was in full protection mode. Though they were in a private room with just family, he hadn’t moved far from her side.
“Shane and Keisha volunteered to observe in the kitchen.”
“So, no break in the chain of custody.”
&
nbsp; Shelley snorted. “Did you really just call serving appetizers—”
“I take your safety very seriously,” he whispered in her ear. The tingle skittered over her spine. “And I won’t let anyone hurt you. Or your family.”
The conviction in his voice was like a balm to her rattled nerves.
Before she could say thank you, Connor and Ava walked into the room. Together they were striking. Ava with her thick black hair and darker skin and Con with his blond hair and unusual golden brown eyes. Shelley’s heart melted at the soft look on Con’s face as he gazed at Ava.
Greetings were exchanged. The atmosphere in the room was downright festive. They sat at the large rectangular table and started passing the appetizers. Ric was on her right at one end of the table, his body like an inferno, and his thigh seemed awfully close to hers. His presence was distracting. Connor was on her left with Ava next to him. Jack sat at the head of the table with Bliss on his left. Jess and Colin sat across from Con and Shelley.
Shelley observed Jack. He appeared to still be carrying a lot of stress. She hoped that whatever was going on between him and Bliss worked itself out. Jack deserved to be happy.
Con reached over and clasped her hand in a quick squeeze. “How are you?”
His gaze slipped to the proximity of Ric’s body to hers. Shelley tried unobtrusively to ease away, but Ric tugged on her chair until she was closer to him. “Sorry to be causing so much trouble,” she started.
Before Shelley could say anything else, a bleach blonde woman dressed in black skinny jeans, stiletto heels and a blue sequined tube top, burst into the room.
“Connor, baby. Is that you?” She squealed in a baby doll voice that was more suited to a teenager and threw her arms wide open. Shelley wasn’t sure how old the woman was, her face had been slightly distorted by plastic surgery so she could be anywhere from thirty to sixty.
Her body had likely been altered too. She was thin with large breasts. Something about her was familiar, but Shelley couldn’t figure out why she thought that.
Beside Connor, Ava froze. Connor discreetly laced his fingers with Ava’s.
Connor cleared his throat. “Do I know you?”
Shelley studied the shape of the woman’s chin and her eyes as they filled with false tears. Finally she figured out how she knew the woman. She’d only met her once, a long time ago, but she was pretty sure it was Kandi.
“Do you know me?” She scooted around the table and flung herself at Connor. “I’m your mama.”
Everyone in the room stuttered to a halt. Con had gone stock still. Not moving. Not breathing. Bliss and Colin’s mouths were both hanging open. Jack looked ready to murder her. Ava was trying unsuccessfully to tug her fingers from Connor’s but he was holding on too tightly. Ric just sat silently, observing.
So it looked like was up to Shelley to salvage the situation.
She stood smoothly trying desperately to control the urge to bitch slap the woman. Con so did not need this right now. “Kandi, I don’t think this is the proper time—”
“I was talking to my son.” Kandi tilted her head down as if she were looking over a pair of glasses frames, her unnaturally blue eyes stared at Connor with an unholy light.
Shelley tried, patiently to shove down her rage. This woman was not going to ruin Con’s vacation. And calling him her son was a bit of a stretch, since she’d only been back once in the last twenty years and that was to ask for more money. She’d timed that visit for when the kids were at school so Con hadn’t seen his mother while she’d been trying to extort more cash from an absent Jackson Sr.
However, Shelley wasn’t going to stop Con from visiting with his mother if he wished. But she knew her adopted son well enough to know he would hate being the center of this kind of attention.
Always trying to be the peacemaker, Shelley tried to fix this. She pasted on her accommodating, lady of the manor, ‘you won’t hurt me with your superior attitude and misplaced jealousy’ smile that she’d perfected all those years ago when she’d first moved into the Stone mansion and used it to try to put Kandi at ease. “Why not make arrangements to meet sometime later?”
Con shoved his chair away from the table and stood. “What are you doing here?”
Kandi threaded her arm through Con’s and leaned into her biological son. Her cobalt blue sequined top showcased her purchased cleavage prominently, as she stared at Con and blinked her false black lashes. “Baby, I live in Vegas.”
Jack started toward Kandi, which was not going to end well. But before he could take more than one step, Con held his palm up to stop his brother. “I’ve got this.”
Her acrylic nails were the same unnatural blue as her eyes and obscenely gaudy next to Con’s understated navy blazer. He carefully peeled her fingers from his forearm. “I meant, Kandi,” his voice was a low growl, “what are you doing in this room?”
“I saw the family name on the waitress podium out front.” Kandi was definitely not comprehending the angry vibe rolling off Connor. He was pissed.
When Shelley looked at him, she didn’t see a grown man, rather the bewildered child he’d been when Shelley had shown up on Jackson Stone’s doorstep all those years ago. Because she knew how sensitive he was and how much it would pain him if he yelled at his mother, Shelley intervened. Her only thought was to protect Connor.
“I think it would be best if you exchanged numbers,” Shelley started.
Kandi ignored her. Didn’t even look at Shelley.
“Shel, stop.” Con gently brushed his palm over her shoulder then turned to Kandi. “What do you want?”
“I couldn’t believe it when I saw your name,” Kandi simpered. “I had to see you.”
Shelley opened her mouth but nothing came out. She quivered with the urge to get in Kandi’s face and give her a piece of her mind. How dare she mess with Connor like this?
She jolted when Ric tugged her back into her chair and draped his arm casually over her shoulders. She was probably the only one who knew there was nothing simple or casual about his hold. She wouldn’t be able to break free.
“I’ll make this as clear as possible,” Connor said softly. “Leave.”
Finally Kandi got that Connor wasn’t happy. “We can exchange numbers.”
“I don’t think you understand.” Connor folded his arms over his chest, his shoulders bulked. “Don’t call. Don’t come back. Ever.”
“But,” Kandi sputtered. “Connor, baby. You can’t mean that. I’m your mama.”
“You are nothing but an egg donor,” Connor replied calmly.
“But—”
“Shelley,” he placed his palm on Shelley’s shoulder and squeezed, “is my mother. The only mother I want or need.”
Shelley’s heart swelled. She tilted her head so her cheek brushed his hand.
“You can’t possibly mean that.” Kandi stomped her stiletto booted foot, her enhanced breasts jiggled and her face twisted into an ugly mask.
“I absolutely mean it. She’s an angel.” Connor smiled.
But Kandi wasn’t done. “I’m your mother.”
Shelley thought Kandi might actually launch herself at Connor.
Ric jumped in front of Kandi and subdued her with one quick action. Shelley hadn’t seen him move. He held Kandi’s arm in an iron grip. “You need to leave.”
“But—”
Ric said calmly, “Call security.”
Kandi tried to wrench her arm away but his hold didn’t budge. “Forget it. I’ll leave.”
Ric and Jack exchanged a pointed look. “You okay with that, Connor?”
Con sighed wearily. “Just let her go.”
Ric escorted her to the door. Just as he was about to get her out of the room, their waitress rolled in a cart with the first course and stopped just inside the doorway. She looked confused at the group of people clustered around the entrance. In that moment of distraction, Kandi tugged her arm from Ric’s hold and almost ran in to Shane Washington.
Behi
nd Shane, hovering on the other side of the doorway, stood a bulky man in an Armani suit, hair military short, and craggy blunt features. The man hadn’t been visible until the waitress opened the door.
Once the waitress and Shane were between Kandi and the rest of the room, Kandi shot Shelley a venomous glare. Shelley recoiled at the visible hatred in Kandi’s gaze.
“Let’s go, Kandi,” her male friend spoke. He grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the exit.
That had certainly been weird. Her trip to Las Vegas was just one bizarre happening after another. She hated to imagine what could happen next.
But in typical fashion, Shelley tried to put everyone back at ease.
Her stomach was a mess, between the remnants of her drugged salad, and the sickly acid from this last confrontation, she’d be happy not eating for a week.
“Who’s hungry?”
Ric stared after Kandi and her companion and then made a dash for the entrance. Jack shot out of his chair too. But the cart and Shane blocked their exit, and by the time they got around the obstacle and ran through the restaurant, it was too late.
Twelve
What a clusterfuck.
As soon as Ric saw Kandi’s companion, he put it all together. They might be Shelley’s stalkers. After all, what were the odds that Con’s mother would show up at the same time that Shelley started having all her problems?
He and Jack had come to the realization at the same time and taken off after the pair but it had been too late. After searching the casino floor, they finally returned to the restaurant, frustrated and subdued. He and Jack had both made calls and notified security, but no one had been able to find either Kandi or the guy. Ric had called his computer guy to run a check on Kandi but he didn’t have her companion’s name. So far, his guy hadn’t turned up much beyond a crap ton of credit card bills and an apartment in Vegas.
Connor had been quiet through the rest of dinner. Of Jack’s siblings, Connor was the brother Ric knew least. Army vs. Navy. But Jack had never spoken of his brother with anything but admiration and maybe a little exasperation.
If only Ric had put it together sooner. But Kandi hadn’t acknowledged Shelley at any time during her interaction with Connor until that very last vitriolic look.
