Guarding His Body

by A. C. Arthur

  “I present to you Mr. Lorenzo Bennett, sculptor and owner of Silhouette Art Gallery.”

  Renny released her arm to move closer to the podium and Bree found herself clapping, her heart filled with pride.

  “Thank you,” he said humbly, then cleared his throat before beginning again. “This piece was the final one added to the collection and that’s because I didn’t start it until late. The inspiration came to me one afternoon at my father’s house when I received a bit of disturbing news wrapped in an unbelievable package.”

  A hush fell over the room and Bree continued to look out at the crowd only half paying attention to what Renny was saying.

  “Have you ever received a gift that was wrapped in such a way that you thought you couldn’t possibly want whatever it contained? Or have you received something and been so intrigued by its clandestine wrapping that you couldn’t help peeling it away in search of the prize inside?” Renny looked at his parents, then at the Desdunes before turning slightly sideways.

  She was standing right beside the piece, only a step or two away from it. He thought that positioning ironic, then exchanged that feeling for one of fate. “When I sat down to work that next day my mind was already filled. Filled with a vision, a silhouette if you will, and my fingers simply began moving. With each passing day the strokes became more impassioned, more sensual. I recognized the urgings and wanted solely to act on them.”

  Her hands were at her side. Then because she didn’t like standing still, she clasped them and unclasped them again. He smiled.

  “But something told me that moving too fast would destroy the piece. Speed would increase the likelihood of mistakes and I wanted this to be just right.” He looked out into the crowd, reveled in the anticipation that loomed around him and smiled slowly—that smile the papers had reported as being devilishly charming—and watched as on cue the cameras flashed again. “It was only two days ago that I completed this piece, that I felt it was exactly right, representing all the emotion and depth of the feelings I’d poured into it.”

  He moved away from the podium, carrying the microphone with him, and continued past Sabrina, stopping in front of the covered piece. “The title of my collection is Breathless Passion. This piece encompasses that meaning, but surpasses it hands down. I call it My Woman, My Love.” At the last words he’d grabbed the covering and whisked it from the piece, exposing it to the entire room.

  The silence vanished and was replaced by oohs and aahs and a few tiny gasps. Sabrina was still canvassing the room as Renny’s words invaded her mind, washing over her as if he were seducing her right there on that stage. That was ridiculous, she knew, and she attributed it to her simply being horny. But then she caught Gabrielle’s huge smile and Lynn’s hand going over her mouth, then Adriana’s approving glare and she turned to the sculpture.

  Her mouth fell open.

  There lying on a chair with him holding on to her legs, kissing her ankle as he guided himself inside was a face so like her own a blind man could have seen it. It wasn’t the position or even the fact that her parents and his parents and half of Greenwich were now viewing her in this position that bothered her. It was the succinct emotions etched on each of the faces. Did she and Renny look like that when they made love?

  She clearly remembered being in that particular position a time or two recently and felt the heat infuse her cheeks. As if she were summoned to do so her eyes found his.

  He’d been waiting, holding his breath with her reaction to the piece and what the dedication had meant to him. Now he saw the shock, the questions, the denial and yes, the longing in her. He dropped the cloth and moved to her quickly, handing the microphone to an equally astonished and now fuming Yolanda.

  Bree didn’t hesitate, but let him take her in his embrace. He had hugged her many times before, had even cradled her in the night. But none of that had the meaning, the intensity that this moment held. She didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what this meant.

  He needed to be alone with her badly, but knew that wasn’t about to happen. Instead he took her hands and led her a few feet from the podium while his guests were gawking at the piece. Cupping her face in his palms, he kissed the tip of her nose, then her lips. “Do you like it, baby?”

  Bree was holding on to his wrists, her eyes momentarily closed. “Like it? It’s breathtaking. And unbelievable. I thought…I mean, when did you have time to finish it?” They had been away from his apartment for a while now and he hadn’t gone back.

  “I had it delivered to Lynn’s and she let me use her basement to work.” He was cupping her neck now, his tense muscles relaxing a bit.

  “But when?”

  He knew she was wondering when he’d found the time. She was with him all day and all night, she’d assumed. “Afterward, baby. While you slept.”

  Realization dawned on her and she felt the prickle of tears, but she wouldn’t let her emotions get ahead of her. She had to be clear; his words were still running through her mind and what she’d thought she’d heard still baffled her. “But what you said up there…” She bit her bottom lip. “I mean, what you said about the inspiration and the feelings that went into the piece. And…and…the title.”

  “All of that was—”

  In the next moment there was a flicker, and then they were thrust into darkness.

  The building was instantly abuzz with noise, the feel of panic filling the room. Instinctively, Renny grabbed Bree’s arm. “Stay close to me,” he murmured, then turned to walk through the crowd. He knew this building front to back. If it was a power outage he could get to the fuse box before anyone else here. But the heat that filled his chest and grasped at his throat warned him that it wasn’t just a blown fuse.

  With her handbag on her shoulder Bree undid the clasp and pulled her tiny revolver out. One hand clutched the back of Renny’s jacket as they moved through the crowd. A visual was clearly out of the question, but all her other senses were acute—actually some night vision goggles would have been good right about now. Still, they made their way through the crowd of people who were in a full-fledged state of panic by now.

  Someone was here. As they moved through the room Bree felt the menacing presence and braced herself for the worst. He had said for her to stay close to him. Well, that was her job and she hadn’t planned on running away. She wasn’t wearing an earpiece to connect her to Sam and the others. With her position by Renny’s side for the night they’d thought that would be a bit alarming to the guests. She’d agreed and now it appeared that she and Renny were on their own.

  He was moving toward the back of the gallery. They’d stayed along the wall where he could use the socket fixtures and architecture to mark their progress. Pushing past the bodies that seemed to swarm them, he didn’t stop moving. He couldn’t stop. The darkness brought certain danger, not only to his guests, but to Sabrina. That had him moving even faster, eager to relight the room. Whoever it was would have to come out and play like a big boy now.

  Bree wasn’t afraid, yet the continued darkness and the absence of any immediate action because of it alarmed her more. If they cut the lights the next viable action would have been gunshots or a scream that someone was hurt. There had been no shots and so far she was almost positive that no one was hurt, only startled. People continued to press into her. She strained her eyes around them for a glimpse of anything. A light, a flash, anything that would give her some idea of what to expect next. Her training allowed her to remain calm while her feelings for the man in front of her had her heart pounding as she feared for his safety.

  How could she protect him if she couldn’t see the danger coming? What would happen if the person hit the mark? Quickly becoming frustrated, she closed her eyes, willed herself to calm down. Her hands were sweating and the gun suddenly felt heavy. Shaking her head, she berated herself, increasing her hold on the gun and adjusting her fingers on Renny’s jacket.

  But at that precise moment a cluster of people pushed into them and t
he connection was severed. In an instant Bree found her fingers grasping in midair, the gun still in her hand, but her hold on Renny gone. Panic clawed at her fiercely as she kept her feet trained in the direction she’d previously been traveling. People pushed against her shoulders, causing her to stumble backward in those damned heels a couple of times. “Renny!” she called out to him, but of course only received the answer of the crowd.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I can’t see anything!”

  “Get me out of here!”

  People were all around her; everyone, that is, except for Renny.

  “Renny!” When she was able to begin walking again she continued on the path she’d assumed they were on before straining to hear if he was calling her, as well. “Renny!”

  Placing her free hand along the wall, she tried to get an idea of where she was in the gallery. She’d been there so much in the past weeks that surely she could find her way…find her way where? She didn’t know where Renny was, didn’t have a clue who had turned out the lights or how she could get them back on. Okay, calm down, Desdune. You’re a trained soldier. You can do this. With the words of her little pep talk, she stiffened her spine and continued to move. She’d get to his office. There were flashlights in the bottom drawer of his desk. She knew because she’d put them there herself for lack of a better place to store them when they’d come in.

  She felt the curve of the wall. That curve led to the long hallway toward the back of the gallery where the offices were. Pushing her way through people that shouldn’t have been in this area at all, she kept her hand against the wall feeling for the doors while counting them off in her head. “Renny!” she called again just in case he’d had the same idea she did. Just as she got to the third door she fumbled for the knob, cursing. It would undoubtedly be locked and with these shoes on she definitely couldn’t kick it in. But she was surprised when the knob turned and the door opened.

  Quickly stepping inside, she used her free hand to hold up the side of her dress and moved across the floor. She wasn’t three steps into the office when someone grabbed her from behind. An arm clasped around her throat, pulling her hard against the body of the assailant.

  “Get off of me!” Bree yelled, thinking that it was maybe one of Sam’s men. “It’s me, Bree. Let me go!” She struggled against the hold, not applying any defensive moves because she assumed the person was working with them.

  “So it’s you?”

  Bree froze. It was a woman’s voice, deadly calm, but laced with the distinct edge of lunacy.

  “I’ve watched you for a while now. You’re so not his type.” The woman used her other hand to trace up and down the front of Bree’s body. “You seem to fit what he usually looks for in the physique of his women, but there’s something different about you that just doesn’t ring true.”

  Taking advantage of the woman’s obvious preoccupation with who she was, Bree thrust an elbow into her stomach. Then when the woman had doubled over she grabbed her wrist, spinning herself around until they faced each other. Moonlight spilled in through Renny’s open blinds and Bree could make out the silhouette of a woman, but the facial features were a blur. “Who the hell are you?”

  She recovered quickly and brought her free hand around to slap Bree soundly across the face. It wasn’t so much the force of the blow but the shock that had Bree rocking back on those killer heels. Her legs gave out as the couch was right behind her and she fell backward, dropping her gun to the floor. The woman didn’t waste a moment before jumping on top of her, grabbing her at the neck.

  “He’s mine! He was mine before you came and just as soon as I get rid of you he’ll be mine again!”

  Bree grabbed at the woman’s wrists futilely, for she had a strong grip and Bree’s mind was blurring from the lack of oxygen. All her training had come down to this one moment. This had been the only time that she knew she needed to fight for her own life, not just for the lives of her countrymen. She was shorter than the woman, so she snaked her legs up until her foot was planted against the woman’s thigh and then she pushed with all her might. Either the force of that push or the spike of that heel in her flesh had the woman releasing Bree’s neck and falling back.

  Bree pounced, nailing the woman to the floor, then returning the slap she’d delivered to her a few minutes ago. “You’re crazy!” Bree bellowed as the woman swung fiercely at her.

  Hand-to-hand combat it was and Bree certainly did not have a problem with that. She could have used tae kwon do or any of the other maneuvers she’d learned, but this chick was asking for a good old-fashioned ass whuppin’ and Bree was aiming to give it to her. They tumbled over the floor, sending things crashing down around them while they threw blows that would have made a man shriek. Bree heard the rip of material and tasted the saltiness of blood in her mouth but didn’t release her hold on the woman and didn’t stop hitting her.

  At some point the lights came on but the women were still swinging. A man would have paid good money to see a chick fight like this. Then out of nowhere something hard crashed against the right side of Bree’s head and she felt darkness bearing down on her again. She had the woman by the neck now, pressing down hard enough to cut off her circulation. Then she felt her hands slipping away, her body slumping until it fell against the floor. She heard voices, some in the distance—the crowd still trying to get out of the gallery—and some closer, a man and a woman arguing, saying they needed to get out of here.

  Then it was quiet.

  Chapter 12

  The lights had been on for about fifteen minutes and Renny’s heart had made a steady pattern that assured him a heart attack was imminent. People were everywhere, trying to get to the door as fast as possible. He remembered the moment he’d turned back and didn’t see Sabrina behind him; remembered the sick feeling that had swarmed him at that realization.

  Still pushing his way through the people, he bumped into Sam first.

  “Get to your office, everybody’s meeting there,” Sam notified him.

  “Where’s Sabrina?” Renny hoped she’d found her brother and he’d steered her to safety.

  Sam looked baffled a moment. “She’s not with you?”

  “No. We got separated in the crowd.” His eyes moved quickly around the room, seeing nothing but heads and bodies pressing together toward the entrance. What he didn’t see was a red dress.

  “Dammit! I told her to stay with you.”

  “I’ll look for her.” Renny was about to go back into the crowd when Sam grabbed at his jacket.

  “No. You go ahead to your office, I’ll look for Bree.”

  “Renny! Renny!”

  Both he and Sam turned toward the voice to see Gabrielle squeezing through people to get to them. She fell into Renny breathing hard, her eyes erratic. “Renny, come quick. It’s Bree!”

  The two men looked at each other briefly before following Gabrielle to the back of the gallery. With every step, Renny felt his head pounding. His heart rate no longer registered, it thumped so quickly in his chest. He should have held tighter to her, should have made sure she was safe. The moment he entered his office and saw her lying on the floor he could have bashed his own head in for his stupidity.

  She was lying on the floor, her head propped up in Lynn’s lap. Her eyes were closed, her body completely limp. With three steps he fell to the floor beside her, lifting her hands in his, forgetting anybody else was in the room except the two of them. “Sabrina? Sabrina, baby, answer me.”

  “Somebody get me some ice,” Lynn yelled.

  Sam rushed into the room right behind Renny, his lips going into a tight line at the sight of his sister on the floor. Gabrielle and Adriana stood right behind Lynn while Rico had just exited the room to get the ice she’d asked for.

  In about two minutes the elder Bennetts and Desdunes made their way into the office.

  “What the hell happened here?” Lucien deposited his wife in the chair before pushing past Sam, Adriana and Gabrielle to
get to his daughter.

  “I don’t know. We came in here to get away from the crowd of people and we found her on the floor,” Gabrielle offered.

  “Was there anybody in here with her?” Marvin asked.

  “No. She was alone,” Adriana said.

  “Sabrina? Sabrina?” Renny was still calling to her, rubbing her arms and praying she’d open her eyes. If she’d only wake up, curse at him or even yell about all the attention they were giving her; something to let him know that she was all right. He couldn’t stand the sight of her like this and felt his fear steadily turning into anger. “Did you call an ambulance?” he asked nobody in particular.

  Lynn rubbed Bree’s cheek. “Yes, the paramedics and the police are on the way.”

  Trent appeared in the doorway with Rico right behind him with the ice. “Sam, I need you outside.”

  Sam looked from Bree to Marvin to Trent. Then his father’s hand appeared on his shoulder. “Go ahead, son. Do your job. We’ll tend to your sister.”

  “I shouldn’t have given her this job,” he said quietly.

  “Don’t worry about that now. Just go and take care of your business.” Lucien knew the guilt his son was feeling because he was feeling massive waves of it himself. This had been precisely the danger he’d tried so hard to keep his daughter away from. But Bree had always been stubborn. He moved to the chair, where his wife whimpered quietly.

  Marvin Bennett came to them. “I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

  Lucien remained quiet while Rico and Alex came to stand on either side of their father. “It’s nobody’s fault but the person who did this to her,” Alex responded. “None of us would have allowed Sabrina to get hurt.”

  “Mr. and Mrs. Desdune, we really do apologize,” Rico echoed.