The Socialite and the Bodyguard by Dana Marton Read Free Book Online Page A

guy, Nash, in the back while the pilot announced that soon they would be landing, he saw that fire in her eyes. And he knew what they were talking about. She was never going to quit.
He reached for his cell phone and sent a text message. He couldn’t say he didn’t regret it, but it really was time for plan B.
     
    N ASH LOOKED around the show area on the first floor of the hotel, checking out the various stations, the seating section for the audience and the ring. Special lighting, microphones, the judges’ table—the setup was fancy enough for a Miss America pageant. Except this show was for dogs.
    A waste of pageantry as far as he was concerned. Who would want to look at furry canines when they could be looking at hot women in bikinis?
    He finished recon and walked back toward the handful of smaller meeting rooms that were set up as storage areas for the dog show. Tom, the handler, had put some hair product for Tsini in his carry-on by accident, and since it was over the allowed ounces, airport security had confiscated the bottle. Tsini needed the special coat-shine spray or whatever for tomorrow so everyone was scrambling around. Tom and Dave were scouring the city’s specialty pet shops while Mike and Kayla went to the storage rooms that contained extra supplies for cases just like this.
    Nash headed to the back to find them and met Mike halfway there.
    “Got it?” Mike shook his head. “Kayla sent me off to find one of the organizers. Maybe they could tell us if there’s any and where exactly it’s at. Everything’s a mess back there.”
    “I’ll help her.” He quickened his pace. Mike shouldn’t have left her alone, not even for a few minutes.
    Kayla had specifically forbidden him to put the fear of God in her staff. She didn’t want everyone nervous, didn’t want Greg nervous, didn’t want anyone on her staff offended. They were supposed to protect her, but from where he was standing it looked as though so far she was doing all the protecting.
    And someone on her staff didn’t deserve protection.
    Not that the e-mail had turned out to be much of a clue. Nick, an old friend and now business partner, had tracked it. Timed delivery had been set up from Kayla’s home office. To which her entire entourage had access.
    He opened the first door with a National Canine Club sign. Grooming stations lined the walls, buckets, brushes and about a million stacked boxes filled the place. But Kayla wasn’t there.
    He moved on to the next room and found her in the back. Way in the back. The room was long and narrow, stacks of dog-show accessories piled six feet high in places.
    “Hey, need a hand?”
    She turned and brushed her hair out of her face. Silky locks, slim frame, endless legs. She really was stunning. Just didn’t have a bad side. No wonder the paparazzi loved photographing her. She was standing on one of the dog crates that were piled high in the back. Some people came with a whole pack of dogs and keeping all their crates in the hotel room would have been impossible, so they were brought down for storage.
“I’m almost there.” She scaled another crate, moving higher.
    He strode her way. “Let me do that.”
    Either she couldn’t hear him or didn’t want his help because she took another big step up. The pile of cages rattled.
    He broke into a run. “Kayla!”
    She reached for the cardboard box on top that sported a picture of purple spray bottles on the side. Still too high. She climbed another crate. “I think I found the secret stash.” She grinned back at him.
    He was almost there.
    She grabbed the box at last and showed it to him with triumph in her blue eyes. “Just what we needed.”
    Her leg wobbled, the crate shifted, bumping against another. And then, before he could warn her, before he could reach her, the whole tower came tumbling down, taking her with it.
    He dove forward, got clipped in the jaw and saw a couple of stars. A cross hook in the boxing ring couldn’t have been