Free The Socialite and the Bodyguard by Dana Marton Page B

let Tsini off her leash and headed for her bedroom. “He decided to try out the slot machines. Mike is with him. I hope he’ll win at least a little and have fun.” Then she thought for a minute. “Or maybe not. A couple of years ago he had some trouble with gambling.”
    “A casino rat?” He couldn’t see it. He was having some difficulty pinning Greg down. In fact, he had trouble getting near him. Kayla was superprotective of her brother.
    “Illegal street racing.” She shook her head, all wide-eyed. “Can you believe that?” she asked as she disappeared behind her door.
    “Sounds more fun than pushing coins into a machine,” he called after her. Maybe Greg wasn’t as done with it as Kayla thought either. He’d asked her for money for something. Nash still needed to look into that.
    He picked up the room-service menu from the desk, but had barely opened the thing when Kayla screamed.
    He had to fight Tsini to get through the door first. He had his gun out, grabbed Kayla with his left hand and pushed her behind his back, ready to face anything. Then he saw what had scared her.
    Someone had sliced open her pillow. Feathers were all over her bed. She had probably pulled the comforter back when she’d come in. It had been in place when he’d checked the room, so he hadn’t seen any of this mess.
    He swore under his breath as he stashed his gun back into his waistband. “Don’t touch anything.” He backed out of the room with her, already calling Mike and Dave to get up there and bring Greg with them.
    “He’s here.” Kayla’s eyes were huge in her face, her voice broken. “You were right.”
    Her admission gave him no pleasure. “It has to be one of the staff.” She had to accept that.
    “They were all down with us except for Mike and Greg,” she said, stubborn to the end.
    “I couldn’t keep an eye on everyone every minute. Any one of them could have snuck back up here after Greg and Mike left.”
    “Other than me, Greg, Mike and you, only Dave has a key card.”
    Definitely something to consider. Along with the gall of the bastard. That he would do this right under Nash’s nose. His blood heated.
    “Hotel doors are easier to open than you’d think. Fire them all. Now. Send them home.” He could protect her, Greg and Tsini for the rest of the show, or ask Welkins to send in more men. They’d figure out what to do once they got back to Philly. He could even take her to a safe house while he launched a serious investigation into who among the staff was responsible.
    “No.”
    Man, she loved that word. “One of them is out to get you.” “Maybe. But the rest aren’t. They’ve been loyal to me for years. I’m not going to dump them. They deserve more than that.”
    She was loyal. He couldn’t say he didn’t like it, even if just now the quality was to her detriment. “You deserve to stay alive. You can’t be surrounded by people we can’t trust. Fire them. Seriously.”
    “Somebody else could have gotten in here.”
    He couldn’t argue with that. He’d broken into more hotel rooms than he cared to count.
    “My staff stays.” The fire in her eyes told Nash she really meant it.
    Someday he was going to have to ignore her wishes and save her despite herself. And get fired shortly after, most likely. But today was not that day. He could humor her a little longer. He was with her round the clock. The cocky bastard wouldn’t be able to help himself. He’d do something else to scare her, and Nash would be ready.
    He rubbed a hand over his face. “Fine. But I’m taking over your security. No more hiding that I’m here to protect you. I can’t keep you safe with a hand tied behind my back. I will talk to everyone. They will answer my questions.”
    She glanced at the feathers on her bed, the vicious slice in the pristine white pillow cover. “All right,” she agreed at last with a haunted look on her face that twisted something inside his chest.
    “But you can’t be rough on