Into the Fury (BOSS, Inc. #1)(27)
As the music swelled, along with the applause, he glanced around to see if he could spot anyone in her family in the audience. He caught sight of Samantha sitting next to Nick, who, at Sam’s prodding, put his fingers in his mouth and gave a shrill whistle.
Ethan chuckled. As Val disappeared behind the curtain, he headed in that direction. It occurred to him that the confident, haughty female, Valentine, who caught and held the men’s attention so easily, was nothing like the Valerie he had seen in Samantha’s pet-grooming parlor.
A frown began to form between his eyes. Maybe he’d been wrong about her. Maybe this was the real Valerie, not the one he’d glimpsed earlier that day.
Then he spotted her just outside the door of the dressing room, head down, bent over, hands propped on her knees. As he approached, he saw she was trembling.
He glanced around, quickly scanning the area for any kind of trouble. “What happened? Are you okay?”
She looked up at him, seemed to relax a little when she realized who it was. “I’m fine. I just . . . getting up there and doing my routine . . . it’s really hard for me. I have to psyche myself up, you know? Turn myself into Valentine. When I come off the runway, the adrenaline stops pumping and it hits me. I’ll be okay in a minute.”
The tension seeped from between his shoulder blades. She was Valerie Hartman, pet lover and friend of Samantha. Not Valentine Hart, hot-bodied sex kitten. It shouldn’t matter, but it did.
Val ducked into the changing room and the show continued. Ethan worked behind the scenes until he saw Megan head for the stage. A glance around and he spotted Dirk, who’d moved into a spot where he could watch her. Megan was on the walkway in the Winter Wonderland segment. She looked like a fairy princess in nothing but a white sequined bra and white ruffled hipster panties. What looked like a tiara made of snow perched above her saucy red flyaway hair.
Even from a distance, he could see Dirk practically drooling.
Damn. He’d known this job was going to be a bear when he’d taken it. He didn’t know it was going to be a grizzly.
Worse yet, tonight he’d be sleeping in the place where Valerie lived.
He hadn’t told her yet and she hadn’t figured it out. Until the tour left for Dallas, there were a dozen men assigned to the women at the Fairmont and one man assigned to each of the models who lived in Seattle.
He’d spoken to Carlyle, reminded him Val was a family friend, and said he’d be the one providing her protection. He didn’t ask permission and Carlyle took his meaning. He was on the job. She was family. He’d quit and protect her on his own if he had to.
Carlyle needed him, so he didn’t argue. “Someone’s got to do it,” Matt had said. “I guess it might as well be you. Just keep it professional and we won’t have a problem.”
“Goes without saying.”
Carlyle signed off and Ethan hung up the phone. Until this was over, he was in charge of Val’s security, though he would also be looking out for the rest of the women. Dirk would be doing the same, keeping a special eye on Megan. How his best friend had managed the assignment, Ethan didn’t want to know.
The noisy cheers of the audience as Megan waved one last time and strode back toward the rear of the stage muffled Ethan’s sigh.
One thing was certain. Neither he nor Dirk would be getting much sleep tonight.
Chapter Eleven
Val was exhausted. The show was over, a complete and total success, TV viewership heightened by the drama of the brutal murder of a famous fashion model.
So far no one knew about the notes. Both Matt Carlyle and the police were determined to keep the information out of the press. They were afraid it would put the women in even more danger.
After the show, Val had changed back into her floaty black skirt and peach silk blouse, spent a few minutes talking to Samantha and her husband Nick, the only friends who had come to see her in the show.
One of the reasons she was using a stage name was so she could go to school without the rest of the students knowing who she was. She wouldn’t know if it worked until the tour was over and she started school again in the fall.
Val bent to hug Samantha, petite and half a foot shorter, her light brown curls framing her pretty face. Nick kissed her cheek, and both of them congratulated her on a job well done. Val thanked them for coming and for worrying about her safety, told them what a capable job Ethan had been doing.
“You can trust him,” Nick said. “Ethan won’t let anyone hurt you, Val.”
She flicked a glance toward where she’d last seen him, but he was off somewhere working. “I really appreciate the way he looked out for me. I felt better just knowing he was there. I heard he’s going on tour with us.”
“That’s right,” Nick said. “Ethan, Dirk, and the additional men Matt Carlyle brought in to help with security.”
“After . . . what happened, I’m glad they’ll be coming along.”
They talked a few minutes more, then Nick and Sam said good night. Eventually, the theater emptied out, but instead of a celebration, Val joined the members of the cast and crew backstage for a few brief words in remembrance of Delilah Larsen.
At the beginning of the evening, Matt Carlyle had dedicated the fashion show to her memory, then asked for a moment of silence. Now the words Matt spoke, saying her life was like a bright star that had flashed and burned out far too quickly, made a lump rise in Val’s throat.