Chapter Two
Stone pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head as he bent forward and gaped through the windshield. “Jesus.”
If he didn’t know better, he’d think he’d driven onto a movie set.
The town of Sapphire Falls looked picture-perfect, and he didn’t know whether to be thankful the place was so tiny or curse the lack of anonymity a place this small would afford Sophie.
Chip had locked down her location through her rental car. Luckily for them, it had a GPS tracker fitted and they were able to pinpoint her exact whereabouts with ease. Of course, if they could, so could Henry George Hagar.
Although Chip seemed to the think the brains behind the hack into Landlocked’s system was the kid they’d hauled out of bed yesterday…or was it the day before?
He shook his head. Didn’t matter. Right now he had to set eyes on Sophie.
He’d hit LA, cleared customs and called Ford, only to be told to turn right back around and hop on another plane—ticket waiting for him at the counter—to Nebraska. On arrival in Omaha, he’d switched his phone on to find a message telling him a rental SUV was waiting, and to hightail it to a place called Sapphire Falls.
His phone rang, vibrating against his hip where it was wedged in his pocket. Tapping the device wrapped around his right ear, Stone answered, “Yeah.”
“Find her yet?” His boss wasn’t one for pleasantries, especially on a job with an element of urgency, and getting to Sophie was definitely an immediate necessity.
“Just hit town,” Stone responded. He eased off the gas to avoid rear-ending the car in front of him.
“You drive like an old lady,” Ford growled. “I want eyes on her. Chip thinks he’s found Hagar. The stupid asshole used a credit card to pay for a hotel room on the outskirts of Omaha.”
“When?” Stone had driven out of Omaha about two hours earlier.
“Thirty minutes ago.”
“So he’s behind me?” That seemed unlikely. The guy had been on the same plane to LA as Sophie, while Stone had been a day behind. Surely he hadn’t lost her? They couldn’t be that lucky.
“Yeah, but I’m thinking he’s either headed your way, or he’s already been and gotten the lay of the land. All our research shows Sapphire Falls is a teeny-tiny blip on the map.”
“If that,” he muttered, while scanning the main street.
“Our perp is going to want to get at Sophie without drawing attention, and he can’t do that in a town like Sapphire Falls without a plan.”
Stone agreed. If he were doing the stalking, he’d scope out the place—and his target—retreat to a safe location to decide on his strategy, then return to execute the plan at a time when the least amount of people would be around.
“Do we know how’s he finding her?” Stone asked. “Chip said he wasn’t on her flight out of LA, so he can’t have tailed her here. Even if he caught a plane after hers using one of his aliases, there hasn’t been enough time for him to make it to Sapphire Falls then back to Omaha and rent a room. Unless he was on her plane out of LA this morning and we haven’t figured out his new identity.”
“Hmm… Hang on a sec.” Ford put him on hold and Stone maneuvered the car around a truck parked half at the curb and half on the road.
He drove on, following the GPS instructions to the Rise & Shine, and waited for his boss to get back on the line while his instincts told him they were missing something.
“We’ve got a problem.” Ford’s voice boomed in his ear.
Stone’s spine stiffened and his gut rolled with dread. “What?”
“Chip said the room charge was done over the net, so Hagar could be anywhere.”
“Like here.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yep.”
Fuck. “Did we get a good headshot of this prick yet?” Stone needed a face. Until he knew exactly who he was looking for, everyone was a potential threat and so far the man had donned several different disguises from blond to black hair, blue to brown eyes, he was like a chameleon. Add in Sophie’s original vague description and they still weren’t sure who they were looking for.
“I’ll email the best ones we’ve got.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Hagar’s got a full beard in most and if he’s smart, he’s shaved that off or it’s fake.”
Stone hoped the bastard wasn’t smart, except he’d proven smarter than any of them—or luckier. Stone couldn’t decide which. “Whatever we’ve got will do.” It would have to.
The Rise & Shine came up on the left and he pulled into the driveway, sliding the big SUV in beside a bright red convertible.
“Um, boss…please tell me Sophie isn’t driving a damn sports car,” Stone mumbled.
Ford chuckled. “Is it red?”
“Fuck.”
“Yep. Our girl doesn’t know the first thing about flying under the radar.”
Stone sighed. He didn’t need her making his job more difficult. “How do you want me to play this?”
“She doesn’t know you’re coming because I can’t reach her and neither can her manager. It appears she’s been savvy enough to turn her phone off, even if she hasn’t stopped using her credit card. But she does know we were hired to find this guy. You get to her, show her your security credentials, and get her to call her manager or me.”
“Let’s hope it’s that easy.” He wouldn’t hold his breath.
“I met with her last week when we took the job. She’s not stupid but she’s not used to hiding from crazies either. And don’t forget we were all under the impression this guy was nothing more than an obsessed fan.”
“He’s obsessed alright,” Stone replied.
“She’ll work with you once she knows she can trust you,” Ford assured him.
“I hope so. I’ll check in after I make contact.”
“Gotcha. Watch your back. Hagar’s proven to be a wild card. I don’t want to send anyone else in unless I absolutely have to. Jack followed you out there but he’s going to hang back for now. I’ve got him heading to the hotel in Omaha to check it out.”
“I want to know what he finds.”
“Of course. Oh, and her manager doesn’t want the press involved so at this point I’d rather play this close to the vest. If the local law gets called in, we’ll have a problem keeping things under wraps.”
“No worries.” He didn’t want or need Jack or anyone else coming in and making things more complicated. The less attention they drew to Sophie, the better. Ideally, Stone would like to lock her down somewhere while Jack found Hagar. Then they could neutralize the threat before it got anywhere near Sophie.
“Usual check-ins. I don’t like this out-of-country, different-time-zone bullshit. I’d be far happier if the team was in one place.”
“I’ve got this.”
“I know.” Ford’s confidence in Stone’s ability rang through in his voice.
Stone smiled and disconnected. Pulling the Bluetooth from his ear, he reached behind the seat for his backpack. He checked his gear. He didn’t like not having his gun on him but he didn’t want to freak anyone out by wearing his shoulder holster.
This might be farm country, where everyone had a shotgun, but that didn’t mean a guy visibly carrying a handgun wouldn’t draw attention, and possibly the law.
Climbing out of the car, he stopped short.
The sultry voice of Sophie Collins floated on the air. He couldn’t see her from where he stood so followed the sweet song until her found her on a patch of grass at the back of the Rise & Shine. Dusk’s shadows shrouded her in an otherworldly glow, giving her and that siren’s voice an ethereal quality. It made him think of mermaids and sailors being lured to their deaths.
For several moments, he stood immobile, mesmerized by the woman and the voice that had captivated millions. Anyone up on his or her pop music would recognize her in a heartbeat.
That thought got him moving. He swiftly scanned the area and determined no one was around, although that didn’t mean someone wasn’t watching. Wanting her out of sight, Stone strode forward.
“Sophie.”
Her voice cut off mid-word and she spun around, eyes wide, mouth open, long brown waves flying about her shoulders. Scrambling to her feet, she backed up a few steps before he realized she was about to run, stopping Stone dead in his tracks.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” He held his hands open out by his sides. “I’m here to help. Your manager, Reginald Feldman, and my boss, Ford Moreland, have been trying to call you. My name is Stone. They sent me to protect you.”
It was a lot of information for her to swallow in one go, but if he didn’t get it out quickly he might have to chase her down, and that wasn’t something he wanted to risk.
“I don’t have my phone.”
Relieved she hadn’t bolted, Stone took an easy breath and the tension in his muscles dialed back a notch. “We can go inside to get it.”
She shook her head. “I don’t have it at all. I left it at home.”
“In Sydney?”
She nodded.
Clever move or panicked rush? “That’s okay, you can use mine. Or we can go inside and see if you can use the landline. Although I’d prefer you used mine, as it’s fitted with a blocker.”
“A blocker?”
“It stops anyone from tracing the origin of the call if they’ve tagged your manager’s phone.”
“Oh. Right.” She took a step towards him then stopped. “Do you have any ID on you?”
Stone smiled. At least she was smart enough to question him. Maybe keeping her safe wouldn’t be a problem once she spoke to Ford. “I’m going to take my wallet out of my back right-hand pocket and throw it to you. My driver’s license is in there, along with credit cards and my Landlocked security ID. You can check the name matches on all of them.”
“Okay.”
He pulled his wallet out and easily tossed it the ten meters separating them.
She caught it left-handed and rapidly flicked through the various cards until she came to his security ID. Holding it up, she glanced between him and her hand several times. Her lips twitched into a smile. “Okay Mr. Stone Mason, pass me your phone.”
***
Sophie ended her second call and drew in a deep breath. She’d called her manager first, but they’d only spoken long enough for Reginald to demand she call Ford Moreland and make her promise to do whatever the other man said.
It made sense. Mr. Moreland was an expert in the personal protection business, and it appeared as though his company also specialized in hunting down crazy stalkers, because he’d informed her they’d identified the man following her.
Henry George Hagar.
She’d never heard of him. Had no idea who he was or why he’d fixated on her.
And she couldn’t be positive the man with the weird blue eyes she’d glimpsed in numerous places—included outside her house—in recent weeks was this Henry person, but it seemed likely. She couldn’t be unlucky enough to have two stalkers, could she?
“Everything okay?”
The deep rumbly voice jolted her out of her thoughts and she turned to look at the man beside her.
Stone Mason.
He wasn’t what she imagined a bodyguard would look like.
His brown hair was a little long, his face a touch boyish with a deep dimple in each cheek, and while he definitely had muscles, he didn’t appear intimidating or menacing in a he-man, hired-muscle way. Oh, she was positive Stone could do his job. Mr. Moreland didn’t strike her as the type to hire anyone who couldn’t.
Problem was she struggled to move beyond how handsome Stone was. Not that his good looks meant he couldn’t be protective—or deadly. There was something understated about the threat he posed. Sophie had no doubt the man in front of her could deal with the crazy one following her.
The way her insides tightened and warmed with him near had her a little off balance, that’s all. And she wasn’t ready to figure out what the tremor meant; the one that rattled through her when their gazes connected.
She’d seen plenty of gorgeous men. Being a celebrity guaranteed she was surrounded by some seriously yummy eye-candy a lot of the time. Of course, the majority of those men were self-centered assholes, and none had inspired an instant attraction like the one she was experiencing with Stone.
It had been years since she’d had such a strong physical reaction to a man. If it wasn’t for this whole stalker thing, she might be inclined to do something about it.
“Sophie?”
“Huh?” She gave herself a mental slap and smiled. “Sorry. Yes. Everything is fine. Well no, not fine, but…bloody hell.” She blew out a breath and Stone’s mouth curved up on one side, the dimple sinking deep, making her stomach flutter.
“What did Ford say?” he asked.
“That I should do whatever you tell me to do so you can keep me safe.”
The other side of his mouth curled up. Dimple times two and bam, there was that fluttery sensation again. “And will you? Do whatever I say?”
She eyed him warily. There was something in his smile—the twinkle in his eyes—that made her think he didn’t believe she would…and might enjoy it if she didn’t. An unexpected sexual jolt shot through her at the thought of him demanding her obedience.
Pushing her wayward thoughts aside, she concentrated on the more important aspect of his appearance and asked, “Can you keep him away?”
Stone’s expression turned serious as he took a step closer. Heat rolled off his body and brushed her bare arms. He leaned in and warm air fanned over her face, sending a shiver down her spine and a wave of goose bumps from her head to her toes.
“He’ll have to go through me to get to you.”
She believed him. Except…
“He got inside my house.” The words were little more than a whisper as they slipped past her suddenly trembling lips, and she swallowed, her throat constricting with the flash of fear that burst through her.
“I know.”
Her vision blurred. “He was at the hotel in LA.” Her nose tingled. Bloody hell. She wouldn’t cry. She hadn’t yet. She’d be damned if she let the emotion spill out now.
“I promise you. He won’t get past me.”
Had he moved closer?
“Okay.” She blinked rapidly, though the action didn’t stop a tear from escaping to slide down her cheek.
“Sophie.” Stone reached out and cupped her face, his thumb sweeping the wetness from her skin. “I promise. I’ll keep you safe.”
“I don’t understand why this is happening.” The fierce determination that had held her together for the last few days cracked. “W-what did I do?”
Stone pulled her into his arms and held her against his chest, her face tucked beneath his chin. “You didn’t do anything. This guy is sick and if he hadn’t picked you, he would have found someone else to fixate on.”
“I—” A sob broke loose, the sound raw and sharp as it ripped out of her throat.
“Ssh…” He rubbed his hands up and down her back. “You’re safe now.”
She didn’t need his reassuring words. For some inexplicable reason, the feel of his arms around her—the strength in his embrace—made her believe she’d not only be safe, but that she’d found the one place where she didn’t have to pretend to be strong.
In Stone’s arms, she could let down her guard.
It was as unsettling as it was comforting and tempting. Unable to resist the safety Stone represented, Sophie let all the emotions she’d bottled up over the last few days free. She looped her arms around his waist and held on as her walls broke wide open.
Sophie didn’t know how long it took before she’d calmed down, before she could take a breath without choking on it, but once she did and the dampness under her cheek registered, embarrassment flooded her. She hadn’t cried in front of anyone—never mind on a perfect stranger—in years.
With a sniffle, she tried to pull away. “I’m sorry.”
“No. Don’t.” Stone’s arms tightened around her, held her against him. “Give yourself a minute.”
She laughed, the sound broken by a hiccup. “I think I’ve had my minute.”
“After the last few weeks, you deserve more.”
Did he have to be so sympathetic? If he didn’t stop she’d start crying again. Leaning her head back, she sought his gaze with hers. “I—”
She wasn’t ready for the tremor that shook her. Whatever it was that sparked between them, it was potent. At least it was on her end.
“Sophie?”
She jerked in Stone’s arms and took a step back, except instead of letting her go, he smoothly slid one arm around her waist and kept her at his side. He put her a little behind his body as he turned to face the woman who stood a few feet away.
“Is everything alright, Sophie?” the woman from the registration desk asked, concern creasing her brow.
“Oh, yes, I…” God how did she explain Stone? Or the fact she’d just been balling her eyes out all over him?
“Hi. I’m Stone.” He extended his right hand. “Soph’s boyfriend.”
Boyfriend?
Stone disguised her shock by tugging her closer and hiding her face against his chest. He even dropped a kiss on the top of her head.
“Oh! How lovely. Sophie didn’t mention you’d be joining her.”
“She didn’t know I was coming. I got away at the last minute and wanted it to be a surprise.” He tipped his face down, his gaze connecting with Sophie’s, and smiled, winked. “That’s why she was crying. Soph gets a little emotional sometimes.”
“I’m Karen Carpenter—not the singer—and that man heading our way is my husband Sylvester—not the cat.” Karen laughed. “Welcome to the Rise and Shine.”
“Nice to meet you,” Stone said.
“Well, if you two will follow me, I’ll show you to your room. As I told Sophie earlier, it’s not the best but it’ll do in a pinch. We’re all booked up on account of the festival, so I’ve cleared out the attic room that hasn’t been refurbished yet. It has its own en suite, the plumbing is ancient, but it all works.” Karen spun on her heel and met her husband before he made it all the way across the yard.
Sophie stood on her toes so she could whisper in Stone’s ear. “Boyfriend?”
“No other way to stay close to you without revealing what’s really going on.”
“We don’t need to stay in the same room.”
He chuckled. “So is this you doing everything I say?”
Bloody hell. He had her there. Sighing, she dropped back on her heels and said, “Fine. C’mon, boyfriend, let’s go see our room.”