"Must be h.e.l.l on your social life."
"I told you, I don"t have one."
"Tomorrow," he reiterated abruptly.
Once Jonas had gone, what little defiance Lily had left deflated like a punctured balloon. The letters and the roses had been and continued to be disturbing. Jonas"s presence in her life, while rea.s.suring in one way, also made it impossible for her to continue denying how frightened she was of whoever had sent those letters and bloodied roses.
But at least Jonas"s presence means I no longer feel quite so alone and defenseless.
"Any progress?"
Jonas raised dark brows. "It"s been less than twenty-four hours, Gabriel." And this was the second visit the other man had made to his office during that time, Gabriel having marched straight into Jonas"s office, without an appointment and uninvited. He was lucky to have caught Jonas here at all; he was leaving for Lily"s apartment in a few minutes.
"And?"
"As you know, Lily and I met for the first time last night. Thanks for letting her know about me, by the way." He scowled his displeasure. "I can"t tell you how thrilled she was, once she"d settled down, to learn who I am and what I was doing in her dressing room."
Gabriel grimaced. "I told you, my relationship with Lily is complicated."
"More like nonexistent."
"You try being guardian to a thirteen-year-old girl some time, and then tell me if she still likes you at the end of it."
"Good point," Jonas conceded. He didn"t have any siblings of his own, but if Lily"s challenging att.i.tude now was anything to go by... "I have some of my people investigating the letters." He wasn"t ready to tell Gabriel about those six letters Lily had kept from him, or the envelopes they came in. It was more important that he build the trust between himself and Lily than Gabriel needed to know all the details. "Let me do my job, Gabriel," he added firmly. "I"ll tell you if there"s anything I think you need to know."
The other man breathed deeply. "It"s hard for me to let someone else deal with this, when I just want to pulverize the b.a.s.t.a.r.d."
"I almost made the mistake of doing exactly that last night. Turned out the man I was about to pulverize was a friend of hers. Evan Butler," he supplied as Gabriel looked at him questioningly. "He thinks you"re gorgeous, by the way. Totally impressed with the wide shoulders and s.e.xy green eyes."
Gabriel"s scowl deepened. "I trust you told him he isn"t my type."
"Now why would I do that?"
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Gabriel said without rancor.
Jonas chuckled. "He"s sweet. If you like sweet, that is."
"I don"t," Gabriel stated.
"He has a boyfriend anyway."
Gabriel gave him a look that clearly said as if I care. "So what"s our next move?"
"My next move. Although I would appreciate any information you might have that I don"t."
"Lily isn"t being cooperative," Gabriel guessed ruefully.
"Not exactly," Jonas conceded. "I"ve met Butler. Do you have any idea how Lily gets on with the rest of the cast?"
"Really well, I think- No, wait a minute, she did mention there was some problem with the a.s.sistant director during rehearsals."
"What sort of problem?"
"Not sure." Gabriel"s gaze sharpened. "Are you thinking the stalker is someone Lily actually knows?"
Jonas was exploring every avenue, and that included Lily"s enemies as well as her friends. "What"s the guy"s name?"
"Mitch.e.l.l...? Marvin...? No, I"m pretty sure his name"s Maurice." Gabriel"s brow cleared. "Do you think he might have something to do with this? If he does, then I want to be there-"
Jonas stood up. "I"ll take any information you have to give, but anything else is out of the question. I appreciate this is your sister and you"re worried about her, but you have your own business to run, so I would appreciate you allowing me to do the same."
"I thought Seth was back today?"
"He"s running late." Jonas sighed. "Guess he"s finding it difficult to leave his bed and bride of three weeks."
"Can"t say I blame him."
"Me either." Seth Armstrong was the closest thing Jonas had to a brother, and his wife, Diana, was beautiful and her softness totally complimented Seth"s harsher nature. She also grounded Seth in a way he had never been before, as Seth gave Diana the confidence to live her life without fear. Jonas couldn"t have been happier for them. "He"s a lucky b.a.s.t.a.r.d."
"Would you be talking about me?" Seth breezed into the office as if he wasn"t over an hour late, a smug smile on his face as evidence the two men had been correct about the reason for that delay.
"As it happens, yes." Jonas shook his friend"s hand. "It"s all yours." He stepped away from the desk belonging to Seth, which he had occupied for the other man"s three-week absence. "I"ll walk out with you, Gabe."
The two men came to a halt outside the reception area of Grayson Security.
A nerve pulsed in Gabriel"s jaw. "She"s my little sister, Jonas."
"I know that, and I promise you I will do everything in my power to make sure she stays safe." And that included protecting her from himself. Last night, Jonas had stepped over a line. It couldn"t be allowed to happen again.
Chapter 4.
"Oh my G.o.d..." Lily hadn"t slept well, then had to suffer a visit from her brother Asher this morning-he was only marginally less domineering than Gabriel-and now this.
This being the graffiti-covered walls of her dressing room.
Jonas took one look at the words spray-painted in red on the walls and pulled Lily back out into the hallway, closing the door firmly behind them. He sincerely hoped she hadn"t had time to read those words. Being called a "wh.o.r.e," "b.i.t.c.h," and several other words no woman should be called was a b.l.o.o.d.y awful way for her to start her working day.
The shocked look on her pallid face said she had seen and read all those names. "Why is he doing this?"
Jonas took her in his arms, liking the way her head fit against his chest far more than he should have done, considering his decision last night to keep his distance. "It"s what usually happens with stalkers. When they receive no response to their overtures, they tend to get nasty."
She looked up at him in amazement. "Those letters weren"t overtures, they were disgusting. As for the roses... They were just sick."
"Not to him. He thinks he"s paying you a compliment."
Lily gave a shudder of distaste. "And how could I have given a response, when I have absolutely no idea who"s doing this?"
"I never said stalkers were logical."
Jonas didn"t say much at all.
As he"d said he would, Jonas had been waiting outside her apartment building for her earlier, once again dressed in that ankle-length black leather duster, his T-shirt a dark blue this time, and the same faded denims and black biker boots. He hadn"t spoken a word as he opened the pa.s.senger door of the black SUV for her to climb into before getting in behind the wheel of the vehicle and driving to the theater.
Lily wasn"t used to silence.
She had grown up as the only girl amongst four brothers, who may have grown up to be moody and uncommunicative men but had argued constantly with each other in their teens. School, and then drama school, had been a constant noise. The jobs she"d had since, working in television or theater, meant there was always something going on, carpenters banging and sets being built, members of the cast rehearsing or filming.
Jonas was content in his own silence.
Not only was he content with it, he actually preferred it.
His expression didn"t give away any of his inner thoughts either. Occasionally those deep-blue eyes would glitter with an emotion, but so far it had been too fleeting for Lily to gauge what that emotion was.
Because of her brothers, she had never thought she would be attracted to the strong, silent type, but Jonas was starting to intrigue her, in an irritating sort of way.
Nor could she deny the physical attraction that seemed to simmer beneath the surface whenever the two of them were together. It was the reason Lily had slept so badly. She couldn"t help but wonder what would have happened last night if Evan hadn"t arrived when he did. Would Jonas have- "Is there another dressing room you can use?"
Oh good Lord, she was standing here in the hallway, in Jonas"s arms, her mind wandering to thoughts of being with him at her apartment last night, and all the time, behind the door in front of them, her dressing room had been violated.
How the h.e.l.l was her stalker even getting in here, not once but twice now? Charlie, on the door, was a stickler for signing people in and out, had even checked Jonas"s ID, despite Lily having vouched for him, before grudgingly allowing him to accompany her inside.
Could that possibly mean her stalker was one of the people who worked in the theater?
Oh please G.o.d, no.
Apart from Maurice, the a.s.sistant director, who was a complete a.s.shole, they were such a likeable bunch. The cast as well as the people working behind the scenes. Lily couldn"t bear to think of her stalker being one of them.
"Lily?"
She looked up at Jonas blankly for several seconds, until she remembered what question he"d asked her. "No." She pulled out of his arms before stepping away. "I mean, yes, I"m sure there"s another dressing room I could use. But I"m not going to. That"s my dressing room." She nodded toward the closed door. "And I"m going to use it. I"ll get changed, and then have a word with the scenery guys about painting over the new wall decoration while I"m on stage."
Jonas would rather Lily didn"t put herself through that. There was no reason why she should. Except her pride.
And the unmistakable fact she was a member of the Knight family. Beautiful, feminine, but with that same steel running down her spine.
"Fine." He nodded. "But I need to go back inside and check that the room is clear first."
Her eyes widened. "You think he might be hiding out in the bathroom, ready to pounce."
"I think I need to check the room."
Lily looked at him searchingly for several seconds before nodding. "Okay."
It didn"t take Jonas that long to make sure there was no one in the dressing room itself or the adjoining bathroom. He took a couple of photos of the graffiti with his cell phone while he was in there too, so he"d have a record of it after the scenery guys had painted over it.
Jonas ignored the words and concentrated on the paint itself. Bloodred in color. Consistent eight-inch lettering, which indicated a neatness in the perp. No spray can left behind, so the guy had taken it away with him, which meant there was no chance of getting any fingerprints. From what Jonas had observed last night, the cast of Desperation went in and out of each other"s dressing rooms all the time, which meant there would be dozens of fingerprints in here, and little or no chance of narrowing it down to Lily"s stalker, even if he"d touched anything. Which, if he was as neat as Jonas thought he was, he probably hadn"t.
In view of the graffiti in her dressing room, Jonas wanted to stick close to Lily this afternoon, but when they returned for the evening performance, he would be having a word with the doorman and any other members of the backstage crew available to talk to him. If he was lucky, the doorman would have a record of signing the man in. If not, someone might have seen the guy entering or leaving the theater by other means, or maybe even going into Lily"s dressing room.
The alternative was that the person responsible was one of the people allowed access to the backstage of the theater.
And someone that Lily knew.
"You"re good."
While she was on stage, Lily had done her best to forget Jonas and the reason he was backstage waiting for her, all her energy concentrated on playing her part to the best of her ability. The applause at the end of the afternoon performance said she had succeeded, and she was now on an adrenaline high.
It was a little disconcerting to realize that Jonas had watched her performance. "Did you think I wouldn"t be?" she teased as she closed the door and instantly wrinkled her nose at the overwhelming smell of fresh paint. But at least the walls of her dressing room were once again a pristine cream.
Jonas checked the room and bathroom before going to sit in the chair in the corner, his face slightly in shadow. "Not for a minute."
"No?"
"Not when Gabriel had already a.s.sured me how good you are, no."
She shot him a quick glance as she sat down at her dressing table and began to take off her stage makeup. "Gabriel told you that?"
"You seem surprised?"
"None of my brothers particularly approve of my choice of career."
"But they didn"t stop you."
"They tried." She gave a bittersweet smile at the memory of the rows there had been when she had turned down the opportunity to go to university and opted for stage school instead.
"Trying and succeeding are two different things."
Lily tilted her head as she looked at his reflection in the mirror. "What"s your story, Jonas?"
He didn"t actually move, but nevertheless Lily could sense his sudden tension. "You don"t need to know that for me to do my job."
"But if we"re going to be spending all this time together..."
"The only time we"ll be spending together is moments like this. I"ll take you wherever you need to go, stand guard, check out the people you see and speak to, see you safely home, make sure your apartment is safe, and then my men will be outside while you"re at home. No conversation necessary."
She turned to face him. "But it would be more friendly if-"
"This is a job, Lily, not a friendship."
She flinched at the harshness of his tone and expression. "But-"
"I don"t need any more friends than the ones I already have."