“About Yannik—yeah. Things happen,” she said apologetically. “Has your guard made it up yet?”
“No and I have no idea who it is.”
“Whoever it is, let them worry about your safety, and you enjoy the Alps.”
Right then a large pair of hands shot past her face to grab the door. Bethany reared back until she notice he held it open for them. Unsettled by his appearance, it took the wild butterflies slamming into her bladder a minute to relax.
He stepped back holding the door open. “After you ladies.”
The hulking man filled her vision, blocking the slopes at his back. “Thank you,” she offered pleasantly.
Inside he looked past her and Glenda then brought his attention back as if scanning her surroundings. He had to be one of Mikhail’s guards. “Have a good evening, miss,” was all he said angled forward winking. Before he took a step something flashed from outside.
Bethany jerked around.
He shoved them out of the way, ran out to the slopes his big body diving over a guest standing beside the lift, taking them down.
Another movement to her right and Mikhail came hustling past parked cars leaping over car trunks to run down the hill snow spewing out behind his manic strides. Heart pounding, Bethany shoved her body against the door. The thickening crowd slowed her attempts to get outside, but she felt someone tugging on her jacket.
Glenda. “Was that Mikhail?”
Her mouth felt dry. Of course it did, it was open, as she gawked at the scene unfolding.
“I think a photographer got up here. The same thing happened at the firm while the polizei and news crew were there. The media’s up here. I’m so sick of this.”
“You’re popular now,” Glenda’s words came out in a rush then she shook her head, messy curls bouncing around her shoulders. “Anyway, did you see the way Mikhail ran after that man? I had no idea he could run that fast.”
Neither could she. Bethany had to get closer and see if he was okay. She worked her way to the front of the crowd. Bethany couldn’t believe what she witnessed as the big guy came up from the slope stomping a camera into the ground, dragging a man by the scruff of his jacket over to Mikhail’s cabin. Approaching from her left, Mikhail stopped inches from her face raising a hand to her forearm in a supportive gesture.
“You okay?”
“Uh, yeah I’m fine.” Watching him go He-Man on someone trying to steal her picture only made her drool—everywhere, but sure, she was okay. “One minute I’m thanking your guest for holding the door open…then lights flashed and he,” pointing to the handsome giant striding toward her, “shoved Glenda and I inside the chalet and took off after the photographer.”
He stared at her mouth too long.
“They wanted to catch you cheating on me for the magazine.”
Did they have to give her a heart attack in the process?
“So talking to a guest implicates me as cheating on you, a man I’m not dating…and two hours ago wasn’t speaking to—great!” This is getting out of hand. “And you could’ve been hurt running after him like that. You didn’t know if they were carrying a gun or a knife…anything.”
Mikhail brushed his fingers under the soft curl of dark brown hair covering one eye. It’d fallen free of her cap when she bolted out the front door “Was I supposed to ask first?” His fingers swept across hers, by her side, a gentle acknowledgment that he was there. “You’re too polite, Bethany.”
“I’m learning that.” And he’d been her teacher. She let her attention move over his disheveled appearance and flushed ears. He cared. “You came out from around the chalet like a rocket going after him,” she complained touching her hand to his stern face; snow matted to his cap. She couldn’t stop touching him, rubbing the tips of his cold ears.
“I’m okay, Bethany. But it’s impossible to keep photographers off the mountains unless we close off the roads. That’s impossible with guests coming and going.”
She caught the gentle caress of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth, making it hard to look away and not remember how good they felt pressed against hers.
“Were you worried about me, Bethany?”
How was she not?
“Mikhail this is bad for business. Are you sure about me being up here? What will your guests think?”
He gripped her sleeve tighter, tugging her a little closer. “You’re my guest too.”
Her boots bumped his under the soft glow of the walkway lights, and she steadied herself closing a hand over his arm. The surrounding murmurs quieted waiting to see them argue, makeup, or kill one another.
He stared too long, and she stood too close to do anything more than breathe in his scent.
When he released her coat, she took a step back, catching a glimpse of the real Mikhail in his eyes and her heart softened.
People milled around whispering and speculating about what just happened. Heart still pounding, Bethany stepped forward, when Mikhail turned around keeping her at his back protectively. A tall ski instructor came up the walk, with an outstretched hand holding a pile of crumpled metal—the camera lens.
“Mikhail, we confiscated his equipment, and we’re holding him around back away from the guests. He doesn’t have a reservation. We’ll escort him off the mountain down to one of the hiking shanties so he can’t bother Ms. Cansler.” He looked at her. “You okay ma’am?”
Responding without shaking took effort, and it had nothing to do with the man they had down on the ground. Mikhail had torn across the parking lot just to protect her. “I’m okay. Never been the object of paparazzi.”
The big guy walked up wiping snow from his jacket sleeve. His chest blocked her from the view of the others stretching their necks to get a look at her. “A newspaper photographer,” he said irritated. “We can’t keep everyone off the mountains. I apologize, Mikhail. I thought I had all entries covered.”
She eyed the crowd forming staring at her through the window. Why did this have to happen just as a slew of guests arrived?
“They think I’m Mikhail’s wife. I should be the one apologizing for disrupting the games. Hi, I’m Bethany Cansler, and this is my friend, Glenda Bauer. ”
“Edward Kingsley. Anyone give you trouble let me know,” he said then stalked off inside.
“He’s a friend of Seth’s.” Mikhail slid a hand beneath her elbow. “I’ll walk in with you.”
No more babysitting.
“Don’t, the guests will know who they were taking a picture of and I’ll be followed around every time I leave my room. Let me be a regular guest and check in with Glenda. No fanfare, please.”
Mikhail looked at the two men then her. “Okay. Your guard should be here soon. Don’t leave your room without him,” he ordered and for whatever reason she liked the tone of his voice. Commanding and protective.
The crowd dissolved, and Mikhail stayed until she and Glenda went inside. Glancing back, she couldn’t stop watching him stride across the walkway to a small cabin off by itself next to the chalet. That was the Mikhail she wanted in her life; the man from the airport she’d met a year ago.
Simone met them at the door, and she introduced Glenda. They got her checked in then walked down the carpeted hall to their suite.
“So you’ve been with Heinemann’s since college? Mikhail speaks to his brother often and your name comes up more times than you’d think.”
“You don’t need to sell me on Mikhail, Simone. I know what type of man he is and for some insane reason I still like him.” Their boots scuffed over the carpet down the long hallway. “I love my job and the diversity program’s been very successful, as far as I know, so I don’t know why someone chose me to pin the threat on. Business has been booming all summer, and I only deal with Mikhail when he has input on one of my clients.”
“You like working with him?”
“He’s a geek trapped in a playboy’s body. I’ve seen him turn client accounts around that were on the verge of losing everything in a matter of days.”
“Here I thought you didn’t see the real Mikhail.”
“There’s a good man under the charm.”
Simone nodded.
Saddened, Glenda said, “I think a relationship between you two is unhealthy. The people in the office will never see you as Bethany, but Mikhail’s Bethany. Your worth will be lost.”
“I can’t say I disagree or agree with Glenda,” Simone said. “I just met you, but you’ll need to decide which is more important for you. That might make it easier to deal with him if you don’t have the pressure of a public relationship to contend with.”
She let her attention focus on Simone. “Mikhail’s important to you isn’t he?” How could she not ask?
“We met under strange circumstances and one day if you haven’t run screaming into the night to get away from all of us, I’ll tell you about it. But for now,” she said as they came up on the suite at the end of the long hallway, “you have to try the massage setting on the showerhead. You’re wound up like a ball of rubber bands.” Simone rolled her eyes when she protested. “Set it on the third arrow and try not to moan too loud.”
“It’s that good?”
She raised one neatly trimmed brow. “It’s for tight muscles but I won’t be there to stop or judge.”
“I’ll start with my tense shoulders,” because admitting using it for any other reason would include a stiff drink first.
“Okay, but I saw the way Mikhail looked at you and you him,” Simone admitted with a wink. “Turn the music up good and loud so the other guests don’t hear you. I’m married to Mikhail’s brother remember. They’re intense if nothing else and have a lasting effect on your mind as well as your body.”
She liked Simone…a lot.
“I wouldn’t know what Mikhail’s like in bed.”
Simone choked and grabbed her arm pulling her to a stop in front of the door. “Are you serious?”
“Mikhail cheated on Bethany,” Glenda prattled on spilling her information. “That’s why I think they should cool it and step back for a while. There’s so many men for you to fall in love with. I just think you’ve tied your heart to one man without seeing who else is out there.”
Angered, Bethany’s teeth clenched, but it was because Glenda spoke the truth, as if she wasn’t already in love with him.
“Bethany,” Glenda said shaking her head. “I can’t watch you get burned again. He’s still the same man.”
Simone shot her a pitying stare. “Mikhail hurt you, Bethany?”
How could she talk about him when the ache in her heart carried luggage with his nametag hanging from the handle? “What time is dinner?”
“I can’t say without knowing more about your relationship that she’s wrong, Bethany,” Simone said. “I wouldn’t say walk away, but stop fighting whatever it is between you and just go with what feels right. If being friends is the extent of the relationship, then that’s all it is, because you obviously have a thread holding you two together or you wouldn’t care.”
Bethany had too much to think about.
After a hot shower, she changed into some jeans and a purple sweater with black checks and a black turtleneck before pulling on thick socks. Unpacking her clothes, she set her empty luggage in the closet and pulled out an extra pillow tossing it on the bed.
Knock. Knock!
The sound brought her around. Glenda padded across the room wrapping a towel around her wet blond waves. She cinched her robe ties.
She opened the door.
A flash lit the room and two big bodies filled the doorway. The person taking the picture yelped, the camera snatched from their hands. Smashed and destroyed against the floor. The big guy from the outside pinned the man to the ground. Then a second man stepped forward after the photographer was hustled by the collar down the hall leaving her with her mouth hung slack.
The sarcastic polizei from the office stood minus the black SWAT wear in exchange for casual clothes. Black jeans, black sweater, black baseball cap and a green and blue ski jacket covered a body larger than she’d remembered.
His polished small town smile with a sneaky twist to the corner wasn’t helping to relax her mind. “Miss never…ever open a door without knowing who’s on the other side,” he chastised, his long legs braced apart supporting his brawny physique. “The concierge said I’d find Bethany Cansler here. I’m Officer Greg Morascovich.” He eyed Bethany and tilted his face around Glenda. “Mikhail Shamochernyi and Detective Munson assigned me to escort you around the grounds, Ms. Cansler. If someone has set you up, they will go through me first.”
Bethany stilted as the gremlin of an officer who was so rude when the detective interrogated her upstairs now stared at her from her door. She could still hear his orders and interchange now,
“Miss I’ll need you to wait in the other room with the employees.”
“Why so when you figure out I’m not the threat and real bullets fly you can stuff us all in the same body bag.”
“Budget cuts…you understand.”
That disturbed her more than his hulking size, and now he was her bodyguard. What else would go sideways?
“Greg, no sarcasm, or have the budget cuts been lifted?” Bethany barked from the dresser and moved to the door. “It figures. Mikhail’s punishing me. He assigned the cop with the least amount of people skills to watch me.” Reluctantly, she shook his hand. “I guess you’ll be my partner for the games then, because I’m not having you lurking like some dark shadow behind my every step.”
The dark shadow of a man came closer. “A sweet woman like you doesn’t have a partner,” he hissed, his blond whiskers glowing under his black baseball cap from the hallway lights pouring around his shoulders.
“He had to cancel?” she replied hesitant, having a weird vibe rolling through her about this man.
“No problem.” He scanned her room taking in every surface before settling his attention on Glenda, scrutinizing her from head to toe until she fell from his mental roladex. “From the firm on the seventh floor two doors down from Ms. Cansler’s office,” he reported and straightened to an impressive height. “I keep track of everyone around Ms. Cansler. That includes you.”
Glenda threw up her hands in surrender backing away into the bathroom and turned up her mouth to the officer. “Are you kidding me? Now we’re being labeled by the polizei, like products on the store shelf. This is crazy. How are we supposed to have a good time?” Glenda stormed off annoyed, to the bathroom, blond waves winging through the air behind her.