Guarding Her Heart by Marian Snowe

Author:Marian Snowe [Snowe, Marian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance Suspense
Published: 2019-02-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Ash

We were in a locked room, the hotel had been secured, and the police were searching the area for Serena’s attacker...and I still hadn’t come down from “red alert” mode. I was better in a crisis than everyone else I knew, but today I was more rattled than I’d ever been.

I would’ve caught up with Serena on the way to the restroom if someone hadn’t tipped over a luggage cart full of suitcases in front of me and blocked the entire hallway. I knew now that Frank Burne had an accomplice, someone he paid to sneak syrup of ipecac into Serena’s drink, knock over luggage to slow me down, and pull the fire alarm as soon as Frank smashed the window and escaped. The police caught the accomplice minutes after peace had been restored.

I should’ve been more careful. I should’ve made Serena stay in our hotel room. It was just like my last tour in the army; if I’d only paid more attention, if I’d just thought a few moves ahead like any good chess player...

I rubbed the scars on my thigh, hidden beneath the fabric of my pants, and breathed out steadily. Serena was safe. There was no use in rehashing what had happened, only learning from it. That crazy fucker wouldn’t get the chance to hurt her again.

I could hear the water running in the shower, and I figured Serena would want a nice long one. But as the minutes ticked by, my anxiety grew. What I would have considered overprotective yesterday seemed perfectly reasonable now.

“Serena?” I called through the door. “Everything all right in there?” After a beat, I said again, “Serena?”

Nothing. I didn’t wait another second before opening the door.

The room was flooded with steam and the shower was still running in its glass stall. My chest unclenched with relief to see a shape in the stall, but at the same moment, I realized that Serena was sitting on the floor.

And she still had her clothes on.

I pulled open the shower door. Serena was curled up against the tiled wall, her dress completely soaked and her white pantyhose nearly transparent with water. She had her arms folded loosely over her knees and when I said her name a third time, her eyes moved sluggishly and she looked up at me.

“I can’t get warm,” she whispered. An intense fear and sorrow rose in my throat like nothing I’d ever felt before. Without even thinking about it, I stepped into the shower and sat down beside her and gathered her into my arms. She was shivering.

She put her head on my shoulder and I held her to me, stroking her wet hair as the shower spray slowly plastered my clothing to my body. After a minute or two she whimpered and started to cry, and I rocked her gently.

“I’m so sorry,” I said softly into her hair. “I promised to keep you safe and I couldn’t.” Admitting that brought a lump to my throat, but I swallowed past it.

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