A Stalker's Prey, page 1
“I hate this. Being scared all the time. Looking over my shoulder.”
“I know. I’m sorry you’re going through this, but I promise you, we will find this guy.”
His words hadn’t cleaned any of the concern from her eyes.
“You can’t be sure of that. Certainly not sure that you’ll catch him before he does something else. Something worse.”
His gut clenched because, even though he meant every word, she was right. He couldn’t be sure they’d catch the stalker before he lashed out again.
He let out a deep, steadying breath, then sat beside her.
“You’re right. I can’t promise you this guy won’t send another email or more flowers or attempt another hit-and-run. But I can promise you that I will not let anything happen to you. I will stand between you and any danger. I give you my word on that.”
A Stalker’s Prey
K.D. Richards
K.D. Richards is a native of the Washington, DC, area, who now lives outside Toronto with her husband and two sons. You can find her at kdrichardsbooks.com.
Books by K.D. Richards
Harlequin Intrigue
West Investigations
Pursuit of the Truth
Missing at Christmas
Christmas Data Breach
Shielding Her Son
Dark Water Disappearance
Catching the Carling Lake Killer
Under the Cover of Darkness
A Stalker’s Prey
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Bria (Brianna) Baker—Actress, whose most famous role is Princess Kalvana.
Xavier Nichols—West operative.
Dane Malloy—Director of movie.
Mika Reynolds—Bria’s agent.
Bennie (Bernard) Steele—Member of the paparazzi.
Rob (Robert) Gindry—Bria’s old friend and costar.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Excerpt from The Sheriff's to Protect by Janice Kay Johnson
Chapter One
Brianna Baker took a deep breath of crispy, New York morning air and picked up her pace along the Central Park path. There was probably another twenty-five to thirty minutes before dawn broke through the dark skies overhead and Bria wanted to be back at her Upper West Side townhouse before then. The morning air was invigorating and the forty-six-degree temperature was motivating, but the best thing about getting her morning jog in before the sun came up was that there was little chance that anyone would recognize her.
The brief snatches of time where she could be alone, unrecognized and just breathe and be herself, were what had kept her sane since her acting career had taken off and propelled her into celebrity status.
She wasn’t complaining, at least not out loud. Acting had been her dream for as long as she could remember. And the fact that people, millions of people, thought she was good enough to spend their hard-earned dollars going to see her movies was thrilling and humbling in equal measure. But that fame had a price. The loss of her privacy for one. And lately, a nearly debilitating insecurity. The third movie in which she starred as Princess Kaleva, warrior princess, sent to Earth from an alien planet to retrieve the five elemental stones needed to save her people from certain death, had broken box office records in the US and overseas. She was officially an international superstar.
She was proud of the Princess Kaleva movies. They were showing little girls everywhere, especially little brown girls, that they were strong, powerful and smart and that they could be anything they wanted to be. But what she really wanted was to be taken seriously as an actress. But ever since she’d taken on the Princess Kaleva role, her agent had found it difficult to convince the Hollywood honchos that she could do the more serious roles.
Which was why she’d lobbied hard for the part of wife and mother, Elizabeth Stewart, in Loss of Days, a film about a family in crisis as a result of a child’s drug addiction, when it had come up. It was a bonus that the majority of the filming, although on a tight six-week schedule, was going to be done in New York. In her heart, the city was still her hometown, even after fifteen years in California. It had taken some convincing and several auditions, but she’d won the part. And now she was weeks away from finishing the film she felt in her bones would prove to all of Hollywood that she could play serious, dramatic roles and not just be a busty superhero.
Princess Kaleva had pushed her into the ranks of celebrity, but Loss of Days was going to earn her the respect as an actress that she really coveted.
She picked up her pace. Although the sun had started to peek over the trees, the portion of the trail she was on remained deserted. She’d been jogging the same loop around the park since she’d come back to New York a little over a month ago to shoot the film. It totaled just over two miles and she wanted to make it the whole way before the park was packed with people.
She pushed through an uphill stretch of the path, her lungs burning. When she got to the top, she stopped, taking a moment to catch her breath.
Footsteps ricocheted off the trees behind her.
Bria glanced over her shoulder.
A figure jogged up the hill in her direction. From the size and gait, she pegged the person as male, but the shadows and a baseball cap pulled down low on the man’s head obscured his face.
A bolt of unease shot through her. She began jogging again. She hadn’t told anyone on her team about her morning jogs. Mika Reynolds, her agent, would have told her in no uncertain terms she was a fool for venturing out so early, and Eliot Sykes, her public relations manager, would have admonished her for jogging alone. But one thing she hadn’t completely adapted to in terms of her recent celebrity was the complete and total lack of privacy that seemed to come along with it. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to.
Bria shot another glance over her shoulder. The man was moving quickly, at more of a run than a jog, and with purpose.
She turned and began to sprint, less concerned with pacing herself than she was with getting to a more public space.
He’s out for his morning run. He’s not chasing you.
She tried convincing herself but survival instincts, honed over thirty-five years of being a woman in the world, pushed her forward.
She could hear the crunch of leaves indicating that the man was still behind her.
A level of fear she hadn’t felt for a long time flooded her body, pushing her forward. She was still a bit of a distance from the entrance to the trail and she hadn’t seen anyone other than the man behind her.
Without thinking, she plunged into the trees. Between the noise she was making crashing through the brush and the sound of her heart drumming in her chest, she couldn’t tell if the man was still behind her.
She was probably overreacting. The man was most likely just another jogger out for a run, wondering why the weird lady had jumped into the woods.
But a voice inside her head screamed that that wasn’t it at all.
She raced through the shadows, branches scraping against her arms and snagging her leggings. Darkness still clung to the dense woods, making her hasty decision seem ever more perilous.
She ran until her lungs threatened to burst, then crouched behind the thick trunk of a tree. She forced herself to listen past her own breathing for sounds that someone else was close.
She didn’t hear anything she wouldn’t have expected to hear in a thicket, but it was little comfort. If she stayed here and someone really was after her, had she just made it easier for them by darting into the trees? She had even less of a chance now of running into other people.
She couldn’t stay cowering behind here forever. She pushed to her feet and plowed forward.
It seemed like it took forever, but finally, she saw the glow of streetlights.
Bria burst through trees, falling onto a walking path in front of a middle-aged man in a suit and carrying a briefcase. He started, freezing for a moment with wide eyes. She could only imagine what she looked like to him.
After a second, he rushed forward, concern plastered over his face for the wild woman who had literally just fallen at his feet. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to recognize her. The last thing she needed was to have photos of herself online, leaves clinging to her leggings and twigs sticking out of her hair.
Bria assured the man that she was okay and didn’t need an ambulance or the police.
He started away slowly, shooting a glance over his shoulder at her.
She attempted to smile, reassuringly only, but her eyes darted back into the darkness of the trees she’d just burst out of. She couldn’t be sure, but it seemed as if the shadows shifted, taking the shape of a head and shoulders.
A car horn honked in the distance, tearing her gaze away from the trees for a moment. When she turned back, there was nothing to see but a solid wall of darkness.
Chapter Two
“I want to hire West Investigations, specifically Xavier Nichols, to provide for my personal protection while I’m here in New York.” Brianna Baker sat on the other side of the conference room table at West Security and Investigations headquarters, the hem of her perfectly tailored skirt riding up high enough to reveal a silky smooth, caramel-colored thigh, sufficient to make a man’s thoughts wander but not high enough to be tasteless.
Ryan West kept his gaze firmly fixed on her face. Not only was he a happily married husband and father, Ms. Baker was a potential high-profile client.
A potential high-profile client who was apparently familiar with Xavier Nichols, one of West Security and Investigations’ best personal-protection operatives. A situation which was, in a word, interesting.
“May I ask who referred you to Xavier?” Ryan asked, not bothering to hide the note of curiosity in his voice.
Ms. Baker hesitated. “Let’s just say his reputation precedes him.”
It was all he could do to keep himself from laughing in her pretty face at that. If anything Xavier’s reputation should have her running for the hills. He was good at what he did, protecting high-priority targets, but he had the people skills of a surly porcupine and communicated mostly in grunts and glances dark enough to turn lesser men to ash.
There was more to multi-award-winning actress Brianna Baker’s story, a lot more if Ryan was reading her correctly. And his was a business that required him to be able to read people correctly. “Unfortunately, Xavier has just been placed on a new assignment. But, as I’m sure you are aware, West Investigations is the best in the business. I’m confident that another protection specialist can meet your needs.”
“I’m sorry, but that won’t work for me.” She uncrossed her legs and reached for her handbag. “If Mr. Nichols isn’t available, I’ll have to find another way to solve my problem.”
“One moment, please, Ms. Baker.” Ryan held up a hand stopping her before she headed for the door.
She flashed a smile. “Please, call me Bria.”
“Bria,” he said with a nod. “Xavier happens to be in the office today. Why don’t I call him in here and you can explain why you want to hire West Security and Investigations, and Xavier, specifically, to both of us.”
She nodded, relief coursing across the delicate features of her face. “Yes, I think that would be a great place to start. Thank you, Mr. West.”
“Ryan, please.” He reached into his suit pocket for his phone, noticing as he did that some of the tension that she had been holding in her shoulders had faded away.
Brianna Baker was scared. And whatever it was she was afraid of, she believed Xavier was the man who could help her.
* * *
BRIA’S ALREADY RACING heart began to thunder once Ryan West declared that Xavier was on his way into the conference room. She was an actress, an award-winning actress no less, but right now, she couldn’t find it in her to act as if seeing Xavier for the first time in fifteen years wasn’t threatening to completely undo her.
She channeled her character from Loss of Days, Elizabeth Stewart, the matriarch of a rich, high-powered family. Elizabeth was always in control. She never let anyone close enough to read her thoughts or pick up on her emotions.
Be Elizabeth.
Bria took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as they waited for Xavier. She realized that Ryan West was studying her. She got the feeling he didn’t miss much. That, she was sure, was what made him so good at his job.
She hadn’t come to West Security and Investigations just because Xavier worked there, but if she was being honest, she would have at least checked out any private security firm he’d been employed by. Luckily, West was actually one of the best in the country. That was great because she needed the best.
Her stalker had gotten past every security measure she and her people had implemented to date, and if he really had been chasing her on her jog through Central Park earlier that morning that meant he’d followed her across the country as well. She was terrified of what he would do next.
So terrified that she was doing something she’d never thought she’d do. Turning to the man whose heart she’d broken and begging for his help.
Well, maybe not begging, but certainly asking for his help, which required her to swallow a heaping dose of humble pie. But it was worth it if West Investigations found her stalker and stopped the campaign of harassment he’d been on for the past six months.
And if she and Xavier rekindled something in the meantime...
No. Absolutely not. She wasn’t there to rekindle anything. Despite the doubt that had crossed Ryan West’s face, Xavier’s reputation as a personal security specialist, a fancy name for bodyguard, was sterling. She wasn’t embarrassed to admit she’d kept tabs on him over the years. He wasn’t the kind of guy who had a social media presence, at least not one that she’d been able to find, and she’d deny it to anyone who asked, but she’d tried on more than one occasion.
But she knew he’d gone into the military after she’d broken up with him, become a decorated soldier in the army, then stepped into the private sector working as private security at West Investigations. He’d provided New York-area event security for several actors and actresses she knew. It had been easy to wheedle information about him from there. Actors were notorious for gossiping. And the actresses she knew that he’d worked for previously were more than happy to dish on the tall, dark and handsome bodyguard, even if he was more than a little surly. The surliness only made him sexier.
To that she could attest firsthand.
The conference room door opened behind her and she felt her entire body tense.
Ryan West stood, but Bria remained seated. She wasn’t sure she could stand if she’d tried. Her back was to the door, but she could feel Xavier behind her. It had been like that since the first moment they met. Like they were on a special frequency, just the two of them. Whenever they were in proximity of each other, the air pulsated.
Xavier had yet to speak.
“Xavier Nichols, I’d like you to meet Brianna Baker.”
Bria turned the chair and stood, facing her first love, hell, the only man she’d ever been in love with, for the first time in fifteen years.
Fear, excitement and desire raced through her.
He’d changed over the years. He’d always been tall and lean, but now he filled out the dark jeans and long-sleeved gray T-shirt he wore. His shoulders were broad, his arms more muscled. His hair was still cut short, but the touch of gray just beginning to crop up around his temples gave him a slightly distinguished air. But the eyes, they were the same. Dark brown, just like his skin, that looked at her as if they could see straight into her soul. Eyes she used to love getting lost in.
Eyes that were gazing back at her now with open surprise and something else she couldn’t put a name to.
“Bria.” The sound of her name in his dark baritone swept over her like a warm ocean breeze at sunset.
She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering the last time he’d said her name like that. They’d been wrapped around each other in a dump of a rental house they’d gotten with a couple of friends in Atlantic City.
“Brianna.” He said her full name this time and she opened her eyes, plunged back into reality. “What...what are you doing here?”
“Xavier, I need your help.”
Chapter Three
Xavier stared at the vision in front of him. It took a lot to surprise him. He was a Bronx native, an ’80s child who’d bounced from relative to relative and had seen his fair share of messed-up crap while doing it. And then he’d enlisted in the army, which had resulted in a whole new visage of nightmarish events.
