Page 6 of Hunted Hearts
Who the hell were all these people anyway?
A young twenty-something woman who looked like a frightened mouse scuttled to the door. A lanky guy dressed in nothing but black leather took off in long strides and reached the door before the girl.
The head of security left without debriefing, which left Theo questioning how the man earned that title. A brunette in a navy business suit was right behind them. And finally, the older gentleman Theo guessed was the tour manager rocked on his heels as if prying his polished loafers off the floor before making his way to the door.
Juliette jerked her attention from her team filing out of her dressing room and took a step as if she planned to follow them.
“Not you, Juliette.”
She went still.
“I need to talk to you.”
She blinked up at him, her eyes a swirl of blue and green like the waters off the coast of Greece.
Bad things had happened in Greece. But after it was all over, he and his team took two days to bask in the sun, to sip cool drinks and swim a sea exactly the same hue as this woman’s eyes.
She took a step backward. “It’s my manager you should be talking to. I didn’t have anything to do with hiring you.”
He took in her defensive posture—narrow shoulders hunched, her fists balled in front her—and realized he was starting off on the wrong foot with her.
Irritation rolled through him. Why the hell did his brothers throwhiminto this op? He knew how to neutralize threats, not nerves. There hadn’t exactly been a course on emotional support back in BUD/S.
Seeing he needed to swap out his tactical moves for talking down the woman he was here to guard, he gave her a small nod. “I should have introduced myself first. My name’s Theo Malone, and I’m with—” He broke off as he realized he didn’t knowwhohe answered to anymore. “I’m with Black Heart Security. I was told you have a possible stalker.”
As Juliette filled her lungs with a deep breath, she tipped her head back to meet his gaze directly. “I wouldn’t call it a stalker.”
He glanced around the dressing room—mirrors, makeup and curling irons, gowns hanging on a gold rack. Finally he spotted the sofa and waved a hand toward it. “Will you sit down?”
She paused for a beat, then another, as if the woman moved to a musical score in her own head. Eventually, she drifted to the sofa and sank to the cushion in a prim pose.
Theo took the armchair across from her, one of those architectural pieces of furniture that was horribly uncomfortable. Not only that, but his legs were far too long for its size, which forced his knees up too high.
“I need to learn more about you.”
She glanced at a subtle watch on her wrist, dainty and comprised of small links of gold chain. “I don’t have much time. I need to prepare for my performance.”
“You have time for this,” he told her.
She twisted away, the tiny point of her jaw angled toward the ceiling.
He wasn’t going to get anywhere with this woman if he couldn’t figure her out first. Just as a general studied his enemy, Theo had to get to know his ward.
“Any chance you’ll cut the tour short?”
Juliette lifted her brows, more as a challenge than in annoyance. “Not a chance.”
The air hung thick with the scent of hairspray and flowers, and a hint of something earthier he couldn’t put a name to.
“This tour has been in the works for a year,” she added. “A dozen people gave up their holidays and nights and personal lives to make this happen. I’m not walking away just because a bug crawled into a bouquet.”
He blinked slowly, weighing just how far he could push her to take her safety seriously. “You’ve got a lot of shows lined up.”
“Mm-hmm.” She crossed her legs and leaned back on the velvet sofa. “I’ve got a really great publicist.”
Tilting his head, he studied her. “No offense, but I wasn’t told who I was guarding. When they told me to fly out for a VIP musician, I was only given your name. I figured it’d be a pop star or country singer.”
Juliette gave him a dry smile. “I’m a violinist. Disappointed?”
