Page 14 of Mistletoe and Malice
“No apology necessary. But I’ll tell you what. Let my guys stick with you for two weeks. See what happens. These are the best I’ve got. The best in the business.”
“It’s all so unnecessary. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
Colton gestured toward her with his chin. “How?”
“Here we go,” Paul muttered from the other side of Trevor.
Ignoring his co-worker, he trudged ahead. “How do you take care of yourself?”
She crossed her arms. “I’m always careful about where I park, where I go. I carry pepper spray with me. And I can run pretty fast.”
“Let me see if I understand what happened today. You were out shopping. Meeting friends for lunch. Walking in a parking garage. Were you able to get to your pepper spray? Did you have the opportunity to run? And even if you had, what kind of shoes were you wearing? Low heel? High heel?”
“Well … no, my pepper spray was in my bag, and I was wearing boots.”
“Flat boots? High-heeled boots?”
“Three-inch heels. Which actually came in handy, if you’d check the report. It all happened pretty quickly, but I think he’ll be limping for a while.”
“And if I’d been with you, it wouldn’t have happened at all.”
One eyebrow shot up. “A little cocky, aren’t we?”
“Riley Christine,” Mr. Hudson whispered.
Paul and Trevor bowed their heads. To stifle their laughter, if he knew his colleagues.
Maybe he did sound a little arrogant, but would she rather have an insecure bodyguard?
Then again, she didn’t want one at all.
“Sorry. Couldn’t help it. Mister …”
“Blankenship,” he answered. “Colton.”
“Mr. Blankenship here seems to think an awful lot of himself.”
Trevor nodded. “He is a little cocky.” He nudged Paul with his elbow. “Wouldn’t you say, Jamison?”
“I’ll plead the Fifth on that,” Paul answered.
When the corners of her mouth twitched upward, Colton had to school his features to cover his own amusement. As he’d ascertained two years ago, this girl had spunk and probably wouldn’t take kindly to the suspicion he wasn’t taking her seriously.
“I just know my job, Miss Hudson. And I do it well.”
Trevor jerked a thumb toward him. “That’s true too.”
She looked back at Mack. “Two weeks?”
“One month,” her father countered.
Colton met her head-on when those emerald eyes pinned him again. He’d stared down his share of hostiles over the fourteen years he’d been in security work. He wasn’t about to back down from a petulant heiress.
She uncrossed her arms. “Two weeks and not a second longer.” She spun on her heel and headed toward the door. “Hope you guys can keep up.”
Chapter Six
With a sigh of resignation, Riley sat up in the four-poster bed in her old room and clicked on the bedside lamp. Her gaze roamed the space that was more guest room now than home. The fancy white French Provincial motif wasn’t her style, but her mother had redecorated the suite after Riley moved out four years ago.
