He'd always put her first.

She had to do her duty. Sign this proposal in front of a bunch of cameras. But that was it. After that, she would find Gideon. Hire a private detective if he didn't go back to the ranch.

She needed him.

ChapterEight

Something was wrong.

It was there in the tense silence of the three bodyguards escorting her to the hotel room to wait. They would convene in the conference room within the hour.

Alessandra jumped when someone slammed a door nearby.

The bodyguard on her right reached beneath his suit jacket for his weapon.

That wasn't good.

There was the room. Weren't there supposed to be two guards outside?

Prickles ran up the back of her neck. What would Gideon advise her to do?

"Call for backup," she ordered the man on her right. There'd been several new hires in the past months, and she didn't know his name.

Her heart raced. Her palms dampened.

And then the door to her suite opened.

She gasped as a tall form filled the doorway.

"Gideon." She breathed his name.

Gideon was here. He would—

He took in the three guards with one of his thundercloud frowns.

"Do you trust me?" he murmured.

There was no question. "Of course."

He didn't pull her into the room, but stepped into the hall, taking her arm and pulling her away from the suite, in the same direction they'd been walking.

"Hale!" One of the security guards wasn't happy about it.

"She'll be a sitting duck in that room. There's no other exit." He let his words encompass the entire team, who had no choice but to stay at her side when she kept walking.

They approached a corner where the hallway split into a T. Gideon held back as one of the guards moved forward to check both directions.

At the momentary pause, Alessandra reached down to remove one of her three-inch heels. She swayed as Gideon's hand came underneath her arm to steady her. She switched feet and took off the other shoe.

"Where are the guards from the hallway?" she shot the commanding question at the bodyguard to her left, François, who was the lead today, and Gideon shot her an appreciative look.

The man shook his head as she clutched her shoes in one hand, leaving the other free.

The bodyguard in front of them motioned them forward.

Alessandra's stomach twisted. Something still felt wrong—

Gideon ushered her forward. Just as they cleared the corner and turned right, a door thunked closed somewhere down the hallway they'd just come from.