His Reluctant Bodyguard (2 page)

"I suppose you're staying in the bedroom," Williams called out, his tone unmistakably sour.

"Damn straight!" Rip answered,
then
he shut the door and turned on the shower.

The hot, pulsating water soothed his badly rattled nerves and calmed his swirling thoughts. Maybe he would get some restful sleep after all. Within ten minutes, drowsiness overcame him and he stumbled out and dried off. He donned the plush terry robe hanging on the back of the door, and brushed his teeth with his brand new toothbrush before, wobbling with exhaustion, he made it just far enough into the bedroom to collapse on the king-sized bed.

Voices from the next room awakened Rip from a deep, dreamless sleep. He opened his eyes to bright sunlight streaming through the partially open drapes over the sliding door that opened to a private outdoor verandah. Bright
azure ocean
sparkled on the horizon.

Scrubbing his hand over his face, Rip crawled out of bed and stuck his head out the door into the main room. A short, wiry man in a crisp blue uniform was speaking to Agent Williams, who slouched across the sofa.

"Please sir, you must allow me to call the doctor," the small man said with a distinct Indian accent.

As he watched the man scurry over to a desk and pick up a telephone, Rip caught the enticing smell of freshly brewed coffee. Like a hound on the scent, he emerged from the bedroom and headed for a cart near the door.

"What's up?" he asked Williams, who had apparently slept on the couch in his clothes.

"My fucking ankle," Williams groused. "I really screwed it up last night."

Rip poured himself a cup of steaming dark brew from the hot pot on the cart and added a splash of cream from the pitcher on the bottom shelf. Several covered dishes crowded the top of the cart, and Rip's stomach growled at just the thought of breakfast.

Williams craned his head around but didn't try to get up. "Hey, pour me a cup of that, will
ya
?"

"Please sir, allow me!" The small man hung up the phone and rushed over to take the container from Rip's hand. "This is my job. I am your butler,
Nadeesh
." He motioned for Rip to take a seat at the dining table, and addressed Williams. "Please sir, the doctor will be here directly to see to your ankle." Then he turned back to Rip. "Please sir, would you care for hot or cold cereal?
Fruit?
Toast or a breakfast pastry?"

"I'll take one of everything," Rip replied and sat down to keep out of
Nadeesh's
way.

He'd finished his oatmeal with raisins and started on a plate of sliced melons when the doctor arrived. Curiosity got the better of him, and he ambled over to stand behind Williams as the doctor did his exam.

It wasn't pretty.

In spite of Williams' ankle being blue and purple and swollen to twice its size, the doctor pronounced it
a sprang
, not a break. Over the agent's protests, he said to ice it, elevate it, and stay off it for at least seventy-two hours. Then he promised to be back with an elastic bandage and pain meds, and left before Williams could voice any more objections.

While Williams muttered a few obscenities, Rip went back to the table and spread marmalade on his toast. "Hey, at least you can watch TV."
   

"I need to be watching you," Williams grumbled, taking a bowl of cereal from the butler.

"I'm a big boy," Rip countered. "I can watch myself."

"Listen Mister
-- "
Williams stopped short and scowled at
Nadeesh
, who promptly disappeared into the master bedroom, clicking the door shut behind himself. The agent set his bowl on the coffee table before he addressed Rip again. "Someone wants your ass dead,
Pollendene
. The agency wants you alive, and they assigned me to keep you that way."

Rip got to his feet and moved so that he was face to face with his surly companion. "Now you listen to me. If you think I'm
gonna
sit here playing nursemaid to you for three days, you can think again. I've never been on a cruise before, and I intend to enjoy it."

Williams did not take Rip's announcement well. His face puckered like an angry bulldog. "If I have to call security to put you in shackles, so help me I will."

"Give me a break, Agent Williams." Thinking fast, Rip switched his tone and tactics. "My whole life just got tossed in the crapper. Nobody on this ship knows me or you. There's nothing to worry about. I just want to go to the gym and maybe the pool." Seeing the other man's expression shift, Rip added, "I'll even have
Nadeesh
follow me around to make sure I don't get in any trouble."

"Having a crewman stay with you might not be a bad idea," Williams conceded with a sigh. "But I'm not sure our butler is the best choice for a bodyguard."

Rip tried to tamp down his triumph a notch while inwardly doing a fist pump. "Let's call the guy who brought us on board last night and ask him."

But when Rip went to the phone,
Nadeesh
reappeared and insisted on making the call. "Please
sir,
this is my job to get whatever you need."

With a shrug, Rip handed him the phone and the butler dug into his pocket and gave him two plastic key cards. "Here are your sea pass cards, sir."

Rip couldn't help but snort when he read the names on them -- John Smith and James Brown. As he ambled back to the table to finish his toast, he flipped one of the cards in Williams' direction. "Here, you can go chasing after
Pocahantas
. I'll be the godfather of soul."

A short while later, the doctor returned to wrap Williams' ankle, and he brought a list of Valiant crew members who could serve as Rip's escort around the ship.
Once more gazing over William's shoulder, Rip scanned the list of a dozen names and almost choked on his orange juice.
Looked like he'd been dead wrong about nobody on the ship knowing him.

"What?" Williams demanded. "You recognize a name?"

Did
he
ever! With a shaky finger, Rip pointed at a name halfway down the list.
"Her, Avery Knox.
I want her as my bodyguard."

***

"Woo
hoo
! Avery!"

At the sound of her name being screeched out in an all-too-familiar nasally twang, a muscle in Avery Knox's tightly clenched jaw jerked involuntarily.

Ginger Judd was without a doubt
the
most annoying person on the face of the earth. Never mind that they'd only met three days ago, Avery was positive no one else could possibly be more aggravating. The woman had no sense of rhythm, couldn't carry a tune, and needed a "wide load" sign on her butt. Just Avery's luck, she was stuck sharing both a job and a cabin with the red-haired hag.

"There you are!" Ginger exclaimed, rushing over. "Chief Officer Gustafson is looking for you. He wants you to report to his office right away."

"Now?"
Avery replied, suspicious of anything Ginger had to say. "I'm teaching this
zumba
class in ten minutes."

"He said right away, and he is second in command to Captain Warren," the other woman countered, like Avery needed to be reminded of Gustafson's position. "I can cover for you here."

Casting a skeptical glance at Ginger's rear, which couldn't have possibly done anything related to
zumba
, Avery shrugged.
"Fine."

Whatever Gustafson wanted, she preferred his company over Ginger Judd's any day.

Five minutes later, Avery negotiated her way through the lowest deck of the ship. The area, which was occupied by crewmembers only, was strictly utilitarian in sharp contrast to the luxurious decor on the decks used by passengers. Through the partially open door of his tiny square office, she could see the Chief Officer's gray-blond head bent over his Blackberry.

She rapped on the door frame. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

He peered at her over the top of his bi-
focals
. "Miss Knox? Yes, please sit down. I need to discuss an assignment with you."

Gustafson rose when she entered, and as she slid into the metal side chair, he closed the office door. Prickles of anticipation skated from the back of Avery's neck, across her shoulders and down her arms, a warning that she probably wasn't going to like what he was about to say.

"I'm sorry your transition to Valiant has been less than smooth, Miss Knox."

What a diplomatic way to refer to a hot mess. She hadn't transferred to Valiant to be a co-cruise director with anyone, and certainly not Ginger Judd. But Avery kept her tone matter-of-fact. "I've been assured by the head of human resources, Ms. Bettina Lemons that the situation will be thoroughly resolved when we return to Miami next week."

Actually, what she'd told the extremely supercilious Ms. Lemons was that if the situation wasn't resolved when they got back to Miami, she would camp in her office until it was. But Gustafson didn't need to know those gory details, at least not at the moment.

The Chief Officer removed his glasses and studied her for a moment before he continued. "As it turns out, we are fortunate you are available for this special assignment."

The tingling in Avery's neck and arms increased several degrees. "What kind of assignment?"

Gustafson cleared his throat as if he were carefully considering his words. "We have a couple of unusual passengers with us for a few days. One of them has become temporarily incapacitated and the other requires someone to accompany him around the ship."

Some rich old geezer who needed somebody to push his wheelchair and otherwise
babysit
him? That was the last thing Avery wanted to be stuck doing.

"With all due respect, sir," she said, testiness slipping into her voice. "I only boarded Valiant three days ago. Miss Judd or several other members of the cruise director's staff would be better suited to serve as an escort."

"Not under these circumstances," Gustafson replied, his pale eyes suddenly delving into her. "This particular assignment requires the utmost discretion. Besides, our guest asked specifically for you."

Chapter 2

Rip wondered how much Avery had changed in the ten years since they'd last seen each other. More than once, he'd thought about getting in touch with her, but he never had.
 

He went into the bedroom and dressed in his slacks, shirt, and dress shoes, but his mind continued to focus on her. Okay, he could admit to himself, at first his pride wouldn't let him contact her. She'd turned him down flat when he tried to take their friendship to the next level.
All because he'd been dating Emily Brooks, her sorority sister.
Or so she claimed. She'd said it was a matter of
honor,
an Alpha Delta Pi did not hit on another sister's boyfriend. But her rejection had stung all the same. Then after his failed attempt to make it in the NFL, he'd been busy licking his wounds and building a business out in LA.

Too busy to think about what might have been.

Full of nervous energy over the impending reunion, he went out on the private verandah and looked at the surrounding sea. How ironic that the twisted bitch Fate had managed to throw his life into turmoil and toss 'the girl who got away' into his path for good measure.

Once Williams got over the initial shock of Rip knowing someone on the ship, he was easily swayed into going along. Better to let Avery in on their little secret than risk Rip running into her in a public area of the ship and having her blurt out his identity.

If she even recognized him.

If she didn't, he knew it wouldn't be because he'd changed that much. Honestly, he hadn't. He’d kept his head shaved even back then, and he was actually fifteen pounds lighter than he’d been his senior year.
 
But as he paced restlessly around the deck furniture, the idea hit Rip that perhaps he simply hadn't been important enough for Avery to remember.

Ouch! Talk about an ego buster.

But he had no time to consider what he would do if that turned out to be the case. The buzzer at the suite's front door went off, and
Nadeesh
rushed to answer. Taking a deep breath, Rip opened the sliding door and strode into the living room just as the tall blonde entered.

She stopped short when she saw him, and her China-blue eyes went round with what could only be surprise. "Rip? Rip
Pollendene
? As I live and breathe, it really is you!"

He tried to sound casual, but couldn't control the grin that spread across his face. "Hi Avery, long time no see."

As his eyes made a quick trip from her face to her feet, she shook her head and said in the same stunned tone, "You haven't changed a bit."

"Neither have you."
Which was a damn lie.
She looked even better than she had as a perky twenty-year-old. Back then she'd been a pretty girl. Now she was a flat-out gorgeous woman.

"Please Miss Knox," interrupted
Nadeesh
, shooing Avery further into the room. "This is Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith."

To
Rip's
surprise, Williams actually pushed himself off the couch onto his one good leg and extended his hand to her. "John Smith," he said with a meaningful lift of his eyebrows.
"Pleasure to meet you."