Chapter 7

G rey Masters walked into the lobby of the St. Laurent Hotel and glanced around. He wasn’t a man who was easily dazzled; however, he was very impressed by what he saw. He had been a special agent for the FBI for over twelve years and had spent plenty of his time in hotels, and he had to admit this was one pretty classy place, from the splendor of the atrium that overflowed with flowering plants and an abundance of greenery, to the elegance of the lobby with its custom-designed area rugs, there was something about the hotel that conveyed the sentiment that your stay here would be better than home.

And to think the place was run by a woman who was not only the head honcho in charge, but also the owner. This hotel and everything in it belonged to Brandy Bennett. According to his sister-in-law, Alexia, Brandy had received the hotel as part of her divorce settlement over two years ago and had taken on the challenge of keeping the hotel running with the same degree of success that it had achieved in the past. But someone had thrown a monkey wrench into what had been the relatively smooth sailing of her daily operations.

Someone was stalking her.

As he walked toward the registration desk he could not forget the frantic call he had received from Alexia a few nights ago. Just hearing the panic in his sister-in-law’s voice had made his muscles tense and his body brace for action. Alexia had come apart at the thought that someone was stalking her cousin, and one thing he had discovered about his brother’s wife was that it took a lot to make Alexia Bennett Masters come unglued. Even his brother Quinn would attest to that, which meant whatever was going on with Brandy Bennett was real serious. Or at least Alexia thought so.

After calming her down he had discovered Quinn was out of town on a business trip to London, so Grey had had to deal with getting Alexia to see reason and to talk her out of hopping the next plane to Florida to get to the bottom of Brandy’s problem. And she had told him that her other cousins, Rae’jean and Taye, would join her there and that the three of them would turn the hotel inside out because nobody, and she meant nobody, messed with a Bennett.

He believed her.

Grey shook his head smiling, thinking of the time when over a cold bottle of beer, Quinn had shared with him what had happened at Brandy Bennett’s wedding three years ago. At the time, Grey had needed a good laugh and after listening to his brother he had definitely gotten one. According to Quinn, up to the time of the wedding, there had been no love lost between Brandy and her three cousins. But once it had been discovered that Brandy’s fiancé had screwed around on her with the maid of honor, and then had the gall to put the encounter on videotape—a tape that Brandy had found a mere two days before her wedding—the four cousins had devised a plan that set in motion the guarantee that Brandy Bennett would be financially set for life.

According to Quinn, what had gone down was classic Bennett style and had pretty much buried whatever past differences the women had had. On the day of the wedding the four Bennett cousins had united for one cause—to make damn sure that the groom knew that payback was a bitch…or in this case, bitches.

“Good morning, sir, and welcome to the St. Laurent. Do you have a reservation?”

The perky hotel clerk’s question brought Grey out of his musings and he looked into her smiling face. “No, I’m here as a guest of Ms. Bennett.”

Although the clerk’s face didn’t lose that smile, he did note the spark of interest in her eyes. “Are you a relative, sir?”

Keeping his smile in place, he responded, “A relative?”

She nodded. “Yes. The reason I asked is because usually we have a special floor of suites that are exclusively reserved for Ms. Bennett’s relatives when they come to visit.”

Grey shook his head, understanding. “No, I’m not a relative. I’m a personal friend.” Again he saw the woman’s eyes take on a speculative look. Evidently Brandy Bennett did not make it a habit to have male friends checking into her hotel as guests. If this clerk was a talker then news that the boss had a male visitor would spread around the hotel in no time, which was fine with him. If whoever had taken it upon themselves to harass Brandy Bennett was someone who worked for the hotel, the sooner that person knew that Brandy had a male friend visiting, the better. One thing that Grey detested more than anything was someone who preyed on women, so this all fit into his plans perfectly.

On the flight from Atlanta he had decided the best way to handle things was not to let anyone know that he intended to be Ms. Bennett’s bodyguard. If word got out that someone was stalking her, business at the hotel would drop drastically. So he decided to take on the role of her lover while finding out who had sent her those messages.

Of course Alexia and the cousins had their own ideas. They figured it had to be the no-good ex-husband, Lorenzo Ballentine. According to Alexia, it was common knowledge that Lorenzo was still pissed that he’d lost the hotel to Brandy during the divorce, and that Brandy had recently asked him to stay away from the hotel. Although Grey would not discount Ballentine as a prime suspect, he wouldn’t overlook anything or anyone. For some reason he had a feeling the person sending the messages was someone Brandy least suspected.

Having left the Bureau nearly three years ago, not long after his wife Gloria’s car accident, he had started Masters Investigative Services in Atlanta. However, he kept his ties to the Bureau open with the many friends he’d left behind. In his employ as investigators were four very skilled former special agents, but Grey had been the one Alexia and her cousins had specifically wanted to handle this case. They had to know for certain that Brandy Bennett’s life was safe and secure. Luckily, he had just wrapped up a case and had given the Bennett cousins his word that he would fly to Orlando and stick to Brandy Bennett like glue if he had to, making sure that whatever threat was hanging over her head was dealt with in a timely and efficient manner.

“I’ve contacted Ms. Bennett to let her know you’re here and she indicated she would be right down.”

Grey nodded. “Thanks, and it appears that the airline misplaced my luggage. When it’s found please make sure it is delivered to Ms. Bennett’s personal suite.” The truth was that he had been given special clearance to transport all the high-powered surveillance equipment that he used as part of his job, equipment that had been easily detected with a security scanner at the airport. To save time as well as red tape, he had made arrangements for his luggage to be picked up by another special agent and delivered to the hotel later. Grey had contacted the local Bureau before arriving in Orlando and someone posing as an airline employee would be delivering his bags to him within the hour.

Again, a ray of interest shone in the hotel clerk’s eyes. “Yes, sir. I’ll make sure that’s taken care of.” The woman caught a movement out of corner of her eye and her smile widened. “Oh, here’s Ms. Bennett now.”

Grey turned slightly and met the gaze of the woman crossing the lobby. Although the two of them had never officially met, he remembered her well. He doubted that he would forget the beautiful dark eyes that had collided with his that day a few weeks ago at his nieces’ and nephews’ birthday party. That was one of the reasons he had hesitated when Alexia had asked him to handle things. Brandy Bennett had been the first woman who had piqued his interest, intrigued him, since Gloria’s death. Even now his stomach knotted at the recollection. Days after that encounter he’d been unable to shake her image. She had flitted across his mind like some beautiful, fragile butterfly.

As he continued to watch her, it was easy to see she was as intelligent as she was beautiful, and by all accounts Brandy Bennett appeared to be a woman with not a worry in the world, one filled with self-assurance and confidence. Only someone with a trained eye such as his, who was skilled in reading people, could detect, even from a distance, the cautiousness, wariness, and troubled glint in her gaze.

He inhaled deeply as he struggled with all the things he was feeling. The attraction for her was still there, but he knew to get involved with any woman right now would be wrong. He was still trying to come to terms with what Gloria had done, what she had planned which had ultimately resulted in her death. He had shared it with no one, not even Quinn, the brother he was closer to than any of his other siblings. He wondered what the Masters family’s reaction would be to know that at the time of her death, his wife had betrayed him. In fact, she had been on her way to meet her lover, the man she had planned to divorce Grey for. She had spelled out everything in the letter she had left for him to find when he returned home from his assignment. He had returned less than a day after she had written it when he’d received word she had lost her life after losing control of her automobile during a thunderstorm.

His thoughts shifted back to Brandy as he continued to watch her cross the lobby toward him. At that moment he wanted more than anything to do whatever he could to bring back calmness to her world, to get rid of whatever anxiety besieged her. He fought down that urge when he remembered that one woman, the one he’d thought he could trust above all others, had betrayed him, and the last thing he wanted was to get involved with another woman any time soon. Protecting Brandy Bennett would be a job and nothing more.

He wondered if Alexia had contacted her and scoped her on the role the two of them would be playing. She had been told that he was coming, but he wasn’t sure if she knew he was going to pretend to be an ex-boyfriend. He shrugged; if she didn’t, she would soon enough. It would be important to establish what their relationship was up front and in plain view.

When she finally reached him and was about to open her mouth and address him formally, he decided to work fast. “Hi, there, sweetheart,” he murmured in a rough, low tone just seconds before he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

He captured her startled surprise in his kiss, going beyond what was reasonably necessary by sweeping his tongue inside her mouth for a quick taste. Damn but she tasted good, he thought, releasing her mouth. He inwardly groaned in relief that she caught on quickly and had the good sense to play along. He took a step back and gazed down at her. Her lips were still parted in surprise and looked warm, inviting. Now that he knew her taste, it took everything he had not to pull her back in his arms and capture her lips with his mouth again.

Remember, Masters, this is nothing more than a job.

He sighed deeply, wondering why, if that was the case, the effects of the kiss were sending hot vibrations along his nerve endings. And he could tell, even though the kiss had been rather short in his estimation, that Brandy Bennett had been affected by the contact as well. He also knew she was trying to downplay that fact.

“Grey, it’s good seeing you again, too. How was your trip?” she asked in a somewhat shaky voice.

“It was fine, but somehow they lost my luggage. I’ve requested for it to be brought up to your suite when the airline delivers it here.” If she was stunned and confused at his insinuation that he would be sharing her suite, she didn’t show it. But he had a feeling she would have a lot to say when they were alone.

“All right, come up and let me get you settled.”

He immediately fell in step beside her as they walked across the lobby to the elevators. “This is a private elevator,” she said of the third one in the group of six. “It will take you to the administrative offices as well as to the fourteenth floor where my suite is located. However, to get to my floor you need to know the special code.”

He nodded and as soon as the elevator door opened, they both stepped inside. Once the door closed behind them she quickly turned on him, no doubt to give him hell if the frown that had suddenly marred her brow was any indication. But he quickly placed a hand to her lips and mouthed the words, “This elevator may be bugged.”

That got her attention. He watched as her shoulders tensed and she looked intently at him to make sure that she had deciphered his silent message correctly. He nodded. She then took a deep breath and turned to insert her passkey into the panel box. The two of them remained silent the entire time the elevator made its way to the fourteenth floor.

Once they arrived on her floor, Grey noted that Brandy took her cue from him and remained silent as they walked down the hall to her suite. Even when they entered her suite she stood back as he looked around before gathering her hand in his and saying rather loudly, “I need a shower, baby. Come take one with me.”

She didn’t hesitate when he motioned for her to lead him toward the bathroom. Once inside she watched as he closed the door behind them and quickly walked over to the shower and turned it on full blast.

He then turned back to her. “All right, we can talk now but we still need to keep our voices lowered. The water will drown out our voices. If your suite is bugged, no one will be able to make out what we’re about to discuss.”

Brandy lifted a brow. “Honestly, Mr. Masters, do you really think someone would go so far as to bug my suite?” she whispered. “We’re talking about a stalker and not a spy from another hotel wanting trade secrets. I’ve already told my cousins who is behind this. My ex-husband, Lorenzo Ballentine, is trying to scare me away from here.”

Grey lifted his own brow. “Is that what you think?”

Brandy’s forehead bunched. “Yes, although I don’t believe he did it himself. I wouldn’t put it past him to have someone here at the hotel, someone who used to work for him when he was in charge and who still feels loyal to him, do his dirty work.”

“Are you certain of that?”

He watched her breathe in deeply. She then answered him honestly. “At the moment I’m not certain of anything.”

Grey smiled, knowing it was probably hard for her to admit that. “And that’s why I’m here as a favor to Alexia. I promised her I would get to the bottom of this and I will. However, until I do we can’t assume anything. As soon as my luggage arrives, I’ll be able to check out your apartment from top to bottom and make sure there aren’t any surveillance devices in here anywhere. Whoever came inside your apartment had plenty of opportunity to leave something behind. Once I feel sure that no one is listening to anything we say then we can talk freely and you can tell me everything.”

“But why would anyone be listening? Even if it’s not Lorenzo, why would a stalker want to listen in on my conversations?”

“If this person is obsessed, he would do just about anything to find out about your comings and goings, so don’t think a stalker wouldn’t bug this place or put in some type of surveillance camera to watch your every move. I’ve known cases where it has happened and I won’t be comfortable until I know for certain this isn’t one of those times.”

Brandy nodded. She really thought he was taking things a little bit too far, but then he’d been an FBI agent and certainly knew more about this sort of stuff than she did. She met his gaze. “What about that kiss downstairs? Why did you give my employees the impression that you’re staying here with me instead of in the guest rooms reserved for family members?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. He had no intention of letting Brandy Bennett be difficult. “Because I will.You need a bodyguard until this matter is cleared up, Ms. Bennett, and unless you want your entire staff to know what’s going on then I suggest we do things my way. If word gets out that you have a bodyguard, then business at this hotel will drop drastically. Bad news travels fast and people have a tendency not to want to stay where there might be trouble.”

Brandy knew what he said was true. “But why couldn’t you have said that you were a family member and used one of the suites on another floor?”

“Mainly because I promised Alexia and your other cousins that I would watch you like a hawk. And the only way I can do that is to be close to you at all times.”

Brandy lifted a brow. “At all times?”

“Within reason. It shouldn’t take me more than a week or so to find out who’s behind this.”

“You’re that good?”

“I’d like to think so. The plan is for you to introduce me to everyone as a former boyfriend who’s trying to make a comeback. They will readily accept the idea of the two of us getting cozy and sharing your suite for a while.”

“And then?”

“And once I finish my job I will be out of your hair and you can run things, business as usual.”

Brandy nodded. She hoped things would be that simple. She didn’t like the thought that someone was trying to scare the wits out of her. “All right. I’ll go along with your plan, but we have to decide on sleeping arrangements.”

“The sofa will be fine. However we need to make sure that your housekeeper doesn’t find out that we aren’t sharing a bed. Until we determine what’s going on, we can’t trust anyone.”

Brandy nodded. More than anything she wanted this nightmare to be over.

A couple of hours later, after his luggage had arrived, Grey tried not to look over his shoulder as Brandy, right on his heel, followed him from room to room as he used a device to detect if there was any type of surveillance equipment in her suite. The scent of her, sultry and feminine, was driving him crazy and he tried to concentrate on what he was doing and not on her. And he had been doing a pretty good job of it until he had walked into her bedroom. The large, spacious room was decorated in burgundy and mauve and the furnishings were a whitewashed oak. A king-size bed that was covered in a floral spread sat in the middle of the floor. He tried to erase from his mind thoughts of her, half naked and asleep in that big bed. The mental image was so real he had to swallow a couple of times when his breath literally got caught in his throat.

“Do you actually think something is in here?”

She had whispered the words. Her voice, soft and warm, was close to his ear as he leaned down to look under the bed. He hunched his shoulders to let her know at the moment he didn’t know what to think. In fact he was doing a piss-poor job of thinking at all.

A few minutes later he was satisfied that there were no listening devices, and no hidden cameras. He leaned against her dresser. “We can talk now. You’re clean.”

Brandy sighed deeply. “Thank goodness for that.”

Grey stared at her for a moment before asking. “Are you ready to tell me everything now?”

“Yes.” Her voice was nervous.

“Then I suggest we go into your kitchen, have a cup of coffee and talk.” He took her hand and led her out of the bedroom.

Grey looked down at the notes he’d taken while talking to Brandy. He had asked her a series of questions after she had told him about the first note she had found in her office and the second note that had been left in her suite.

“Do you know the name of the florist shop that delivered the rose?” he asked going back up to the first notation he’d made.

“Yes. It came from the florist shop here in the hotel. I didn’t ask any questions because I didn’t want to raise anyone suspicions about anything.”

Grey nodded. So far on the list he had the name of her security person, Perry Hall, as well as anyone else who’d had access to the administrative floor, which included all of her staff managers, including Horace Thurgood, who had resigned when she’d taken over.

He added her secretary’s name along with that of her housekeeper, although Brandy hadn’t wanted him to do so. The signature of “The Man” hinted that the writer was a male, but Grey wasn’t discounting anything.

“What about your other employees?”

“We employ a great number of people to take care of our guests’ needs: people who answer the phones, take reservations, clean the rooms, check in the guests, cook and serve the food, as well as the maintenance guys who perform a number of duties including repairing the air conditioners. So as you can see this is a huge range of people, from manual workers to skilled professionals.”

She took a sip of her coffee. “And the number of people we employ varies at different times, depending on our needs. During the busy season we have very high occupancies and as a result we need more people working for us.”

Grey lifted a brow. “So you have high staff fluctuations?”

“Yes. Because of the number of colleges in town as well as those located in Daytona and Melbourne, we utilize a lot of students in various jobs whenever we can. Most of them work part time. We also hire a lot of minorities and immigrants.”

“And you take the time to do background checks on everyone?”

Brandy frowned. “Yes, of course. Our human resource department does a good job of screening our applicants to make sure we hire good employees, employees who can be trusted with our guests’ needs and their possessions. However, since some of the jobs, although important, require very little skill, the pay is low. And just like most other hotels, we have a relatively high turnover rate.”

Grey paused as he wrote all the information down and paid close attention to the names of her employees. He then glanced back up at her. “Now I want the names of any friends you have, males or females, as well as any boyfriends, past or present.”

Brandy’s frown deepened. “Is all this necessary, Mr. Masters?”

“Yes, and it would make things easier if you get used to calling me Grey and I’ll start calling you Brandy, all right?”

Brandy nodded, frustrated. “That’s fine.” She inhaled gently as she thought of the information he’d just requested of her. “My two closest friends are Carla Osborne and Amber Stuart. I’ve told them about the notes. I was so upset I had to tell somebody so I mentioned it to them while we were at dinner the other night.”

He nodded. “Give me some info about them so I can have them checked out.”

Brandy sighed. “There’s no reason to suspect them.”

Grey gave her a frown of his own. “Until we find out who’s behind this, we will suspect everyone.”

Brandy angrily stood and walked over to the sink and poured out her coffee. She turned back around and met Grey’s gaze. “I trust them, Grey, and I will continue to trust them. Carla, Amber, and I have a special bond. The three of us have been bitten, and very badly I might add, by dogs.”

Grey lifted a confused brow. “Bitten by dogs?”

“Yes, dogs of the most voracious and most heartless kind: the human male.”

For the longest time Grey didn’t say anything as he looked at her. However, he was tempted to tell her that being bitten could work both ways. His wife had definitely taken a huge chunk out of him.

“Besides,” Brandy was saying, “I told them that you were coming when I spoke with them last night, and that you would be acting as my bodyguard.”

Grey shook his head, wondering why women felt compelled to tell each other everything. “That’s all well and good that the three of you are in some kind of sisterhood club and freely share secrets,” he said curtly. “However, I’m going to have them checked out regardless, and since you trust them so much there shouldn’t be anything for you to worry about.” Grey glanced back down to the paper and penciled in a notation. “Now what about boyfriends?” he asked.

“I don’t have one.”

Grey lifted his gaze from his paper. “Are you saying there hasn’t been another man in your life since your divorce?”

“None that mattered.”

“Let me be the judge of that. A scorned or jealous lover can cause a lot of problems.”

Brandy came back to the table and sat down. She then told Grey about her brief affair with Grant Hoffman three years ago while on the rebound, and her one-night stand over two years ago with Thomas Reynolds.

“And this Thomas Reynolds. You say that he owns the Commodore Restaurant here in town?”

“Yes, and I consider him a dear friend.” She thought of all the things Thomas had done to pave the way for her to be successful. He had introduced her to the right people and had made sure she was included in the right circles—and all out of friendship. He had never tried to come on to her again since the night she’d told him that the two of them could be nothing more than friends.

“With as many friends as you have why would anyone need enemies?” Grey said sarcastically. He wondered why after what had happened with her before—being so trusting—she hadn’t been taught a lesson. As far as he was concerned, she trusted too easily. But then, so had he at one time.

“I resent that statement, Grey.”

He met her gaze. “You can resent it all you want, but the truth of the matter is that someone is either trying to scare you or hurt you, maybe even both. So in light of that reality, I don’t have time to be convinced that all your friends and associates are trustworthy.”

He stood. “Is there anyone else, present or past, that you want to tell me that you may suspect?”

Jolene’s name flashed across Brandy’s mind. She hadn’t heard from her in almost two years. For the longest time after the fiasco at her wedding, the woman she’d considered her best friend had tried contacting her but Brandy had always refused to listen to anything she had to say. She had ranked Jolene right up there with Lorenzo—scum and trash, and the thought of either one of them always left a bad taste in her mouth.

“There’s my ex-best friend by the name of Jolene Bradford.”

“Ex-best friend.”

“Yes. We parted ways when I found out she’d been sleeping with my fiancé.”

Grey nodded. Evidently Jolene Bradford was the woman who’d found instant fame with that video Quinn had told him about. “Is this the woman who you exposed on the video at your wedding?” he asked although he already knew the answer.

Brandy raised a brow and started to ask how he knew about that, then figured Quinn must have enlightened him about everything. “Yes, she’s the one.”

He nodded. “When was the last time you saw or spoke with her?”

Brandy shrugged. “Almost two years ago. I understand her fiancé broke things off with her immediately after that.” Especially after a few of those videotapes hit the black market, she thought, still not sure how that had happened. The only thing she could figure out was that the guy who’d coordinated her wedding had discovered a way to make a buck and had duplicated the videotape. “Jolene resigned from her position as a biology professor at Howard and I heard that she took a position at another university. But I doubt Jolene is capable of being a stalker.”

“Why?”

“Stalkers spend too much time standing up. She gets more enjoyment being on her back.”

Grey cleared his throat. In a way he guessed Brandy deserved to be spiteful, considering the circumstances. The woman was supposed to have been her best friend. “Is there anyone else you want to mention?”

“No.”

Brandy tried to concentrate on the note taking Grey was doing and not on his physique. But she was having a hard time doing so. The man was too overwhelmingly male. His perfectly built body, along with everything else that was going wrong in her life, was frying her nerves.

She glanced down at the floor to take her eyes off him when she thought of something. She wanted to make sure her words didn’t get stalled in her throat. “There was this incident that happened yesterday evening.”

“And what incident was that?”

She lifted her gaze and met his as she tried to recall exactly what happened. “I worked late in my office last night and when I was getting on the elevator to leave, I noticed Wilbur Green was still in his office working.”

Grey picked up the notepad off the table and scanned the list. “Wilbur Green? He’s your food and beverage director, right?”

“Yes. And whomever he was talking to had him highly upset. That wouldn’t be suspicious in itself other than the fact that Wilbur seldom stays late at work unless there’s a big function going on and he is usually a very cool and calm man. I just thought it was strange that he was still there, and I don’t think he knew I was in my office since the door was closed. I only heard bits and pieces of his conversation but he kept saying something about the person not getting another penny out of him. It made me think perhaps he was being blackmailed or something.”

Brandy crossed her arms over her chest. She didn’t like being leery and suspicious of her employees, employees she was just beginning to trust when she’d begun receiving the notes. “And then later that same night when I was walking down one of the vacant halls making sure things were running smoothly, I thought I heard someone following me.”

“Did you see anyone?”

“No, at least not at first. But then later I ran into one of the bellmen who’d just come from delivering luggage to a guest room. I think I scared him as much as he scared me. But I’m not sure he was the person I’d actually heard.”

“Do you have this bellman’s name?”

“No, but I know he’s one of our college students who only work part-time. I’ve seen him around several times and noticed that he’s a hard worker.”

Grey nodded. “Have any idea which college he attends?”

Brandy had to think for a minute. Then she said. “I believe the University of Central Florida. We had a masquerade party last October for Halloween and he came pretty well made up, dressed in a vampire costume. I recall someone saying he was a makeup artist in UCF’s movie and production program.”

“Have you fired anyone lately?”

Brandy told him about the two employees who’d worked in housekeeping that had been terminated for taking some of the guests’ belongings.

Grey sighed and jotted more notations on his pad. “I think everything you’ve told me is worth checking out, some things more than others. And as for the way we intend to present our relationship to everyone, I suggest we do just as I planned. As far as anyone is concerned, except your two friends Carla and Amber since you’ve told them too much already, I am your ex-lover looking for a comeback. I will become your shadow and when the investigation is over and I leave, you can claim that things didn’t work out for us because I was too dom ineering, jealous, and possessive and you couldn’t handle that sort of relationship with me any longer. That should be simple enough.” Brandy breathed in deeply. She had a gut feeling that nothing about her association with Grey Masters would be simple.