The Rent-A-Groom Read Free Page A

Gina! Stop!” Diane exclaimed in her ear. “You mean this man is there now? Right now?”
     
    Her friend’s voice sounded strange. Gina thought it was probably from shock at the idea of her going along with such a deal. “You’ve got it.”
     
    “Get out!” Diane cried. “Get out of the suite now!”
     
    “But Diane—”
     
    “Listen to me,” her friend interrupted in terse command. “I didn’t send this man, didn’t send anybody. I never called this Rent-A-Gent place. You’ve got to get out of there.”
     
    “But the guy must know you,” Gina protested. “There’s no other way he could have learned so much.”
     
    “I’ve never heard of him, I swear it. It’s some kind of scam, or else a trick to get into your room. If you don’t get out of there right now, you’re going to wind up a statistic in the Dallas police file!”
     
    “But he has a business card with an address, phone number, everything. I’m looking at it right now. And he’s perfectly normal—except for being a cross between the angel Gabriel and a cowboy hero!”
     
    “Honey, you’re not making sense. Business cards can be faked, made up in a print shop or even on a computer. Mass murderers who prey on women have to be presentable or they’d never get to their victims. What has this guy done to you?”
     
    “Nothing!” Hearing the rising note of her own voice, Gina glanced toward the bathroom. The shower was still running. “He knew I was here in the honeymoon suite,” she said, speaking more quietly. “He knew about the canceled wedding and Bradley’s being in the same hotel. Explain that.”
     
    “I don’t know,” Diane said in an agony of apprehension. “Maybe Bradley put this escort on to you as a sick joke.”
     
    “Come on, Diane. The last thing Bradley would do is fix me up with another man.”
     
    “All right, whatever. It doesn’t make any difference. Just get out of there, will you? Don’t stop to think, don’t try to take your suitcase, and for God’s sake don’t wait for explanations. Just make a run for it. Drop everything this minute and run like hell!”
     
    In the bathroom, the shower went off. Race would be reaching for a towel to dry himself. He’d be naked. Oh, God, an unknown, naked man in her bathroom. Gina swallowed hard before she spoke quickly into her cell. “Yes, all right. I’m going. Don’t worry.”
     
    “Call me again when you’re safe.” The receiver on the other end clicked as Diane hung up.
     
    Gina’s purse lay on the cabinet of polished cherry that anchored the sitting room’s back wall. The ornate room key was beside it. She scooped up both and moved quietly toward the foyer.
     
    The knob of the bathroom door rattled then turned. As it opened a crack, Gina spun around with the blood leaving her face. The stranger could not have had time to get dressed.
     
    “Hey, I forgot to bring a razor,” Race called. “I see you have a pack of disposables. Mind if I borrow one.”
     
    “Be my guest,” she called in a strained voice. At the same time, she whipped the purse behind her back.
     
    “Thanks.” He put his head out the door to give her a quick grin. As he withdrew, the door closed once more.
     
    Gina exhaled the air trapped in her lungs. Skimming across the foyer’s marble tiles on tiptoe, she let herself out of the suite and closed the door carefully behind her. She ran for the elevator, then stood pressing the down button again and again as she waited for it to appear. Only when she was safely inside the compartment, sinking in silent efficiency toward the lower level, did she breathe more easily.
     
    She was okay. She had done the right thing. She was out of it.
     
    What now? Hotel security, that was it. She would dump this in their laps and let them deal with Race Bannister. A guard or hotel official would see that he was conducted from the premises. Afterward, she could regain possession of her suite and her belongings. That would be the