Darn it, this was a stupid plan! She’d thought it would be so easy to sneak into the house while the guests were arriving, find the man’s office and sift through his papers. But she hadn’t counted on the tight security that was everywhere. There were even guards strolling around the perimeter of the house!
So she’d thought that it might be easier to sneak in while the guests were leaving. Mentally, she’d argued that security would be more lax when there weren’t so many people trying to get in. But no one was leaving! She had no idea how long these fancy parties lasted, but she refused to look at her watch again. The last time she’d looked, only five minutes had passed.
Was this really what hard-core reporters did to get a story? She felt like an idiot. A cold, uncomfortable idiot!
Rocco looked around at all the glittering guests and his irritation grew. When he caught sight of Stu, he excused himself and moved in that direction. He didn’t want to be entertaining, he wanted to find Brianna. Why this woman had gotten under his skin so quickly was a mystery, but Stu hadn’t been able to locate her at either her office or her apartment and now Rocco was worried. He’d known she was a gentle soul the night he’d held her in his arms but when she’d disappeared, he’d banished that possibility, thinking that she was just manipulating him like all the other women he’d been with. But she hadn’t contacted him. And she’d disappeared. She’d left work earlier today but hadn’t returned to her apartment. Now he wasn’t thinking she was being manipulative. He was worried about her safety.
“Have you found her?” he asked abruptly.
Stu nodded his head. “She’s here,” he told Rocco.
Rocco was startled, not sure what his head security man was saying. He looked at the room filled with people, trying to see around the glittering guests to find the woman he’d wanted for the past two days. “What do you mean? She’s here where?”
Rocco looked down at Stu and realized that the always serious man was trying not to smile. “She’s out in the barn, sir. She’s been there for the past two hours.”
Rocco blinked and shook his head. “She’s in the barn? Why the hell would she be out there? It’s freezing outside.”
Stu nodded sagely. “Remember her job, sir. She’s a reporter.”
That still didn’t make sense. “She writes about weddings and fluff things.”
Stu shrugged his big shoulders, looking up at his boss. “What if she’s trying to break out of that area? Perhaps she’s found something more interesting to report on.”
Rocco’s startled eyes looked down at Stu’s. They both knew what was at stake here.
“You don’t think she found out…”
Stu’s face looked blank. “I can’t be sure. You met her at Tombe Coeur. Perhaps it wasn’t such a coincidence.”
Rocco’s mind was already moving in the same direction. She hadn’t been trying to meet him though. So what had she been doing?
Besides, her reactions to his touch had been too honest, he reminded himself. He knew women. He knew when they were faking reactions and Brianna had not been faking anything. He’d stake his entire personal wealth on that belief.
And then the realization hit him: Brianna was here! At least on his property. He smiled, thinking of her wide, green eyes filled with confusion that night and almost laughed out loud. So the pretty woman was trying to get into more adventurous reporting, eh? He could understand challenging one’s self, trying to break into new areas of expertise. He might even admire the woman if it weren’t for the danger she’d put herself in with this newest story.
Regardless, he would enjoy having the slender beauty in his house so he could keep her away from computers and newspaper deadlines for a while. And keep her safe. She might be adventurous, but there were certain things happening over the next few days that could get someone killed if they looked in the wrong direction.
With a grin of victory, he smiled down at his head of security. “I guess she’ll just have to stay here with me while things play out.”
Stu’s eyes shined with his agreement. “Should I bring her inside?” he asked.
Rocco was already shaking his head. “When does the snow start tonight?”
“About two hours ago.”
That was news, but Rocco looked out one of the back windows. Sure enough, there was a heavy layer of snow already on the ground. Not enough to cause his guests to become worried, but enough that their trek home would be slightly more adventurous than normal.
“At this rate, the snow will be at least a foot by morning.”
“Probably more than that, sir.”
He was delighted at all the possibilities. “I’ll go out and invite our unexpected guest inside in about an hour.” He figured a little while longer out in the cold wouldn’t hurt her. “Make sure she has warm blankets though.”
“Will do,” Stu replied and turned to make sure that the woman in question didn’t leave and she had some warmth to get her through the next hour.
The party wound down quickly when the guests realized that it was snowing so heavily outside. After profuse apologies for not staying later, one by one, the guests made their way out of the house toward their cars. Rocco closed the door on the last guest about forty-five minutes after his conversation with Stu. He ignored the catering staff as they hurriedly cleaned up the dishes from the party while he made his way towards the kitchens.
“I need some hot chocolate,” he told his housekeeper.
“Right away, sir,” she said. A few minutes later, he had a thermos filled with the hot liquid and he pulled on his coat while tossing his tuxedo tie onto the back of a chair. With a smile of triumph, he walked out towards the barn.
Brianna huddled down into the soft, warm blankets. She couldn’t believe her luck when the man had come in. With the lights coming on, she’d thought she’d be discovered for sure, but when he only put out a stack of blankets on the table and then switched the light back off before heading out again, she’d breathed a sigh of relief.
She was now snuggled under the downy warmth of several blankets, feeling quite warm and content. Sleepy too, she thought. But that was to be expected since she hadn’t had much sleep in the past two nights.
Brianna pushed the memories of her night with Rocco out of her mind. That had been a colossal mistake on her part, never to be repeated again. There was no reason she needed to ever see Rocco Antoniv again except when he was brought out in handcuffs after being arrested. She smiled as the image formed in her mind and she pulled the down-filled blanket around her head more securely.