She shouldn’t have felt so relieved. But the heat in those dark eyes whenever he looked at her was hardly appropriate for a married man. Nor was the hot surge of desire she felt in return.
“Why didn’t the two of you get along?” she asked.
“Since I’m not into name-calling, you’ll have to ask her.”
He reached the rear entrance and the outside security guard pulled open the door.
“Any problems?” Ethan asked.
“Not so far.” The guard turned to Val. “Everyone’s heard the news. I’m sorry about what happened to your friend.”
Val swallowed. “Me too.” She walked into the theater, past another guard just inside the door.
The place was already buzzing as Ethan led her into a big room backstage where rows of makeup tables had been set up, each with a lighted mirror. Some theaters had a row of dressing rooms. Here, every girl was assigned a table where a makeup artist would apply her makeup and a stylist would finish her hair. The room was already half full.
Val turned to the powerful man beside her. “I’ll be okay now. Thanks again for coming to get me.”
“I’ll be waiting for you after the show.”
“Oh . . . that’s right. I don’t have my car, so I guess I’ll be needing a ride.”
Something hot moved in those dark eyes; then it was gone. “I’ll keep you safe, Val. For now that’s all you need to worry about, yes?”
She nodded, smiled. “Thanks.” Turning away, she took a deep breath and walked through the door into a completely different world from the one in which she actually lived. An exclusive world of beauty and glamour and fashion.
She thought of Delilah and the image changed to the dark reality of murder. Then she remembered that Ethan would be waiting to see her safely home.
She took a deep breath. She could do this, do the job she was being so highly paid for. Val headed for her makeup station.
Ethan spotted Dirk walking the redhead, Megan, toward the busy dressing area backstage. Like all the models, Megan O’Brien was a beautiful woman. At the same time, she seemed more approachable than some of the others, more of a high-school sweetheart than a sophisticated fashion model. Maybe that was part of what Dirk liked about her.
Dirk grinned down at her, whispered something. Meg smiled up at him, turned, and disappeared into the room.
Dirk walked toward him. “Everything okay?”
Ethan nodded. “You?”
“Meg was pretty shook up. I think she felt better after Valentine called. I gather they’re close friends.”
“Seems that way. You behave yourself?”
“Meg made it easy. She has about ten thousand guys trying to get in her pants. She’s pretty cautious when it comes to men. What about you and Miss Dimples?”
Ethan let out a slow breath. “She’s not what I thought. She’s smart, saving her money to finish vet school. She was helping Sam wash a big hairy dog when I found her.”
Dirk’s mouth edged up. “Smart, hardworking, not prissy, and sexy as hell. So I guess you’re no longer off women.”
Ethan grunted. “I’m off them till this is over. I need to keep my head on straight and so do you. We need to find this guy before he kills someone else.”
Dirk sobered. “So where do we go from here?”
“If you’ll keep an eye on things, I’ve got a couple of errands to run. I’ll be staying with Val until the tour leaves or they catch this guy, so I need my laptop and a few other things from my apartment. I need to head down to the office. I want to talk to Sadie, see if she can come up with something that might be useful.”
Sadie Gunderson was a middle-aged woman who worked part-time at BOSS, Inc. With two grown kids and a couple of grandkids, she was the most unlikely computer whiz on the planet and dynamite good at her job.
“I’ll keep an eye. You’ll be back before the show?”
Ethan’s lips curved faintly. “What? Miss all those beautiful half-naked women? I’m over thirty, but I’m not dead yet.”
