2 A Christmas Wedding To Die For (13 page)

5 Star - Tiffany Kept Me Hooked. From the moment they meet it all gets very interesting and there's something to keep you on edge and interested from then on, especially right at the end.

Lips, lips pressing down on hers.  Kate's eyes fluttered open and she found herself looking into soft, brown eyes that were liquid pools of concern. Kind eyes. Without thinking her arms went up around his and she found herself responding to him. Applause burst out from the bystanders around her.

"Stop!" she cried. At least she tried to stop him but she couldn't get the words out as his mouth descended upon hers. She pushed him away opening her eyes once more. "Just, just," she struggled to say something and burst into tears...

"It's OK," her rescuer said reassuringly putting a strong arm around her. "You're going to be fine. An ambulance is on the way."

"No," she shook her head desperately. "That's the last thing I want."

"Really, it's all right," her tormenter said.

"But I don't want to be saved!"

"You're upset. That's understandable," her rescuer/tormenter said comfortingly. "You never expected to be hurt, to fall."

"Yes, yes I did," she said. "You weren't supposed to save me!"

The man frowned at her, lines creasing a smooth forehead. He looked like a grown up version of Ken come to life. Only Ken had brown hair and this guy had dirty blonde.

Oh lord, no wonder her life was such a mess. Here she was trying to kill herself and she was thinking about how her rescuer looked. She tried to stand up.

"I'm fine. You can all leave now." It might have been more convincing if her voice didn't wobble slightly. Throwing herself off Vegas's version of Venice's famous Rialto Bridge had seemed a good way to end it all. At three AM even the Venetian hotels' version of the famous bridge and square was decidedly deserted. Her actions, however, had drawn a surprising number of people out of thin air.

She looked at the assembled crowd in despair. It was a disparate group of late night revelers drawn together by tragedy averted, in this ersatz version of Venice. They wore everything from jeans and shorts to evening gowns and loads of bling. Vegas, at the best of times, was not a place that thrived on reality. And this was far from the best of times.

In fact it could safely be said to be the worst of times for her. And it was steadily getting worse. Although, how it could when you were trying to kill yourself in the first place was debatable. How pathetic that she couldn't even manage to do that properly?

The crowd shifted, murmuring amongst each other. Clearly they wanted to stay and see what unfolded. She felt tears coming to her eyes.

"Alright, the ambulance is on the way now. Everything's under control.

If you'd like to move along..."   Look alike Ken spoke calmly, a voice of authority and listening to him the crowd exchanged glances, murmured to each other and began to disperse. She supposed she should be grateful. She wasn't.

Now that she looked more closely she could see her rescuer was not just a Good Samaritan come to her rescue, he wore a security guard uniform. "Let me get you a blanket."

"You don't have to."

He pulled a blanket out from a bag of supplies that had miraculously appeared on the ground before her. "I want to."

"I guess this type of thing happens all the time?"

"Not really," he said easily.

She felt herself start to shiver even as she protested that she really didn't need a blanket, didn't need any help.

"Of course not," he said lightly. "I can see everything is going perfectly for you."

She groaned. "You don't understand. I've messed up. I, everything I've ever done."

"So"

His calm, cool acceptance infuriated her. "I just thought it would be easier to end it. To – to..." Her legs wobbled like spaghetti. She started to shake even as he put the towel around her, drew her to his chest warming her, comforting her. "It wasn't supposed to be like this. I just... " she broke down crying uncontrollably.

***

JT held her close, feeling unaccountably protective of her. Oh, not just in the line of duty protectiveness, not just bird with a broken wing protective. There was something about those big, moss-green eyes when she'd looked up at him, at the lost loneliness he saw in them. "It'll be alright," he murmured pulling her closer. "You'll see. Lots of people lose money in Vegas."

"It's not that," she protested. "I ..." once again she broke down into tears.

"The ambulance will be here any minute."

"No, no. You have to stop the ambulance," she said wildly.

"It's just a precaution," he said. "Routine."

"I can't afford it!"

"Your insurance will cover it."

"I don't have any," she said brokenly.

He shrugged. "A family member then."

She shivered. "There's no one else."

He looked at her more closely. True she was waterlogged and shivering but she didn't look like your average street person. Five foot nothing, with mahogany brown hair and feather light, even with clothes weighted down with water, she looked – like heaven to JT. Which he had to tell himself, was distinctly unprofessional. And he was a professional.

"I don't believe you," he said easily. "Besides it's nothing to worry about tonight. You'll see. In the morning everything will look better."

She looked at him doubtfully. "I suppose," she said sighing. "You must think I`m an idiot."

"Not at all," he said gallantly.

"So can you call off that ambulance?"

"Just give me a number I can call."

"Why," she said, looking up at him with the biggest moss-green eyes he`d ever seen. Momentarily he felt his heart jump in his chest and snuggled her closer.

"I need to make sure you`re OK...It`s my job."

***

"Oh."

Now what?  She`d checked out of her hotel room. Her boyfriend had already abandoned her. She had no money. She tried batting her eyes at him. "You can trust me."

He shook his head. "I need more than that sugar."

She lost it then, crying uncontrollably. "OK, OK, I don`t have anywhere to go but running up a big hospital bill isn`t going to help anything. It`s just going to make everything worse. Ohhh..."