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“Wonderful.” Donovan pointed at Ryan. “You. Stay with her and don’t cause any more trouble.”

Ryan’s jaw flexed, but for once, he opted for silence instead of arguing his point.

Donovan crossed to the reporters and paparazzi vying for attention. A moment later, half a dozen microphones was reduced to three before he quietly made a statement to the security people surrounding Lindsey.

The woman Denver had coldcocked.

She felt terrible, but at the time, she hadn’t really had a choice. Especially when Ryan was involved.

Donovan held his hand up to one group of people and they all shut up as he spoke with another. It was an amazing sight to see. She was pretty sure her uncle could bend the wind to his will if he really put his mind to it.

Denver scanned the faces backstage as their area got a little louder and more crowded. Her neck itched and the bands of tension between her shoulder blades tightened. Was he back here waiting for her?

She hugged herself tightly—well, as tightly as she could when one of her arms was currently tethered to a gorilla.

One of the reporters broke off from the pack and made a beeline for them. The same reporter who had spotted her earlier. The woman flicked her platinum blond hair away from her face and headed right for Ryan.

Crap.

“Ryan Waters?”

Ryan’s head swiveled and he swore.

“Hello, Ryan. I’m Kim Forrester from Music Life. Could you answer a few questions?” Her huge, China-blue eyes were outlined to make them seem even wider. Another two people came up behind her, one with a large camera on his shoulder.

Another handful of people followed the reporter and Denver was shoved back a step. Suddenly it was another step and she could barely see Ryan.

“Hey. We’re supposed to stay here.”

Gorilla guard didn’t speak. He simply hauled her farther backstage.

“Did you hear me?” She pounded on his arm. “Let me go!” Her fist glanced off the superfine Italian material and her chest locked.

Too nice to be a security guard for a hotel. Too well-tailored.

“Ryan!” Her throat constricted and Ryan’s name sounded far too thin and reedy to her own ears.

She pushed at the guy and dug in her heels, thankful for her sneakers. But her Chucks and one-hundred-twenty-pound self were no match for the breadth and size of him. He barely reacted to her struggle.

If he got her out of the building, she was as good as dead.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“I don’t have any comment.” Ryan craned his neck to keep Denver in view, but Kim Forrester kept getting up in his grill. She was a terrier crossed with a mountain lion, for God’s sake. The woman never let up.

“Is it true your girlfriend punched Lindsey York to get onstage to give you your award?”

Ryan gritted his teeth, but he didn’t answer. He knew better. Not a damn word would pass his lips. She’d twist it and turn it against all of them.

He muscled his way out of the circle of reporters as one, then another shouted at him. Denver wasn’t there. Had he gotten pushed back farther than he’d thought?

He turned in a half-circle, but she and the gargantuan dude were not where he’d left them. His heart raced and he yelled her name.

People turned, but not a single one of them was Denver.

“No. Fuck, no,” he muttered, raking a hand through his hair. “Not again.”

At the back of the room, he caught a flash of her green dress and her struggling. “Jesus, fuck. Donovan!” He didn’t even know he could yell that loud, but the room responded.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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