Chapter 9
The emergency Ronan had to deal with had to do with the preparations for Damian Leon’s birthday party. He was, after all, Damian’s personal assistant, and the person in charge of the event.
He and Emma entered Damian’s backyard, where dozens of workers were setting up tables and decorations. They were immediately greeted by one of the crew rushing over to them and saying, “Thank God, you’re here!”
“What’s wrong?” Ronan asked her.
“It’s the caterer,” the woman said. “He was organizing the kitchen and one of his people—” She blew out a breath and shook her head. “You just need to see.”
“Wait here,” Ronan said to Emma. “I shouldn’t be long.”
He and the woman headed into the house.
Emma had been to Damian’s place a few times in the past, when Ronan needed to drop something off or have a quick word with his boss, but this was the first time she’d set foot in the movie star’s backyard.
It was larger than most of the parks she’d played in as a kid and was covered in lush green grass. Off to the right, the grass stopped at a stone terrace that was mostly blocked from view by a row of hedges.
Several workers were setting up round high-topped tables in the grass area, while others were putting stools at the ones already in place.
Longer rectangular tables had been placed on the concrete patio near the sliding doors into the house, with white tablecloths already covering them. Given Palm Springs low humidity, the prep team did not have to worry about the tablecloths getting dewy overnight.
A trio of people were moving stacks of plates onto the rectangle tables. One of them paused when Emma glanced her way. The woman was wearing a face mask, which wasn’t unusual. Several of the workers were wearing them, but in that second of shared gazes, the woman’s eyes seemed to narrow.
Emma promptly forgot about her and walked out onto the grass to get a better look at the terrace.
As she suspected, it surrounded an Olympic-sized pool that took up much of the right side of the yard.
Ronan had mentioned Damian had a pool, so she knew it had to be somewhere.
Swimming was one of her favorite things to do; it made it impossible for anyone to talk to her.
Damian’s pool was so clear and inviting that she felt the urge to jump in.
Ronan had offered her the use of the pool whenever Damian was out of town. She’d dismissed the idea before, but now that she’d seen it, she thought she’d take him up on it next time.
She checked her watch and frowned. Ronan had been gone for more than ten minutes already. She walked back over to the patio by the doors, wondering if she should go look for him.
Someone nearby shouted, “Hey! Watch out!”
Emma turned toward the voice just as a stack of dishes rammed hard into her side. She jumped back as the plates fell to the ground and shattered. It was only then that she noticed the woman who had been holding the plates was the same face-masked woman from before.
“What the hell?” the woman said. “You can’t just stand in the way like that!”
“I’m sorry,” Emma said. “I didn’t see you.”
“No shit.”
One of the male workers rushed over.
“I’ll get a broom,” the masked woman said to him, then disappeared into the house.
The man looked around at the mess. “Dammit!”
“I’m really sorry,” Emma said. “I didn’t see her.”
“What happened?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. I was walking and suddenly she—”
“Hey!” He raised a hand to stop her. “Are you okay?”
“What? Um, I’m fine.”
“Your leg,” he said, pointing. “It’s bleeding.”
She looked down and saw blood running down her right calf. She reached toward it and immediately winced as the motion pulled at a cut a few inches below the back of her knee.
The man grabbed her arm to steady her. “Here. Sit down.” He guided her to a stack of folding chairs and opened one.
He sat her down, then dashed to a cooler and returned with a bottle of water.
“Let’s get a good look at that,” he said as he unscrewed the bottle cap.
“I’m sure it’s just a scratch,” Emma said.
“I don’t think so. I’m going to take your shoe off, okay?”
“I guess.”
He removed her shoe and then started pouring water over the wound.
“What’s going on?”
She looked up to see Ronan hurrying over.
“Just a little cut,” she said, her tone dismissive.
“Not so little,” the guy with the water said.
Ronan crouched down so he could get a better look. “That’s deep. We need to take you to the hospital.”
“I’m sure it’s not that bad,” she argued.
“You need stitches,” Ronan said, his tone firm.
“Let me see.”
She twisted her leg for a better look and winced again from the pain.
The cut was at least an inch long, and definitely not just a scratch.
She swore under her breath.
To the man who’d helped Emma, Ronan said, “I need a bandage or something to staunch the blood.”
“We have cloth napkins.”
“Get me a handful.”
“I, um, I should check with my boss.”
“I’ll pay for them,” Ronan snapped.
“Oh, then sure. Just a sec.”
The man dashed off.
“What happened?” Ronan asked, concerned.
Emma gestured toward the pile of broken plates. “Someone dropped those, and one of the shards must have nicked me.”
“This isn’t a nick.”
“It’ll be fine.”
He ignored her. “Who was it?”
Emma looked around. “I don’t see her. I think she said she was going to get a broom.”
“Why did she drop them?”
“Because she ran into me.”
The man from before returned with a handful of cloth napkins and handed them to Ronan. “Here you go.”
Ronan used the first three to wipe away as much of the blood as possible, then used two more to create a temporary bandage.
Before Emma could even protest, he slipped an arm under her legs and another behind her back, then lifted her into the air.
“What are you doing?” she said.
“Walking will just make the wound worse. Besides, this will be faster.”
She frowned, then reluctantly wrapped her arms around his neck.
Ronan glanced at the guy who’d helped them. “I want to talk to whoever caused this when I get back.”
“It was just an accident,” Emma pressed.
“Doesn’t mean I don’t want to talk to her.”
“I’ll let my boss know,” the man said.
Ronan nodded his thanks, then headed for the sliding doors into the house.
“You might want to use the side gate,” the man offered.
Ronan looked back.
The man nodded toward Emma’s leg. “She’s dripping blood.”
Ronan frowned, then reversed course and hurried out around the side of the house.
—
Ten minutes later, they were in the emergency room at Desert Regional Medical Center. Thankfully, it was a slow night, so Emma was able to be seen right away.
Her doctor was a woman who looked no older than Ronan and Emma. She cleaned out the cut, gave it a good look-over, then said, “Yep. That’s stitches worthy. About three should do it.”
“Told you,” Ronan said.
Emma rolled her eyes.
As the doctor and her nurse prepped to close the wound, Ronan’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen before accepting the call. “Ronan Davis.”
“Mr. Davis, this is Richard Brewer.” Brewer was the on-site manager for Wildflower Party Décor, the company in charge of Damian’s party. “I’m calling about the incident with the broken plates. It appears that the woman who dropped them doesn’t actually work for us.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m not sure how she did it, but she seems to have snuck into our crew.”
“How is that even possible?”
“Our crews are hired on an as-needed basis. When any of our regulars are not available, we’ll bring in new people. It’s not unusual to see new faces.”
“But shouldn’t you know?”
The man hesitated before saying, “Yes. Which is why she apparently avoided me all night and left immediately after the incident.”
“I hope you understand that this is totally unacceptable.”
“It is, and I am so very sorry.”
“This is a complete security breakdown. Mr. Leon is not going to be pleased when he hears about this.”
“I assure you, Mr. Davis, this will never happen again.”
Ronan bit back what he really wanted to say, and instead told the man, “Please make sure that’s true.”
Then he hung up.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen you so angry,” Emma said.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever been this angry,” he replied, then gave her a rundown of what Brewer had said.
Emma shrugged. “Still doesn’t mean she did it on purpose. I wonder what she was doing there in the first place?”
Ronan shrugged. “No idea. Maybe she’s just a deranged fan and wanted to—” His eyes widened. “Oh, shit. Maybe she’s hiding in the house!” He unlocked his phone again. “I need to call our security company.”
“Perhaps you could do that somewhere else,” the doctor said. She had gloves on and was ready to address Emma’s cut.
Ronan glanced at Emma.
She rolled her eyes. “I’m fine. Go make your call.”
“You’re sure?”
She stared at him.
“Okay, okay,” he said. “I won’t be long.”
He hurried off to find someplace where he wouldn’t be in the way.
—
It was another thirty minutes before Emma was fully discharged.
Ronan offered to push her to his car in a wheelchair, but she insisted on walking, which she did with a slight limp.
As they were climbing into the vehicle, Ronan received a call. He answered it via the car’s audio system. “Ronan Davis.”
“Mr. Davis, this is Chad Park at Strategic Services. I wanted to let you know that our team has completed the check of Mr. Leon’s house. No one’s there who shouldn’t be there.”
“I’m relieved to hear that,” Ronan said. “And you’ll have people stay overnight?”
“The protection team is already on-site.”
“Thank you.”
“We are happy to help. If you need anything else, please let us know.”
“Will do.”
Ronan hung up, then looked at Emma. “I promised you dinner.”
“I’d rather just go home.”
“I knew you’d say that, which is why I ordered sushi. We’re picking it up on the way.”
Emma looked at him, surprised, though she probably shouldn’t have been. The fact that he’d ordered her favorite food after what happened to her was a very Ronan thing to do. He always seemed to know exactly what she needed.
“Unless you’d rather not eat,” he said.
“No. Sushi’s perfect.” She paused, then added, “Thank you.”
He smiled. “It’s what friends do.”