Page 43 of Queen of Diamonds
12
“Stop it, Rand. You’re going to kill him.”
Rand tried to shake off the hand that was tugging on his arm. He had every intention of killing the son of a bitch.
“Rand! Stop. Kinsey needs help.”
Kinsey? At hearing her name, the bloodred rage that had taken over when he’d seen that hand around her throat lifted fractionally, just enough for him to see past the haze. To see her crumbled against the wall.
“Kinsey,” he whispered. He looked down at the man he straddled. His nose was bleeding and appeared broken. His right eye was beginning to swell shut. Good. He deserved every bruise and more.
“You’ll be sorry, asshole,” the man grunted past a split lip. “My father—”
“You just tried to rape a woman, and then you assaulted an FBI agent. You have the right to remain silent, so not another word out of you.” Rand swung his fist down one more time, knocking him out. He crawled over to Kinsey. “Sunshine, wake up.” He wanted to pull her onto his lap, but he was afraid to move her. There was a large bump on her head from hitting the wall, and it was possible that she’d also hurt her neck. He growled at seeing the fingerprints on her skin.
Deidre leaned over his shoulder. “Is she going to be okay?”
He put two fingers on her neck, felt a strong pulse, and breathed a sigh of relief. “For his sake, she better be.”
“I’m sorry, but you can’t come in right now.”
Rand glanced over to see Deidre blocking whoever was trying to come in.
“You can’t just hog the restroom,” a female voice said.
“Actually I can,” Deidre said, then put her back against the door and pushed it closed.
He had to get Kinsey help. “Is there a lock on the door?”
“Unfortunately, no.” She huffed a breath, stiffening her back when the woman tried to push in again.
“Hold tight if you can.” He retrieved his phone from his pocket and called his father. “I need you to come to the ladies room just outside the ballroom right now.”
“On my way.”
“Kinsey? Sweetheart, open your eyes.” He rubbed his fingers over the top of her hand, afraid to touch her anywhere else. “Thank you,” he said, glancing over at Deidre. “You had good timing.”
She shook her head. “No, I saw her leave and him follow. Then when you headed after them, I thought there might be trouble. That you might need my help.” She gave him a little shrug as if her actions were insignificant.
They weren’t, and he owed her big. If not for her stopping him, he might well have killed the man in a blackened rage, but wanting to do it and actually doing it were two entirely different things.
A knock sounded at the door. “Rand?”
“That’s my dad. Let him in.”
“What’s going on in there?” the same female voice loudly said.
“I’m wondering the same thing,” Rand’s father said after slipping into the room and pushing the door closed behind him. His gaze traveled the room, from the man out cold, to Rand, then to Rand’s bleeding knuckles, and then to Kinsey. “Who’s she?”
Rand glanced down at Kinsey, and then he lifted his eyes to his father. “Someone very important to me.”
“I see.”
That was it, no other questions from his dad. Harlan Stevens was a take-charge man, one of the strengths that had made him very successful and rich, and he gave Rand a nod full of understanding.
“Deidre,” he said, “I’m sorry if I or my son has put you in an uncomfortable situation, but I need you to stand outside the door and tell anyone who wants to come in that there is a medical emergency in here and they need to find another restroom.”
“Okay.” She put her hand on his father’s arm. “And there’s no reason to be sorry.”
