Chayton by Danielle Bourdon

did this on purpose, he'll be looking for loopholes—which won't make any difference once it's official. We can do it quick and dirty—tonight if we want to—in front of an official with the required witness. I'll have my friends spread the word and we'll go to the first function we can find that we know he'll attend.”
    Kate smoothed her hands over the apron. She'd be glad to have her own things, even if she fretted that Anton's men would somehow find out where she was, and who she was with before the marriage became official. She couldn't make up her mind about the semantics of marrying Chayton, especially given so many choices. Today, tomorrow, next week. The sooner the better, she thought, though she didn't want to rush to the point she made the wrong decisions.
    “All right. I think we should do it. We can figure out the basics today and implement everything as we go.” She glanced through the suite, realizing that she'd just done two things: secured lodging, food and security for the night, and confined herself to a private suite with a stranger she meant to marry in the near future. There was only one bed, although it was enormous. She would sleep in one of the chairs or on the floor if she had to.
    “We've got a working plan. Let's get you something to eat and I'll take care of clearing the floor to get your things. Is that a good place to start?” he asked, phone in hand.
    Kate met his eyes across the room. “It's perfect.”
     
    . . .
     
    After a light lunch, Kate accompanied Chayton along the hallway toward her suite. She glanced forward and back, half expecting to see the hulking shape of Anton's men lurch out of a room or some other niche.
    “The hotel staff closed down this floor temporarily. No one can come or go for the next twenty minutes. We'll have to hurry, because after that, they'll reopen the elevator and we'll be at the mercy of fate,” Chayton said. Walking beside her with his graceful, stalking gait, he kept an eye out regardless of his reassurances.
    “I know. I guess I've been so paranoid, so used to looking over my shoulder lately, that I can't stop.” She presented the key card the management delivered with their lunch, and handed it to Chayton. It was her suite, but she wanted him to go in first.
    “That'll probably last a while.” Taking the card with long, elegant fingers, he slid it against the reader and opened the door. He held it for her while he scanned the interior. “It's a mess.”
    Thankful for the warning, she stepped in behind him, letting the door fall closed in her wake. Kate gasped when she saw the state of the suite. The bed had been dismantled, the sheets yanked free, the coverlet strewn across the floor. Drawers to the dressers and nightstands sat on the floor at angles, pulled out and left where they lay. The pink suitcase with a custom floral print wasn't just open and ransacked, but shredded from the inside out. Everything she'd brought with her was either damaged, missing or scattered. She went straight to the suitcase, crouching next to the remains while her fingers fished through the ripped interior compartment where she'd stashed her passport, identification and other things.
    Everything, as she'd suspected, was gone.
    “That bastard.” Leaving the wrecked suitcase on the floor, she went through her clothes, discarding the ones that were cut up or torn. “What should we do with the mess?”
    “Leave it. I've arranged for them to clean up. Just take what's in good shape that you need.” Chayton prowled out from the master bath and went to stand at the open door as a lookout.
    “They didn't leave much intact.” Kate draped jeans, a pair of slacks and two shirts over her arm. One bra remained, though all her underwear had been grossly dismantled. Kate imagined there was a message in the act, one she didn't dare contemplate too deeply.
    “Don't worry about it. We'll get you whatever you need. Almost done?” he asked, departing the doorway after a