“You’re makinga mistake,” the intruder said. “I checked in two days ago. Myreceipt and the welcome pack the hotel gave me are on the bedsidetable.”
How could thatbe? Emma had checked in this morning—or wait, was it still today?She had no idea what time it was. She’d crossed so many time-zonesin the last twenty-four hours she had no idea how many days hadpassed since she’d left home. How could she have checked into aroom that was already occupied and not even noticed?
No. He couldn’tbe telling the truth. Weren’t all thieves’ liars by nature?
“Save it forthe cops, buddy.” The guard muscled the intruder out of theroom.
Emma sank ontothe end of the bed. Her legs shook—she didn’t think she couldstand. But at least the intruder was gone. She was safe. Except shedidn’t feel safe. Everything was unfamiliar, reminding her she washalf a world away from home.
“Ma’am? Is thisyour suitcase?” The female guard gestured to the charcoal suitcaseEmma had noticed moments before they had burst into her room.
“No. Mine isthe navy blue one by the bed.” She gestured to where she had lefther luggage.
“Could youplease explain everything that happened when you arrived at thehotel?”
Emma pressedher fingers to the bridge of her nose. “What day is it?”
The guard,Annie, gave her a small smile as she checked her wristwatch. “It’s6pm, Monday night.”
So still thesame day Emma had arrived, yet with everything that had happened,it could have been months since she’d stepped off the plane thismorning.
“Um, I arrivedat the hotel at—” What time had it been? “—oh, around lunchtime.”She glanced at her watch, remembering that she still hadn’t changedit to local time. “I’ve been travelling for almost twenty-six hoursand couldn’t sleep on the plane, so as soon as I got into the room,I put my luggage there—” she pointed to her navy suitcase next tothe bed. “And I went straight to sleep. I don’t know how long I wasasleep before the sound of the shower woke me and then the intrudercame out of the bathroom.” And scared years off her life.
She hadn’t evenchecked to see if the room was already occupied, because really,what kind of hotel assigned a room that was already in use? Thiswas a five-star hotel with an exceptional reputation. It nevercrossed her mind to check that the room she’d been assigned mightalready have an occupant.
Annie pokedaround the back of the suitcase and pulled out a name label.“Lachlan Spencer.” She moved to the opposite side of the bed towhere Emma sat and picked up a booklet from the bedside table. Emmarecognised the package—she’d been given the same one uponcheck-in—but hers was sitting with her purse on the chair near thewindow with the rest of her belongings.
Annie’s browfurrowed as she read the information. “It looks like your intruderwas telling the truth. Wait here,” she added, heading out of theroom and closing the door behind her.
Only a secondlater, a beep disturbed the silence in the room and the dooropened.
“His key cardis programmed to open this door. Stay here, please Ma’am.” Anniestrode from the room.
CHAPTERTWO
Being frog-marchedthrough a five-star luxury hotel with nothing but a towel slungaround his hips was not Lachlan’s idea of a good time. He staredstraight ahead, pressed his lips together and tried to ignore thestartled gasps from shocked guests as the security guard pushed himforward. Mobile phones pointed in his direction as strangers filmedhis humiliation for sport.
He closed hiseyes and exhaled, a long calming breath that didn’t calm him in theslightest.
He stillcouldn’t work out what had happened. He’d arrived in Las Vegas twodays ago. Yesterday, he’d been wrecked from jet lag but today hehad made an effort to try and stay awake and acclimatise to theunfamiliar heat of the Nevada desert. This morning, he’d taken along walk along the Strip, admiring the Venetian hotel with itscanals, all the way down to the New York, New York casino whichreplicated the New York skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge. He’d eatenlunch and walked as far around the famous fountain as he couldbefore returning to the room and taking a shower. Then, he’d comeout to find a hysterical woman in his room, accusing him of being athief.
Welcome toVegas.
As Lachlanwalked the longest mile of his life, he scanned the wide, carpetedcorridor for Sarah. If she saw him being escorted by hotelsecurity…
The thick,plush carpet muffled his footsteps as cool air conditioning waftedover his still-damp body. Lachlan cleared his throat. “Um,sir?”
The guardreplied by tightening his grip on Lachlan’s wrists.
“My towel isslipping.”
The guard’sgrip loosened for one second and then the towel bit into the skinaround Lachlan’s hips.
He was usheredinto the manager’s office where the door was firmly closed behindhim. The guard planted himself in front of the closed door asthough he suspected Lachlan might try to make a run for it.
The manager, amiddle-aged man with salt and pepper hair and a bad comb-over,waited behind his desk.
“Sir, I’d likeyou to tell me your version of events.”
Hisversion of events?
Sarah hadalways told Lachlan his temper was the slow boil kind but itstirred now, warming his veins and pounding against his temples. Hecouldn’t afford to lose it. Sarah wanted a dream wedding in LasVegas and he’d done everything in his power to make that happen. Hecouldn’t ruin her perfect day by losing his temper now.
“I don’t have aversion. I only have the truth. My name is Lachlan Spencer.I checked in two days ago. My room key card, identification andsuitcase are up in the room.” He slid a glance to the burly guardwho’d marched him down here. “I wasn’t offered the opportunity topick it up.”
The guarddidn’t bat an eyelid.
The phone onthe desk rang and the manager pounced on it. His eyebrows dipped ashe listened. “Yes, Annie? Mmm-hmm. Right. Okay.” He replaced thereceiver in its cradle, folded his hands on the desk and leanedforward. “Mr Spencer, I apologise for the misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding?” Lachlan had visions of the cops haulinghim away to some seedy, overcrowded prison cell where he’d have tofight off super-muscled guys with no teeth called Spanner and Tank.The swirling anger strengthened into a tsunami tidal surge and heclenched his fists as
