Rich (Benson Security #5) - Janet Elizabeth Henderson Page 0,51

to Harvard, no doubt to argue for more drastic measures to find her attackers. And Rachel said goodnight to both of them before retreating to her bedroom.

Where she currently stood, staring at her bed. Staring, but unable to actually get into it.

She’d showered and changed into a silk camisole and boy shorts set she liked to sleep in. She’d moisturized, tidied away her things, set the alarm for the morning, and checked the temperature of the bedroom. In other words, she’d done everything she could to avoid climbing into the bed she usually loved.

But no matter how determined she was to get past what had happened, when she looked at the blue and black Japanese silk of the bedspread, all she saw was that photo. No, not the photo, the images it contained. On. Her. Bed.

Thinking that changing out the cover might help, she replaced it with one that had the most gorgeous silver embroidery over black silk.

It made no difference.

She just couldn’t bring herself to get into bed.

And that made her furious. Ten years earlier, her attackers had stolen so much from her. They weren’t taking this. All she needed was a little help to get past this latest setback and return to normal, nothing more. And she knew just where to find it.

Rachel shrugged into her short black robe, tying the belt tight as she stalked across the hallway to the guest room. Her knock was firm. A few seconds later, Harvard opened the door, wearing black pajama pants that sat low on his hips and nothing else. At the sight of his muscular chest, she momentarily forgot why she was there.

“You okay?” he asked in that calming voice of his. Nothing ever seemed to rile the man. And goodness knows she’d tried often enough.

She raised her chin. “I need you to sleep with me tonight.” She narrowed her eyes. “Just sleep.”

That penetrating gaze of his seemed to bore straight through her. With Harvard, there was always the feeling that he was seeing far more than she’d like him to see. It was disconcerting.

He flicked off the light switch and stepped toward her. “Lead the way,” was all he said.

Turning on her heel, Rachel wondered at his lack of curiosity over her sudden invitation but was thankful for it. To explain would make her more vulnerable than she already felt. And she didn’t want that.

When they stepped into her bedroom, she tried to imagine how Harvard would see it. Unlike the rest of her apartment, her bedroom was decorated in shades of blue against warm white walls.

“Blue,” he said, looking around the room.

“The red clashed with that.” She pointed at the ceiling, which was the glass bottom of her pool. The gentle blue lights in the water wouldn’t do anything good for a red color scheme.

“You could have used red lights in the pool, but I’m thinking that might have given you nightmares.”

With the things going on in her head these days, he wasn’t wrong. “I sleep on the right.”

Harvard looked at the bed, then at the door. “The right is closest to the door.”

“And that’s a problem why?”

“Because if I’m going to sleep beside you, I’d rather be between you and anything that might come through that door.”

A link in the chains around her heart gave way. “This apartment is locked up tight and alarmed, which you know, as you check it every night. I’m safe here.”

“Rachel,” was all he said, in that deep rumbling tone he used solely for her name.

“Whatever.” She threw up her hands in surrender. “Sleep on the right if that makes you happy.”

After flipping the door’s lock, which she never used, Harvard threw back the bedspread and climbed in. The sight of him reclining on the black sheets, the perfect embodiment of raw male power, made her heart race and her breathing grow short. But it wasn’t from fear. Harvard would never threaten her. It was from awe.

He was beautiful. It was the only word to describe him. All glorious muscle and endless strength married with a smart brain and too perceptive gaze. He was everything she tried to avoid in a man, because she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to resist him.

And he was in her bed.

Swallowing nervously, Rachel toyed with the necklace she only took off for sleeping. The locket that had been passed down through the female line of the Talbots for generations. The one her grandmother had given to her mother, who’d given it to Rachel when