I think you made the correct plays up to the river. I definitely wouldn't check the flop, as that gives a free card to players you have a good idea are on draws. This would defeat the purpose of your post, "How to protect my hand." I'd probably just call the river. You'll probably get whacked by a str8 fairly often, but you gotta call this for one bet just based upon the pot odds. Once you have a read on the villain(s), you could get cute and raise the river, or fold if your info gathered leads you that way. Good luck.