“Christian,” she said patiently.
“—getting what he wants. And he wants—”
“Christian,” she said again.
“—you. There is no way I’m letting you spend five minutes with him, much less an entire—”
“I agree with you,” she said flatly, giving him her version of the blue fire stare.
“—evening. What?”
“Geez, how stupid do you think I am? I’m not going anywhere with Anthony. Why the hell do you think I called you over here?”
Christian was frowning at her, but she could hear Marc laughing softly.
“I assumed—” he started to argue, but she stopped him.
“You know what they say about assuming.”
His frown deepened, while Marc laughed harder. Christian glanced over at his lieutenant, and then back to her. “I don’t think I want to know. Okay, I’m listening. Tell me why I’m here.”
She reached up and stroked Christian’s face, so smooth over the curve of his cheekbones, slightly rough where his beard was a dark gold shadow. He leaned into her hand, rubbing like a cat. It made her smile. “Can we sit down first?”
He pulled her toward the sofa.
“You want some coffee?” she asked innocently.
He gave her a narrow look as he sat down, taking her with him. “Very funny,” he said. “Now tell me why I’m here.”
“Don’t you want to be?”
“Natalie,” he growled in warning.
“Fine. First of all, do you think you should check my head, just to be sure Anthony didn’t do something to me? He was waiting for me in the hallway outside Jaclyn’s office. That’s why he messed with Cibor, to get him to go back inside and leave me alone.”
“I can check, but I don’t think so. You wouldn’t have called me here otherwise.”
Her eyes widened. “What if that’s the compulsion? What if he wants you here?”
“Then I’ll be Lord of the South before the night is over. What’s your plan?”
“Simple. I knew I couldn’t deal with Anthony on my own, and I knew I’d never talk him out of coming here tonight. So I called in the big guns. You.”
Christian laughed, putting his arm around her and pulling her against his side. “Just for that, I’d kill him for you tonight. Unfortunately, Raphael wants him, because of what he did to Cibor. I promised I’d wait until he arrives tomorrow to discuss it.”
“The challenge,” she said, surprised she’d forgotten. Raphael and the others were still coming for the challenge tomorrow night.
Christian nodded. “Nothing will stop that, but Raphael would have come anyway. Anthony’s a fool to mess with you on my watch, but he’s many times a fool for trying to compromise one of Raphael’s people. If Raphael’s known for one thing, it’s loyalty to his own.”
Natalie swallowed her sigh of relief. She didn’t want to prick Christian’s alpha ego, but she was happy to let Raphael take on Anthony. She didn’t need Christian to prove anything to her, and she didn’t want him risking his life. Anthony wasn’t worth it.
“Oh my God, how’s Cibor?” she asked, ashamed she hadn’t asked already.
“He’s fine. Jaclyn’s with him.”
“Jaclyn probably hates me. I never should have tried to hide up there. None of this would have happened.”
He tightened his arm, squeezing her close. “Of course she doesn’t. She’s worried about you.”