Grievous (Wanted Men #5) - Nancy Haviland Page 0,6
drift off during tedious conversations and imagine how pleasing it would have been had you found Kevin Nollan hours before the detective stepped in. I would not go so far as to describe how you would have taken his life, but let her know it is eating you alive that you did not get the opportunity.”
Vincente, who no more looked around to make sure nobody was listening than Lucian did, glared while his partner fought not to look shocked.
“I hope your surprise is a result of my blunt approach and not my words,” Lucian murmured.
She was the one who glanced at those surrounding them. “Blunt isn’t a common way of speaking among our pillows,” she said quietly.
He pulled his lips up to mimic a smile. “Then work to change that and avoid unnecessary problems caused by lack of communication. It is a nuisance. Were you leaving?” he put to Vincente, thinking Yasmeen would be onboard by now. He should go.
“Yeah, and quickly, before you start talking again,” Vincente said under his breath. “Listen, I saw the brunette in the church with you. She yours?”
It was as if everything in the room slowed and pulled into focus, right down to the dust motes floating around them. Lucian no longer heard the voices or the offensive laughter. He centered on the man before him who was requesting information on something that was beyond private. It was sacred. Something Lucian knew he would obsessively guard until this urgency he felt toward her left him.
“Why would you ask after her?”
“Thought I’d give you a heads up that one of your guests disrespected and embarrassed her. Asshole propositioned her. Tried to hire her by the hour. She was quick in kicking him in the balls with a few words, but I still thought you should be aware.”
“Which guest was this?”
Vincente pointed out a nobody. A nobody who had made a grave mistake that would have outraged the man they were here to say their goodbyes to.
Lucian wasn’t outraged. In fact, he was glad for the chance he’d just been given to cause another human being pain before he saw his new pet.
He waved Eugen over and spoke into his ear. He kept to their native language since anyone who would be able to translate wouldn’t be shocked by what he was saying. As his uber-efficient employee moved off, collecting two other chameleons as he made his way across the room, Lucian put his hand out.
“Thank you, Vincente. I know it was not your intention to put me in your debt, but you have.” He nodded to Nika, said goodbye to no one else, and was out the door in moments, Sorin at his back.
“I would like to deal with this personally before we leave,” he said as they walked.
“Should I call in a cleaning crew?”
As usual, he and Sorin, who had been with Lucian since their days in Bucharest, were on the same page. “Yes.”
As they traveled up the elevator to a room Sorin had procured for their private use, Lucian straightened the sleeves of his Brioni with a sharp tug at each wrist. The suit and everything else on his person would end up in the trash, just like the watch, but in this case, self-preservation would now have a little something to do with that.
TWO
Yasmeen floated to the surface feeling weightless and warm. Hearing her name pulled her free from the hazy cloud of sleep she’d been lingering in.
She wasn’t sure if it was the commanding tone and that bone-melting accent or the firmness of the hand stroking her flank that had her lips curving and a soft sound of pleasure escaping. Mmm. His voice was deep and delicious; like the cake. The frozen kind.
Her cheek was cupped, and she tipped her head, rubbing against his wide palm.
Lucian.
“Yasmeen. Would you like me to carry you inside?”
Inside? Inside what? She pried her lids apart and had to wait a few seconds to focus. She looked around as little things fitted themselves into their proper slots in her mind. She was still in the car. No. She frowned. She was in a car. But it wasn’t the Bentley Sorin had put her into when she’d left the Waldorf. This was a limo. Her coat was beside her, and she was wrapped in what appeared to be a real fur blanket but couldn’t have been because she’d have been grossed out and sympathetic to the animal.