skin. He wore a black tuxedo, perfectly tailored. Dark, curly hair gave him a tousled, touchable look. He was taller than me in my heels, but only just.
“Oh,” I murmured, letting my voice go husky, “is your floor particularly attractive? Because I find it hard to believe that anyone could wear this dress as well as I do.”
“Perhaps you should come with me and find out.”
It couldn’t be this easy. Ian must’ve thought the same, because he stepped closer.
“I don’t even know your name, Mister . . .” I trailed off meaningfully.
“Riccardo Silva, at your service,” he said. He bowed over my hand, pressing a lingering kiss, complete with tongue, to the back of it.
It took every ounce of willpower I had not to knock him senseless. Instead, I let my eyes go wide. “The Riccardo Silva?” I asked, breathless.
“The one and only. This is my party. All of these people are here to see me.”
“I see you,” I whispered. It sounded like a threat, so I hurried to add, “You’re gorgeous.” And he was. But his eyes gave him away—they were entirely predatory, not a hint of warmth.
“So, shall we take this conversation somewhere a little more private?” he asked.
“I can’t leave my guard,” I said with a little moue of distress.
Riccardo leered at Ian. “He can watch. I don’t mind. These two do it all the time.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder at his guards.
Ian was practically plastered to my back, he was so close. I felt him tense and subtly elbowed him. It was almost certainly a trap, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t use it to our advantage. Lili had said that Riccardo thought he was smarter than everyone else and liked to play with his prey.
So let’s play.
“Where did you have in mind?” I asked.
“I have a room upstairs that overlooks the ballroom. I could have you against the window and no one would know.”
“Hopefully I would know,” I said with a flirtatious smile.
“Why don’t you find out?”
“Maybe I’m not that kind of woman,” I hedged. Without being able to talk to Ian, I’d have to make up a plan as I went and hope he figured it out before we were both killed.
“In that dress? Please,” Riccardo scoffed.
I made a mental note to knee him in the balls at the first opportunity. I forced my mouth into a coy smile and hoped the murder in my eyes was masked. “You’re right,” I managed to get out without choking. Barely. “Let’s see this room of yours.”
He held out his left elbow, forcing me to hold it with my right hand. With the clutch in my left hand, I appeared far more harmless than I was. I wasn’t as strong left-handed, but I could still drop the clutch and stab him somewhere that would hurt, given the opportunity.
I flashed Ian a meaningful look. We had to act before we made it wherever Riccardo was leading us or we were toast. He nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
Riccardo placed his hand over mine, trapping my right arm. One of his guards followed directly behind us, then Ian, then the second guard.
I focused on the signals immediately surrounding us, and pain burrowed into my head. One of the nearby guards sent a message: Target acquired. On the move. Oh yeah, they were on to us.
Riccardo led me back into the ballroom, but stuck close to the wall. He held his arm over the chip reader of a side door and we slipped through into a service hallway. A pair of guards flanked the door. One of them fell in behind us. We were now outnumbered by four to two, not counting the other guards spaced throughout the hallway.
Riccardo’s bodyguards weren’t visibly armored, but their suits fit so poorly it was a good bet that the material was reinforced, which might be enough to stop my little dagger. If Riccardo’s suit was reinforced, I couldn’t tell.
We stopped at the elevator and one of the guards pressed the button. The elevator would have to be it. Fighting in such an enclosed space would work against us, but it would work against them, too. Presumably they didn’t want to kill Riccardo, so it would be nonlethal close combat. They’d try to subdue us, because if Riccardo wanted us dead without talking to us, he wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble.
The elevator dinged and the door slid open. Empty. I silently thanked the universe for small miracles. Riccardo and I stepped