Hawk & the Lady - Elizabeth Stevens Page 0,39

“News is news, Hawk. Don’t shoot the messenger.”

“Particularly when it could have been avoided if you’d just told us what was going on,” Chaos said.

“Or, better yet, you hadn’t entered into such a hair-brained scheme in the first place,” Tank muttered.

“Okay,” Chaos said before I could lay into Tank. “Let’s put a pin in the moral debate here. We’re going to agree that Hawk should have told us, that Tank’s pissed with him, and that he’s an idiot.”

“Tank or Hawk?” Rollie confirmed.

“Hawk,” Tank, Nico, Flo and Chaos all replied, as I said, “Tank.”

“Right, Hawk,” Rollie said again, with a nod.

“And I suppose I have no say in the matter?” I asked.

“No,” Rollie said quite happily. “Boss’ decree.”

“I’m your boss, too,” I reminded him.

“Only on paper,” was Nico’s retort.

I scowled at the lot of them. “Fine. Well, now you know what’s going on in my private life, can we please get back to whatever Chaos was saying about Falkner?”

The whole room seemed hesitant to get back to business as usual, but we slowly managed it and, for the most part, it seemed like everything went back to normal.

11

Leah

Being the fiancé of Leah Carmichael was never going to be an easy task for anyone. Quite aside from the fact that I was sure the whispered talk about me involved how indelicate and wild I was, there was the added pressure from my mother, and having everyone’s eyes on us.

Despite these hurdles, Patrick performed admirably. He rose – or fell – to the challenge perfectly, and having him by my side for the season’s functions made them all the easier to deal with.

Naturally, Mother was giving him a bloody difficult time and, when I didn’t get caught up in feeling indignant on his behalf, I saw it as proof we were on the right track.

She hadn’t said anything to me directly about the lack of immediate engagement party plans, but I knew why she hadn’t done anything about it. In her mind, she was disapproving the match by not giving it her open support. Without a party, it was somehow not yet quite official among our society. Not that she’d tell anyone that when they asked, like Mrs Barry had no qualms doing within earshot of me.

“Oh, no,” Mother tittered, a smile on her face. “They’re just so busy. You know how it is with these young people. They just don’t feel the need to respect the traditions.”

I rolled my eyes to Patrick.

“Of course it’s my fault,” I huffed. “It’s never Priscilla’s fault.”

Patrick squeezed my hand and leant his lips to my ear. “She’s probably just jealous because she knows we’ve been going at it like rabbits.”

I covered my mouth to hide the very unladylike snort that escaped me. “I don’t want to think about my mother’s sexual needs.”

“By the look of her, she doesn’t either.”

I snorted again and batted him playfully. “Okay, stop. It’s one thing to parade around my self-made, blue-collar man, it’s another entirely to be completely undignified.”

He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close. “I’ve barely begun showing you the definition of completely undignified, my lady.”

I liked the look in his eyes when he looked at me like that. They were bright and filled with humour and desire. He truly fit into whatever mould you put him in; the confident swagger and comfortable ease he’d exuded all night was incredible. It lacked the disgusting ego of most of the other men in the room. Patrick Grace wasn’t compensating for anything. He wasn’t looking down on anyone. In fact, he seemed utterly unbothered about who might have been watching and what they might have been thinking. He just did him, with a freedom I craved to replicate.

But no matter what my heart wanted, years of habit and careful sculpting by my betters had given me a certain set of default behaviours.

I placed my hand on his lapel and whispered in his ear, “Might be a touch risqué for the Hilton’s ballroom,” I said with a smile.

Over his shoulder, I noticed my mother watching us. It might have been a trick of the light, but for one single heartbeat I thought I saw the faintest hint of joy on her face. I blinked and, no, there she was in all her austere glory, disapproving of my public display of affection.

It was childish, but I gave Patrick a deep kiss just to show her that I didn’t give a rat’s arse about her ideas of propriety and decency. It