“Hi,” she whispered.
His arms folded around her. “Kate, you’re trembling.”
“Yeah, I’ve been through a lot today. So have you, of course.” She started to step back, but his grip tightened.
“Don’t go yet. Doesn’t this feel right?” he asked, his voice deep and earnest. “When I was wounded, you were my comfort. Now you’re shaking; I’ll be your strength. I’d like to give you what you need. Or want. I won’t ask you what that is . . . though it could make things more—but perhaps not—” The corner of his mouth turned down, and he shook his head, then added something in a foreign language.
She chuckled. “What was that last part?”
“Etruscan. You don’t speak Etruscan, do you?”
“No.”
“Good,” he said.
She tipped her head back, looking him in the eye. “And neither does anyone else, other than you.” She smiled at him. “You should let me go. People are starting to stare.”
“If we danced, I wouldn’t have to let you go, right?”
“I don’t really dance.”
“Why not?” he asked, sounding as surprised as if she’d said “I don’t really eat.”
“That’s not important right now, is it?” Her palms slid off his shoulders, and she drew her hands back, leaning away. “I still have your ring. Do you remember how you got it?”
He shook his head.
“Nathaniel, there are things we need to talk about.”
“Of course, Kate. We can do whatever you’d like.”
Wow. That created a riot of pleasure in every part of her.
She slid the ring from her thumb, but hesitated. Could she put it on him and risk that the memories would come flooding back to him in so public a place? She closed her fist around the ring and dropped her hand to her side. She stared at his untroubled eyes. She always wanted to know every secret, but his past . . . those memories were so destructive; anyone sane would be happy to forget them. “But maybe that can wait a little longer. What do you want to talk about?”
“I’d like to hear about your work.”
“Wow,” she said. “You really are five shades of irresistible.”
He smiled. “That may be because I’m an angel.”
“No, it’s more than that,” she said, then she saw Grant Easton approaching, and her smile faded. “And here comes trouble. We cannot catch a break.”
Nathaniel looked over his shoulder, then back at her. He inclined his head to speak in her ear, his warm breath tickling her skin. “I still want to dance with you.” He released her and turned.
“This is a private party,” Grant said coolly.
“I came to see Kate.”
“You’ve seen her.”
Nathaniel looked Grant up and down. “I have no wish to interfere with the performance of your duties, but I will not leave her.”
“Then we have a problem,” Grant said, sliding a hand inside his tuxedo and unsnapping a shoulder holster.
Kate sucked in a breath, catching Nathaniel’s arm. “It’s too crowded to dance here. Let’s leave.”
“Yes,” Nathaniel said to Kate. To Grant, he added, “No need to die tonight, Mr. Easton.”