"Jennings can be a bastard." Ian rose to his feet, moved to the bar and poured two straight whiskies. Returning to the desk he handed a glass to Khalid before resuming his seat. "So Daddy Dearest is doing what then?" he asked.
"Perhaps it would be more accurate to say it's the evil half brothers who are now stepping in for him," Khalid explained. "As I said, I've cost them a fair amount financially as well as personally. It may become imperative that I find a safe place where Marty will be protected until the situation can be resolved."
"And you've discussed this with Marty?" Ian asked, still holding back his assent.
"I thought I should first make certain you had no problems with it," Khalid answered with mocking innocence.
"Don't f**k with me," Ian growled, his voice dark. "Does Marty know about the trouble that could be coming?"
"I'm certain I'll have to explain it," Khalid assured him, though it was something he wasn't looking forward to. Losing Lessa had been one of the dark points in his life, a failure he had never been able to forgive himself for.
"I'm fairly certain it'll be a requirement," Ian told him facetiously before a grimace tightened his face. "Hell, Khalid, you know I can't make this decision alone." He rubbed at the back of his neck in irritation before continuing. "But I don't see the request being rejected, considering she's the daughter of two of our more powerful members. But this is a hell of a position to put me in here. You know it's going to require notifying all six hundred members of the need to open a single room to female occupancy and listening to the bitching over it until the situation is resolved."
Ian had stated more than once that the majority of the club members were like ten-year-olds with nothing better to do than bitch and whine.
"I do understand the position this could place you in. Were it just myself, Ian, I wouldn't worry as much."
"Yeah, you proved how much you don't enjoy living the minute you let Jennings pull you into his little games," Ian said with a hint of mocking disgust. "I thought you knew better."
Khalid hid a smile. Ian and Zach Jennings rarely saw eye-to-eye over what Ian described as Zach's unconscionable use of knowledge and information that came through the club. More than once Ian had actually protested when the FBI director had managed to pull a club member into an operation. The reason Jennings got away with it was the fact that, so far, no one had been placed in any true danger.
"I appreciate it, Ian." Khalid rose from his seat as he finished his drink. "I better return to the party. Marty should be arriving soon."
"And Courtney will kick my ass if I hide in here all night." Blowing out a hard sigh Ian rose from his chair, a flash of irritation gleaming in his eyes.
"She'll kick both our asses," Khalid reminded him with a grin. "She's not the nice, tamable sort that used to be your norm, my friend."
"That she's definitely not." Laughter replaced the irritation as they left the study and headed for the ballroom. "And that is what makes life with Courtney so damned much fun."
The sprite made everyone around her laugh, Khalid thought as he re-entered the ballroom and spotted Marty on the other side of the room.
Sensation slammed into his gut, heated his insides and had his c**k thickening immediately.
Damn her, she could do to him what no other woman could. Make him helpless against his desire for her.
"Mr. Mustafa, Mr. Sinclair sent you a drink." A waiter stepped in front of him, drink in hand.
Giving it to Khalid, the waiter moved away. Khalid lifted it to his lips, paused, and swore he would lose his breath as he watched Marty turn, caught her profile, and the smile that curled her lips as she and Shayne stood amid a crowd of her friends.
She was a beacon of light in the darkness, her dark blond hair pulled back from her face and glittering with sapphires. The short dress she wore was sapphire silk, riding high on her thighs and paired with heels matching in color that lifted her height enough to nearly match Shayne's.
Her sleek feminine curves were made even more sensual by the dress and heels. Her shoulders were all but bare, her br**sts full and pressing temptingly against the material covering them.
Shayne stood at her side, his hand resting low on her back, his fingers splayed against her lower back with a hint of possessiveness.
Khalid hid his smile. Shayne did want to play house for a while, and in his estimation his relationship with Khalid and Marty would allow that.
Well, it was always best to let a man learn the hard way that such schemes weren't going to pan out. Marty's heart was his, Khalid knew, just as Shayne did. There was no jealousy required, but that didn't mean Khalid wouldn't silently put the other man in his place when needed.
"I can feel the dagger in my back," Shayne whispered in Marty's ear as she lifted the champagne glass to her lips while half-listening to a school friend recount her latest trip to the Bahamas.
Ignoring Shayne's laughing comment, she focused instead on a conversation she really didn't give a damn about, just to prove, incorrectly, that she really didn't give a damn. She wasn't in the least amused that Khalid had had Shayne pick her up for the ball rather than picking her up himself. When he had called and asked her to accompany him tonight, she had cautiously accepted, interested to see where he was going with this. He was up to something. She could feel it. And she wanted to know what the hell it was.
"Andrew's yacht is simply exquisite," Tanya was exclaiming, as Marty felt Shayne's hand press more firmly against her lower back in warning. "And Andrew does know how to throw a party. You should join us next month, Martha. It's so much fun."
She was going to gag. Martha. In all the years Marty had known Tanya, she had never had the good grace to use the nickname Marty's mother had declared Marty would be called by when she was a baby.
Martha was her grandmother's name. She'd been named Martha to fulfill her grandmother's dying wish, and Marty was proud to own it. But her name was Marty. She had been Marty all her life, and she didn't like Tanya's pompous little voice sneering out her given name instead.