Say I Do (Wilde Ways #10) - Cynthia Eden Page 0,23

darkness, and, somewhere, a woman screamed. That one scream was followed by another and another.

Great. Hello, panic. Here we go.

“Everyone, calm down.” Dex’s commanding voice rang out. “I’m sure there is no cause for alarm. Just a temporary outage so…”

Every instinct she possessed screamed at her, and she kept seeing that blond’s hand slide toward the inside of his tux. So maybe…screw calm. “Everyone, get down!” Lacey shouted.

“What?” Dex asked. “What are you—”

She threw her body into his just as a gunshot rang out.

More screams. Footsteps rushed by as people frantically moved for the exits, and a spiky heel slammed into the back of her hand.

“Dammit!” Lacey swore. “That hurt.”

Beneath her, she felt Dex’s entire body harden. “You’re hit?” He rolled her, moving quickly so that he was on top and his hands flew over her. “Where, baby? Tell me where, and I’ll make sure that you’re—”

The lights flashed back on. The brightness was disorienting. She had to blink a few times and Lacey found herself staring straight into Dex’s wild gaze. A gaze that was frantic and worried and—

“I’m not hit,” she said as her hands pushed against him. “Are you?” She knew the sound of a gunshot, and one had fired.

He released a breath, as if he’d been holding it, and Dex grimly shook his head. “No, I’m good.”

Good didn’t seem to be the right word.

He rose, slowly, and his gaze surveyed the room. Half of the ball attendees had already fled. As for the others, they were crouched in corners. She did her own visual scan of the area. No one appeared to be armed. There didn’t seem to be any casualties.

The blond guy is gone. Because she was specifically looking for him, Lacey noticed his absence. Roman Valentino wasn’t crouched in any corner.

“I say…I think that’s a bullet hole.” Jonathan’s voice wobbled as he pointed toward the wall that was less than two feet away from Dex.

And, yes, he was correct. From what she could tell, there was a bullet embedded in the wall.

Security personnel raced into the room. And right behind them, she saw Charles—their concierge guy—enter the ballroom with fluttering hands and a look of panic on his face.

“It’s a good thing you grabbed Lacey and ducked,” Jonathan continued as he clapped a hand around Dex’s shoulder. “I do believe one of you might have been shot, if you hadn’t, ah, what’s the phrase? Hit the deck?”

Lacey smoothed back her hair. There was no reason the shot would have been aimed at her. Obviously, Dex had been the target.

And she’d saved his ass. Boom. She’d be sure to tell him exactly how much he owed her as soon as they were alone and—

“We’re getting out of here.” Dex locked his fingers around her wrist. “Now.”

But they needed to investigate. They had to take stock of the scene. See if the shooter was still there. Go find Roman Valentino. They—

“And I didn’t grab Lacey,” Dex snapped over his shoulder to Jonathan. “She grabbed me.” He was hauling ass to get them out of there. In her heels, she had to race to keep up with him. As they blew by Charles, Dex glanced down at her. “I didn’t anticipate the shot. That shit should never have happened.” His eyes burned with fury. “Believe me, there will be hell to pay.”

Chapter Six

“I don’t understand what’s happening.” Lacey wrapped her arms around her stomach and peered at Dex as they stood on the second floor of the lodge—the so-called Whisper Floor. “You brought me here to help with a case. How can you be surprised when gunfire erupts if we are working a mission?”

He clenched his hands into fists because his fingers were shaking. What in the hell was that shit about? His fingers never shook. He was always freaking rock steady. But this…

Right after the shot, he’d wanted to flee the ballroom with her, but the pricks from hotel security had stopped to interview him and everyone else. Well, those still present, anyway. A shooting at this place was a nightmare for management. By dawn, half of the guests—probably far more—would be gone. The lodge was known as a beacon of safety and secrecy, and for this to happen…

Unacceptable.

She stopped hugging herself and her hands fell to her sides. “You should at least thank me for saving your ass.”

And you should scream at me for risking yours. “How did you know a shot was going to be fired?”

“Because I saw the blond guy—Roman—staring at you as