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"Chase is interested in her. " He let a smile tip his lips as she turned her head to him, surprise rounding her eyes.
"Really?"
"Very really. " He chuckled. "Stop worrying about her, Tess. I have a feeling he'll end up taking very good care of her. "
Cole knew Chase had called together the judiciary committee within the club and protested Drew Stanton's harassment of his ex-wife. Chase had made Kia a promise two years ago, one the committee had approved one hundred percent.
In return, Kia had smoothed over the gossip, taken the blame for the rumors of the club on her own fragile shoulders, and helped Chase make certain the club wasn't revealed any more than it had been. And the promise had been that Drew Stanton would never be allowed to be close to his ex-wife without her permission nor would he harass her mentally ever again.
"Dance with me, vixen. " He pulled Tessa to the dance floor as her gaze returned to Kia.
Kia hadn't needed to speak to anyone. She moved slowly through the crowd, a brilliant, vibrant gem amid the black and winter white in her sapphire blue cashmere gown.
As Cole held his wife in his arms, his hands smoothing down the back of her emerald silk evening gown, his gaze swept the room and he hid a smile. She was a beautiful woman. Quiet. Sometimes almost lost even amid the crowd.
There was Chase Falladay with his brother, Cameron, and Cameron's fiancée, Jaci. And Chase was watching Kia. His eyes latched onto her like a dog latched on to a bone. It was always amusing to watch another club member fall. Chase especially, because the other man had been smug, so amused when Tessa led him through the merriest chase of his life.
"Chase is a goner," he promised his wife.
"Rather like you?" She kissed his chin. A smile curved her lips as he stared into her pretty gray eyes and felt that familiar hunger sweeping through him.
"Maybe close. " He grinned.
Chase watched Kia. That dress was killing him. The cashmere draped down her shoulders, and the bodice was snug, barely hinting at the valley of her breasts, though it cupped and caressed the mounds like a lover's hands. It snugged down her body to her hips, then flared over her legs, and fell
to the floor in a swath of graceful, soft fabric.
She had walked away from conversation with Tessa Andrews. Few people walked away from Tessa. She was warmhearted, kind, and she drew people to her.
Kia's expression bit at his heart as she did it. Walked away, hunger reflecting in her brilliant blue eyes as she did so. She'd wanted to stay. She had wanted to laugh and joke as the women behind her did, and she had wanted to join in with them. Instead, she had forced herself to walk away.
Damn her. The more he checked into the life she had lived in the past two years, the more furious he became. He should have kept a closer watch on her, should have made certain she was doing okay.
What had made him imagine she would be smart enough to do as he told her to? To come to him if Drew approached her again.
She hadn't. Unofficial reports stated that in the past year Drew had begun an intense campaign to force her back into the marriage.
The chances of his succeeding might appear slim, but Chase was betting Drew knew already what Chase was just learning. Kia had completely isolated herself. She had no friends, no lovers. She had acquaintances, but no one she shared confidences with.
That loneliness was destructive. Chase knew it was. He had been there, long ago and far away, and he knew it didn't work.
As he watched, he ground his teeth in anger. Daniel Conover, cousin to Lucian and Devril Conover, members of the club and co-lovers to that little spitfire Tally Rafferty, had stopped her.
Daniel's blond good looks, his suave and practiced flirtiness always charmed women.
"Daniel didn't waste much time, did he?" Khalid remarked beside Chase.
The bastard was laughing at him. Chase should have known better than to start socializing with the damned mocking, self-proclaimed playboy. Khalid prided himself on driving his father insane by convincing the world at large that he was a lazy, shiftless spoiled rich boy on the make. He prided himself on driving his friends crazy, too.
"Daniel doesn't have a chance," Chase growled.
To which Khalid gave a noncommittal little hum.
"What the hell does that mean?" He frowned at the other man.
"What does what mean?" Khalid was openly laughing now.
"That sound," Chase said.
