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"Your fathers are good," he murmured, as he bent his head to her. "No one will have any illusions that you are now sharing my bed. "
She flicked a glance up at him. He was so smooth, so confident. She felt like stomping his toes just to see his reaction when that amused arrogance showed itself.
She might have if she hadn't caught a glimpse of Vince Deerfield moving slowly from the group her parents were a part of, as he cast her a look that indicated he wanted to meet with her. His eyes were narrowed on her and Khalid, tracking their movement across the ballroom as he drew farther away from them, heading from the ballroom to a hallway at the other side that she knew led to guest bathrooms as well as a small library and a sitting room.
What the hell did he want?
She made the decision to follow him, hoping that if she let him get whatever he had on his chest off it once again, she wouldn't have to worry about a public display of idiocy.
He wasn't above it.
"Excuse me, I think I need to make a trip to the ladies' room. " She excused herself to Khalid as she looked around and saw Shayne moving toward the hall from another angle, his gaze flicking toward her.
"Be careful," Khalid warned her softly, as his touch retreated from her back.
"Always. " Throwing him a pointed smile, she moved in the direction of the hall as Khalid stepped over to the group her parents were with.
Once in the hallway, she strode as quickly as four-inch heels allowed along the corridor, wondering where Deerfield had gone off to and if Shayne had been following him as well.
As she rounded a corner she glimpsed a door farther up the hall that had been left open. As she moved closer to it, she hid her surprise as her former boss stepped into the doorway and motioned her in.
The small study was designed simply. There was a large desk and bookshelves and, at the side of the room, a luxurious couch and matching chairs.
Closing the door behind her as she turned to face him, Vince Deerfield glared at her.
"Everyone is wondering how long he's going to keep you in his bed," he snapped. "Have you lost your mind, Agent Mathews? I can't believe you'd flaunt this affair so publicly. Hell, I couldn't believe you were actually involved in it until I heard the gossip tonight. "
"Others can wonder whatever the hell they want to," she told him briskly. "Now, what did you want? I need to find a ladies' room and I had assumed we no longer had anything to talk about. "
He shot her a malevolent look and strode across the room to the small bar in the far corner.
"I always assumed you had more class than to allow yourself to get mixed up with that bastard, no matter the rumors that circulated concerning his interest in you. He has his own harem, for God's sake. "
He has six girls his father had sent to him as children who he adopted and now raised as sisters, Marty thought. Unfortunately Deerfield had never believed it, no matter the proof he had been given to the contrary.
"I'm hoping to enjoy the party," she finally said, shrugging. "And he'll miss me soon if I don't hurry. What do you want?"
Deerfield shot back his drink with a hard grimace before slapping the glass back on the dark gleaming wood.
"Your godfather seems particularly proud of this relationship that everyone assumes has developed between you and Mustafa," he said. "I had more respect for Zach Jennings than this. I never imagined he would allow you to make such a decision. "
Marty arched her brows slowly. "Why wouldn't they be proud? Neither my father nor my godfather runs my life for me, Vince. " The use of his first name was a deliberate insult and a reminder that he no longer had any power over her.
"Does your father know the bastard shares his women?" he asked snidely. "Did you know?"
She stared at him as though he had lost his mind.
"What are you accusing me of, Vince?" she asked him carefully.
Pushing his fingers through his short brown hair in agitation, he narrowed his eyes and stared at her angrily.
"Don't try to deny he's shared his women," he ordered her.
There was no denying that one.
"That simply means he has a past. " She shrugged. As well as a future, but there was no sense in lingering any longer here than she had to.
He grunted at that. "I would hope you would be smarter. " He didn't sound as though he believed she was, though. "I'd be careful, though, if he brings that brother of his for a visit. The last woman they shared they murdered. "
