Page 3 of Deadly Misfortunes

“Role?” Her voice rose with agitation. What was this man’s problem?

“She came to the Worthingtons’ ball at Lemoyne’s without invitation, so Camden, Prescott’s brother, told me.”

“That’s kind of like you coming here without invitation. Isn’t it?”

Gregory gave her a half smile. “As the owner of Lemoyne’s, Damon is very careful not to disappoint his wealthy clientele. The event required an invitation. No one had a clue as to Katrina’s real identity.”

“And?” Sascha hoped the irritation she felt didn’t show too much in the tone of her voice. She didn’t want him thinking he was getting to her. When he was annoying her to the nth degree.

“I spoke with Damon. He told me you’d asked him to let Katrina into the invitation-only affair. It seems you and Damon were…close friends.”

Sascha smiled. Damon would never have told on her. After they’d made love that fateful night five years ago, he’d still remained totally devoted to her. No way would he have told this Gregory anything.

Gregory finished his drink and set the glass down on a tray. “What’s really interesting is I find out that another cousin of yours, a Lucy⁠—”

“Brighten.”

“Yeah. It turns out Damon’s suddenly marrying her.”

“So?” It was their penance, unfortunately.

“I thought it odd that Prescott falls in love with Katrina Landry and marries her, but doesn’t have a clue as to who she is only a few days prior to this. Then another of your cousins latches onto Damon, who is another extremely wealthy eligible bachelor. Apparently, he has never even dated her before either. Like Katrina, she just pops out of the woodwork, so to speak. There’s no history of her attending any of the social to-dos in Dallas. In fact, out of the three women, only you have visited several of the influential homes with your sensational act.”

“It’s a job that I love.”

“So what I’m curious about is—who are you going after?”

“I would have thought that obvious.” Sascha drank some more of her champagne and nearly choked on the words as she mouthed them. “You, of course.”

His perfectly whitened, flawlessly aligned teeth showed as Gregory smiled at her. “Somehow, I knew you would say that. I suppose on the cheat sheet you have concerning the guests, the Worthingtons even said I couldn’t resist a natural redhead.”

“That’s just what they said—even though they didn’t even know you were going to crash the party. Since the jig is up—you’re way too clever for me to bamboozle you—I guess I’ll have to make my try for Prescott’s bachelor brother instead. Camden’s good-looking, has a great personality, is extremely wealthy, and is available too.”

Gregory shook his head. “He prefers blondes.”

“Uh-huh. So did Prescott. But Katrina’s dark brown hair caught his eye. You see, we have something magical that can win a guy’s heart. We don’t just need our special looks.”

Before Sascha could leave her chair and take her break before dancing for the crowd, a loud crash sounded, three women screamed, and a man cried out. Gregory jumped across Sascha’s small, round, cloth-covered table, startling the crap out of her. He tackled Sascha to the floor, sending her chair and glass of champagne flying, and landed on top of her as if they were in the throes of passion.

2

Gregory couldn’t believe the sound of a tray of glasses being dropped on the tile floor had rattled him so much that he had tackled Sascha to the floor to protect her from what he thought was an assassin’s attempt to kill him again.

Her brows were raised, a smidgeon of a smile turning her lips up as he lay on top of her soft body, before he managed to get his wits about him and move off her. “Sorry, I, uhm⁠—”

“Thought someone was trying to kill you. And you were worried I was going to be collateral damage.”

“Yeah, something like that.” Actually, exactly like that.

He moved off her and rose to his feet, then offered her his hand.

She took hold of his hand, and he helped her up, then resettled her chair and table. Her champagne glass was broken.

“I’ll get you another glass.”

“I’m good. Are you?” She sounded a little worried about him.

He smiled. “Yeah, but I didn’t mean to react so violently.”