Page 37 of Hextreme Measures

“And you don’t know if it’s Shirley or Angelique,” he guessed.

“That’s it in a nutshell,” she conceded.

“We’ll check on Angelique as soon as we’re done with dinner. I promise.”

Since that was the best she was going to get, Ofelia nodded. “That sounds like a plan.”

9

NINE

Marie Charles couldn’t indulge in comfort food. She always had to go over the top. When she put her head together with Madeline, that only made matters worse. That was how Ofelia and Sully found themselves standing outside Emeril’s shortly before six o’clock.

Ofelia scowled at the restaurant. It wasn’t that she disliked the food. It was fine, if a bit ostentatious. What she hated was that she was going to have to sit through a meal with her mother … and Sully’s mother … and Sully’s father, for that matter. They all presented their own challenges.

The food at the restaurant was going to present another. Emeril’s was not the sort of restaurant that allowed people to pick and choose from a standard menu. You chose one tasting course and were stuck with it.

Ofelia growled as she looked at the menu.

Sully moved in behind her and scanned it over her shoulder. “I believe this shindig is on my parents,” he said. “We’ll pick up food we actually want to eat on the way home. What does Angelique like?”

Ofelia perked up. “Oh, she loves fried seafood. Can we really do that?”

Sully’s heart ached at the naked emotion on her face. “Of course, baby.” He pulled her to him for a kiss. “That sounds way better than what we’re about to go through.”

“Oh, you’d better be careful who you say that in front of,” a familiar voice drawled from behind them.

Sully scowled as he turned, pulling Ofelia with him so she was close to his side. “Amelia.” He said his sister’s name as if it were profanity. “You’re looking … fat.”

Amelia glared at him. “I’m pregnant. You can’t call a pregnant woman fat.” She looked at Felix for help.

For his part, Felix looked tired. “Amelia, you can’t even tell that you’re pregnant yet, other than your boobs are bigger,” he said. “You were smoking hot when I met you, and the boob thing only makes you hotter. Take it as a compliment, because it is one.”

Amelia looked confused. “Are you sure? I’ve never heard the f-word being used as a compliment.”

“I’m positive.” Felix’s voice was as smooth as chocolate. His glare was hard as ice when it landed on Sully. “Really? Do you have to get her going?”

Sully merely shrugged. “She started it.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Felix pulled open the door and ushered Amelia inside in front of him, and then lowered his voice. “Nobody is looking forward to this. How about don’t be surly, though, because that will just make the night drag on longer than it has to.”

“Oh, nobody wants to drag this out,” Sully promised him.

“Just remember that when your mother … or my mother, for that matter … says something stupid. That will happen.”

Sully had already braced himself for that. “Yeah, let’s get this over with.”

The others were already seated at the table when Sully, Ofelia, Felix, and Amelia joined them. Marie and her husband Henri Charles sat at one end of the table with Oscar, who sat on Marie’s left and didn’t appear bothered that he’d been seated next to his ex-wife.

At the other end of the table, Madeline and Zeke sat next to one another and talked in hushed tones. Ofelia had no idea what they were talking about. In fact, the more she saw the couple together, the more she wondered what they’d ever seen in each other. She understood what kept them together now — money and status — but what had drawn them together in the first place? She’d never asked Sully, but one day she intended to.

“You’re late,” Marie said with the tight smile that Ofelia had come to associate with a long night.

“We’re not,” Sully replied as he pulled out a chair for Ofelia. When he moved to sit next to her, Madeline made a tsking sound.

“I set it up so you and your sister will sit on that side and Felix and Ofelia will sit on the other,” she said.

Sully blinked several times. Then he sat in the chair he’d already pulled out. “That’s completely unnecessary. I’m going to sit next to my fiancée.”