Page 68 of King of Temptation

Across from her, Aria grinned. “Fancy meeting you here.”

The line knocked something loose in Goldie’s chest and the tension that had been gripping her eased. “What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?”

“Eh, you know.” Still grinning, Aria reached for her water and shrugged carelessly. “You let a guy knock you up one time and the next thing you know it’s family dinners and weekly kidnappings.”

A blush rose to Goldie’s cheeks. “Ah, yeah, sorry about that. I really wasn’t trying to get kidnapped, I swear.”

Reaching for his wife’s hand, Killian smiled, not the welcoming grin his wife wore but something more… controlled. Dangerous. “Let your man get settled and then we can begin the interrogation.”

When the blood drained from Goldie’s face as quickly as it had risen a moment ago, Brody growled. “If you’re going to be an asshole, we’ll go.”

Killian glanced down the table to where Reagan was sipping a glass of ruby-red wine, a smirk playing on her lips. Something passed between them, though Goldie couldn’t be sure exactly what, and Killian inclined his head. “I see.”

“Yes,” Brody snapped. “You do.”

What the actual fuck was going on? Why was everyone being so cryptic?

“Yoo-hoo.” Waving her hands to get their attention, Goldie swallowed the bile rising in her throat and pinned Killian with what she hoped passed for a stern glare. “Is anyone going to tell me what you see?”

Leaning back in his chair, Brody placed a hand on the back of her neck, giving it a gentle squeeze she was certain he meant to be reassuring. “Nothing of import, menace.”

Temper spiked, burning away what was left of her nerves. “Uh, no. You don’t get to talk about me like I’m not here and then tell me not to worry my pretty little head about it. Fuck that.”

From her left came a quiet chuckle as Murphy gave her an appraising look. “I like her. Good job, Brody.”

Brody snorted. “You love brats when you’re not on the receiving end of their wrath.”

Lifting his own wine glass in toast, Murphy grinned. “I do indeed. It’s the height of entertainment.”

Shifting in her seat, she turned her glare on the man lounging beside her, his red hair like fire in the dim lights of the dining room. Somehow, he looked just as dangerous here as he had in that warehouse, gun drawn and threatening to shoot a man just for daring to touch her.

Luckily for Goldie, she wasn’t scared of Brody O’Rourke.

Well. Not that scared.

“Brody.” She waited for him to look her way, that damned eyebrow of his raised in question. “If you don’t stop talking about me right in front of my face and tell me what all the cryptic bullshit is about, I’m going to call my father to come pick me up and I will give you what you’ve wanted since the beginning—me, out of your hair, for good.”

A preternatural hush fell over the room, and for a terrifying moment she worried she’d pushed too far. She had no intention of calling her father for any damn thing, but it seemed like the best way to get Brody to stop ignoring her.

Then, to her heart-stopping relief, Brody smirked. “Threatening an entire room full of mobsters with the cops? Bold move, even for you, menace.”

“Yes, well, I had to get your attention somehow.”

“Aye.” The Ireland in his voice deepened as he leaned in, his voice dropping low. “And when we get home, I promise you will have as much of my undivided attention as you can handle.”

A shiver raced up her spine and she just barely managed to not react. “Good.”

“What my brother and cousin are trying to say”—Reagan lifted her glass, as in toast, and every person around her followed suit— “is welcome to the family.”

“Oh.” The heat returned to Goldie’s cheeks with a vengeance. “I don’t think it’s quite that serious.”

One of the twins seated near Reagan grinned, wide and actually a little terrifying despite his clear amusement with the situation. “Ah, a traditional girl. Brody, get a ring and make an honest woman out of her.”

“Not that it’s any of your business, Lochlan, but I’m working on it.”

Aliens could have chosen that moment to come down to Earth and tell her she was their long-lost princess and she wouldn’t have been more shocked than she was in that moment. “You’re working on what?”

“Getting you a ring,” Brody said, as if he were talking about the traffic, and not a life-altering decision. “I see you as a simple, classic-cut kinda girl. But maybe a pink diamond to shake things up a bit.”