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“I told you, I hadn’t seen her in a long time,” Rob insisted. “She was my cousin.”
“Kissing cousins?” Suzette punched him on the shoulder as they disappeared into the crowd.
Liam watched the red-haired woman walk away, noting how she clung to Rob’s arm. She seemed outspoken and very at ease around men, unlike the shy, guileless Cora he remembered from his past. “That’s your best friend?”
“Don’t worry,” Cora said with a smile. “She grows on you. Right, Finn?”
“Sure.” Finn looked at Cora as if she’d just given him the deed to a gold mine. Jesus, this man was transparent. Liam wouldn’t be surprised if a puddle of drool formed on the table in front of him.
Cora seemed clueless. How the hell was he supposed to urge her in Finn’s direction? It would take a herculean effort. No woman in her right mind would be interested in that.
“So,” Finn began, tugging at his tie. “Are you guys planning to go to the charity ball next Saturday?”
Plain as day, Liam could see where Finn was going with this. The man wasn’t even looking at him; he was focused only on Cora.
She was waving her hand to get the server’s attention. “I haven’t decided yet.”
Liam braced himself. This was a perfect opening, and he really ought to take it. He could almost feel the angels watching him, and he’d not be forgetting their warning anytime soon. When the floor in that chamber of mist opened up and he’d started to fall, he thought he would surely die. And they were angels. The good guys. If that was the fear they inspired, he didn’t even want to imagine the alternative. He balled his hands into fists, crossed his arms and said, “Are you planning to go, Finn?”
Finn kept glancing at Cora. “I think so.”
“I swear the server looked right at me and then turned around,” Cora said absently.
Liam nudged her with his shoulder, grateful that the barrier of their clothes kept the pain at bay. Apparently, the only danger was in their skin-on-skin contact. He probably ought to thank the angels for that small mercy, but he wasn’t going to. “You’re attending the gala, right?” he asked Cora. “I’d like to go, and it would be great if you were there since I don’t know many people yet.”
She looked at him in surprise. “You really want to go?”
Liam tried to appear sincere. “Of course. I believe you said it was a charity event with the main purpose being to drink a lot and rob rich people of their money. Sounds like my kind of party.”
“I guess you just don’t strike me as the tuxedo-wearing type, that’s all,” Cora said. “It’s a formal event. You know that, right?”
“Yes,” Finn chimed in.
“Not you, Finn,” Cora said with a laugh. “You’re totally the penguin-suit type.”
His face fell for a split second, but she didn’t seem to notice.
Liam wondered if Cora had any idea she’d embarrassed the man. A tiny voice inside him was chanting a little victory tune, but he forged on. “I do want to go. Both of you have lived here for a long time, so you can introduce me to people.” He opened his arms wide and said in his best jovial voice, “The three of us can make a party of it!” There, angels. How was that for playing his role?
Finn glanced up in surprise.
“Fine, fine,” Cora said, preoccupied again with getting the server’s attention. “I’ll go if it’s that important to you.”
“Should I swing by and pick you up, Cora?” Finn asked. “I mean, your house is on my way, so it wouldn’t be a problem.” Of course, it wouldn’t be a problem. If Finn lived on the other side of the planet, he’d find a way to swing by and pick her up. Liam barely refrained from kicking the man under the table. Instead, he sat up straighter and forced himself to think of the consequences if he failed to get them together. Nothing like the thought of eternal hellfire to snap things back into focus.
“No, you don’t have to pick me up,” Cora said. “I can catch my own—”
“Actually,” Liam interrupted. “If there will be a lot of drinking going on, it seems like a good idea.”
Finn sat up straighter, looking as if Liam had just granted him a knighthood.
“What about you?” she asked Liam.
He paused, then forced out, “I nominate Finn our designated driver.”
“That’s great,” Finn blurted. He looked grateful just to be included. “No problem, at all.”
“It’s settled, then,” Liam said flatly. Conflicted, he leaned back in the booth and crossed his arms. He had no desire to go to that gala in a penguin suit, but if he was supposed to get Cora and Finn together, it seemed like the easiest way to do it. Part of him felt a smug sense of satisfaction at the way he’d maneuvered things. The angels couldn’t have missed that. Extra halo points for him, surely. But a larger part of him was annoyed beyond reason that Cora was going to be going anywhere with Finn. He let out a frustrated groan. This was madness.
