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Disappointment burned before Bones stomped on it. Yes, Cat was still more concerned with her mum’s happiness than her own, but shehadbeen happy to see him. He hadn’t imagined that, even if she were now pretending that she didn’t know him as she took her place beside the other bridesmaids.
Nowhere to run, luv,Bones thought, letting his gaze slide over her.Unless you destroy your best mate’s wedding.
The Cat he knew would never do such a thing. Would this one?
“Don’t even think about the hottie,” the petite brunette bridesmaid whispered to Cat. “I call dibs.”
“Shut up,” Cat whispered back, her scent sharpening from the new sheen of sweat beading her upper lip. Her fingers also tightened on her bouquet until petals fell to the floor, and her body was so tense that her muscles must be screaming.
Bones barely noticed Denise descend the aisle. He only saw a flash of mahogany-colored hair and a lacey white dress out of the corner of his eye. Randy took Denise’s hand, and then the entire bridal party faced the justice of the peace.
Bones couldn’t look at Cat without being obvious, so he focused on her scent and the staccato tempo of her heartbeat as the justice began the ceremony. Both told him that she was the opposite of unaffected by him no matter that she pretended otherwise.
Anticipation lit his senses. He’d worked with far less. She’d hated everything about him when they first met, and he’d turned that into desire within mere weeks. Oh, what he couldn’t do with some denial and a dash of forbidden interest…
“Take the flowers,” the brunette bridesmaid hissed to Cat, kicking Cat’s shoe when Cat still didn’t move.
Cat stammered out an apology when she realized that Denise had been holding out her bouquet to her. Cat accepted it with a glance at Bones that she immediately dropped when he met her eyes. Then, Cat stared at Denise and Randy during the ring exchange as if she’d be struck by lightning if she looked away.
More anticipation crackled through Bones. These weren’t the actions of someone hardened into unrecognizable coldness by the brutality of the past several years. No, this washisKitten, trying to fake her way through being a bloody wreck.
“I now pronounce you man and wife,” the justice said several minutes later. “You may kiss the bride.”
Randy kissed Denise to the audience’s cheers, and then the two of them walked back up the aisle. Cat grabbed Phillip’s hand and nearly dragged him after them, ignoring Phillip’s yelp and his attempt to slow her down.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” Cat said. “Tell Noah not to wait for me. I’ll go straight to do the pictures afterward.”
Noah.The human boyfriend that Justina had been so smug about. Yes, he was here, and unbeknownst to Cat, Bones had already met him, not that Noah remembered.
Cat ran from Phillip as soon as they were clear of the stateroom. She even dropped her flowers in her haste. Bones slid into a corner and watched as a lanky, black-haired Caucasian bloke with lightly tanned skin and a chin dimple excused himself from Justina’s side and picked up the flowers.
“Where’s Cristine?” the man asked Philip.
“Ladies’ room,” Philip replied. “She said she’d meet you after she was done with the pictures.”
“Oh,” Noah said, his smile covering his disappointment.
Get used to waiting for her,Bones thought coldly.It’ll last the rest of your life.
Then, Bones slipped around the corner and followed Cat’s scent. It led to the far side of the clubhouse, past another ladies’ room that had been more conveniently located. The one Cat chose was next to a closed golf shop, with no one outside in the hallway, and it was empty except for one heartbeat.
Bones paused at the door. If Cat were faking the emotions he’d seen and scented, if she’d become the merciless killer that Don recruited her to be, he’d be walking into a trap. This would be the best way for her to lure him away and then slaughter him without anyone else noticing.
Sod it,he decided, opening the door.It wouldn’t be the first time she’d tried to kill him.
Bones entered the loo.
Cat sat on the floor between the sinks and the stalls. Her back was to the wall and her head was bent over her knees, hiding her expression. Her hands were likewise hidden beneath the folds of her lavender dress.
Bones was no stranger to her throwing skills. They were truly deadly. Was she concealing silver knives within the folds of her dress?
Time to find out.
“Hallo, Kitten.”
10
Cat’s head snapped up, revealing a perfectly scandalized expression. “God, Bones, this is the ladies’ room! You’re not supposed to be in here. What if someone sees?”
