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I push her against the wall. I’m two seconds from damning the consequences and ripping off her dress when the elevator doors open.
Thank fuck.
It’s the interruption I need.
I set her back on her feet. We’re on a secret basement level, a short walk away from a private parking space, where Tony is waiting. My voice is barely more than a guttural growl. “Go.”
It’s all I can say. I don’t manage an apology or an explanation.
Tell her I shouldn’t have done that, and it will never happen again.
Somehow my little assistant recovers quickly. “Right. Going.” She smooths her dress and glides away.
ChapterFifteen
Brick
I force myself to punch the button to make the elevator ascend. With every passing floor, my wolf howls louder. He doesn’t understand. We had our quarry in our arms. Why did we fail the hunt?
When I stride back into the ballroom, humans take one look at my face and scuttle aside, giving me a wide berth. The only one who broaches the invisible barrier is Eleanor Harrington.
She glances around, not bothering to hide her disappointment. “Did your lovely assistant leave?”
“You seem awfully interested in her,” I observe, without answering her question.
“So do you.”
Touché.
“She’s the best assistant I’ve had.” I’m not sure if I say it because I want the woman I strongly suspect is her paternal grandmother to know what she gave up, or if I’m trying to cover the fact that my interest goes beyond Madison’s role as my assistant. “I won’t let you poach her from me, so if you want to get to know her, I suggest you find another way.”
Eleanor’s startled expression is the only confirmation I require. I save her the trouble of a response and leave before she can ask what I think I know.
Across the ballroom, I meet Sully’s eye and tip my head. He meets me by the bar, and we walk a little closer to the kitchen, away from the guests.
“I need you to look into something,” I tell him. “Regarding Madison Evans.”
He nods. He scents Madison’s natural perfume on my suit. There are no secrets among a pack of wolves. They can smell everything. If I’m lucky, he’ll attribute it to our dance together and not our kiss.
“Is this about the background check Billy ordered?” he asks. “Because that’s complete.”
I stop and wheel to face him. “What’d you find?”
“She was accepted into several grad programs. Harvard, Yale, Princeton. But she took this job instead.”
“Didn’t have the money for grad school?”
“Possibly. But an anonymous donor covered her tuition all through prep school and college.”
“Right. Her father.” Sully tips his head, and I explain, “She told me her father was a wealthy man who knocked up her mother and left. The school funds were probably hush money.”
“That’s my guess. The donor was anonymous. I’m digging but haven’t been able to find anything on either the source of the funds or her father.”
“I might have a lead for you.” I take Eleanor Harrington’s card out of my pocket and hand it to him. Like me, the first thing Sully does is sniff it.
“A family connection?”
“Possibly.” Scent never lies.
