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“Thank you,” I murmured.
“I wish I could make all of the horrible things that have happened the past few weeks go away for you, Duchess.” Bones’ gaze met mine. “But I can’t. All I can do is be here for you.”
He brought my hand to his lips and kissed the back of it.
The limousine pulled up to the entrance of The Danbury Hotel.
“You ready, Duchess?” Bones asked.
“Yeah.”
He got out first and beat the driver around to my side and opened the door for me. He held out his hand to me and I took it.
His palm went to my waist as he guided me up into the hotel. Security stood at the hotel doors. Anyone not on the guest list wasn’t getting in.
The Danbury Hotel was smaller than The Rex by orders of magnitude, but I appreciated my mother’s attention to the warmth of the space. She was an immaculate party planner and moreover, she enjoyed doing it.
The intimate ballroom was all golden light and cream tablecloths. My mother held a glass of champagne and stood with Dina and Patrick.
Charlie was nowhere to be seen, but I knew she’d turn up eventually. A server passed by with a tray of salmon puffs. I was starving and I took one and popped it into my mouth.
“You almost lost a finger eating that thing so fast,” Bones said with a laugh.
“Rude.”
He draped an arm around my bare shoulder and pulled me into his side. “Let’s say hi to your mom, and then I need to find the bar.”
In fact, Bones didn’t need to find the bar, because a server approached him and took his drink order and brought it to him while we were talking.
He kept stealing glances at me, his hand tightening at my waist as he stood next to me.
“What?” I whispered.
“Nothing.”
“Not nothing. You keep looking at me like…”
“Like?” He raised his brows.
“Like you either want to get me into a coat closet or you’re worried about me.”
“Your mother would skin me alive if I disappeared with you for a while in a coat closet.” He took a sip of his drink. “How are you feeling? Physically, I mean.”
“Ah, so you are worried about me,” I said.
My mother and godparents had left us to speak to other friends, leaving me and Bones to have this conversation in the middle of ballroom.
“You barely ate all day. The last several days have been really stressful. I’m just concerned about you.”
“You mean you’re waiting for me to have one of my episodes.”
“Yeah, I am,” he admitted. “Sue me.”
“Bones…”
“I’ve tried not to smother you or hover,” he stated. “But, Jesus, Duchess. A lot of shit has gone down in the last two weeks. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
“Well, I’m not okay!” My voice had risen, and unfortunately that had drawn a few curious eyes. I flashed a socialite smile at them, hoping they couldn’t see my brittle expression.
