Page 108 of Ireland

“Wouldn’t miss it for anything, Eva love. Like your mother, you know how to throw a party.”?

“Are we still on for lunch Wednesday?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t miss that, either.”

They hugged, and he left her, but the guests had once again moved closer to the stage. There were round tables that sat twelve, and everyone had a seat, but most chose to walk around or loiter by the bars. And when the auction was in progress, many chose to stand on the dance floor in front of the stage. Since that was where she was, Eva found herself hemmed in.There were many disadvantages to being short, and pushing her way through a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd was one of them.

“Hey, baby girl.”

Eva turned in relief at the sound of Cary’s voice. “Hey. Can you see where Gideon is?”

“I passed him on the way over. Let me tell you, the Red Seas parted for the look of mayhem on his face. Who pissed him off?” Cary looked as debonair as a classic Hollywood leading man in his Brioni tux.

“Ireland and that guy.” She pointed at Ronan as he crossed the stage. He cut a dashing figure dressed in a white dinner jacket over his black tuxedo slacks. His mask had elaborate curved horns like a ram or forest god, and when he drew abreast of Ireland in her towering stilettos, they were nearly eye to eye.

Cary whistled. “Saved the best for last, I see.”

The guests seemed to agree, especially when Ireland reached up and removed Ronan’s mask, revealing his stunningly handsome face. A tangible stir was felt. That Ronan only had eyes for Ireland was evident to all, and her returning stare was so heated with yearning that Eva winced thinking about Gideon seeing it.

“The sexual tension between those two is thicker than his hard-on,” Cary noted.?

“Not that you can tell from here,” Eva countered drily.?

“I refuse to fantasize a small cock on a man that gorgeous.”?

She shook her head and dug her phone out of her clutch to text Gideon, half-listening as Ireland relayed Ronan’s attributes to the crowd. She knew her husband was thinking of only one thing: the man was a convicted murderer who had designs on his sister.

Disaster seemed inevitable.

Ronan McCaffrey Boudreaux brought in the largest auction bid of all time: twenty-five thousand dollars. The winning bidder was a hotel heiress, and Ireland would’ve been outrageously, irrationally jealous if she’d had time to think about it. But she didn't have time to worry about anything beyond the next five minutes when she spotted her brother moving toward the stage with Chase, Raúl, and two hotel security guards.

“Come with me,” she said urgently, grabbing Ronan’s hand and pulling him to the wings.

He didn’t resist; instead, seemed completely happy to follow her and totally oblivious to the threats closing in around him. A confrontation with her brother was inevitable, but after avoiding Gideon’s calls all day, she knew he was already unhappy with her. Surely, there was a way to have him in a neutral mood, at the very least, before he met Ronan for the first time.

Frantic, she debated where to go. The security at the event was so tight she could hardly move without bumping into someone in either the hotel’s security uniform or someone in a black suit wearing an earpiece. She pushed through a door into an unfamiliar service hallway.

“Left or right?” she asked him curtly, indecisive in her panic.

“Right,” he answered smoothly as if nothing at all was wrong with anything.

Her heels clicked frantically as she rushed with no destination in mind. She flashed a smile when she spotted a hotel security guard standing in front of a service elevator. “Mind if we use that?” she asked sweetly.

“It’s to the mezzanine,” he replied, “which is closed.” Then his gaze narrowed briefly, then widened with recognition. “Sorry, Ms. Vidal. Go ahead.”

“Thanks.” She and Ronan stepped into the elevator. It had only one button to ascend the one floor and she pushed it repeatedly as if that would make the doors shut faster.

The service elevator was slower than the guest elevator, leaving her trapped in a small space with Ronan’s mouthwatering scent and even more mouthwatering body. She backed into the rear corner, but he followed, his gaze hot on her face.

“I can’t believe you just sold me,cher,” he drawled, his fingers brushing over her cheek in a tingling caress.

“You shouldn’t have come here. My brother is hunting you down now.”

“How else could I talk to you before the weekend?”

She groaned. “You’re not supposed to talk to me at all!”

He gave her a patient look as the doors opened. Pushing him out of the way, she exited the elevator and hurried to the railing, looking down at the guests below and searching for her brother and his goons.

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