A MAN CALLED BLUE by Sheedy EC

Author:Sheedy, EC [Sheedy, EC]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-06-19T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Dinner dragged on and on and...

Simone was seated next to Hallam at the head of the table. Blue was exactly—she counted—twelve place settings away, beside Shandra McQuaid. If Gus Hallam intended anything by putting Blue and her in rooms close together, he didn't carry the intention through to the dinner table.

She yawned discreetly behind her napkin, grateful Hallam's attention was taken by the woman on his other side. The guests intoned about the state of the economy, and the damage the currently ruling political party would ultimately do to their fortunes, then came: taxes, property values, taxes, unions, taxes...

The table hummed with colorless unanimity. Only Shandra McQuaid bubbled, seeming in a state of constant animation as she worked to keep Blue's attention fixed on her throughout dinner. Simone glanced down the table.

Did the woman never stop talking?

And did she need to touch his arm to punctuate every sentence?

She saw Blue smile at the attractive redhead, and a chasm opened in her stomach. It was as though he'd given Shandra something belonging to her—only to her. She pushed at the lone strawberry in her untouched dessert with a gold handled spoon. If Shandra captured Blue's interest, she told herself firmly, it was just as well. He would leave her alone, and she would get back to the business at hand, instead of wasting mental energy on a man easily capable of destroying her well-ordered life.

She risked another glance down the table. This time Blue's gaze collided with hers. When he smiled and gave her a bad boy wink, her well-ordered life took a direct hit to its bearing wall. He politely tilted his head toward the ever prattling Shandra, but his eyes never left Simone's. She dropped her gaze, suddenly intent on scooping that lonely strawberry into her dry-as-bone mouth.

* * *

"...Of course, I'd be happy to show you Blenheim Palace tomorrow. After that we could..."

Blue tried to return his attention to Shandra, but failed. Beside his gray-eyed tiger, his flame-haired dinner companion paled. It was Simone dominating his thoughts, she had since he'd kissed her some two hours before.

That kiss altered his universe. For the first time since he'd been shanghaied into this crazy upper-crust world, he was glad to be here, black tie and all. What began as an amusing, fixtureless pursuit of an attractive woman was now something quite different.

And that something had a name, Blue knew what it was, but couldn't say it—wouldn't say it—until he was sure, absolutely-without-a-doubt certain.

"Ladies, gentlemen, shall we move to the drawing room?" Hallam stood and offered his hand to Simone. She took it, and as she rose with him, he tucked it possessively under his arm to lead her through a pair of arched doors.

Blue's gut wrenched and coiled. That sleazy bas—

"Blue?" Shandra stood behind his chair with a frankly curious look. "You okay?"

"Fine," he ground out. "Just fine." He offered her his arm. "Shall we go?"

The thirty-odd guests assembled in the formal high-ceilinged room, and over brandy and coffee resumed their dinner topics.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.