“Of course he did,” muttered Danton. “I’m surprised he didn’t do it sooner.”
A snort popped out of me. “Jorge would only ever send a woman to do a man’s job if he felt that he had no other recourse. In his view, Teresa is useless. Just a pretty bauble. I think he’d have actually resented her if she’d managed to convince me to leave with her and speak to him. He first attempted to talk with me by having Marcos call me earlier on his behalf.”
Danton tensed, and his grip on my hips tightened. “Marcos called you? And you answered?”
“I didn’t know it was him. ‘Private Number’ came up on the screen. I thought it was an author I work with, so I answered. I hung up when I realized it was him.”
“What exactly did he say?”
“I can’t remember word for word. Something like, ‘Cat, don’t hang up, your father asked me to call you.’ But, of course, I hung up.”
A muscle in Danton’s cheek flexed. “You should have told me.”
“I just did.”
“I should have learned of this the moment after you rang off.”
“Why? What difference does it make if you learned of it now rather than earlier? The call lasted a few seconds. There were no threats or insults. No follow-up calls, texts, or voicemails. It was a pretty uneventful incident. And come on, it can’t have surprised you. You had to have known that Jorge would try reaching me via others.” I fingered one of his shirt buttons. “Would you like to know what my mother said?”
“Go on,” he replied, a bite to his voice.
“My father and Julian told her that they believe Cory didn’t receive any text message ordering him to target me; that you made that up to turn me against my family. They wanted her to ask me to leave with her, but she didn’t. She doesn’t feel able to trust that they’re as innocent as they claim to be. She feels I’m safer with you.”
“She’s right,” said Danton, sliding a hand up my back.
I splayed my hands on his chest. “She told me something else.”
“What?”
“Apparently, Jorge knew before you walked into his study and staked a claim on me that you and I had a casualarrangement. He hadn’t known how long it had been going on, or exactly how casual it was. So he tested the waters.”
Danton’s eyes narrowed. “He told you to go on a date with another man to see what I’d do.”
“Yes. He supposedly thought that it would put him in a position of power over you if it turned out that you wished to claim his daughter. Only you didn’t go to his home offering an olive branch, nor did you agree to become business chums with him. He’s therefore not prepared to let you keep something of his.”
Dark, piercing eyes blazed down at me. “You’re mine to keep. Not his.”
“But that’s not the way he sees it. Pride won’t let him back down.” I sighed. “He’s goddamn exhausting.”
Danton stroked a hand down my hair. “How you’re you when you grew up in that fucking nest of vipers, I don’t know.”
“Please tell me you’re not going to declare that you’re no longer in the mood to go to the Vault tonight.”
Danton’s face softened. “He doesn’t have that kind of power over my emotions, baby. He’d have to do a lot worse than this to spoil our evening.” He dipped his head and took my mouth in a slow, lazy kiss that curled my toes. “Forget about him for tonight. Give him no headspace. That’s an order.”
I lazily saluted him, saying, “One I’m happy to follow.”
He gave a pleased grunt and ghosted a hand down my side to bunch up the skirt of my dress. “I want this off the moment we enter the private room I booked for us.” He brushed his mouth over mine. “Dolls look pretty in dresses, but mine looks better naked.”
I felt my lips twitch. “Which room have you booked?”
“One we haven’t used yet.”
That made my brows shoot up. There weren’t many we hadn’t made use of. And there was a valid reason wehadn’tusedthem—they’d held no appeal. “Why would you book one that we’d vetoed?”
He squeezed my hip. “You’ll see. Now let’s go.”
Chapter Ten