“Nonsense,” David interrupted, taking Elle by the elbow and gently pushing her forward. “The lady is stunning. Any more and she would blind us. And I don’t want to miss the opportunity to make such an entrance.”
She threw a fast glance backward, toward where Annie’s party was. Aunt Maggie had noticed them and was heading their way waving. James rushed behind her, but he wasn’t going to be able stop the old lady in time.
“Elle, here,” she heard Aunt Maggie call from the other side of the hallway, raising her voice.
“No need to powder my nose,” she hurried to say.
There was something in David’s touch that gave her the creeps, but hiding her apprehension, Elle smiled reassuringly and walked with him into the crowd, feeling Jack’s ominous presence behind her.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Jack kept his face inscrutable as his mind raced. Elle had been quick on the uptake, improvising like a pro, but the last place he wanted her in was that damn fund-raiser with Exxum and his people.
He was dying to rip Exxum’s hand off for touching her, but he tamped his fury down. He knew that bastard very well and such move would only spike his interest in her.
The second David let her elbow go to take the flutes of champagne the waiter was offering, Jack reached for Elle and brought her flush to him. She went eagerly, intertwined her fingers with his.
Jack smiled and gave her a kiss under the hollow of her ear. “Follow my cues,” he whispered discreetly.
“Can’t keep your hands off her, I see,” David commented with a laugh. “Not that I fault you. You, my dear, are astonishingly beautiful. What was your name?”
Shit. Before Jack could come up with an answer, Elle said with a smile, “Pet. He had me chipped when I wasn’t looking.”
David threw his head back and laughed while another waiter approached them with snacks.
“Do try,” David encouraged Elle. “I myself took care of ordering the catering from Luxury Delights. Best vegan products available. One hundred percent organic. Eating animals is so cruel and unnecessary.”
Right. The asshole couldn’t stomach eating an animal but didn’t give a rat’s ass about all the humans his businesses ruined.
Elle smiled and took a morsel.
David did too. “I don’t believe the jails of a nation tell how civilized a country is. It’s the way its people treat animals that shows their level of evolution. Having to organize fund-raisers to get animals off the streets already proves we are at the bottom of the barrel.”
“Alex, my love,” Marissa, one of Exxum’s harem, said, reaching for him.
“Hello, sweetheart,” Jack greeted, leaning to kiss the woman’s face. “As beautiful as ever.”
He could feel Elle’s stiffness and displeasure. She tried to pull her hand away from him, but he held onto it, keeping their fingers firmly intertwined.
“You need to save me a dance,” Marissa said, caressing the lapel of his tux. “Alex is such a good dancer.”
“Which reminds me,” Exxum interrupted, turning to Elle, “would you do me the immense honor of dancing with me? I know Alex; once he takes someone to the dance floor, he doesn’t let go.”
Used as he was not to be denied, David was already reaching for Elle when Jack stepped in.
Fuck it. He was getting her out of there.
“My pet. She dances with me,” he rumbled, pulling her by her hand.
He knew this was a bad move. This would spike the asshole’s interest, but he couldn’t do anything differently.
Once on the dance floor, he enveloped Elle in his arms, breathing her scent in, trying to calm down. She hugged him and placed her head on the crook of his neck.
“Anything to tell me, Alex?”
“You should have gone to powder your nose.”
She snorted softly. “Aunt Maggie was about to reach us. There was no time to argue. We didn’t have many options. What the hell is going on?”
As much as it pissed him off to admit it, she was right. Another minute and any number of people would have blown his cover to hell and back. David and his people didn’t take kindly to undercover operatives. Once his true identity was unveiled, the people closest to him would suffer the consequences. He couldn’t risk that. The whole Bowen clan, kiddies included, were there; no fucking way was he having their safety threatened. It was already bad enough that Elle was mixed up in this, with all these unscrupulous bastards pretending to be upstanding gentlemen.
“Who is David Exxum?” she insisted. “And why the hell do you speak Spanish like a native?”
Who was David Exxum? Nobody, just one of the biggest scumbags on the East Coast. Playboy and philanthropist in the public eye. Something much more sinister in private. Too bad the motherfucker was bulletproof, protected by the kind of armor that only money and fame provided.