Wait. Since when was there a place to her right?
Her head came up. Yes, the table had been set for four. She was about to say something to David, when Luke arrived with two men as an escort. After the beating he gave the one goon, they weren’t taking chances with him. At least they hadn’t done him the indignity of binding his hands. But they were certainly not gentle as they manhandled him into the chair. He glared but said nothing, though it had to hurt where they’d gripped his arms.
You shouldn’t have tipped your hand so soon.
She couldn’t say the words out loud, though she wanted to. But could she really blame him? There was only so much rough treatment a person could take before you had to stand up for yourself.
Just wait... give me a little bit longer.
“Good morning,” Luke said, but made no move to touch or kiss her. His tone was chilly, as though last night had never happened. She flinched without meaning to, and found she was clenching and unclenching her fists in her lap.
What did you seriously expect? Did you think he’d fall into your arms or something? Dani’s chin came up. Fine. Let him be that way. She turned to give David a bright smile, but he only looked up at her with wounded eyes and said nothing at all. Oh, yay, it was going to be that kind of breakfast.
“Good morning,” Dani finally said to no one in particular, not sure where she stood with any of them.
Luke stared down the table to the empty place at its head. “So, we’re having a mystery dinner theater? We all try to figure out who gives a shit?”
“Not exactly,” Benny said as he strode into the room. The cook was obviously waiting for his arrival. As if cued, the door swung open and food began to arrive.
Luke had mentioned to Dani that he didn’t get a meal last night, so it was no surprise that he tore into breakfast like a man starved. In all likelihood, he was. Heaven knows they barely got to eat anything during all the wedding planning, even with so many dishes offered.
Dani looked with new appreciation at what was set out before her. Thick bacon, potato pancakes, cooked ham, fresh coffee with even fresher cream... the food was good, and there was plenty of it.
Or at least there was before the dishes made it to Luke’s end of the table. She snagged at a bowl of scrambled eggs as it shot past, barely managing to get any on her plate before Luke had the bowl and emptied the rest onto his ham. She scowled, and added the last pancake to her own plate before he could get that, too.
For a time her concentration was on eating. She found that she was hungry, too, as last night had worked up an appetite. After a time she darted a glance at Benny, who only looked at Luke with an expression of tolerant amusement and settled in to his food.
The four of them ate in silence for a time. As Luke reached for his third pancake from a platter newly restocked from the kitchen, Benny stood up and placed something in the middle of the table. Dani’s eyes crinkled in confusion. It was a portable digital recorder, the kind people used to dictate memos.
Benny made a flourish and a show of pressing a button.
Dani heard heavy breathing come from the little box and then her own voice. “I have a plan,” she said in the pause that followed; the sound of her fork hitting the plate echoed like a rifle shot. She ran a furtive glance at Luke. He was staring at his plate, with absolutely no expression on his face whatsoever. As if, somehow, he’d expected this.
“A plan for what?” Luke’s voice sounded from the recorder.
“To get us out of here,” Dani’s voice answered. “To get you to contact your...”
There was a long pause. Benny gestured with his fork like a priest blessing the recorder. “I’m assuming this is where the two of you kiss,” he said, “I edited the rest of the recording, as it’s not really pertinent to the discussion.”
Luke’s voice said something the recorder didn’t quite pick up. Dani remembered it perfectly. He’d warned her not to use names or to be too specific in case the guard was listening.
Dani had laughed. “If he was eavesdropping, he’s gotten his fill already. You were kinda loud. Okay, okay... I’ll be good.” Dani felt her face burning. She hadn’t thought she could be embarrassed, but hearing herself like this...
The recorded version of her continued, too loud, too self-confident. “I think I know a way to...”
I should have listened to him. Why do I always question every word he says?
Luke stood suddenly and brought his fist down. In his grip was a table knife. Nothing too sharp and by no means strong. Regardless, it went through the middle of the tape recorder, a puff of smoke rising from the wreckage.
So savage and sudden was his attack that Dani was on her feet before she realized it. The guards around them had drawn their sidearms and had them aimed at Luke. At least one had his gun cocked, and was ready to pull the trigger. David dove under the table with a cry of outrage and fear.
Benny reached for the butter. “So that’s what it takes to get under your skin?” he asked Luke as he smeared the butter on an English muffin. He added a spot of jam to it. “Or did you prefer decaf?” He looked at Luke innocently and tore a piece free with his teeth.
Dani couldn’t look at Luke. His face was red, not with embarrassment like hers was, but a suffused red, blood racing through his veins in a rage. He was shaking, his grip on the knife trembling in a fist white with the effort of holding it.
Dani marked her man. If it came to a fight, he would die. It was all she could be sure of. Sadly, they’d be killed before they could get to the doorway. There were just too many of them, and they were outgunned.
Luke slowly released his grip on the knife. It tipped over, falling like a dead tree, pulling the remains of the digital recorder with it.
He took a deep breath and faced the front of the table.
“I seem to be full,” he said, his voice flat. Expressionless. He turned and came face to face with his assigned bully-boy. The guard looked over Luke’s shoulder to Benny, who waved negligently. At Benny’s cue the thug moved aside, but Luke shot daggers of hate at the man before trudging back to the stairs, a child being sent to his room.
Dani dropped the napkin she hadn’t realize she’d been holding. “I think breakfast is over,” she said, rising also. Benny’s laughter followed her out of the room. They were freakin’ screwed. What the hell were they going to do?
Dani walked stiffly back to the room. She might have been the only one to fully realize how badly things had escalated. But to eavesdrop on their time together, to drag their lovemaking out on the breakfast table like that, was unforgivable. Whatever sympathy or fond recollections she had of her ‘uncle’ were killed this morning. She’d never been more embarrassed... or hurt... before in her life.