He hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours, but that had nothing to do with his reaction to her. “I’m wide-awake. Though she does belong in a dream. She looks like she’s just stepped out of a fairy tale.”
Richard’s incredulity surpassed his. “You’re serious?”
“I am. I...”
His thoughts stalled. She’d started walking into the ballroom, but her uncertain steps, her darting eyes and the way she fiddled with the long chain of her purse revealed her discomfort. Everything about her unconscious grace and reluctant demeanor made something rev behind his sternum. It intensified with her every step until he had to rub the heel of his hand against it.
“How could this be real?”
“It isn’t.”
Richard’s response startled him. He hadn’t realized he’d spoken out loud. “How can you say that?”
“I can because she’s just another pretty blonde.”
He looked at his friend as if he’d grown a third eye. “She’s not blonde. Are you even talking about the same woman?”
Richard seemed about to argue, then changed his mind. “Whatever. Just go initiate your incursion.”
“It won’t be an incursion. I will approach her with utmost finesse.”
Richard frowned. “I’m talking about Ferreira.”
“Forget Ferreira. I’ll...”
Rafael stopped as he realized something. He couldn’t approach her. He’d been scrupulous about keeping any photos of himself out of the media. But if anyone knew what he looked like, they were down there at the ball. He didn’t want to risk anyone recognizing him, not now that he’d decided against making an appearance. This evening had suddenly become all about establishing contact with this magical being.
He turned to Richard. “Cobra, bring her to me.”
His former handler blinked. “What’s wrong with you, Numbers? You’ve never reacted to a woman like this before.”
“She’s not just ‘a woman.’”
Richard snorted. “Oh, yes, that’s right. She just slithered out of a fairy tale.”
Rafael gritted his teeth, impatience shooting through him. “Just go down and get her up here.”
“You want me—the man famed for putting people at such ease—to approach a woman I don’t know and command her to come with me...to meet another man she doesn’t know? A man who currently looks deranged? You expect this fairy being to be a total moron, too?”
Richard’s derision tripped some still functioning logic circuits. That scenario did seem implausible.
But he had to get that woman alone.
Suddenly, another idea came to him. “I’ll go down with you and stand outside the ballroom. You just get her to me. I’ll take it from there.”
“I’m your protector, not your pimp, Numbers.”
“Oh, shut up. And move it.”
With one last glance as if to a madman, Richard turned and headed downstairs. Rafael dogged his steps, scenarios crowding in his overheated imagination.
What if this excitement fizzled out once he saw her up close? Worse, what if it didn’t...but she didn’t reciprocate it? Or what if she was interested, but like all other women, her attraction was based purely on his looks, wealth and power? Worst of all, what if she was already taken?
No. This last possibility he categorically rejected.
She wasn’t taken. He just knew it.