A Prize Beyond Jewels

‘Mind your own damned—’

‘It is my business, Rafe,’ his brother cut in coldly. ‘Anything that affects Archangel is my business. And Gabriel’s too.’

‘This has nothing to do with Archangel.’

‘And what is “this”, precisely?’ Michael bit out softly. ‘What does Nina Palitov mean to you?’

‘None of your damned business.’

Michael gave an impatient sigh. ‘Does Palitov know about the two of you?’

‘There’s nothing to know.’

‘Does he know?’ Michael grated harshly.

Rafe’s jaw clenched. ‘Yes. But it’s already over between the two of us.’

‘Why?’ Michael’s brows rose.

‘Shouldn’t you just be pleased that it is rather than asking why it is?’

‘Not if it’s not what you want, no.’

Rafe’s brow cleared. ‘You know, Michael, you really do live behind a mask as much as I do.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Meaning that you hide your emotions behind that mask. Meaning that maybe our little brother getting married has got to you.’

‘As it’s got to you?’

Nina was what had ‘got to’ Rafe. Just Nina. And he still had no idea what he was going to do about it. About her.

‘Do you think he’s just lulling you into a false sense of security by showing up here this evening?’ Michael was staring across at Dmitri Palitov. ‘And that maybe he intends to set some of his bodyguards on you in a dark alley one night?’

‘I don’t know how I’ve survived all these years without a daily dose of your sunny disposition.’ Some of Rafe’s own normal good humour returned. ‘Let’s go and say hello to them—and perhaps later you could let me know if you still think he intends having me discreetly eliminated.’ He didn’t wait to see what else his brother had to say on the subject as he made his way through the crowded gallery to where Nina stood beside Dmitri’s wheelchair as Dmitri now chatted with several business acquaintances.

Nina found it slightly intimidating to have not one, but two, of the formidably handsome D’Angelo brothers bearing down on her. Or, to be strictly accurate, one of them was bearing down on her in that intimidating way; Michael D’Angelo’s attention was obviously more focused on her father.

But the D’Angelo brothers were without doubt the two most arrestingly handsome men here this evening, their perfectly tailored black evenings suits and snowy white shirts emphasising the width of their muscled shoulders and the lean strength of perfectly toned bodies. Rafe’s hair was a silky ebony curtain onto his shoulders, Michael’s hair as dark but styled much shorter, and revealing stark and arresting features dominated by obsidian-black eyes.

And she was deliberately delaying looking at Rafe by keeping her gaze fixed firmly on his austerely handsome older brother.

She knew she had good cause for that delay when she finally turned the coolness of her gaze on Rafe and saw the angry glitter in those predatory gold eyes, and a nerve pulsing in his tensely clenched jaw.

Predatory golden eyes that held Nina’s gaze captive as she distractedly acknowledged Michael D’Angelo’s formally polite greeting before he turned to shake her father’s hand with warmer familiarity. Rafe remained noticeably silent as he continued to look down at her with that piercing coldness.

What on earth was wrong with him? Admittedly the two of them had parted badly yesterday morning in his office, and they hadn’t spoken a single word to each other since, but did Rafe have to make the tension that now existed between the two of them so obvious to other people? To her father? To his brother?

His next actions would seem to confirm that he did.

‘If you will excuse us, gentleman, I just need to steal Nina from you for a few minutes,’ Rafe rasped determinedly, not waiting for either man to respond as he reached out and circled one of Nina’s wrists with steely fingers before he turned and walked in the direction of the gallery doorway.

Nina stumbled along beside him as she found it difficult to keep her balance in her four-inch-heeled shoes.

‘You’re making a scene again, Rafe!’ she hissed as she saw the curious glances being sent their way.

His eyes glittered dangerously as he spared her the briefest of glances. ‘Maybe you would rather I caused even more of a scene by pushing you up against the wall right here and taking you in front of everyone?’

‘Rafe!’ Nina wasn’t sure whether her breathless gasping of his name was in shocked outrage or aching longing for him to do just that.

She had a sinking feeling it was the latter.