Shadow Warrior (Shadow Riders 4)

She sent him a smoldering look of pure reproof, but she didn’t pull her hand away. She picked up her fork as well. She’d had a lot of practice eating with her nondominant hand and did so smoothly. She started to answer him, but she abruptly closed her mouth, pressing her lips together. He laughed. She retaliated by stroking caresses over his aching cock.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Emmanuelle’s gaze go in the direction of the Saldi table. Immediately, his sister looked away, her color rising just a little as if she couldn’t control it. Elie picked up her hand and began absently playing with her fingers.

Vittorio gazed directly at Val, hoping to warn him off with a look. Val was watching Elie’s fingers moving over Emme’s with a look of something close to pain. He started to rise, and the woman seated next to him put her hand on his arm and leaned in, her breast resting on his arm as she whispered in his ear. Val didn’t turn to look at her, he kept watching Emmanuelle and Elie and now there was anger.

Elie wasn’t overdoing his part. He didn’t kiss Emmanuelle or act as if they were intimate lovers; rather, he acted like a man extremely interested in the woman he was with. Val wasn’t doing either with the woman he’d brought. He was acting like a jealous ex-lover who wasn’t about to let his woman get away without a fight—and that worried Vittorio.

He shot a look at his brothers. All of them had noted Val’s expression. Normally, Valentino Saldi wore an expressionless mask, or he looked cool under fire. He wasn’t a man to show emotion, but he made it clear he didn’t like another man near Emmanuelle and he didn’t much care who was observing him.

Trouble was coming, and they all needed to be ready for it. Grace was up and handling all kinds of details. Vittorio stayed at her side, but kept silent, watching her work, admiring her skills in fixing every problem that came up.

Throughout dinner and the auction, where Vittorio dumped a ton of money, reports came in continually. No one had seen Haydon Phillips. Ricco and Mariko were with Francesca and Stefano at the penthouse, along with their cousins. Lucca, Gino and Salvatore had come at their call, just as always. Even though all of them were trained shadow riders and should be able to adequately protect Francesca, Vittorio didn’t like the fact that he wasn’t there as well.

Haydon should have made his move by now if he was going after Grace. Grace had spent the first couple of hours going from the kitchen to the ballroom to the patio, ensuring everything was perfect. She walked without an escort on several occasions, although bodyguards were close. Vittorio joined her only after she signaled that she had gotten most of her work well under hand.

During the time when Grace was doing her job, no one had spotted anyone who even was a possible for Phillips. While he was glad that Phillips had stayed away from Grace’s function, it meant that the odds of him attacking Francesca had gone up. That didn’t mean that they would be less alert at the Midnight Madness event; in fact, Vittorio wanted his security force to double their vigilance.

With dinner and the auction over, the dancing started again. Grace glanced down at her phone and whispered to Vittorio she needed to check in with Katie. She had to make certain everything was functioning properly in the kitchen. He turned to go with her when there was a disturbance behind him. Catching her arm to prevent her from leaving, he turned back.

Val Saldi came up behind Emmanuelle the moment Elie stepped away from her to check in with Emilio to see where he was to be stationed. Grace was the prime target and Vittorio wanted the bodyguards positioned heaviest around her, but Phillips had made it clear he would kill any of the people helping her or befriending her. Emilio, as head of security, had a different view. Riders were always their first priority. Vittorio and his family were number one on that list.

Val caught Emmanuelle’s arm, pulling her to a halt. “I want to talk to you.”

“That’s not going to happen.” Emmanuelle’s chin went up and she tugged gently at her arm but refused to make a scene by yanking it away. “Let go, Val. I think I made myself more than clear.”

“This isn’t just about us anymore,” he hissed. “Don’t you see what’s happening?”

Vittorio let Grace slip out of his grasp, but he glanced at Eloisa. She nodded and shadowed Grace as his woman hurried toward the kitchen. “Valentino, let go of her.”

Taviano gently put Anne to one side. Giovanni did the same with Sasha. Sasha slipped her arm around Anne’s waist. The two women stepped back at Sasha’s urging, to give the men more room as Val’s bodyguards moved into position to defend their boss.