Vanc

tom sensation of that kiss hung in the ai

e hung off Marcus's arm. She shot me glances full of

s clutching a grenade wit

st. The air in the ballroom had bec

aight to Th

stay. T

ketches. The blueprints for the safe house. The detai

before I disap

The staff were either still at th

dor, moving like a ghost toward

ic

ze mi

private study was ajar, a sliver of

alm veneer cracking. "You kissed her on stage. In front of the Vances. That i

aped against my nerves. "Ellie isn't going anywhere, Tom. She's entirely de

retty done to

of crystal against glass. He was drinking. "She's playing hard to

ainst the cold wall,

shredded heart-it was

humiliation...

lately. I humiliate her, she hits rock bottom, and she realizes she has nowhere else to go. Then,

turned over

lueprint. A calculated architectur

zy?" To

artyr," Marcus drawled. "But Ellie is the wife. She's the furniture. You d

nit

hung in t

ad to Marcus Thorne snapped. It didn't hurt. There wa

just.

for ever loving a man who saw me as nothing more than

nd ran to

my portfolio. I needed the blueprints for the

drafting table, ro

somew

un a

me. He was still wearing his tuxedo, tie undone, loo

, his dark eyes scanning t

inst a stack of books. "How dramatic. Where

tched the paper I was

d at the title block. "Pro

usion clouding his arrogance. "Y

epping forward. My voice wa

your little fantasy? You think you're

ds as if to rip

think.

y that shocked us both. I clutched it to my chest

, vibrating with a rage I had suppressed for thr

stare

te-knuckled around the pap

ht, he didn't see a pawn

for the first time, he realized he