Page 93 of Moonlit Colorado

Vincent shoved Lexi, and she went sprawling on the carpet. He turned fully toward me. “You’re brave, I’ll give you that. But you’re also very fucking stupid.”

He started toward me. I walked backward, still holding up my phone, then realized that I had to get out of here. Shit. Okay, maybe this hadn’t been the best idea.

I pivoted and ran.

A vise-like grip landed on my shoulder, spinning me and pushing me up against the wall so hard I felt my insides rattle. Vincent was in my face, pure malice bleeding from his gaze. “I remember you. You helped Nina get away that night.”

“What? No, I?—”

“I’d planned to let that go. But you should’ve kept your nose where it belonged. Out of my business.”

I sucked in a breath to scream. But a blow landed to my chest, robbing my lungs of air. Then Vincent’s fist lashed out again, and pain exploded across my nose before my vision went dark.

TWENTY-SEVEN

Dane

This so-calledbusiness meeting was a farce. My father didn’t actually want me to talk, just to stand here like some kind of show pony.

But you know what? I was going with it.

If I could smile and shake the hand of Kip’s new father-in-law and make this all go faster, then I was willing to do it. I could be nice.

I just wanted to get back to Grace so we could enjoy the rest of our evening together.

After my father released me, I went looking for Grace. But she wasn’t by the bar or mingling with the other guests at cocktail hour. I tried the dining room, where the staff was still putting the finishing touches on the tables before dinner.

Grace wasn’t there either.

But I spotted Ainsley on her phone in a quiet corner of the patio, like she was avoiding her family responsibilities as much as I wanted to. I went over to her. “Enjoying your duties as maid of honor?”

Ainsley put her phone away, rolling her eyes but not bothering to look guilty. “Bristol is always a lot, but on her wedding day? Bridezilla doesn’t even cover it. She and Kip are off somewhere, so I made my escape.”

I chuckled. “I was just roped into a talk about our fathers’ potential hotel deal. The excitement never ends.”

“If only our parents would leave us out of it.” She crossed her arms over her bridesmaid dress. It was plain black, since Bristol and Kip had gone with a black-and-white theme. “I didn’t get the chance to apologize for our fathers’ scheming about you and me being an item.”

I shrugged. “Par for the course. I didn’t let it get to me, and it sounds like you’re the same.”

She laughed. “I’m just grateful your date didn’t hate me over that whole thing. Not like you need my approval, but I like her.”

I smiled fondly. “I like Grace too. A lot. I was just looking for her, actually. Last place I can think of to check is the ladies’ room. Not exactly my turf, though.”

Ainsley set her empty champagne flute on a waiter’s passing tray. “I can check the bathroom for you. I’m all for a strategic alliance. Even if it’s not the one our fathers were plotting, heaven forbid.”

We passed through the maze of wedding guests guzzling free booze and eating hors d’oeuvres.

“Have you noticed all the plotting that Kip and Bristol have been doing lately?” Ainsley said when no one else was in earshot. “It’s painful to watch. They think they’re so subtle.”

I tensed. “What exactly do you think they’re up to?”

“Pretty sure it’s something to do with the hotel partnership. But more than anything, cutting you and me out of things.”

That tracked. Yet I couldn’t understand my brother’s latest tactics, and I wondered if Ainsley had any insights there. “Do you know a guy named Dirk Lancaster, by any chance? An investor in one of Kip’s projects.”

We paused by a sitting area just outside the women’s restroom. There was no one else here, so it was safe enough to talk. “Lancaster?” Ainsley asked. “Sure. Bristol knew him before Kip did, though. She’s the one who introduced them.”

Now that was interesting. “What about a woman named Nina Jamison?”

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