"He just came in,"
Harold informed her.
"Something told me the boy wasn"t as foolish as you"d have me
believe."
"You"re misinterpreting his presence here,"
she said shakily.
She tore her gaze from Macauley with effort.
"He hates loose ends, that"s all."
She should have known that he wouldn"t be so callous as to leave
without a word.
He wasn"t a coward.
He"d see this through to its inevitable, heart-aching conclusion.
"We shall see,"
the man said cryptically.
"We shall see. Would you mind excusing me for a moment, Raine?"
She nodded, but her eyes had already moved back to Macauley.
He was standing in front of one of her paintings, his hands in his
pockets, his eyes narrowed in concentration.
She wondered what he saw there, and what he was feeling.
She wondered why he was here.
Not attempting to resist the invisible magnetism of his presence, she
began to make her way through the crowd toward him.
She was stopped frequently by guests who recognized her and wanted to congratulate her on the showing.
Before she was halfway across the room, Greg came to her side and said
in an undertone, "Andre wants to see you in the office."
She glan .
cq.
d at him, then toward the office.
"All right,"
she said reluctantly.
Casting one last glance toward Macauley, she was shocked to see his ice
blue gaze trained on her.
His face was brooding, and he was studying her with the same intensity he"d given her paintings.
For an instant, she was helpless to move.
She was dimly aware that all her yearning was present on her face, for
his hardened in response.
"Raine, he asked that you come now,"
Greg insisted.
He succeeded in capturing her attention, and the contact was broken.
When she glanced over her shoulder as Greg led her away, her view ofMacauley was obscured by the crowd of people. AS he watched Winters lead her away, Mac was aware of a surge of primal emotion.
He didn"t like to see Greg put his hands on her.
It wouldn"t have made any difference who it was.
He was primitively aware that he didn"t want to see any other man
touching Raine.
She"d looked almost unrecognizable dressed as she was tonight.
He knew.
she was more comfortable in blue jeans and T-shirts than in the short,
glittery red dress she was wearing tonight.
But he couldn"t deny the effect she had on him when he saw her wearingit. h.e.l.l, if he was honest, she had a similar effect on him no matter what she wore.
Or didn"t wear.
Bonzer had called the house earlier today and talked to Mac before he"d
spoken to Raine.
Mac had agreed to the idea of the limo.
Surely Raine would be as safe in that as it was possible to be,
especially since the older man had promised to send his own driver.
There was really no reason for Mac to be here tonight.
Burnett was in custody; Ralne was no longer in danger, There had been a
million details to tie up at her place today.
But he couldn"t stay away.
He"d tried to rationalize to himself that things just didn"t feel right
to him yet.
Despite Burnett being safely behind bars, there was still the fact that the man had an alibi for each and every time someone had physically threatened Raine.
If Ramirez and Trey were right, and some of Burnett"s friends wereresponsible for carrying out the more physical threats, Raine couldpossibly still be in danger.
Who knew where those culprits were right now?
At least, that was the tea son he"d given himself for not moving out of her house tonight, instead coming here.
But once he"d seen her again, he"d known he"d lied.
Whatever had pulled him here had nothing to do with her safety and
everything to do with the power she had over him.
He couldn"t let go, that was the truth.
And the h.e.l.l of it was, despite her earlier declaration of love, she
was giving every indication of a woman who was willing to allow him to
go.
She hadn"t sought him out today, though she must have seen the men loading his things into the van.
She hadn"t begged and she hadn"t pushed.
She"d stood back and let him make his own decision.
d.a.m.ned if he"d ever thought there"d come a day when he"d want a woman