Antonia stared at the buttons on his snowy, white shirt. “I didn’t run away,” she lied.
“What would you call it?” he asked.
“Surviving,” she said accidentally, wishing she could take back the word as soon as she spoke it.
“Surviving what?”
“You,” she said after a long pause.
Brett didn’t reply. His only response was to pull her closer.
Antonia couldn’t fight it. She relaxed into his embrace and enjoyed the sensation of being close to him again. After all the long nights of dreaming about him, the reality was so much more wonderful.
Brett took her back to their table after several dances and she asked him to get her a drink.
“What would you like?” he asked.
“Anything,” she said, feeling desperate. “Champagne is fine.” She intended to head home as soon as he left her, afraid of what he made her feel.
Brett nodded and turned to find a waiter. Once he was out of sight, she finally thought she could make her escape. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be right back,” she said to Sal.
Sal didn’t even look at her when he gently, but firmly, held her arm. “Stay for a moment.”
“Sal, I’m just going to the ladies room,” she said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.
“No you’re not. You’re going to try to slip out the door,” Thomas said as he came up to stand on her left side.
Antonia hadn’t heard him come up beside her, but that wasn’t unusual for Thomas. He was the more soft-spoken of all of them. “I am not,” she denied.
Carlos came up in front of her and shook his head. “Oh, no you don’t. Stick around, let’s see what happens,” he said, a huge grin on his face.
“I can’t believe what’s happening here!” Antonia said, shocked that her brothers were conspiring against her in this way. “Are you all willing to throw me to the wolves? Please, let me go. I can’t stay here.”
Sal’s grin was almost imperceptible, but Antonia saw it. “Not all the wolves – just one. He’ll be right back. Then he can escort you home if you still need to leave,” he said.
Antonia stood there in shock. “I can’t believe you would force me to stay in the company of a man I don’t like,” she said, furious with all of them.
Carlos laughed. “You certainly liked him when you showed him the hedges a few weeks ago.”
“And it looked as if you liked him out on the dance floor,” Giuseppe said, laughing and shaking his head as he took his place in their circle.
Antonia turned beet red. But she had no response. Instead, she stood there surrounded by her brothers, blocked on all sides by five huge men.
Brett finally returned with two glasses of champagne. As soon as he approached, the wall of men evaporated and she was left to look at Brett’s lazy smile as he handed her the glass of sparkling wine.
Antonia took the glass and downed the liquid. Then she handed the glass to Brett and took the other one, drinking the bubbly liquid quickly.
“Thanks,” was all she said.
He swallowed a laugh. She was outraged with her brothers, but they were doing his unspoken bidding. “Would you like to dance some more?”
“Yes,” she said grudgingly.
Brett nodded his thanks to her brothers without her knowing it as he led her back onto the dance floor. He didn’t even mind when she took another glass of champagne from a passing waiter, downed the liquid and set it on a table, all without losing step with him.
Out on the dance floor, he pulled the reluctant beauty into his arms, trying not to shake with laughter. He knew what she was doing. Since she couldn’t escape physically, she would try to escape mentally. But it wouldn’t work. He’d been trying it all week, and he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind.
God she felt good, he thought to himself. He knew the champagne was going to hit her hard and fast in a short time. So he reveled in the feeling of having her in his arms for the short time before he had to get her home.
He wondered if he’d finally learn where she lived now. It would be ironic if he could accomplish in one night what a private investigator had been unable to do for two whole weeks. That had been part of his frustration when he’d walked into the ballroom tonight. He hadn’t been able to find out anything about her. Not even her phone number. There wasn’t a listed or unlisted Antonia Attracelli anywhere in the Washington Metropolitan area.
Tonight, perhaps he’d get some information.
Two hours later, Brett felt her lean more heavily against him. They were standing in a small group of people talking about the weather and politics in general when Brett looked down to find that the champagne had finally hit. Instead of becoming drunk, she slowly started fading. He noticed the fatigue in her eyes and the relaxed stance.
Excusing them both from the group, he put an arm around Antonia’s waist and guided her back to her family. “I’m going to get her home. Could you hand me her shawl and purse?”
Sal obliged. Nodding at Brett, he watched the man guide his sister out of the ballroom and into the night. Oddly, he didn’t feel the slightest bit of anxiousness at the idea of his baby sister leaving with Hancock.
Thomas, Carlo, Michael and Giuseppe all moved closer to Sal, five sets of eyes watching as the tall man guided their sister out of the ballroom.
Thomas finally voiced what all of them were thinking. “Are you sure she’s safe with him?”
“She’s safe,” Sal said. “Hancock and I have an understanding.”
“What’s that?” Carlo asked. Sal looked at his four younger brothers. “If he hurts her, he deals with us.”
The other four men nodded in agreement, then turned back to the party, confident that Sal’s unspoken warning was enough to protect their little sister.
Brett handed a few bills to the valet, then picked Antonia up and carefully placed her in his car, knowing she was about to fall asleep. Coming around to the driver’s side, he worried that she was too far gone to give him directions to her house.
He pulled away down the street slightly, out of sight of the building and its current occupants. He then tried to wake Antonia up to ask her where she lived. When she just pushed his hands away, he gave up and took her purse off her shoulder. Looking at her driver’s license, he shook his head, not believing that she actually lived at the address on it.