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home.”
    â€œOh, no!” Peter moaned. “I’ve just got here. Took me half an hour to get through the door with all these people. Say, Haddon, do you know just how many women are eyeballing you?”
    â€œHe’s used to it,” Tori answered, sounding disgusted.
    â€œCould you make it a half-hour?” Peter pleaded. “Come on, Haddon, relax. I wanna dance with Vicki.”
    â€œI’m sure you’ll find another dancing partner, Peter,” Haddo said pleasantly, taking Tori’s slender arm. “Tori always puts her grandmother first. It’s one of the reasons we all love her to bits.”
    Peter realised immediately his pleas would do no good at all. The cattle baron meant what he said. “Night, Vicki!” Peter called mournfully, watching the crowd automatically fall back to make a path for the big guy. There were lots of men in the room multimillionaires—his own dad was one—but none hadRushford’s presence. He supposed it was the man-of-action stuff, the hero figure. Peter spent a fortune on fake tan. Rushford’s was real. Good thing he was Vicki’s cousin. Honestly, no other guy would be in any race with the cattle baron for a rival.
    â€œWhy am I supposed to do what you tell me?” Tori asked wrathfully, aware of Haddo’s impact on the room and not liking it one bit.
    â€œLeaving early, Vicki?” Mimi Holland separated herself from the crowd, lamenting. She was unable to take her eyes off the drop-dead gorgeous man with the skinny heiress. Who was he? From the expression on Vicki’s face, he was no fun at all—gorgeous as he was. Mimi didn’t believe that for a moment. This was a seriously sexy guy. God, she should have found out his name.
    â€œThat was Mimi Holland,” Tori told Haddo sharply.
    He nodded. “I believe we met briefly.”
    â€œYou’re not normal at all, are you? Most guys would leap at the chance of hooking up with Mimi.”
    â€œReally?” Haddo sounded dubious. “You can’t enjoy this sort of thing, surely?” he asked, looking at the couples dancing with single-minded abandon, some of them kissing, others looking as if they urgently needed a private room.
    â€œAgain, most people would kill for an invitation.”
    â€œGood God!” he exclaimed. “Wouldn’t they be better off working out at a gym?”
    â€œFunny,” she said tartly. “I have to say goodnight to my hosts.”
    â€œOf course you do. Good manners get one smoothly through life. I’ll come with you. I just can’t imagine how your hosts got to be so notorious, can you?”
    Â 
    They were moving out into the star-spangled night when Haddo suddenly said, “Where’s your coat? It’s cold with the breeze off the water.”
    â€œI don’t feel it,” she said briskly, trying to sound as tough asnails. She had been driven right up to the door in an air-conditioned Rolls. She hadn’t wanted a top coat to spoil her appearance.
    â€œOh, for God’s sake, Tori.” He tutted. “You never used to be so vain.” He stripped off his leather jacket and held it cape-like for her to slip on.
    â€œI don’t want that,” she said, almost fearfully, as though to wear something of his would be dangerous.
    â€œPut it on.”
    No mistaking that for an order. She did as she was told. His jacket enveloped her, and then some. How foolish she had been to accept it. Instantly the warmth of his body hit her, rocking her to her wounded heart. His male scent was so familiar it gave her the most piercing sensation of intimacy. Her limbs lost their strength. It always happened when she and Haddo were together. Why was that? She had the dismal notion she was about to topple over. To counteract the peculiar feeling she slowed her steps, uncharacteristically awkward in her silver stilettos.
    He took her arm, steadying her. “You’re lost in