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subscribe to an e-letter run by a colleague of mine named Talbot. He compiles financial advice and sends it out each week to a very exclusive mailing list. He charges a huge subscription fee, so only the truly wealthy can get it, but his advice is extraordinarily good, which means they pay him happily. Send me copies of all your spreadsheets and screenshots, and also your latest predictions. Let me look at them, and then, if they look as good as they sound, I’ll put him in touch with you.”
    “And he’d, like, pay me?”
    “He’d offer you a fee to provide your information solely to him. It wouldn’t be enough to retire on, but it would mean some money each week while you build up your new career as an event planner.”
    Aurelia sighed, smiled, then jumped up to hug Ormonde. “Thank you. Even if he doesn’t want me, at least I know now that someone might. Thank you for helping me. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have come into contact with you.”
    “Same goes, hon. Same goes. I’d never have dreamed I’d be having a commitment ceremony with the two men I love so much before I met you.”
     
    * * * *
     
    Niall and Mas leaned against the wall in the function center, watching the colorful crowd swirl around them. But Mas knew Niall’s gaze, like his, was really following Aurelia as she glided through the groups, nodding to a server here, smiling at a guest there, never still, her gaze everywhere.
    “The most beautiful woman in the room,” Niall said softly.
    “I agree. But don’t let Kyryl hear you say that.”
    “He is built rather like a mountain, isn’t he?” said Niall.
    Mas looked across the room to where Ormonde, in a flowing gown of palest cream, stood flanked by Kyryl and Damon. As different as day and night, summer and winter, they stood beside her possessively. Both wore black tuxedos, with cream shirts and embroidered vests, but there the similarity ended. Kyryl was a huge blond man who towered over everyone in the room, his shoulders so broad Mas wondered how he fit in even a first class airplane seat. Aurelia had told him Kyryl travelled to Europe for work every month or so. Mas could only assume he had a private plane. The man’s head would be touching the roof on a regular airline.
    Damon was big, too, but big in an ordinary way. Likely six one or two, and all muscle. His hair was black, his skin olive, and his eyes dark. He gave off an aura of danger and naughtiness. Mas was willing to bet half the women in the room wanted him. The other half probably wanted Kyryl. It was no wonder Ormonde hadn’t been able to choose between them and had decided to accept them both.
    She was attractive, too, he admitted, but not the kind of woman who appealed to him. Aurelia was the one for whom his cock rose. It was Aurelia he wanted in his arms, in his bed. No one else, not even the intelligent and witty Ormonde.
    Mas felt Niall go on alert and quickly looked around the crowd. Was there some danger? Had the former marine sensed a problem? Nothing seemed to have changed. People were sitting or standing in groups, talking, drinking, or nibbling on canapés. It all looked exactly the same as it had five minutes ago to Mas. Then he saw Aurelia. A staggeringly handsome man was standing far too close to her, talking. The man’s gaze was fixed to her face, and she was smiling at him.
    Without a word, Mas nodded to Niall, and the two of them made their way between the people to Aurelia. Silently, they settled themselves, one behind each of her shoulders, their attention on the man.
    Aurelia leaned back just an inch or so to brush her ass across them both, before turning her head and saying, “Mas, Niall, I want you to meet Peter Blake. He’s a friend of Ormonde’s. His company has just opened a new department, and he’ll be hiring more administration staff.”
    Peter nodded at Niall and Mas, but Mas couldn’t trust him. Peter’s eyes, a pale-blue, seemed cold and empty. It sounded crazy, even in his