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too funny.
    My mother’s continued silence didn’t bother
me, but her focused way of watching me got my goat. Her profile
loomed in the corner of my eye at all times. Disgusted, I propped
one elbow on the table, my chin cupped in my hand. A perfect girly
grin displayed on my face in spite of the annoyance that hung its
noose around my neck. I turned toward Quinn to avoid the dragon’s
stare.
    “So, you two are really close friends,
right?” That was Julian’s attempt to break the ice.
    I would have much rather reached out to break my mother’s neck.
    Quinn bobbed his head, but I was equally
quick with a reply. “He’s my lover.” I jerked my chin in Charlene’s
direction. “She yours?”
    My mother sucked in a sharp breath and
clapped her hands to her mouth. Very amusing. Not quite so funny
was the kick against my shin coming from Quinn’s end.
    “Ah, fuck.” My startled laugh tore my unholy
curse to shreds.
    Julian was the only one who seemed utterly
untroubled by my assumption. He folded his arms on the table,
slowly leaning most of the weight of his upper body on his elbows.
His hard gaze pinned me. “You’d never believe just how close we
are.”
    Holy crap, why did everything he said sound
like the alluring purr of a leopard?
    I opened my mouth for a snappy retort, but
nothing whatsoever came out. For the first time in years, I was
dumbstruck.
    The waiter coming for our order was my
rescue. The dragon asked for water. That fit, maybe she could
extinguish the fire in her throat with it. Julian took a glass of
O.J., and Quinn ordered alcohol-free beer.
    “And what’ll it be for you, miss?”
    I lifted my gaze to the man dressed in a
white shirt and black pants. “Hm, I think I’ll take a tequila for
starters. Better make it a double. The night is long. There’s still
a lot to endure.”
    The cutlery on the table shook when Quinn
kicked my shin under the long cloth again. I yelped and cussed.
    He ordered a glass of Coke on my behalf, and
the waiter hurried off, shaking his head.
    “Are you all right?” Julian sounded
worried.
    “Perfectly fine,” I said through gritted
teeth, casting Quinn a sideways scowl. And here I’d thought he was
my friend. He probably couldn’t wait until I had to leave the
country.
    When everyone was set with their drinks,
Quinn leaned forward, addressing my mother. “So, France, it
is—where exactly are you going to take our little princess?” Even
through the sarcasm, his soft tone held a hint of regret, and he
cut a brief glance my way.
    My heart warmed. I could be sure he’d miss
me as much as I was going to miss him.
    “My sister lives in Provence . A place
called Fontvieille .”
    I’d heard the word Provence before, but the
last bit was a cryptic lull to me. Anyway, Charlene’s rambling
didn’t interest me at all. The folding of my napkin into a neat fan
distracted me easily enough. Squeezed in the middle, it looked like
a pleated bow. And when folded, it was the perfect resemblance of a
white cloak reflecting the light from above. Such as I had seen in
the courtroom this morning.
    The memory made me suck in a lungful of air.
I swallowed. My gaze wandered across the table and over the edge to
where Julian was leaning back in his chair with his fingers laced
over his stomach. My eyes traced the line of buttons on his white
shirt up to the collar. His strong jaw line came into view,
followed by the sensual shape of his upper lip. Before I knew it, I
was staring into his midnight-blue eyes.
    And he stared straight back at me.
    A jolt of surprise straightened my spine,
but he remained in his relaxed position, not moving a muscle. Was
he reading me? The unnerving tension between us grew quickly,
though he didn’t seem affected at all.
    “…The wine they produce earns them enough to
fund a high standard of life,” my mother’s ramblings drifted to me.
“My sister and her husband don’t have children, though they would
have loved to have a baby. They’re