Page 50 of Idaho

"Idaho," Eva admonished, with shock written all over her face. "What's wrong with you?"

"Getting you a new pancake," I rumbled, glaring at Toxic.

The man just gave me a lazy smile. "Something wrong, Brother?"

"You're in my way."

Toxic chuckled and stepped to the side. "I'm going to grab some food. Be back in a few."

He walked away and I ignored everyone else as I went back and scooped the cold pancake off her plate, replacing it with a new one. By the time she and Thomas got back to where I was standing, the line was gone and everyone besides our brothers were outside eating.

"Is everything okay?" Eva asked, her eyes searching mine.

"Fine," I snapped. "Go outside with the others and eat while everything's still warm."

"So bossy," she teased. "Come on, Thomas."

It took all my willpower to stand still and watch her leave with her bodyguard. It didn't matter that she told me he was married, or that he had kids. It didn't matter that I was the one who'd invited him here. I knew it would make her day, so I figured it was worth it.

"What was that he was saying about not being interested?" Static asked the room.

My brothers were all staring at me with taunting grins on their faces. I bit back my own, unwilling to give in to their razzing. I tossed pancakes on the last few paper plates lined up in front of me. These were our plates. Now that everyone had been fed, we'd take ours out and join them.

CHAPTER 18

Eva

The next afternoon, I was staring out the window, marveling at the sunny cool day. It would be snowing back home by now. It was close to it when I left, so I knew my family was having a white Christmas. The sun was shining here, with not a speck of moisture on the horizon.

The phone I was holding buzzed in my hand. Thomas had told me yesterday that he'd be calling today. "Hello?"

"Good afternoon, Eva."

"Hi, Thomas. What did you find out?" The day after the attack, he'd run a background check on Idaho. He used a company that had ties to my father, so they were willing to get him the information immediately.

"He wasn't lying about being in the special forces. He also wasn't lying about being a businessman. His company has its fingers in a lot of different pies and one thing he wouldn't be after would be money. He has plenty of that. His net worth ranges in the tens of millions. Possibly in the hundreds of millions, though it's hard to calculate."

Sighing, I rubbed my fingers on my right temple. I wasn't sure I wanted to know all this. At least, not from Thomas. But he already ran Idaho and it would be stupid of me to stick my head in the sand. "Anything else?"

"There is one odd thing. Most of his wealth is tied up in ownership of other companies. Not that he doesn't have plenty he could liquidate. He keeps enough to live, and live well by most standards, but he doesn't have millions just sitting in his bank account."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure, but it seems that he's less interested in actual money and more interested in business dealings."

"Strange. I'll have to think about that. Any legal troubles?"

"No real criminal record. Our guy wasn't able to find anything incriminating. Looks like he checks out."

I already knew he would. After only a couple days of being here, I knew I was safe. The trust I had in him was probably naive, but it was there. "Thank you, Thomas."

"I'll see you after the holidays, Eva."

Hanging up the phone, I pushed the guilt down. Idaho told us flat out that he was going to be looking into both of us. Running background checks was just the first step of that. It was only fair that we do the same. Still, I wish I'd asked him about himself first. Only, we couldn't seem to stay in the same room, alone, for long periods of time without either kissing or fighting.

"You almost ready, Duchess?"

Wiping all emotion off my face, I turned and nodded. "Yes." I was in a dress and heels, since the Christmas Eve dinner was going to be inside the clubhouse. The guys spent all day moving furniture aside so tables could be set up for everyone. My dress was red, skimming close to my body and my waist, then flaring out to just above my knees. It was a father-approved outfit, so the neckline went up to my collarbone before streaking over to the little cap sleeves.