Page 28 of Connor's Claim

I fucking hated how it burned.

Jumping up, I left him with a parting comment. “We have a plan and we’re sticking to it. Don’t second-guess it without something real to say.”

Mick sat in the operations office with Manny, the head of security and his line manager. Rows of monitors displayed security feeds behind the two men.

I threw myself into a sturdy seat. “Everly’s upset. I want to know why.”

Mick inclined his head. “I was just debriefing Manny on everything. Like I told you, Miss Makepeace was fine until the speech. Midway through, she faltered then recovered. After that, it was like she was working on autopilot.”

“Talk me through everything from the setup to your take on the peanut gallery watching her.”

Mick gave me a blow-by-blow of all he’d seen. For a man who was ready with his fists, he made a good spy.

Everly’s speech was the problem. Her glance at the in-ear headphones was another clue.

Pretty quickly, I had an idea of how to tackle her.

And on repeat, I stormed back upstairs, telling myself it was only for the purpose of keeping her safe.

Chapter 11

Everly

With an aggressive click of the mouse, I proofed the last of the minutes that the admin team had sent through at the end of the conference then emailed it out to all attendees and sat back, the bulk of today’s work done. Closing my laptop, I clocked off at a reasonable hour for the first time in forever.

If I’d stayed in Town Hall, I would’ve found endless more things to do, and I could almost have thanked Connor for pulling me out. I doubted he’d be glad for me, though.

The room had darkened around me. Outside the living room’s big arched window that matched the one in the bedroom, the already-set sun infused the clouds in a dying breath of deep oranges and reds, and I drifted over and stared out. The familiar city lights were on, from the rows of houses that lined the hill to the left to the office buildings in town ahead.

I took a breath, trying to shake the horrible feelings I’d carried all day since overhearing the men critique my body. Thismorning, I’d felt sexy for the first time in forever. Connor had made me feel that way, then the floaty feeling had been shredded with casual, cruel ease.

The door opened behind me, but I didn’t turn.

Instead, I tracked Connor as he moved across the room, stalking me, until the hackles on the back of my neck rose. Then he was right behind me, his breath stirring my hair where he towered over me. One of his tattooed hands braced the brick arch. The other took hold of one of my curls.

He twisted it around his finger. “Ye were upset by a comment someone made about ye.”

I spun around, blinking up at him. “How do you know that?”

The conference’s audio feed was only available to the people mic’d up. The only way Mick could have known was if one of the councillors had been overheard.

I clamped my hand to my mouth in realisation that I’d been the subject of idle chat in the room. I’d been wrong. People had been aware. Someone had spread that, all while I was ignorant of it.

Hot tears stung my eyes again. I pushed past Connor and made for his bedroom.

He caught my wrist. “Stop.”

“Leave me alone.”

“No. Tell me exactly what happened.”

I shook him off and gasped in a breath. “I’m sure Mick’s already given you all you need for a good laugh.”

Connor’s eyebrows dove together. “Mick doesn’t know shite. He saw something bother ye in your speech but couldn’t fill in the blanks. I guessed based on your venom for the headphones, and it looks like I was on the money.”

My shoulders sank. “Oh. Then Mick didn’t overhear people talking about me?”

He shook his head, and relief filtered through my upset.