Page 27

Then she’d gone all distant again, almost as though she’d relax and then feel guilty about relaxing, which didn’t make one bit of sense.

Time for her to do the talking.

Except now they were going dancing. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone dancing. He was guessing “perfect” wasn’t going to come into it—but that wasn’t a bad thing. If nothing else, it would show his more human side.

“So where are we going?” she asked coming to a halt in front of him.

“I just phoned a friend of mine—he owns a nightclub—Sound Effects.”

“I’ve heard of it, and the owner. One of the girls I’m working with now used to dance there. Apparently, he’s seriously hot. How come you know him?”

Seriously hot? Suddenly, introducing Gabby and Logan seemed like a bad idea. “I was trying to sell the cruise line to Logan when the ship went down. You could say we got to know each other well.”

“I take it he didn’t buy.”

“No.” He got to his feet. “Come on, the hostess has called us a taxi.”

Time to dance.

…

As Logan promised, when Vito gave his name to the bouncer on the door, they were ushered straight in. The bouncer handed them over to a waitress who led them through the main room.

The music was loud but not unbearable, the place full of writhing dancers, and a woman with red hair in a skimpy black dress danced alone on a podium. Her eyes followed him as they walked past. The waitress led them to a door opposite, with a second bouncer outside. She spoke to him quietly, and he nodded and let them in.

“Where are we going?” Vito asked.

“The VIP area, sir.”

“Cool,” Gabby murmured from beside him and led the way. This room was quieter, the music a little more subdued. Most of the seats were taken, and a couple of staff wandered around with trays. The lights were low and the decor tasteful if a little…red for his liking. He’d never been to a place like this.

They were shown to a plush, dark-red velvet booth with a semicircular seat around a circular table. Quite private. Gabby slid in, and he sat next to her, his thigh touching hers. Almost immediately a waitress appeared with a bottle of champagne and glasses. She poured them both a glass and left the bottle in the ice bucket by the table.

“Compliments of the house, sir.”

“Mmm…what it is to have friends in high places,” Gabby said taking a sip of champagne.

“And here he comes,” Vito muttered. Logan sauntered across the room, looking totally badass in black jeans and a T-shirt that showed the tattoos snaking down his arm.

Gabby looked up as Logan came to a halt by their table. He leaned across and shook Vito’s hand, seemed genuinely pleased to see him. He hadn’t actually visited Logan since the ship had gone down. He’d spent a couple of weeks on and off with Josh, who had stayed at his villa on Sicily while his broken leg healed. But Logan had come straight back to London.

“I thought you were in Sicily?” he said.

“I flew in yesterday.”

Logan turned his attention to Gabby and smiled. “And this is?”

“Gabby Harper meet Logan McCabe.”

“Lovely to meet you,” Gabby said. “And thank you for the champagne.”

“My pleasure—order whatever you like.” He turned back to Vito. “Is Gabby…?” He didn’t quite waggle his eyebrows but he might as well have.

Vito bit back a smile. “Yes.”

“Good. Excellent. Well, I’ll leave you to…do whatever you like. We must have dinner while you’re in town. I don’t want to interrupt your evening. A pleasure meeting you, Gabby. I hope things go well.”

Vito waited until he’d disappeared through another door at the back of the room then picked up his glass and turned back to Gabby.