Leopard 04 - Wild Fire

someone who would deliberately make those around her feel small.
    Imelda would be cold and cutting and even cruel to those she believed less than she was. If Imelda really was the one giving orders to Philip, he had only until the woman showed up to convince Isabeau he was someone important. After that, Imelda would undercut him.
    Because he thought she was Elijah’s cousin, Sobre banked on her knowing what Elijah did for a living.
    As head of a dangerous family-owned cartel, Elijah would be regarded in the same vein as Imelda. They all had to wonder if Marcos was related to him and part of that cartel or whether they were coming together to work out an alliance.
    Marcos patted one server’s butt and the woman averted her eyes and allowed him a closer inspection.
    Isabeau kept her expression the same when she wanted to throw her glass at the older man. What did she know about him? What were the others doing allowing him to behave like that? She forced herself to inhale, to take in the scents around her for her cat to process.
    Fear was uppermost. Hatred. Rage. All boiled beneath the surface. She certainly smelled lust, but not coming from Marcos. He was playing a part. Just as she was. Just as Conner would be doing. She had to believe that.
    She looked at Elijah. He had known. They’d all known. This was more than drugs and kidnapping. They hadn’t told her the things they’d expected to run into. She would never have been able to smile at Sobre had she known coming in. She was made deliberately to look like the innocent in the middle of a jungle full of predators. She’d bet her life that they’d discovered some of the precious tourists Sobre lured to his part of the rain forest disappeared without a trace. It would be so easy.
    What was she thinking? That the suave man handing her another glass of wine was really a serial killer of young men and woman? That he used his position for his own sadistic pleasure? To cover her frightening thoughts, she lifted the glass to her lips. She actually took a sip before the scent hit her. It was drugged.
    She moistened her lips and looked again at Elijah. This time he reacted, smiling back at her and taking the drink from her hand, bringing the contents to his mouth. Her breath caught in her throat and she nearly shouted at him to stop.
    The server knocked hard into Elijah, sending the drink flying. The glass shattered all over the floor and the contents ended up on his immaculate shirt. The tray clattered to the floor, food scattering everywhere.
    “Teresa!” Philip roared, his fist missing Isabeau by a mere inch as it shot toward the woman’s horrified face.
    The crack of flesh hitting flesh was loud. All conversation ceased and the room went eerily quiet. Conner stood in front of the woman, Philip’s hand in his fist. No one had seen him move. He looked hard.
    Dangerous. His golden eyes burned into the smaller man.
    “Perhaps you didn’t notice, but you bumped the woman and knocked her into Mr. Lospostos.” His voice was so quiet, Isabeau doubted anyone other than their small group could hear his words. “And you nearly struck Miss Chandler.”

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    Philip Sobre looked murderous and then the dark promise was gone from his eyes and he was smiling. “I guess I didn’t.”
    Conner let go of Philip’s fist, his arm dropping back to his side. Isabeau knew the cameras had recorded every moment and Imelda would be intrigued with that interesting move on the bodyguard’s part. He’d stood up for a servant. And he’d moved so fast he’d be a blur on the camera. She’d be more than intrigued. She’d want to get up close to such a daring, dangerous man. Not once had he looked at Philip’s bodyguards, as if they were beneath his notice and no threat to him.
    Isabeau’s heart began to pound, and she could taste fear in her mouth. Conner was setting himself up, and these people were all killers. She even suspected the weasel Philip—who was smooth and charming all over again and ordering his servers to help Teresa clean up the mess—of being a killer. He appeared to ignore Conner, but she saw him glance several times toward the shadowed wall where Conner had once more disappeared.
    If Adan had known about Sobre, he would never have allowed her to talk him into bringing in a team to kidnap back the children. So how had Conner gotten his information, because they definitely knew something