“That’s kind of you to say.” Bea gave him a small smile. “I’ve been practicing.”
“Practicing,” Laurent echoed, an answering tug at the corner of his mouth. “Then I suppose we should be worried about what happens once you’re fluent.”
“Should I be worried that you’re dancing with me?” she asked.
“No. But a few others currently watching might be.”
“Because they think you’re a threat?”
“Threat? Not usually. Bad influence? Occasionally.”
“Sowhyare you dancing with me, Laurent?”
“Because Rafael can’t. And Gage won’t.” He glanced at her dress. “Also, you’re stunning tonight, and French men are genetically incapable of resisting beauty.”
Bea’s laugh was unexpected. “So this is just for fun.”
“It’s neverjustfor fun.”
They moved in a slow circle, her hand tightening slightly on his shoulder as the turn briefly revealed the other side of the room.
Where Gage was. Speaking to Nate, posture relaxed, body angled toward the dance floor. Not watching. But watching. Always.
She should go to him.
But there were so many things about Laurent she was curious about. His accent, his history, the way he moved through this world like it was a game. She didn’t know where he sat in the hierarchy, only that he didn’t seem to care.
And she wasn’t sure she’d get another chance like this. “So how does it work with you and Rafael?” she ventured. “Are you the one who keeps him in line, or the one who aims him at the next target?”
Laurent smirked. “Neither. And both.”
“Have you known each other long?”
“We met when Griffin Ventures was still Griffin Constructions, barely in our teens. My father was so taken with Rafael’s, shall we say,raw force, he sent me to join him for high school.” Laurent’s blue eyes glinted at the memory. “Said it was better than becoming a reprobate in Geneva.”
That startled her. A Duret heir, uprooted for proximity to Rafael Griffin? A hundred questions sparked at once. And not one of them she had any right to ask. It would say too much to be too curious.
She focused on following his steps through the throng of couples on the floor.
“So you’re a citizen now?” she asked after a moment.
“I had to do the military service to earn it, so yes.”
“And you work for Griffin Ventures?”
“No,chérie,” Laurent corrected. “I represent Duret Bank. My sister minds Europe. I’m on secondment. The returns through Rafael are…enough to satisfy even my parents.”
Bea nodded, filing that away under: things to Google later. If she thought too hard about how much of the world belonged to the men in this room, she was going to hyperventilate.
Laurent’s gaze shifted subtly. She traced it to Rafael. Off to the side. Looking more like a warning than a man. Speaking to a stunning blonde. His eyes flicked to them. Too fast to be read. Too slow to be forgotten.
“Ah,” Laurent exhaled, gratified. “The fire prince watches.”
She stiffened.
“Don’t worry,” he soothed. “He won’t come over.”
“You sure about that?”
