"Be still," Chance snapped, his gaze blazing emerald. The form quit moving at once.
"Is it Robert?" Isa asked, debating with herself on whether she needed the gun or not.
"No," Chance said, holding the other person's head up by their hair. "I believe this is your brother."
"Frazier!" Isa exclaimed.
"Don't turn on the light," Chance warned her as she was about to flip the nearest switch to verify that it was indeed her brother. "Close all the drapes first, you never know who might be watching this house."
Isa quickly went around and yanked all the downstairs drapes closed, then she nearly fell over in relief when illumination did reveal that it was her brother. Frazier was here, alive and unhurt-except for the dull glaze in his eyes as he looked at Chance.
"Er, can you snap him out of that?" she asked.
Her grandmother came out of her room right as Chance muttered something to Frazier that had her brother instantly back to himself and leaping away.
"Frazier, it's okay!" Isa said at once, catching Frazier's arm. "He won't hurt you... and where have you been?"
Her brother continued to back away from Chance. "Isa, who is this guy? What's some naked stranger doing at Nana's?"
"He's a naked, um, magician, and he's my new boyfriend," Isa stammered, flushing as Frazier eyed her very tousled hair and the sheet she kept dragging up around her.
Her grandmother just laughed, a bright tinkling sound. "Frazier, I'm so glad you're all right! I expect we'll all want to hear where you've been the past few weeks."
"I can't really say..." Frazier started to hedge.
Isa's fingers dug into her brother's arm. "The hell you can't! I've been forced to play fiancee to Mini-Mob Bertini this past month, because you told me it was a matter of life and death, so now you are damn well going to explain why."
"I can't," Frazier snapped, trying to tug away and surprised when he couldn't. "I only came here to make sure you were all right, I heard Spagarelli's got shot up earlier-"
"No thanks to you," Chance cut him off in a menacing tone. "If your sister hadn't been playing her role, then Robert wouldn't have been near her and the men trying to kill him wouldn't have shot Isa instead."
"You were shot?" Frazier blurted. "How? I heard you weren't even there!"
"She was shot at," Greta interrupted smoothly, with a knowing look at Chance. "Her presence wasn't revealed to the local police in order to keep her out of danger, since then the shooters would know a civilian might be able to identify them."
You go, Grandma, Isa thought with admiration. A hundred and twenty-six, and you're still quick on the draw.
But Frazier was shaking his head. "Don't need to worry about the shooters coming after Isa, Nana. They're dead. The Salucci brothers and their three top enforcers were found with their heads half ripped off outside a warehouse a couple hours ago. Bertini's being questioned now by the FBI, but the son of a bitch actually has an alibi..."
"How do you know all this?" Chance cut Frazier off. "This isn't information you'd get off the news."
Isa had gone pale upon hearing the description of how the Salucci brothers and their backup had been found, but Chance's question pushed that aside. How did Frazier know all that?
"You mind putting on some pants, buddy?" Frazier asked, glancing at Chance and then quickly away. "I gotta say, this isn't decent."
Greta tsked. "Frazier, you're such a prude. Still, Isa, Chance, he's not going anywhere, so you have time to find your clothes."
Isa didn't miss the steel in her grandmother's tone when she said Frazier wasn't going anywhere. Her brother didn't miss it either. He gulped.
"Nana..."
"You so don't want to upset me by arguing, dear," she said with a coldness that had Chance grinning at her. "Now, stay right there. Or I'll have Isa hold you at gunpoint until you tell us everything we need to know."
Isa smiled nastily at her brother. "Try me."
Frazier sighed. "Go on, get dressed. I guess I'll be waiting here."
Chapter 11
Three weeks later, her grandmother adjusted the veil over Isa's face. Isa stared at her reflection and smiled. Here comes the bride.
Agnes, Robert's sister, frowned. "You shouldn't have altered my mother's dress. Robert isn't going to like that."
"I'm amazed your mother was able to breathe, what with how it buttoned all the way up to her chin," Isa responded tartly. "Plus, this is my wedding. Not hers."
Agnes muttered something about how soon Isa would learn respect, which only made Isa's smile widen. No, she thought. Robert will.
Her grandmother handed Isa her bouquet. It was a beautiful arrangement of white and pink flowers that trailed to the ground in a tear-drop shape. "You look radiant, dear. Are you ready?"
Isa nodded. "Oh, yes."
Greta gave her a pat on the arm. "I'll see you in the front."
Isa watched her grandmother and her would-be sister in law leave, then she turned to the mirror again.
"So, how do I look?"
It popped out of the wall and was set to the side as Chance came out from the recently made alcove behind it. He took one of Isa's gloved hands and kissed it.
"Breathtaking."
She grinned. "Easy for you to say, you don't breathe."
"Sometimes I do." And he leaned into Isa and took in a slow, deep breath that was as intimate as a kiss. Chance had told her often over the past couple weeks how he loved breathing in her scent, even though certain times when he did it, it made her blush.
"You don't have to do this," he whispered, his mouth touching the veil near her ear.
"I've earned it."
And then some. Continuing to play docile fiancee while Robert informed her what her life was going to be like now that he'd finally attained his coveted "made man" status? Yeah, Isa had earned this.
Ironically enough, it was Chance who'd ensured Robert's acceptance into the unhallowed halls of the mafia. After Chance's gruesome eradication of the Salucci brothers and their three henchmen, Robert was welcomed into the syndicate fold. No one else had stepped forward to claim credit for their murders, so it was assumed Robert had done it as retaliation for their attempt on his life-and gotten away scot-free. That sort of clever ruthlessness was just what the big boys of crime were impressed with. In fact, two of the East Coast's most dangerous criminals were among her wedding guests. A gangster wedding wasn't an event one turned down attending, it seemed. There were just a few more guests here than Robert was aware of.