Christopher’s darkly handsome face took on a cruel look. “I’m Vince Cady’s son. If you want any sort of chance at winning the auction tomorrow it would be in your best interest to be nice to me.”
What he said was probably true, but Juliet didn’t care. She couldn’t stay there with him even a minute longer without retching all over the place. She twisted out of his hold. “I have to go.”
This time Christopher grabbed her shoulder in a painful grip. Juliet’s reflexes took over. She turned slightly into the stronger man’s grasp, then rammed her elbow into his solar plexus. She heard the breath whoosh out of him, but didn’t stop. Instead, she grabbed his arm with both hands, pulled him closer and, with a yank and shift of her body weight, flipped him over her back.
Before Juliet even realized what she was doing, Christopher Cady lay gasping on the yacht’s wooden deck, staring up at the sky.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
It happened faster than she thought possible. Juliet still held Christopher’s wrist, now in a grip that would allow her to break bones if he tried anything else. Reflexes still in full-alert mode, she looked around for any potential threats.
But all she saw was Evan rushing toward them. And a dozen concerned faces behind him. And the Cady security team.
“Hey, what’s going on here? Lisa, is everything all right?” Evan asked her.
She immediately let go of Christopher’s hand. Awareness of the situation crept into her brain. Oh no, what had she done? Probably just cost them the case, maybe worse.
Evan stepped around Christopher and stood right in front of Juliet, offering them a little bit of privacy from the prying eyes with his body. “You okay, honey?”
He trailed a finger down her cheek, but didn’t try to embrace her. Juliet appreciated the distance. “He grabbed me and instincts just took over. I’m so sorry.” She stared down at her feet.
Evan tipped her chin up with one finger. “It’ll be fine. He shouldn’t have grabbed you.” Evan took his sports coat off and wrapped it around her shoulders. Juliet didn’t even realize she had been trembling. She snuggled into the warmth.
Evan turned around to face Christopher, who was now sitting up on the floor. Security guards were rushing to assist him.
“I’m taking my wife back to our cabin. As I’m sure you now realize, she doesn’t like people to grab her. I trust nothing like this will happen again.”
Christopher didn’t say anything, just glared at them. Evan returned to where Juliet had propped herself against the railing, put his arm around her and led her away.
The magnitude of what she’d done hit Juliet. She brought her fist up to her mouth. “Oh no, Evan, I’ve ruined everything.” She couldn’t help it; tears welled in her eyes. “What’s going to happen?”
He stopped and pulled her into his arms. They were far enough away now that no one could see or hear them. “Hey, we’ll deal with it.”
“But I assaulted Cady’s son! I may have just blown everything.”
“He wasn’t hurt, you just knocked the wind out of him. It’s late. Let’s head back to the room and let everything die down.”
Juliet nodded. She couldn’t think of any way to undo the damage she’d done.
“My brothers were afraid something like this would happen. They were right.”
“They were right about what? That you would be able to handle yourself if some guy started forcing his attention on you? Christopher Cady won’t make that mistake again.”
“I guess not,” Juliet whispered, but she didn’t feel any better. What if, after everything they’d done to get here, she and Evan got booted off the ship because she hadn’t been able to keep her cool?
“You just need to get some rest, Lisa. Everything will feel better in the morning,” Evan said a little too loudly as he opened the door to their cabin.
Juliet took the hint. It wasn’t safe for them to talk anymore, at least not about blowing the case. But even Lisa Sinclair would be worried about the ramifications of assaulting Cady’s only son.
“I’m worried what Vince is going to do when he finds out.”
Evan nodded and gave her a little squeeze. “We’ll deal with that as it comes.”
* * *
EVAN COULD TELL Juliet didn’t get much sleep. Her tossing around had little to do with the patch of rougher waters the boat had hit and everything to do with her apprehension over what had happened with Christopher Cady.
Evan should never have left her alone. His talk with Heath Morel, trying to get the other man to agree not to send any more emails to Lisa, had been pretty fruitless, anyway. Morel had played his cards very close to his chest, refusing to admit to any knowledge whatsoever about the emails. And Evan hadn’t wanted to make a big scene that would get them noticed, so force was out of the question.
Which was about the time he had looked up and seen Christopher Cady flying through the air over Juliet’s shoulder. Evan’s immediate concern had been for her safety. Had Cady assaulted her? Tried to harm her in some way?
But once Evan made it over there and realized Juliet wasn’t harmed—and neither was Cady—he’d also been concerned for the case. Although he’d tried to assure her otherwise, Juliet was right to be worried about how Vince would respond to her aggression against his son.
But it was already morning, so evidently Cady wasn’t planning to kill them. He would’ve done that last night, although even for Cady that was a bit extreme. But Evan wouldn’t be surprised if they were put off the ship altogether, or at the very least not allowed to participate in the auctions.
Which would put the drone codes out in the open. They couldn’t allow that to happen.
But hell if Evan had any sort of plan B.
A
