Chapter 17

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jennifer wanted to yell. However, she could not get past his name.

"Wait, Elliot?" Jonathan laughed, not removing his arms from her waist. "Do you two know each other?"

"You could say that." Jennifer turned and looked into his eyes, wondering what this would do to him. "Darling, Elliot, and I dated when I lived in New York. We split about six months ago. Right before I moved to London."

"Six months and three weeks," Elliot responded. Thinking he might sound a little desperate, he tried to laugh it off, "But who's counting?"

Jonathan started laughing harder, "This," he leaned back without taking his hands off Jennifer, "This is the woman who ripped your heart out?" He looked between Jennifer and Elliot. "I've gotta tell you, buddy; you sold her short." He turned to Jennifer, "This is up to you. If you are uncomfortable with him at all, I will not leave you with him."

She smiled at him, "I'll be fine, Darling." She placed a kiss on his cheek and whispered in his ear, "Just don't go far."

Kissing her lips before he dropped his hold on her, he whispered back to her, "Never." Then Jonathan said, "I'll be at the bar," before he left them standing in the middle of the dance floor.

"What are you doing here, Elliot?" Jennifer asked, not trying to hide her irritation at all.

"What? No 'hello' or 'how are you' after all this time?" Elliot questioned as he took her hand and put his arm around her waist, letting his hand rest in the small of her back, and began to dance with her.

"As I recall, it was you who said some rather nasty things before you left me for that girl… oh, what was her name?" Jennifer was trying to keep her voice even. Truth was, the man was as sweet as they come until he thought he had her, then he became abusive. If he hadn't run out on her, she probably wouldn't have been around much longer.

"Brianna…"

"Brianna. Yes."

"We broke up."

"Oh. Too bad."

"I tried to call, but you wouldn't take my call."

"I know."

"I want you back."

"Not interested. You're a player, and I won't be played again. I was hurt. I'm over it. I've moved on." She looked directly in his eyes. "You should, too." She let go of his hand and backed away from him. "Thanks for the dance. I need to get back to Jonathan. In case you haven't heard, I'm going to marry him." Then she turned and walked to the bar, leaving him, mouth gaping, alone on the dance floor.

***

Standing at the bar, Jonathan scanned the crowd but kept coming back to the two he left on the dance floor. Max walked up beside him and ordered a brandy. "What gives, Mr. H?" he asked with a wave of his hand towards the dance floor.

"Apparently Jennifer and Elliot Manning dated. Recently."

"Seriously?"

"If I'm to believe Elliot's stories, yes seriously. Only he never actually told me her name. He just called her Red. I had no idea, standing in London, that this redhead was the one who broke his heart."

"You want I should go bust it up?" Max offered.

"Body language says so much, Max." He could see, even from this distance, Jennifer was uncomfortable with Elliot's touch, and Elliot was getting much too familiar with her. "I think Jennifer can handle him on her own. However, if Elliot's hands get much lower, I'm going to bust his lip." It was about that time he saw Jennifer drop Elliot's hand and begin to move his direction. "See? What did I tell you?" Jonathan found himself breathing a sigh of relief as she chose him and walked away from her past. He smiled as she walked up to him.

"Ms. Edwards," Max called her, "I didn't know you knew Elliot Manning." The bartender sat Max's drink on the bar behind Jonathan.

Jennifer sighed. "It was a lifetime ago, Max."

"Six months is not a lifetime." Jonathan said.

"No, I suppose not," Jennifer agreed. "However, when you are completely swept off your feet in two weeks, six months sure feels like a lifetime."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"What's there to say? It started with too much alcohol, a little bit of attraction, and friends who ran off with other guys, leaving me alone in a bar. The long and short of it is: Elliot pursued me hard, then just when I thought I was willing to commit, he ran off with another woman." Jennifer explained.

"Interesting. That's not the picture he painted at all."

"He talked about me? With you?"

"I think "cried in his drink over you" is more like it," Max interjected.

"Yes," Jonathan agreed. "However, he never told me your name. He only called you Red."

"Ugh. I hated it when he would call me that."

Jonathan grinned and pulled her close to him, "That's good to know."

"Well." She reached up and brushed his hair away from his face. "Andrew and Elliot. Who else from my past do you know?"

He laughed. "I'm hoping no one…"

"Jenny? Jenny Edwards?" came a voice behind her. She looked at Jonathan and slowly turned around.

"Andy Seagram?" She turned back to Jonathan as Andy made his way through the crowd to them, "Andy? How do you know Andy?"

"I think maybe that's a question I should ask you…"

"Also a guy I dated in New York."

"Did you kiss this one, too?" Jonathan smirked at her.

"Now that would be interesting," Max quipped. Jennifer rolled her eyes at the two men.

Andy reached the group and said, "It is you, Jenny!"

"Hi, Andy! Gosh, what's it been… seven, eight years? Jonathan, I met Andy as a new writer for the Times."

Jonathan leaned closer to Jennifer and whispered, "I think I need to get you out of New York, quickly."

"You are still absolutely beautiful, Jenny," Andy gushed. "You are a lucky man, Jonathan Hart." Andy reached out and shook his hand.

"Thank you, Andy." Jonathan grinned.

"So, how do the two of you know each other?" Jennifer wanted to know.

"Andy was one of the models when we did a fashion show fundraiser for Mission Street Orphanage several years ago."

"Mission Street… That's the orphanage you grew up in, right?" she asked.

"Uh-huh."

"Yeah," Andy continued, oblivious to any other conversation going on. "Jonathan's girlfriend at the time is a friend of mine, and she hooked me up with the gig."

"Oh?" Jennifer looked at Jonathan. "You know one of his former girlfriends, do you?"

"Yeah, Irene is here, actually." Andy turned and pointed in her direction.

"She is?" Jennifer smiled, "Isn't that interesting?"

"Uh-huh," Jonathan answered, taking a drink from Max's glass.

***

Making his way through the crowded party, Gabriel Wade kept an eye on Jonathan Hart, biding his time. Simon walked up behind him, "What are we waiting for? Let's move on Hart before he suspects anything."

"Patience. We will stay back in the crowd for a while longer," Gabriel said. "Then, when Hart is most vulnerable, we will shut this party down and make him tell us where the paintings are."

"How will you determine that?"

"We will know it when we see it." Gabriel answered.

About that time, across the room, Jennifer excused herself from the three men she was talking to, and headed out of the ballroom door, looking for the restroom.

"There it is," he sneered. He headed towards the same door Jennifer walked out.

***

Looking in the mirror, Jennifer wondered how the evening celebrating her engagement to Jonathan Hart could have taken such a crazy turn. Elliot and Andy were friends of Jonathan's. She fixed some stray curls, wondering what the odds were? She decided to just look at it as destiny. Meeting Jonathan was going to happen. Satisfied with her look, Jennifer walked out of the restroom.

From seemingly nowhere, there were hands on each arm and something hard in her ribs.

"I have a gun. Keep quiet and follow instructions, and I won't have to hurt you."