The Royal Elite: Mattias Read Online Free

scoffed. “She couldn't leave your side fast enough, you mean.”
    Amused despite himself, Mattias changed subjects. “Did you learn anything new from your contact?”
    “Nothing new. They're pressing a few other people for information, so we'll see what that turns up. Hopefully we'll have a definitive yes or no soon on whether someone wants Miss Astbury's head on a platter.”
    “All right. Someone should also be paying attention to any lone stragglers arriving late to the gala. Keep track of faces and whether or not they gravitate toward a group. I know a few bachelors are here, all high profile, but I'm sure there are others I won't recognize and a hit man might easily blend into the background.”
    “I'm on it. I've already identified most of the single men in attendance and have been systematically going through the ranks to make sure their presence is legitimate.”
    “Excellent. It makes me wonder what the skittish woman has done, or what she knows, to make her a target like this,” Mattias said. In his estimation, Alannah wasn't the clandestine, game playing type that went looking for trouble. Appearances were deceiving, however, and she could have triggered someone's wrath who now wanted payback.
    “We're trying to find that out, too.”
    “Let me know. Have you contacted Ahsan yet to fill him in? I know he's here somewhere.” Mattias, Leander, Chayton and Ahsan were the only members of the group attending the gala, as far as Mattias knew. Unless another of their brethren appeared without warning, it would be up to them to see the Alannah situation through.
    “Not yet.”
    “All right, I'll take care of it. Now I just need to find him.”
    Leander snorted as he split off. “Just look for the gaggle of swooning, fawning women.”
     
    Mattias stepped inside the double doors while Leander did what Leander did best—disappeared. Striking out through the crowd, Mattias sought Alannah amongst the revelers, hoping that she hadn't retreated to her room. Possible danger lurked in the more private places of House Morano for Miss Astbury, little did she know it.
    Tonight, luck was with him. Alannah stood near a burbling wine fountain, turning her glass nervously around in her hands. The bodyguard was there, too, leaning a few feet away against a table. Mattias thought any attempt on Alannah's life would be less likely in such a large crowd, although the notion didn't put him at ease. As soon as he informed Ahsan of the situation, he could return to a low key stake out of the heiress.
    Heeding Leander's earlier advice, Mattias followed the natural flow of humanity toward the most central gathering point. It happened to be at the far end of the great ballroom, where no fewer than thirty women swirled and giggled and fanned themselves around what amounted to a human magnet. Mattias snorted to himself. It had always been this way as long as he'd known Ahsan—which was a very long time. Women loved him, gravitated to him as if caught in his inescapable orbit. Even now, as he drew nearer, Mattias could hear some debutante or another laugh breathlessly while others jockeyed for position, hoping to be the one singled out for a dance.
    Unaware that women tracked his own movements the same way, Mattias circumvented the knot of femininity and came up on Ahsan's right flank. Of the Afshar Dynasty, brother to Bashir, Ahsan stood six-foot three with a physique rivaling most linebackers. Swarthy skinned and dark eyed, Ahsan was every inch a playboy, known in the elite circles as a man hard to get, and harder to keep.
    With more important things on his mind than whether or not Ahsan was living up to his namesake, Mattias cleared his throat and met Ahsan's dark gaze.
    “A moment?” Mattias said.
    Ahsan inclined his head once in acknowledgement, then flashed the woman directly before him a daring grin before leaning in to whisper against her ear. Whatever he said brought an immediate flush to the lady's face.
    Mattias swiveled