“Of course you can, dear. And Jack Sparrow is the Director of the FBI. I know for a fact that he despises Lincoln Moss,” Annie said. “Oh, and before I forget, the gala is black tie. That means I get to wear my tiara.”

Jack laughed. “And where will you be packing your heat, Annie?”

“Inside my blue garter!” Annie shot back.

Harry laughed so hard, Yoko had to pound his back.

“Be serious, people. Don’t worry, Amalie, we will all be there to protect you. You have my word that nothing bad is going to happen to you. Between now and then, you have to psych yourself up to attending, then leave the rest up to us. You’re a strong woman, you can do this. I know you can,” Myra said.

Amalie drew a deep breath. “Okay. Okay, I’ll do it. Will it be over then?”

No one said yes or no.

“Alexis, can you make it happen where Amalie is concerned?” Nikki asked.

“Absolutely.”

That was all the group needed to hear. The conversation turned to jewels and the designer outfits that were on order, thanks to Annie and her special “in” with Vera Wang and Donna Karan.

Bored out of their minds, the boys left the terrace and entered the kitchen, where they informed Charles and Fergus what was going on.

“It occurs to me that Jack Sparrow is single. Shortly, if I am not mistaken, Amalie Moss will be single. Just out of curiosity, was that my wife’s idea?” Charles asked.

The boys busied themselves rooting around inside the fridge for cold beer.

“Aha, just what I thought,” Charles said, smacking his wooden spoon down on the countertop. When the handle flew off, he didn’t bother to look surprised. Fergus, on the other hand, laughed out loud.

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Maggie struggled with the text she was attempting to send to Lincoln Moss. She was on her fourth try after deleting the first three. She looked over at Ted. “I can’t seem to get it just right for some reason. For starters, he’s going to go nuclear that I even have his oh-so-very-private-number-that-no-one-else-in-the-world-has. Except . . . drumroll please, Amalie and the President of the United States. And he doesn’t even know that Amalie has the number. Rosalee got it one day when he left his phone behind. I guess because she’s young, she knows how all that stuff works. Both women said the number is seared in their brain because they thought maybe someday they might need it. Guess this is the someday in question.”

“Short, curt, and to the point, that’s the best way,” Ted said. “Say what you have to say and move on.”