His grip relaxed. “Your dad stiffed me tonight.”

“Stiffed you?”

“Ran off on me. We’ve been negotiating a little business, and he disappeared tonight without delivering.”

Iris closed her eyes. Cosmo and his crazy schemes. It was a miracle he stayed out of jail. “What’s he into this time? Counterfeit casino chips? He lift someone’s wallet?”

“Try ten million in jewels.”

“Ten mi-” Her eyes flew open, and she choked out a laugh. “He’s not stupid.”

“No, he’s very clever, isn’t he?” He leaned in, his breath warm against her ear. “Just like you-successful fiancé, successful business-what are you hiding?”

Ripples of electricity shot through her. She stiffened in his arms, making him back off. “I’m not hiding anything.”

“No?” He raised a skeptical brow. “Then when you talk to Cosmo, tell him his friend Mickey is waiting. I’ll try to help him.”

Iris considered him. Mickey didn’t look like the kind of guy who waited around for others. “You’ll help him?”

“Yeah.” The eye contact, the easy smile, the relaxed posture while he held her-they all added up to honesty.

She wasn’t deceived. Mickey Kincaid was good, maybe even better than Cosmo, but she sure didn’t trust him.

“Mind if I cut in?” David stood on the dance floor with two security guards. All the other couples had stopped dancing.

“Sure,” Mickey replied easily. “I’ve got to run anyway.”

“That’s probably best,” David said.

Iris looked into Mickey’s eyes. He still held her so close she could feel the heat rise off the planes of his solid chest.

“Give Uncle Cosmo my message, will ya, Rissie? And call me if you need me.”

It took a moment for her to register that he’d used Cosmo’s pet name for her. “Do I have your latest number?”

Mickey leaned down to her ear again, and this time his moist lips nibbled her earlobe.

Her brain must have shut down, because she didn’t stop him.