Page 36 of Herding Cat

“About what?”

Eyes wide and limned with tears, Mae stared up at her. “Will you help her?”

Catherine’s heart nearly melted. “Of course I meant it. I will pay for her surgery. Then you can both be adopted.”

It was an amazing thing to have another person look upon you as though you were a hero. And daunting.

“Would you like that?”

Mae nodded. “I would like a mommy.”

“Of course you would.”

“And a daddy.”

Catherine’s heart took a little plunge. “Of course. I’ll do whatever I can to make that happen for you.”

God, she was so precious. So vulnerable. So helpless.

It was wrong that there was such bounty in the world for some, and others suffered without the most basic needs. Like love.

Mae ate her breakfast as though she’d never eaten before, and then—realizing she wasn’t quite so hungry after all—Catherine gave her the rest of hers. She noticed that her guard dogs ate too, but they did so ever on point—as though, at any moment, the waiter might lunge at her with a butter knife.

It was probably wrong of her to be sarcastic. Someone was trying to kill her. But her security team took everything so freaking seriously. When a loud pop echoed through the room they swarmed her...until they realized it was only a server opening a bottle of champagne for mimosas. They didn’t even bother to look chagrined when they retook their seats. As though gunfights at a buffet were commonplace in their world.

It was not a world she wanted to live in.

She resisted a glance at Garrett at the thought of the monumental differences in their lifestyles, but it was hard.

“Are you finished?” Luke asked as Mae cleaned the second plate. He checked his watch for some reason, but Catherine couldn’t fathom why time might matter in the least. Today’s itinerary was the Jade Market; no meetings were scheduled until this afternoon. She decided it was his not-so-subtle way of telling her he was in a hurry.

She nodded. “Yes. But we should take Mae home before we continue on.”

“Garrett will take her home. We’ll head for the new location.”

Catherine leaned back and set her chin. Garrett’s broad grin made it clear he understood what that meant. Luke did not.

But he would. Oh, he would.

“Ma’am—” he began.

“Don’t ma’am me. And I am taking Mae home.” Her tone left no room for disagreement, but he tried to squeeze one in.

“We should move at—”

Catherine raised a brow, one that slayed her minions when they dared countermand her.

Luke’s objections sputtered to a halt. “All right,” he said. “We’ll take Mae home first.”

It was probably beneath her to sniff with satisfaction, but she did it anyway.

“Did you get enough to eat?” she asked Mae. The little girl’s grin was angelic as she nodded, but then a sound emerged from her that was not angelic in the slightest. Catherine laughed as Mae’s belch reverberated through the dining room.

“I guess so,” Garrett said under his breath, but Catherine heard.

“All righty then,” Luke—all business—huffed. “Let’s rock and roll.”

They had to go through all the rigmarole again, Garrett and Tate checking the car for bombs while Luke guarded her against the doorman, but while they waited, Catherine and Mae chatted. Catherine asked her about her education and how she had learned to speak English so well, and Mae told her about the other things she was studying at the school near the orphanage.