“Who’s Zoey?” Soleil asked.
“Don’t ask,” Allerton told her. “Suffice to say, she a social influencer who won’t be able to spread her untruths about me, Abbott, and Emerson once our attorneys are done with her.”
“Good luck with that.” Ginny poured more salt on the egos of the three men.
“I don’t need luck.” Imperiously, Aaron gave her his pompous back, moving away.
To Ginny’s amusement, she saw him reaching for his phone.
Feeling the censure of the gazes around her, except from Gavin and Desmond Beck, she explained for her mother’s benefit, “I’m afraid I upset Mr. Emerson. I was discussing a friend of mine while you were on the phone. He didn’t appreciate being a hot topic on one of Zoey’s podcasts. I think he’s thinking of filing a lawsuit.”
“Darling—”
Ginny tried not to flinch when Soleil called her that, then proceeded to speak to her as if she had the mental capacity of a child.
“—Aaron has some very influential friends. Your friend would be wise to steer clear of using him as a topic to further her viewership.”
“She doesn’t do it to gain more viewers.” Ginny furrowed her brow, mimicking confusion, as if the thought hadn’t occurred her.
“Then I’m at a loss.” Soleil looked up at Allerton as if he could answer her question.
“Zoey isn’t afraid of lawsuits,” she answered. “In fact, the more the merrier.”
“Why not?” Allerton sent out the probing question, taking over the conversation.
“Zoey loves to drag big corporations to court to expose their dishonest business practices. Unlike the businesses, Zoey doesn’t have to pay high-price lawyer fees. Her father does the work pro bono.”
Allerton was too cultured to roll his eyes at her, but the dismissive way he curled his lip at her evidenced his scorn.
“Free means worthless.”
“Then you’re the only one in the world who would consider Haden St. Clair’s work as worthless.”
Shoving his phone back in his dinner jacket, Emerson stalked back toward her. “Zoey’s father is Haden St. Clair?”
“Yes. Most people have heard of him. He just won a two-billion dollar lawsuit from a corporation that tried to take a farmer’s land away from him when the crops he planted cross-pollinated with another crop near his land. The corporation lost, and so have the other corporations. But don’t let me stop you. You could be the one who breaks St. Clair’s winning streak.” Giving Emerson fake encouragement and growing bored at antagonizing Allerton and his cronies, Ginny was ready for the small party to be over.
As far as she was concerned, the whole thing had been a bust; definitely unworthy of getting dressed twice. She wondered if it was too soon for Gavin and her to make their excuses and leave.
“Excuse me; my husband was hungry before we left the bungalow.” Taking Gavin’s hand, she led him toward the small silver trays of food.
“I’m starving. How about you?” Ginny gave Gavin a crystal plate before taking one for herself.
“Better fill your stomach, because if Allerton didn’t want to poison us before, he does now.”
Ginny gave him a mischievous glance. “You want to reconsider your role as my taste tester?” she teased.
“Where is Greer Porter when I need him?” Gavin ruefully joked, then proceeded to load his plate with the fancy appetizers that Ginny had no palate for and hoped she never would.
Ginny noticed while Gavin was eating, he had looked around the room to see if anyone recognized him. Ginny couldn’t understand why he would care if anyone recognized him or not.
Thinking she was imagining his concern, she chose a few things to put on her plate. She wasn’t hungry, finally settling on a few grapes, crackers, and a chocolate petit fours. Then she stepped to the side, popping one of the grapes in her mouth as Gavin placed a stack of honey-mint lamb skewers on his plate next to a mound of shrimp tartlets.
Swallowing the grape in her mouth, Ginny picked up the tiny, pretty chocolate cake, putting the whole thing in her mouth. As she bit down, the taste exploded, hitting her gag reflex. She wildly looked around, hoping no one was watching so she could spit it out.
“Just swallow it,” Gavin advised humorously. “The longer you hold it in your mouth, the worse you make it.”
As badly as she didn’t want to take his advice, she was left with no choice, other than making a fool of herself.
“What did I just eat?” she managed to croak out.
“I have no idea.” Gavin shrugged, going back to the table and taking one of the petite fours. He bravely put it in his mouth as he came back and waited until he swallowed to tell her what she’d eaten. “Chocolate-covered goat cheese.”
“Whoever made that has no taste buds.”
“It was pretty good. I’m going to grab a couple more when I finish this plate.”
“You thought that was good?” Amazed that Gavin liked the appetizer and wanted more had her reconsidering everything she perceived about his likes and dislikes toward food. Not only that, maybe her taste buds were off. To her, it had tasted hideous.