What she had found about him was enough to give her a complex, though. A successful businessman who specialized in investing in small businesses in dire need of capital, influential board member on a wide variety of charities, and even the women he had dated in the past—all successful businesswomen in their own right, had only good things to say about him. Alexander King, apparently, was the perfect man by all accounts. She thought she might be a little sick.
In contrast to her life, which was a comedic mixture of wrong decisions and desperate measures to compensate for those wretched decisions, his was a faultless canvas where nothing ever went wrong. Because there was no room for emotions, feelings or the mess they caused. Her gaze flicked to him and shied away, a chill sweeping up and down her arms.
Fortunately, the limo came to a stop again. With her hand in his, she stepped out, her gaze rising upward to take in the lavish building in front of them. She shouldn’t have been surprised that the Ritz was their destination. Still, she just stood there, taking in the glamorous setting until Alexander nudged her with his hand at her back.
The moment they stepped inside, it was like entering a different world. Even her father, who looked down his nose at everything, would have been impressed by the deference shown to Alexander by the staff. She had very little time to appreciate the vaulted ceilings, the architecture around her before they were shown into what was a private banquet hall. She glanced around her luxurious surroundings, trying very hard to not gape openmouthed. Light glinted off the gold paneling on the walls, playing shadows with the sparkling fountain. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, the silverware twinkling in the shards of its light.
That feeling of not being good enough when she had been at one of her father’s lavish parties returned with full force. She swept her hand over her hip, the exquisite silk of her dress restoring her nerves a bit.
“Stop twitching, Olivia,” Alexander whispered into her ear, and she shivered. “You look absolutely stunning.”
How did he read her mind so easily? Her heart flipped, and she forced herself to draw a breath, to not read too much into it. “So the point of us being here is that someone from the press will see us and come to the conclusion that everything is hunky-dory in your world?” she said flippantly.
His gaze scanned the private ballroom. “The point of us being here is that I have an important business meeting to conduct.”
She looked around the impeccably dressed guests, couples smiling at each other, women checking out each other’s designer duds. She made a mental note to thank him later for her own. Even the best dress in her suitcase would have made her stand out like a sore thumb in this crowd. “This doesn’t look like a business meeting to me.”
He nodded at someone on the other side of the hall and pulled her in that direction. She stiffened as his hard body pressed into her, her skin singeing where he laid his palm on the bare skin at her back. “Not every business meeting is conducted in a boardroom. Some men prefer to cloak it under the guise of a pleasant evening. It gives them a chance to size me up. This particular one being of old school, places high value on propriety.”
She stared at the middle-aged couple he was smiling at. “And you need to impress him?” she said, curious despite herself.
“Don’t look so gleeful about it.” His blue gaze twinkled. In that moment, he was the suave, astute businessman, the one that had been lauded on more than one business magazine. “Actually, it’s he who needs my capital.” She smiled, the pulse of his excitement a tangible thing. “Integrating his business into King Enterprises and bringing it forward into the twenty-first century is the challenge I’m looking forward to.”
Of course. She nodded and smiled as they joined them.
Henry McIntyre looked her up and down shrewdly as Alexander introduced her. “I’ve been following your business’s progress for a while now, Mrs. King,” he said, his gaze razor sharp. “You’re a rising star, and now that you have the sharpest businessman around on your side—” he tilted his gray head toward Alexander “—I’m sure you’ll leave us all behind in a cloud of dust.”
Olivia mumbled her thanks and settled down. Her hand trembled around the champagne flute as the older man went on in the vein of how perfectly matched they were in every way. She was no stranger to the fact that Kim was successful, as driven as Alexander. Yet Olivia had never felt the hollowness she felt inside. And it had more to do with the man sitting next to her than any career success Kim had achieved. Feeling like a fake of the worst kind, she leaned back against her seat and tuned out the conversation around her.