‘Um, I think maybe he wants to set the record straight. About Misty,’ she managed, although she didn’t believe that for a second.
The truth was she had no clue what Cade’s motives were any more. It had been four hours since he’d left her at the door to the suite, and she hadn’t seen him since.
She’d tried to engage him in conversation during the helicopter ride to Paris, to keep up the pretence she was still on assignment. But with the noise in the chopper it had been impossible, and anyway, Cade had seemed keen to ignore her as soon as they’d strapped in.
Thank God.
After the intensity of the twenty minutes in his office, she’d been relieved at his taciturn behaviour. She’d needed time to gather her wits—not to mention fire off a quick text to her sister Milly, asking her to put Ruby to bed tonight and drop her off at her nursery tomorrow.
As usual, her younger sister—who had lived with her since before Ruby had been born—had been happy to step up. Milly had been more like a second mum than an aunt to Lacey’s daughter and Ruby adored Milly right back. Lacey knew her daughter wouldn’t question Mummy needing to work late too much...
But that hadn’t stopped the guilt from strangling her once she’d found herself in the lavish three-room suite at the mercy of a scarily efficient French stylist, being fitted for a stunning jewelled evening gown and styled to within an inch of her life by a team of hairdressers and make-up artists.
What am I actually doing here? I couldn’t feel more out of my depth if I were trying to land a space shuttle on Mars.
‘By inviting aSplendourjournalist to the Durand Ball?’ Melody laughed. ‘It’s too delicious. We can totally play up the Cinderella angle. The readers will love it. A hard-working single mum who gets to go to the ball on the arm of—’
‘Absolutely not, Melody.’ Fear wrapped around Lacey’s torso as she cut into her editor’s excited pitch. ‘I don’t want Ruby mentioned in the piece. My daughter’s not for public consumption.’ And she sure as heck didn’t want Brandon Cade reading about Ruby when he reviewed the piece. She’d kept her secret safe from Cade for this long. She certainly didn’t want it revealed on a technicality before she was ready.
‘But it’s such a great angle.’ Melody sighed, and Lacey could almost hear her editor pouting from two hundred miles away.
‘Please, Melody, let me handle the story. He seems surprisingly cooperative. I can give you a great piece out of this, all the glitz and glamour of the Durand Ball and a night as Brandon Cade’s date. We really don’t need Ruby to go for the Cinderella angle,’ she added, trying not to cringe so hard Melody could hear it.
She was hardly Cinderella. She had a good career, which she’d worked her socks off to create from the bonfire of being kicked to the kerb by Cade Inc five years ago. She had even earned enough to afford a mortgage on a small two-bedroom flat in Hackney last year. But she guessed it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to pitch herself as the starry-eyed, cash-strapped social outcast if Melody insisted on a Cinderella angle.
She didn’t have any spare income once all the bills and Ruby’s childcare were paid for. And she hadn’t had a social life since Ruby had been born, keen to spend every waking minute she wasn’t working with her little girl. And, even though she reported on the uber-rich and famous, she had no first-hand experience of the exclusive billionaire lifestyle Brandon Cade took for granted.
Except once, five years ago, when she’d ended up with a last-minute invite to the launch of Cade Inc’s new cable channel at a Soho nightclub and had entered his rarefied world for one life-changing night.
She glanced at the sparkling jewelled fabric of the evening gown which draped luxuriously over her figure, making her slender curves look a lot less boyish than usual. The lingerie Madame Laurent had insisted she wear under the gown even made her breasts look like more than an A-cup.
She could feel the jewelled pins in her hair tugging at her scalp to anchor the hair extensions the hairstylist had spent hours arranging into a gravity-defying chignon. And imagined the smoky eyeliner, the glittery eyeshadow, the sculpted foundation and the glossy lipstick which had made her unrecognisable when the make-up artist had finally allowed her to look in the mirror.
She already felt so far outside her comfort zone, she was practically on the Moon, and that was before she factored in Cade’s effect on her pulse rate.
She needed to get that reaction under control ASAP, before Cade finally showed up to escort her downstairs.
‘Fine,’ Melody said flatly, going all business again. ‘I guess you’re in charge after getting this incredible opportunity for us. But, if you can weasel any details about his feelings on the Misty Goodnight situation when his guard’s down, all the better.’
But his guard is never down. And, anyway, he’ll nix anything he doesn’t like.
She bit off the thought. ‘Of course.’
She heard the sharp rap on the suite’s exterior door, her heartbeat pummelling her throat with another one-two punch as she ended the call.
She jammed the phone into the exquisite clutch bag, also supplied by Madame Laurent.
Her thundering heartbeat began to deafen her as she walked through the dark, empty suite, her jewelled heels sinking into the thick silk carpeting, the lights from the city behind her reflecting off the polished antique furniture.
And gulped down the rising panic.
This is a golden opportunity to get to know Ruby’s father, and forgive that foolish girl from a lifetime ago. End of.
‘He can’t intimidate you unless you let him,’ she whispered to herself, then swung the door open with a bravado she didn’t feel.
And almost choked.Wow!
Brandon Cade stood with his back to her—his broad shoulders blocking out the muted light from the hallway—in a black tuxedo perfectly tailored to spotlight his muscular torso, narrow hips and long legs. The dark hair, shaved close to his scalp, only accentuated the perfect shape of his skull.