Glancing at his watch, Rand straightened his cuffs, feeling better than he had any reason to. Then again, the evening’s excruciating tedium was going to be alleviated in a mere fifteen minutes. He gazed over the museum crowd with an almost proprietary pleasure, seeing it now as a backdrop for something far more interesting—or someone, rather.
Dani’s imminent presence here served two purposes. One, it got her used to responding when he called, dropping whatever she had going on to meet his needs. Two, it would impress upon her the larger scope of Rand’s power. She’d seen his office; she’d seen his apartment. But she needed to see the men and women who surrounded him every day. There was enough wealth in this room to buy and sell half the Eastern seaboard. If that gave Dani even the tiniest pause, if it chipped away at all at her rock-hard defenses, made her doubt herself and her abilities even in the slightest, then so much the better for him.
“Oh, good, you’re here. I thought you were going to abandon us again.”
Rand turned to regard Catherine, who managed to smile at him with an artfully delighted expression while her eyes seethed with annoyance.
“Catherine,” he said with a nod, accepting a drink from a passing waitress. “A pleasure as always.”
“Right. Just be glad that William didn’t faint with joy that you actually deigned to show up. It’s your first appearance at any of the last three events I’ve scheduled.”
“I told him I’d be busy.”
“But busy doing what, Rand? You can’t tell me you’re actually putting all your efforts into Winston Securities. I won’t believe it.”
Rand’s gaze snapped to hers, but he saw the curiosity there behind the jab. She really did want to know what he was doing at the family business. All of them did, other than his mentors on the board, who knew damn well that he wasn’t quite the idiot his siblings and father assumed him to be. “I’m actually preparing for some extensive travel, so you’ll have to wonder from an even greater distance shortly.”
“No,” she said firmly. “You have no less than a dozen campaign appearances we’ve committed to over the course of the next two weeks, and now you want to simply walk away? It’d be political suicide at this point. The donors are expecting the benefit of the entire Winston family.”
“I wasn’t the one who committed myself.” He swung his gaze to William, who was turning away from some white-haired benefactor even as they watched him. William caught sight of Rand, and his grin widened as he made his way across the room. “As I said, I told William I’d be otherwise occupied. I assumed he’d informed you.”
“Occupied is one thing,” Catherine said. “You can’t expect to remain isolated from the campaign while you’re still in the city. Everyone knows you’re here, Rand, and that you came back in part to assist with the campaign.”
“I never said that. You did.”
“It doesn’t matter!” she retorted. “The gossipmongers will be all over William and myself—and Father—if you don’t at least make more than these token appearances. I know you are distracted with your scruffy little side project, but that is no cause to completely clear your calendar.”
“ ‘Scruffy little side project’?” William sauntered up. “Is this something at the firm?”
“Catherine’s referring to my new girlfriend, whom you’ll be meeting shortly, in fact.”
“Girlfriend?” William asked, his curiosity piqued as Catherine’s eyes popped wide. She looked around the room as if they were about to be invaded.
“You cannot be serious,” she said. “She is not coming here.”
“Of course she is,” Rand said. “I think Dani has more than proven she can hold her own among Boston’s elite.”
“She most certainly cannot.”
“Oh, really? You were with her at the gallery. You bought the line she was selling.”
“Not as much as you did.”
“Well, I was the intended target. It stands to reason her focus would have been on me exclusively. At the time, she simply assumed you were my date.”
“Who are you talking about?” William demanded as Catherine gave a derisive little sniff. “Rand, is this woman relevant? Is her family in politics?”
“Her family is probably in prison,” Catherine snapped. “Rand, call her off.”
“Prison!” William echoed the word, shifting his gaze to Rand. “Tell me you’re joking. Who is she really?”
Catherine rolled her eyes. “Some high school dropout Rand is infatuated with, who works at a second-rate gallery on Boylston Street, at least when she’s not tending bar, that is.”
“The gallery was second-rate,” Rand said. “Now I’m given to understand it’s all the rage.”
“Oh, please. She’s low-class, Rand. I can’t believe you’re bringing her here.”
“I’m sure she can’t be as bad as that.” William tilted his head. “And it’s very ‘of the people’ in its way, don’t you think?”
Catherine threw up her hands in disgust. “And when you tire of her, Rand? Which should be in about the next twenty-seven minutes? Where will she go then? Just so we can get this story straight when the questions inevitably pop up. Because she certainly is not going to be accepted as anything more than the temporary distraction that she is.”
“She’ll return to her normal life,” Rand said, forcing himself not to be irritated by his sister’s satisfied smile. Catherine Margaret Winston, for all her many charms, had definite opinions about who were proper romantic partners for any Winston child. William’s wife had been her college roommate, and her own relationships, such as they were, had been restricted to the bluest of blood. While Rand had taken over the family business just recently, Catherine had taken on the social face of the family since her early teens. He had no doubt that she would be married within the next two years, and he pitied the man she chose.
Still, her casual dismissal of Dani rankled, because he knew that her prejudices were also his own—had been impressed into his very bones his entire life. Dani was just a temporary distraction. A very worthwhile one, but temporary nevertheless. She probably didn’t deserve him dragging her into the lion’s den that was the Winston family. If he were a better man, he would do as Catherine suggested and call Dani off. Not for his family’s benefit, but for hers.
“Christ,” Catherine muttered, looking across the room. “She’s here.”
Oh, well. Rand smiled. Too late.
Dani felt like she’d been grinning for most of her natural life as she glided into the event hall. According to the docent who’d ushered her back here, the museum had been closed for the evening to accommodate Boston’s oldest of old money, one of the flamboyant gestures of the Winston campaign to combine their over-the-top resources with their down-to-earth support of the city’s signature institutions. The awed museum employee informed her staunchly that the Winston family had similarly graced art schools, the aquarium, a couple of hospitals, and a trendy restaurant in the revitalized District thus far, and the primary wasn’t for months yet.
None of which explained why Rand had developed a sudden need to have her join him here, however. Was he that hard up for arm candy?
She spotted him immediately as she entered the room, her attention drawn to the trio of unreasonably attractive siblings. Still, she swept the space with a thousand-yard stare, then turned back to the dithering museum attendant, thanking him for his time. If Rand wanted to come to her, he could. She wasn’t going to interrupt his little family meeting.
“Just keep it cool,” she muttered to herself, nodding to the woman approaching her with a tray full of champagne flutes. She scanned the crowd. She and the Winston kids dragged the average age of this set down by a fair margin, but she’d guessed correctly in her clothing choice. Fortunately, Lou had a new shipment of garments ready to go out to customers at her favorite of his dry-cleaning shops, and she’d had her pick of the bunch. The rich, cherry-red silk dress was striking without being loud, and her stilettos were just shy of outrageous as well. The slim leather clutch was a nice addition, too. It’d been brought in for cleaning, and it matched her shoes well, while giving her some business to keep her hands busy. Besides, she needed to keep her phone with her at all times. There was no telling when Jimmy would call back.
She felt more than saw Catherine move up beside her, the instant chill of her presence dropping the temperature in the room by a good twenty degrees. She hadn’t seen the woman in person since the night of Erin’s gallery showing—it seemed like a hundred years ago already. And when she turned to face her directly, she knew that now wasn’t the ideal time for a reunion.
Well, too bad. It wasn’t Dani’s idea, coming here, and she knew she more than looked the part. “Miss Winston,” she said, before Catherine could get the first word, knowing she had to establish her right to be here up front. “What a lovely party. I’m so glad Rand asked me to attend and learn more about William’s campaign. You must be so proud of him.”
“We’re delighted to have you join us,” Catherine said. Her tone instantly put Dani on her guard. It was pitched just a touch too loudly for polite conversation, and Dani could already feel the covert glances of the men and women around them. Or was she imagining that? “Tell me, how has business been at the gallery? I know it must be exhausting work, sweeping up after all the events and packaging up paintings.”
Dani blinked at her in surprise, feeling her carefully stitched persona starting to fray. Would Catherine really insinuate that her brother was associating with someone who worked for a living? Or was she supposed to act like the gallery was some sort of chichi volunteer work that she did between manicures?
Catherine’s next words settled it. She opened her eyes wide, as if in sudden realization. “Or, no! What was I thinking? You’ve moved on to work exclusively at the bar, that’s right. What was its name again? Your shift doesn’t start for hours yet, I know, but how nice of you to cut your naptime short to attend our little soiree.”
Just that quickly, all of Dani’s easy, relaxed, roll-with-it mojo took a body blow. The couples around them definitely were looking at them both now, trying to understand what was going on and take in the gossip-ready sound bites. Catherine’s smile was equal parts malice and triumph. Suddenly, Dani felt every inch the fraud—and not in her usual way of one-upping a mark. No, instead she felt like what she truly was: a cheap imitation of quality, an uneducated street rat, too poor to get in to college with her other expenses, too proud to stop giving away every dime she made to the people she’d made commitments to. Indignation and embarrassment burned beneath her skin and she felt supremely self-conscious, as if her very skin gave off some kind of foul odor that immediately set her apart as something different. Something to be avoided or pitied, or paid to do a service and then forgotten.
Fuck. That.
Pull it together, Dani, she ordered herself, even as she fixed her own smile on her face. A smile that indicated she understood Catherine’s barb, accepted it, even, but was amused that the other woman would be so tacky to say such a thing in public. “I truly wouldn’t have missed the chance to see you again, Catherine. That’s such a pretty dress on you.”
Because she was getting paid, dammit. She was getting paid for her time, and Rand had asked her to come here, had told her what it was that she’d be attending, and she’d agreed. She hadn’t expected to be ambushed by the Ice Bitch, but that didn’t change the terms of her agreement with Silver Spoon. And she sure as shit wasn’t going to invoke her hard no just because she’d been called out by some stuck-up, hardmouthed, stony-faced…
Dani narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, feeling a surge of vindication sweep through her. Money could buy a lot of things, no question. But there were a few things it couldn’t buy, and as far as Sister Dear knew, Dani was here as Rand’s honest-to-God girlfriend. His loving, adoring, wide-eyed better half, who’d scampered halfway across the city to join her doting lover, a lover who even now was looking at her across the room, no doubt wondering how she would handle herself in the face of Catherine’s toxic assault. Bastard.
But back on topic. Dani might be here to warm her big, strong, rich boyfriend’s arm…but Princess Popsicle was here by herself. Just like she’d been the night of Erin’s gala opening. Like she’d probably been for every one of William’s campaign events, alone or on the arm of her brother, smiling her hard smile, staring out with her big, blue, perfectly mascaraed eyes.
Dani’s smile warmed several degrees, and she reached out and touched Catherine’s sleeve, pursuing the woman when she naturally shifted back. She squeezed Catherine’s arm with ultimate sympathy. “Truly, you’re a lovely, lovely woman. I’m sure you’ll find the right man, soon.”
“What?” Catherine was so taken aback that she retreated a step, and this time Dani let her go, the easier for her to pitch her voice a little more loudly as well.
“I’m serious. I know it’s been hard since Rand and I have come into each other’s lives, but he’s always available as your escort to these events, please know that.” She waved her hand airily, even as Catherine’s face turned faintly purple under her carefully applied makeup. “Don’t ever hesitate to ask him to accompany you.”
Dani’s barrage of words was hurled with all the precision of buckshot fired against a wall, but it seemed to hit its mark. Catherine drew herself up sharply, her face twisting into a frayed anger completely at odds with her perfectly tailored haute couture day dress. “How dare you—”
“Catherine, Dani, how wonderful that you’re beginning to make each other’s acquaintance.” Rand stepped between them, picking up Dani’s hand and curling it into his arm. If he’d noticed that her fingers had gone ice cold, he didn’t show it, and Dani fought to keep them from clutching him hard enough to bruise. “I’d love to let you chat a bit longer, but Dani and I have another commitment this evening, and I did want her to see some of the private collection the museum has graciously opened up for us.”
“Of course.” As if a veil had been ripped clear of her face, Catherine was once again all sunny smiles as she beamed at them both, going up on tiptoe to press her cheek to Rand’s. “Do stay as long as you like, though. I know so many of Father’s friends would like to chat with you.”
The look she turned on Dani was arctic. “So lovely to see you again, Danielle,” she said. Or at least that’s what the words were that spilled past her lips. Her eyes conveyed an entirely different narrative, one that seemed to expose every rip, cut, broken bone, split lip, and grubby scrape of Dani’s past. Dani didn’t belong in this pretty room with these pretty people who were every bit as vicious to one another as the rest of the world, just a whole lot less honest about it. She didn’t belong here, and she didn’t belong with Rand. Even now, she wanted to wrench his fingers off her wrist and get out of here, shedding his presence like a heavy, ugly coat.
Just a few more weeks, she thought, as she tilted her lips to match Catherine’s smile and allowed Rand to draw her away from the woman’s barely contained outrage. She’d struck hard and deep at Rand’s sister, but she hadn’t expected to wound her so much. Surely Catherine with all of her money could find anyone she wanted. Surely there was someone out there right now who wanted her back.
Because if the lovely, golden Catherine couldn’t find a guy she could love—what chance did any of them have?
Then Rand spoke, Dani laughed, and the moment was broken. All of her dark thoughts were rolled up into a ball and shoved away.
She had a job to do.