“What are we looking at?”Morgan, my wayward cousin, joins us.
“Darling, here you are.”Grandmother pulls Morgan closer.“I want to introduce you to Paige Hayes, Zachary’s date.”
“Zach has a date?”Morgan pokes, her amber eyes glittering with the promise of causing trouble.“I definitely want to meet the woman brave enough to come into the bear cave with the grumpiest bear of them all.”
Morgan laughs, Nan tsks, and Paige looks bewildered as I drag my cousin over to me and peck her on the cheek.“Stop, Paige will believe every word you say.”
“Oh, we can’t have that.Would it scare her off?”
“Doubt it.Paige doesn’t scare easily.”I press my hand into my date’s lower back in reassurance.
“No, I don’t.I’ve already seen Zach’s grumpy side.”She hooks a thumb in my direction.“And I’m still here.Not sure what that says about me.”
“Paige, this is my cousin and all-around troublemaker, Morgan Rothwell.”
“Hi, Paige.”They shake hands.“I’m joking about some of it and if you’ve seen his not-so-nice side, then you know what I’m talking about.”
“Okay, that’s enough.Let me take you around.”I look to Paige, ready to whisk her away.
“No, let me do it.”Morgan wedges herself between us.“Before Zach bores you to death,” she mock-whispers as if not wanting me to hear when that’s exactly her point.
“Morgan,” Nan chides, and I laugh, used to my cousin’s antics.
I’m not in the least bit perturbed at the thought of Paige alone with my cousin.She’ll like Morgan.My younger cousin considers herself the black sheep of the family when neither Nan nor I think of her that way.But she is different.
As the only child of my uncle Bernard and without a mother for most of her life—she died in a tragic skiing accident—Morgan wanders the globe looking for something I fear she may never find.
Once the younger ladies leave, Nan and I talk a bit of shop before agreeing to split up and work the room.Every so often, I drop in on Paige, usually in conversation with someone, to make sure she’s okay.
We have dinner and afterward, we mingle some more.I feel like I haven’t spent a lot of time with my date and surprisingly, or maybe not, she hasn’t sought me out.We sat next to each other at dinner and while we were able to chat a bit, we spent most of our time occupied by the guests on our other side.
“How do you think the evening is going?”Nan moves in the second Humphrey Jones excuses himself for another drink.
“Good.Humph and I are going golfing.I plan to get him to back the marketing campaign.”
“Excellent.And Paige?How do you think she’s doing?”She scans the crowd, stopping at the same time I spot her.
“You tell me.”
“She’s a natural.This may be new to her, but you’d never know it.Did you see her talking to Cormac?”
“Yes.”
“She had the old man blushing and actually letting her lead the conversation.”She shakes her head as if still disbelieving what she saw with her own eyes.
“She is something.”My throat tightens at the admission and Nan’s perceptive gaze searches my expression for some sign.
Her hope is painted all over her face.She is likely hoping for Paige to be the one I’ll settle down with.Isn’t that what I want her to think?She needs to believe Paige and I are the real deal.
“Look at her now with Bettina—aren’t you worried?”I’m deliberately prodding as Bettina van der Jagt is a tough, old biddy and a thorn in Nan’s side.
“I’m not,” she says confidently.“Paige has it under control, I’m sure.Look, Bettina’s laughing.When’s the last time you saw that?I can’t say I recall.I think it was the Ice Age.”
She’s dead serious and I belt out a laugh, surprising us both.Not too long after, we go our separate ways.While talking to the chairman of the board, I catch sight of Paige coming from the direction of the ladies’ room when Donovan makes his umpteenth move, cornering her.
All night, she has steered clear of him even when he’s obviously been trying to get her alone.With every attempt, she’s dodged him, either leaving the group when he joins or inviting someone else into the circle so as not to be alone with him.I contemplated uninviting him tonight.He doesn’t have a seat on the board, or any real reason to be here other than his connection to most of the people in the room.This kind of event is just as much about being seen as it is about business.
Donovan now has her alone and I’m deep in conversation with Cormac Wilkes, the chairman of our board and Donovan’s father.Unfortunately, while Cormac is a valued member and a good man, he can be a bit of a blowhard.
