It had been three weeks since her rebellious night in Vegas. The bruise on her face had faded and her mother hadn’t mentioned the incident again.
She hoped Vivian had gotten over her ludicrous idea of marrying Olivia off.
Her mother was like that sometimes. She’d devise a plan and be all hot and bothered over it for a few weeks and then suddenly lose interest and hop onto some other idea. Then again, Olivia thought it’d be funny if Vivian persisted and Cameron openly rejected her.
Smiling at a waiter who offered her a drink off a silver platter full of fluted glasses, Olivia shook her head, and the man moved on. Vivian had dragged her to Chicago for yet another business convention. She’d spent four hours sitting next to Vivian through a long, boring presentation about new insurance claims, and now she was standing in an elegant ball room, surrounded by a flood of complete strangers.
She’d caught sight of her mother ten minutes ago talking to some congressman from Massachusetts. But thankfully, she couldn’t spot the witch at the moment. And she’d just ditched the opera house owner from Nashville, which was a relief. To keep him from gawking down her dress, she’d been lifting her hands to her mouth and stuffing all sorts of hors d’oeuvres down her throat in hopes of blocking his wandering eye. For a while there, she’d been afraid she was going to pop if she ate another bite. But fortunately, Mrs. Nashville had come along and swept him away.
Olivia wished she could escape up to her hotel room. But Vivian would kill her if she did.
In the past few days, her mother had actually treated her decently, for lack of a better word. She’d even bought her daughter the dress she was wearing tonight. Olivia had to admit, she loved the dress. It was a soft, long, elegant number with spaghetti straps and—
She let out a small scream and pulled to a stop before smacking directly into Cameron Banks.
Crap. No wonder why Vivian had been buttering her up.
Champagne flute in hand, Cameron lifted it in salute and sent her a sloppy grin. "Hey there, beautiful," he slurred out. "Fancy meeting you here."
Olivia pressed her palm to her heart and closed her eyes. When she opened them, he was still there, bigger than life, beaming his adorable lopsided smile and looking devastating in a tux.
Automatically, she scanned the room for Vivian.
"Oh, yeah," Cameron continued on a husky murmur and moved closer. "Like the dress. It has lick-me written all over it."
His eyes wandered down her body, and she suddenly remembered being naked and alone with him. She remembered it in vivid technicolor.
"Still look good in black, I see," he commented and reached out to run one finger over her left shoulder, under the spaghetti strap. "But I must say, I do miss the leather." He slipped another digit under the strap so the two could slide across her skin. "Nice necklace." The tips of his fingers barely grazed the string of pearls that suddenly felt very snug around her throat.
Olivia shivered and jerked back, grabbing his wrist and tugging his hand off her as she glanced around frantically.
"Are you insane?" she hissed, continuing to hold his hand. "Hurry, you have to go before Vivian sees you talking to me."
Cameron lifted his eyebrows and glanced around the crowded room. "Oh? She’s here too, hmm?"
"Yes! Now go."
"Actually, I’d like to meet the woman."
"No. Trust me, you wouldn’t," Olivia assured.
But it was already too late.
"Olivia," Her mother’s voice came shrilly from a mere ten feet away.
She jolted and spun around, guiltily dropping Cameron’s hand. Cameron remained stubbornly rooted by her side.
Vivian barreled their way. After frowning disapprovingly at Cameron, she immediately turned to her daughter. "Olivia."
"Yes, Mother?" she asked a bit breathlessly.
If she was lucky, Vivian wouldn’t know who Cameron was or find out, and she’d chase him off, never the wiser.
But Cameron stepped forward. "Oh, is this your mom?" he asked with interest. "Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am. I’m Cameron Banks, and I can see where your daughter gets her good looks."
Olivia nearly passed out. What was he doing?
Gritting her teeth and fisting her hands, she closed her eyes briefly. He just had to go and introduce himself, didn’t he?
"Who?" Vivian asked in surprise as she slowed to a stop. After looking Cameron up and down, she took his outstretched hand and shook slowly, still studying him as she did so. "Hmm. I pictured you older."
Cameron grinned, a spark of something nasty entering his eyes. "Really? And here I thought you’d be younger."