The Billionaire's Wife(38)
Mrs. Dubois has disappeared and while the thought of this should give me some reassurance I feel much more nervous not knowing where she is. I feel so out of my element and if she were to pop up behind me unannounced I would almost certainly scream; at least I’m not holding a tray of drinks to drop.
“Ahhh, Mrs. Lambert! I’m so happy that you made it!” Shit, shit, shit. I curse myself for cursing myself before giving Mrs. Dubois a polite smile. “Did Gideon…umm, Mr. Lambert manage to make it also?” I contemplate lying, giving myself an out, ‘why yes, in fact I just need to go and…’ That wouldn’t work anyway, she would almost certainly mention it to Gideon the next time she saw him and then I’d have some explaining to do.#p#分页标题#e#
“No, he was caught up with work I’m afraid.” The truth is that I have absolutely no idea where Gideon Lambert is and I’m doing my very best not to care.
“Oh, what a shame! These men, they’re always working these days aren’t they?” she lets out a haughty laugh that makes me cringe before winking at me, “Good thing they have us to hold down the social front, eh?” She grabs my elbow as she says this and I resist the urge to snatch it away. Mrs. Dubois reminds me of my mother, she firmly believes that it’s the wealthy and the socialites that make all the difference in the world. “I was hoping I would run in to you though, I wanted to talk to you about that fundraiser I mentioned last time we spoke. I would love to set up a co-hosted event to benefit the foundation. I thought we could set up a coffee afternoon and arrange the details then, but if you have time now I’m sure we could sneak away and get some of the details panned out.” How do I escape this? How do I escape this and avoid any of the other wait-staff noticing the fact that I’m fraternizing with the guests? All I want to do is drop the money in the donation basket and run and now I’m trapped by Mrs. Dubois, I’m the fly to her spider.
“That would be lovely, Mrs. Dubois, however, I’m afraid I’m a little caught up at the moment, would you mind if I found you a little later this evening?” She is taken aback, the very thought that she was being brushed off sets her face in to a cold expression and with her lips slightly pursed she nodded.
“Yes, of course” I smile back at her and with a nod I continue to push my way to the front of the room. The hall is large enough for the average person to go unnoticed among the crowd but with a face like Mrs. Dubois watching me there is no way that I can go unnoticed. I contemplate hanging on to the money and waiting for another opportunity but in all honesty I just want to drop it in, I just want to finish up here and get back to my normal life away from rich wives and richer husbands.
The donation basket is near to overflowing with envelopes twice the size of mine, some much larger. Slipping my hand in to my purse I pull out the envelope and quickly slip it in to the basket, hoping that no one catches me in the act. Turning back around I notice Mrs. Dubois with her eyes still on me though and I wonder for a moment if she knows that I’m an imposter. Could she know that I’m not Mrs. Lambert after all? Could she find out? What if she already knows? What would I do if she already knew and is just trying to trick me in to committing more of the scam before she busts me in the act…? I smile at her once more and with my heart racing I head back towards the kitchen as calmly and slowly as I can manage.
Chapter Twenty-One
The kitchen is empty with the exception of two of the wait-staff who are gossiping in the far corner of the room. I glance at them quickly and once I realize that they haven’t even registered me in the room, I head for my hide out. The basement stairs.
It’s a good ten degrees cooler at the top of the basement stairs. No one had seen me slip through the basement door; seeking refuge from the watchful eyes of Mrs. Dubois who I was certain had followed me to the kitchen doors. Still, my objective for the night was complete and now I was free to leave whenever I pleased with a quick call to Allison. I feel a twinge of sadness at this thought, am I really going to close out this chapter? A brief fling with a married billionaire, ended by my own hand… how self-destructive of me. How else could it have played out though? Either path I could have chosen would have ended in self destruction, at least this way I got to keep my self-respect…what little there is left of it anyway.
I slide down the step, sitting with my back against the cool brick wall and for a moment I allow myself to imagine what it would be like if I actually were Mrs. Lambert. Surely it must be exhausting entertaining on this level multiple times a week, every week…but then again it’s not exactly as though I would be the one doing the entertaining. It seems like all I’d have to do is recruit someone to throw the events for me and as long as the donations were free flowing it didn’t seem as though the charities minded organizing their own functions. I find myself wondering exactly what Mrs. Lambert had done in her time, before she fell out of the picture. Had she been a socialite just like Mrs. Dubois? Had she kept that type of company? Had she been as annoying as I find Mrs. Dubois to be? Surely a man like Gideon wouldn’t have grown a relationship with someone like that. I laugh at the thought because quite honestly I can’t say what a man like Gideon Lambert would do anymore. I had thought I’d known him. I thought he was the kind of man who would sweep me off my feet but instead he turned out to be the type of man who slips wads of cash in to your purse in payment for impersonating his wife.