“I find it purely disgusting that people would even try to do these things with any woman. Not just Sierra, but any woman. Whatever happened to good manners?” asked Cam.
“This level of society is just as a much of a jungle as at the bottom. Let’s go. I want to see who’s there early who needs a better attorney.”
Fergus hurried ahead of her to open the door, putting the keycard in the inner pocket of his suit coat. She appreciated that little gesture. It’d be very hard for a pickpocket to get it from there.
She was carrying a miniscule little clutch purse on a chain over her wrist. It held a lipstick with a little mirror and some tissues. Cam had the invitation in his top pocket and if she needed to do any genuine repairs to her makeup or if she spilled something on her dress she’d come back to the room to fix it.
Cam pressed the button for the elevator and both men smiled at her.
As the doors opened she recognized one of the men already in the elevator car and she knew for a fact the buxom blonde hanging on his arm was not his wife. Nevertheless she smiled and said, “Roland, how nice to see you.”
Fergus and Cam moved as one to stand beside her and she slid into work mode. Deep inside she was rejoicing. If one of the men felt he could turn up with his girlfriend instead of his wife, that meant no one would have any justification to be more than usually rude about her arriving with two escorts. This was an event where a partner was a trophy. Roland evidently felt that for this event his girlfriend was a much better trophy than his wife. People would just think that in Sierra’s usual courtroom style she had simply doubled the stakes to bring two handsome men instead of the more traditional one.
Five hours later her feet were killing her, her back hurt, and her face was tired from endlessly smiling at people she would quite often have preferred to ignore. But she’d worked the event from one end of the huge ballroom to the other and back again. She’d spoken to everyone of consequence and a huge number of people who weren’t. She’d made sure to introduce both men to the males who’d harassed her in the past and to those she was eager to impress in the future. She’d made time to talk with people she genuinely liked, and she’d sat at a table with a potential client who’d said he’d send work her way immediately. Since they’d shaken hands on the deal, she was certain she’d been successful. Handshakes were more likely to be kept than contracts at this level of society.
Sierra had danced once with each of her men, and once each with two important clients. She’d danced twice with another man who she hoped would become a client. She’d eaten an extremely expensive meal but had no idea what it was or what it tasted like. Her brain had been too busy noting the people she still needed to speak to, and impressing the new client.
At the end of the evening as people were leaving she was still talking to a woman who might become a client, and then to two friends of hers, some of the few guests she’d been genuinely pleased to catch up with.
Cam held her arm as they returned to the lift, maintaining their work mode all the way into their own suite. As soon as the door was shut behind them she sank down onto a chair and bent to unstrap her sandals. Immediately Cam kneeled at her feet. “Let me do that. Are your feet sore?”
“Hellishly. These shoes looked great with the dress, but I was ready to kick them off a couple hours ago.”
Cam carefully took her sandals off then massaged the ball of her foot, the heel, the arch, and each individual toe. Then he did the same to her other foot.
“Thanks. That feels so good.”
“I could do other things to make you feel good, too.”
“You do head massages as well?” she teased, reaching up to take some of the pins out of her hair. Cam remained at her feet, rubbing them and relaxing her. Fergus, who’d already removed his shoes, jacket, and bow tie, stood beside her with his hands outstretched to take the pins and flowers from her as she pulled each one loose. It would have been easier if she was standing in front of the mirror, but she was done standing for the day.
Finally her hair was free, and while Fergus piled all the hairclips and flowers onto the bathroom sink, Cam began massaging her head gently rubbing and soothing her scalp, moving from front to back and side to side.
“Wow. That’s good. You’ve got very talented fingers,” she said.
Fergus pulled her to her feet and unzipped her gown, helping her from it, while Cam went into the other room and brought back the garment bag to hang it in.
The two men removed and hung up their own suits, shirts, and ties, and she took off the rest of her clothes, then joined them in the bedroom.