Page 34 of Acquiring Ainsley
“You’ll have to come to the engagement party.” Ainsley kept her attention on Sylvia, but she leaned in closer to me. “We’re having it at the Flagler Museum.”
Sylvia let out a gasp of approval. “So soon? If I didn’t know you better, dear, I’d wonder if this was a shotgun wedding.”
Ainsley laughed. “Can you imagine what my mother would think about that? To say nothing of my brother.”
“I do hope he’ll make it down a few times this year. I know it can be so hard, running a company the size of his. And with that, I must go. Have to circulate.” Sylvia kissed Ainsley on one cheek again. “God forbid I miss the chance to talk with any of the major donors.” Sylvia said this as if another season of endless galas in South Florida had already made her bored.
Once she was out of earshot, Ainsley turned to me. “So, you’re on the hook for that party now. Or, should I say,weare.”
I nodded. “Good thing I’m willing to play along. Is this something you just dreamed up?”
She shook her head. “I’ve been dying to throw a party recently, so this seems as good a moment as any. And since we’ve told Sylvia about it, there’s no getting out of it now.”
“I see.” I laughed. “You’re going to find a way to get what you want out of this no matter what, aren’t you?”
“Yep.” Her attention turned away from me and toward the rest of the crowd at the party. “And speaking of Sylvia, I wouldn’t put it past her to put us in her column about this event. She loves weddings even more than she loves gossip.”
“Fine with me.” Then I glanced down at my left arm, which still circled her tiny frame. I dropped my hold around her. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
“No, it’s okay.” Ainsley put her hand on my arm. “I don’t mind. You’re my fiancé, after all, right?” She smiled. “People have to believe it’s real.”
I stared at her for a long moment. Something had changed between us, and the thrill of it shimmered upward from my toes to my hair.
“I still can’t believe we won the trip to Italy,” I said as we sped away from the Phillips Estate a few hours later. The night was crisp and still felt young, and if I wanted to be honest, I didn’t want it to end with a gift bag from Tiffany’s and a parting shot at my door. I’d had a good time with Trevor, more fun than I would have expected if I’d told myself two months ago that this was where I would be.
“It’s the Amalfi Coast.” He grinned. “You’re the one who said it’s amazing.”
“Still. Fifty thousand for a weeklong villa rental?” I let out a low whistle. “For a price like that, it better have champagne in the pool.”
“I’m sure it does.” He pulled the car to a stop at the light about a half mile from the Palm Beach Towers. “And I’m surprised to hear a woman like you worrying so much about money.”
“It’s a new look for me, but what can I say?” A few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have considered fifty grand that much money, but considering what I knew now about my family’s finances, it carried a lot more weight. “People change, right?”
“They do,” he murmured.
I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but Trevor McNamara seemed to get more handsome with every moment that we spent together. I couldn’t figure out what it was that attracted me the most, but it lay somewhere in the combination of his dark eyes, the small crease in the bridge of his nose, and the faint smirk that always lurked underneath every expression he made. Trevor was cocky for sure, but I liked cocky.
Plus, I’d noticed a change in his mannerisms since that conversation with Sylvia. He was warmer to me, and not nearly as forceful.
Is he starting to genuinely like me?I shook the thought from my head.Why in the world do I care?
“Thanks for tonight,” I said when he slid the car into the visitor parking lot. I hooked my fingers around the door handle. “It felt nice to have a glimpse of my old life for a few hours. Since nothing about the last few weeks has been normal.”
His gaze caught mine. “I’ll agree with that. I meant to tell you earlier that it looks like the merger and the sale are going well. Ashton says the first round of paperwork should be at my office by next week. And after that…” He snapped his fingers. “I’m not worried about it. Things will go smoothly. I’ll make sure of that.”
I bit my bottom lip as my thoughts turned again to the other reality of this situation: the fact that once Ashton sold the company, we’d have no control over it, even if I was Trevor’s wife. For the first time since its founding, Ross Publishing wouldn’t be mine. It wouldn’t be our family’s.
“What are you going to do?”
“With what?”
“The company,” I whispered. “Do you have plans for it? What are you going to do with the assets?”
He blinked at me. “What I told you. I’m going to make Ross Publishing profitable again.”
“That sounds like a bad campaign slogan.”
“But it’s also the truth, and I hope you and Ashton are part of that work.”
