Page 29 of Hot Commodity (Banks/Kincaid Family 1)

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."

Feeling a small thrill shoot up her spine, Olivia watched her mother blink. Vivian was used to being the aggressor in every verbal exchange. She had a knack for guiding conversations to suit her purpose. Olivia wanted to cheer Cameron on for his subtle little jab at Vivian's vanity.

"You...wait. You know who I am?" Vivian asked, clearly surprised.

Olivia held her breath, but Cameron's answer came out sounding completely innocent. "Of course. You're Olivia's mother. Vivian Roark, C. E. O. of Helbrock Enterprise for the past twenty-eight years, ever since your father handed it to you when you married Roger Donovan. Your company majors in dog food but you prefer to dally in the big buy-and-sell market. Your most recent venture was WorldAct United. And I must say I'm impressed with the profit margin you made there."

Wow. The boy had done his homework. Olivia lifted her gaze to Cameron's and was surprised to find his eyes on her. He winked.

"I've heard of you too," Vivian said, looking satisfied by the fact he knew her reputation. "That merger you accomplished between McCrill and Thompson Pack was impressive."

Cameron seemed reluctant to pull his gaze away from Olivia's. "I'm sorry, but I can't seem to concentrate on business in the presence of this enchanting creature." He sent Vivian a look of utter meekness. "Do you mind if I ask your daughter for a dance?"

Both Olivia and Vivian sputtered, but Olivia did so in dread while the sparkle in her mother's eye contained pure delight. "Oh! Well, of course. Olivia loves to dance."

"Does she?" Cameron asked, turning expectantly toward her.

Her face morphed into scarlet horror.

"Olivia," Vivian said and nudged her toward Cameron.

He took her elbow and nearly dragged her onto the floor. "Relax," he murmured unobtrusively in her ear, but she ignored him.

Cameron settled his hand more snuggly around her waist and touched a little too low, making her lift her head and gawp at him. "What in God's name are you doing?"

He lifted his face from where he'd been looking quite openly down her cleavage. "What? Isn't this all part of the plan? I take one look at you and fall all over myself in love?"

Olivia's eyes went frosty. "That's Vivian's plan. Not mine."

Cameron sent her a sloppy grin. "Well, maybe it happened anyway."

Olivia gritted out an irritated groan. Why her? Please, God, why?

"Why haven't I got any papers in the mail from you?" she said, deciding to change the subject.

"My lawyer's busy right now with another assignment," he answered, distracted as he returned to gawking down her dress. "Holy hell, you're not wearing a bra, are you?"

She opened her mouth to answer, but he suddenly noticed a certain ring on her right hand. The ring he'd bought her in Vegas.

"Hey," he said, reaching for it. "That doesn't go there."

It looked for all the world like he was going to slip it off and set it back in its proper place on her left ring finger. Olivia ground her teeth. Of course, he had to go and notice she was wearing she stupid thing.

She couldn't believe she'd put it on tonight. Actually, she couldn't believe she hadn't taken it off since Vegas. But it was such a nice ring, and Olivia did love her bling. Besides, she'd been wearing it on the wrong hand anyway. Certainly, he wouldn't think their marriage meant anything to her. He wouldn't think—

"Cameron!" she hissed, curling her fingers into a fist to stop him from removing the diamond. "The annulment?"

"Oh, right." He smoothly returned to the subject at hand, letting the ring stay where it was for the present. "With everything going on, it'll probably be a few months before Bos'll be able to get to that."

"Months?" she squawked.

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