Free Worth the Scandal by Karen Erickson

drank from flutes of champagne. A waiter approached her with a loaded tray and she plucked the glass of champagne off the top, offering a murmur of thanks before she sipped.
    It was delicious, shimmering and crisp as it slid down her throat. She downed all of it quickly, licking her lips so as not to miss a drop before she set the empty glass on a nearby table and started toward the restroom.
    “You’re a brave woman.”
    The heavily accented, slightly snide voice stopped Tessa in her tracks and she turned to find Bianca standing there. Giorgio’s mistress. That she would make an appearance at Giorgio’s wife’s charity event was brazen, to say the least.
    “Um. Hello, Bianca,” Tessa greeted, not wanting to be impolite.
    Bianca rolled her eyes. “Did you not hear a word I said?”
    “Something about being brave?” Tessa had no idea what she was talking about.
    “You leave your man for a few minutes, very stupid. If I were you, I’d never leave him alone, especially with all the women in this place. Women far more beautiful than you,” Bianca said just before she drained a flute of champagne.
    Tessa flinched at the insults. “I don’t see how any of this is your business.”
    “It’s not.” Bianca smiled, her heavily glossed lips stretched wide. She had so much makeup on and the dress she wore barely covered her largest assets. Her breasts appeared ready to tumble out at any given moment. “But I thought you could do with a piece of advice. Considering you look like a naïve fool in your virgin dress, all wide-eyed at the money being tossed about before you.”
    Disappointment crashed over Tessa, ruining her mood, her excitement over the dress, everything. Bianca was by far the rudest person she’d ever encountered in her life, and she’d run into a lot of rude people, especially during her retail days. “You should watch what you say. Your lover—or perhaps his wife—might hear you.”
    “Ooh, the kitten has claws. I like that.” Bianca laughed and grabbed another glass of champagne from a passing waiter’s tray. “I just offer you a word of warning, poco gattino . You step away even for a few moments and the women surround him licking their lips and rubbing against him. Why, look at him now.” She indicated with a wave of her hand.
    Tessa turned to see Alex indeed surrounded by a bevy of women, all of them young and gorgeous, not a man in sight. He smiled and laughed with one of them, looking so carefree and devilishly handsome he took her breath away.
    That he looked at another woman like that and not her…her heart panged painfully at the realization.
    “See how the woman touches him, looks at him?” Bianca asked.
    The woman reached out and touched Alex’s forearm, her eyes sparkling as she stared up at him. She wore a revealing dress, black and sleek, and she was rail thin. He nodded at whatever she said and then they quickly embraced, much to Tessa’s shock, before the woman walked away, a satisfied smile on her face.
    “I see,” Tessa said sadly, turning to Bianca. “But I’m just his—”
    “It doesn’t matter what you just are,” Bianca interrupted. “You go back to him and show every woman in this room he belongs to you, gattino . Bare your fangs, show your claws. Let them know he’s yours and no one else’s.”
    With that, Bianca patted her on the arm, offered a sad smile and walked away, disappearing in the crowd within seconds.
    Such a strange conversation, one minute Bianca insulted her, the next she offered sound advice. Tessa had come so close to revealing the truth to her too. Thank goodness, Bianca had interrupted her.
    Was Bianca disappointed she couldn’t be with the man she wanted to declare as her own? Tessa knew she wouldn’t be able to stand being in the same room with Alex while another woman stood with him as his date. Not after tonight…
    She sidled up to him quietly, not wishing to interrupt the conversation he was having with yet another beautiful