Free Winner Takes All by Jacqui Moreau Page A

find the contents very interesting.”
    “Unless, of course, I invite her to the Fashion Ball,” she said, looking at her son carefully to gauge his reaction. She didn’t miss the flicker of interest in his eyes. “But I suppose I wouldn’t really get a chance to talk with her, what with my hosting duties and all. No, perhaps I should just wait until next week. I’ll have Cassandra set something up soon. What do you think, Cole?”
    He thought having Eva at the Fashion Ball was a wonderful idea, one that he was going to put forth himself, but now he shrugged indifferently. He didn’t want to overplay his hand. He could tell that his mother was on a fishing expedition. Since his father died, she had become like more conventional mothers, worrying about her son’s future and longing for grandchildren. This was not about the future or grandchildren, and he didn’t want her to get her hopes up. “Will Davidge’s and Brooks’s be there?”
    “Of course. They’re courting my goodwill, and giving money to the Hammond Foundation is the best way to do that.”
    “Then perhaps, for the foundation’s sake, you should invite Eva.”
    “Eva?”
    “Ms. Butler, the representative from Wyndham’s.”
    “It’s a persuasive argument and I’ll take it under consideration. I’ll be sure to let you know my decision.”
    He shrugged as if bored with the topic. “It makes no difference to me.”
    Loretta fought a smirk. Clearly, it made all the difference in the world to him, and in order to torture him a little longer, she decided she wouldn’t send out the invitation until Friday. She had only one son and needed to get all the joy she could out of him. “Still, I’ll have Cassandra call you as soon as the invite goes out, assuming it does.”
    “That’s not necessary,” he assured her, as the waiter brought out their first course. He put mesclun greens with sherry vinaigrette in front of Loretta and pan-fried scallop salad in front of Cole. He then hovered for several seconds with a fresh pepper grinder. Cole accepted a few turns while his mother waved the waiter off.
    “All right,” she said, deciding that it was only fair that he not be warned. After all, poor Ms. Eva Butler was only getting twenty-four hours to prepare for the social event of the New York season. Most women had four weeks to get ready, and Loretta knew that they needed every one of them.
    As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Cole realized that he’d protested too much. His mother was an extremely clever woman and had obviously figured out that he was very interested in the movements of Ms. Butler. For that reason, he refused to follow up on her invite. Although he would be tempted to ask Cassandra what the final decision was, he would withstand the urge. There wasn’t any way he could find out now without tipping off his mother. Even a request from Philip for the guest list would be treated as suspect.
    “This is very good,” he said, changing the subject completely. “The scallops are delicate and tender. How’s your salad?”
    Although the bland conversation didn’t fool her, she went along with it willingly. “Excellent. Mrs. Hemingway gets points for food quality and atmosphere.”
    “She is a jewel.”

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    Eva was perusing the final draft of her cover letter for the third time when Devorah tapped on her desk.
    It took Eva a moment to register the interruption. After a delay of a second or two, she stopped reading and looked up. “Yes?”
    “Ben would like to see you in his office,” said an impatient Devorah. “He has ten minutes before he goes into a meeting.”
    Eva looked at the clock. It was ten minutes to ten. All she had left to do was slide the letter into the envelope with the other elements of her proposal and call the mailroom. “All right. Tell him I’ll be right there.”
    Her announcement, which was distracted and carelessly tossed off, didn’t fool Devorah. “I said he has only ten minutes