Free After the Party by Jackie Braun Page A

good way for them both to burn off calories.
    Then Ella heard a familiar voice and those first licks of interest were doused as effectively as having a bucket of ice water dumped over her head.
    “There are, too, open tables back here, Charles. I don’t know what you were thinking, seating us so close to the kitchen,” Camilla complained. Then she spied Ella. “Whatever are you doing here?”
    “Eating a slice of cheesecake.” Or she had been. Her appetite was good and ruined now.
    Ella’s former stepmother was blonder, bustier and more bodacious than she remembered. Of course, Ella had been doing her damnedest to forget the woman.
    “Charles, why didn’t you mention that Ella was here?”
    “An oversight,” the maître d’ replied, casting an apologetic glance Ella’s way.
    Camilla continued, “Our relationship may have changed, but there are no hard feelings. Isn’t that so, Ella?”
    Ella smiled without agreeing. Now was neither the time nor place to air dirty laundry. “You’re looking well,” she said, determined to be pleasant.
    “Thank you. Have you gained a little weight?” Camilla cast a meaningful glance at the cheesecake.
    It was the kind of verbal slap Ella expected from the woman who had made her insecure teen years pure hell, and so she was prepared for it.
    “Nope. Same weight as before.”
    “Really? Well, not me. I’ve lost several pounds. I’ve been so busy redecorating Javier’s villa in Madrid,” she said of her new husband.
    Javier Saville, plastic surgeon to the rich and famous. Camilla had met him when she’d gone in for a tummy tuck. She appeared to have had a few additional procedures done since then.
    “Married life agrees with you,” Ella said. And the fact that, these days, Camilla was married to someone other than Ella’s father agreed with Ella.
    Camilla nodded, before transferring her gaze to Chase. “You’ll have to forgive us for being so rude. Ella and I haven’t seen one another in...how long has it been?”
    “Your divorce from Dad was final two years, six months, three weeks and four, um, no, five days ago.” Ella smiled sweetly.
    Meanwhile, Camilla’s eyes glittered with pure evil. “How is your father, dear? Any more indictments? I wasn’t able to follow the news while I was abroad.”
    “You know damned well he was cleared of all charges,” she said between gritted teeth.
    “Your table, madam?” Charles inserted in an attempt to keep the situation from escalating. The poor maître d’ looked pained. Scenes didn’t happen at The Colton.
    Camilla ignored him. “That’s right. It was all those pesky civil suits from investors who’d lost their life savings that kept him in court.”
    The burden of proof was lower in civil cases and a couple of sympathetic juries had sided with the plaintiffs. Between legal fees, those settlements and the financial drubbing Oscar had taken in the divorce, he’d wound up nearly broke.
    “I’m Chase Trumbull.” Chase stood and held out his hand, making it impossible for Camilla to ignore him or continue her not-so-veiled attack on Ella.
    “Camilla Saville.” Instead of shaking his hand, she gave just the tips of his fingers a light squeeze before adding with an air of importance, “Of the Greenwich, Connecticut, Savilles. Are you and Ella...dating?”
    The question was accompanied by a practiced look of surprise.
    “Actually, Chase and I are business associates,” Ella responded.
    “Business associates?” Camilla’s lips twisted on the words, before she asked skeptically, “And what business might that be?”
    “Ella is a professional party planner.”
    “Since when?” Camilla snorted indelicately. Chase’s icy stare had her offering an apology, albeit an insincere one. “I’m sorry. That came out all wrong. It’s just that I’m surprised. The last I heard, and admittedly it was several months ago, Ella was trying her hand at fashion merchandising and not having very much success, I’m