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“Minus the part where you pay me for dance lessons and all five boroughs think I’m a prostitute?”
“Minus that.”
Sophie bit her lip. “Do you want to give me anything to work with?”
“I’m sorry?”
“We’re supposed to be a couple and I know nothing about you. Give me something. Lies, if it has to be. So long as I have some story to go with when I walk into that party.”
“Fine. I grew up here in the States. My father made a fortune before I was born, so always attended private school. Exeter. Harvard. I started working for his company the minute I graduated.”
“Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
She slumped back against the creamy leather seat. Henry shifted suddenly beside her and held out a flat jewelry box. “By the way, this goes with the dress.” He opened the box, revealing a gleaming strand of lustrous pearls. They glimmered like small, round mirrors. Sophie gasped, touching tentative fingertips to the cool spheres. Henry drew it out and held up the opera length strand. “They were my mother’s.”
Sophie’s eyes went wide as he slipped them around her throat and her anger dissipated. He turned her slightly away from him so he could fix the clasp. Why would he give her something to wear that had belonged to his mother? He had been so cold and now this?
“She always said pearls proved to her there was a God, because nothing so perfect and beautiful could be an accident,” he said.
“She sounds like a lovely woman,” she murmured, stroking the strand of pearls as it warmed against her skin. He finished hooking the clasp and stroked the nape of her neck briefly.
“She was.” Sophie felt the brief brush of his fingers against her nape and shivered. He turned her back toward him. “They look lovely on you.”
“Thank you, Henry.” She meant it for more than just the loan of the pearls. For the first time, she felt as if he was really talking to her, not trying to hide behind evasive language. She stared into his dark eyes and wondered what it might have been like if the scandal had never happened. Would Henry have gotten through to her? Carl had said he’d called the studio the day after their... encounter. What would he have said if he’d gotten a hold of her?
She didn’t know if she’d be here with him now. A small part of her was a little glad her hand was being forced. The rest of her was terrified.
The limo drew to a stop in front of the Four Seasons Hotel. Sophie’s breath caught in her throat as the driver came around to open the door. This was it. When they walked through that door, she and Henry would officially be a ‘couple’ to all of New York.
Chapter Twelve
She wanted to flee the minute they climbed the steps into The Garden. Though the affair was probably considered “intimate” at less than a hundred people, Sophie felt immediately surrounded. Only Henry’s light touch on the small of her back kept her from turning and running for the limo.
He bent slightly to whisper in her ear. “Relax. This will be painless, I promise.” His warm breath on her neck and the slight brush of his mouth against her earlobe sent heat blazing through her chest. The tinkle of the metallic beads on her dress gave her away.
“I wish I had your confidence.”
Henry stopped a passing waiter and took two glasses of champagne from his silver tray. He handed one to Sophie and toasted her. “To our first outing as a couple.”
She returned the gesture, but reminded him, “It’s just for show.” Maybe she was trying to remind herself as well. Being this close to Henry, having him touch her and joke with her and open up to her, it was heady. He was making her forget she was still angry with him.
“Henry!”
Sophie stiffened immediately at the woman’s shrill voice. Henry’s hand pressed her closer to his side in reassurance. They were approached by a reed thin woman with silver hair arranged in an elaborate pile on top of her head.
“Muriel, how lovely to see you.” Henry bent to brush a brief kiss on the woman’s wrinkled cheek. “Where’s Golan tonight?”
She waved a jewel encrusted hand. “Around. Foolish boy is having something of a tantrum. You should go find him and talk him out of his sulk. But first, introduce me to your lovely guest.”
“Muriel Trenway, this is Sophie Becker. Sophie, Muriel is the CFO of Trenway Global.”
Sophie swallowed. Trenway Global owned resorts and hotels all over the world. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Trenway.”
“Pleasure, pleasure. And what do you do, dear?”
