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he’s
ruthless if you try to cross him, but I’ve never heard anything
about him being unbalanced.”
    “No, I’m not
afraid of him or anything. I’d just rather not cross paths with him
if I can help it.”
    “I’m surprised
you’ve been able to avoid it. You and he are both on the A-list for
parties and fundraisers in the city.”
    “Let’s just say
I’ve been selective about which parties I attend. If he’s rumored
to be on the guest list, I send my regrets.”
    “So I take it
he won’t be at tonight’s bash for the children’s hospital?”
    “No, a friend
is planning it and she emailed me the guest list. He’s definitely
not going to be there.”

Chapter
Two
    Brent walked into the
ballroom that evening in a foul mood. Ava hadn’t responded to his
email, and he wanted to know why. Why was she still trying to avoid
him?
    “You’re quiet
tonight,” Leslie said, tugging on his arm. She looked stunning in a
couture gown. She was a socialite whose mission in life was to land
a rich husband. She’d set her sights on Brent and decided he was
the one, despite the fact he told her repeatedly he wasn’t
interested in a serious relationship.
    “I just have a
lot on my mind.” He didn’t have a lot on his mind. He had one thing
on his mind: Ava Cooper. Everything else, including the hostile
takeover he’d been plotting for years, had been relegated to the
back of his mind. He finally had the opportunity to get the answers
she’d denied him ten years ago. Brent hated losing, and he couldn’t
shake the feeling he’d lost Ava before she’d given him the chance
to prove they have something special.
    Leslie accepted
a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. “Nice party, isn’t
it?”
    “I suppose.”
Brent attended a hundred of those events every year, and each one
was no better or worse than the next. If he had his way, he would
have written a check and called it a night. Unfortunately, he
couldn’t pass up the face time with Nashville’s elite, and his
conscience told him he couldn’t stand Leslie up, no matter how much
he wanted to.
    “Don’t be so
grumpy,” she said, pressing her fake breasts into his forearm.
“We’re going to have fun. I promise.”
    He wasn’t
interested. Short of spelling it out, he didn’t know how to
convince her they would never consummate their pseudo-relationship.
He’d figure out how to let her down gently on the way home, so she
could move on to her next conquest.
    “I don’t
believe it,” he whispered, his eyes fixed on the entrance.
    “That’s Ava
Cooper,” Leslie said. “Do you know her?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Hmm.” Leslie
pursed her Botox-injected lips. “She dated my ex-boyfriend. Rumor
was he was crazy about her. I don’t know why she’s holding out. She
couldn’t have done any better. Parker’s a real catch.”
    Brent knew
Parker well. He couldn’t earn the right to woman like Ava on his
best day. “How long ago were they together?”
    “I don’t know.”
Leslie looked bored. If she wasn’t the subject of conversation, she
wasn’t interested. “Sometime last year. After I dumped him.”
    “If he was such
a great catch, why’d you dump him?”
    Brent watched
Ava work the crowd like a born socialite. She was obviously
comfortable fraternizing with the blue bloods who’d made him feel
like an outcast until he made his first hundred million. After
that, they were only too happy to call him a friend. He resented
the lot of them, but the right connections were the lifeblood of
his business, so he drank scotch and smoked cigars with them,
smiled when they told a joke, and paid his dues at the country
club.
    “Parker was too
self-centered,” Leslie said, her eyes narrowing as Brent tracked
Ava’s movements.
    If Leslie
wasn’t careful, her glass house would shatter around her. He’d
never met a more self-centered woman. “Nobody’s perfect,” he
muttered.
    “Ava doesn’t go
for guys like you,” Leslie blurted.
    “Excuse