Cade noticed what I did and whatever softness had briefly touched his face disappeared.
We entered the ballroom fully.
A sponsor executive named Preston Hale met us near the central table. He was smooth, silver-haired and large in the way powerful men often were when nobody had told them no in twenty years. His smile spread toward Cade first, then me, widening when he noticed cameras catching the greeting.
“Cade,” he said warmly. “Excellent to see you looking settled.”
Settled.
The word sounded obscene.
Cade shook his hand. “Preston.”
“And Isla Bennett.” Preston turned to me with a polished little bow. “The woman everyone is talking about.”
“Lucky me,” I said.
Cade made a low sound that might have been a cough.
Preston laughed, deciding I had charmed him. “Sharp. I like that.”
M
