CHAPTER 2

          From across the crowded ballroom, Aiden Cargill caught a glimpse of Nevaeh Belmont. The socialite was surrounded by a group of people and didn’t look the way he’d expected her to.

          They’d never met, though they attended many of the same functions. To be honest, Aiden never really paid that close attention to her until tonight. Maybe it was the way she’d split from Skyler Belmont after he approached her near the entrance. He could sense there was some tension between Nevaeh and her father.

          In her photos, she appeared too thin and her mouth was always set in a pout. Her eyes usually held a vacuous expression. As he maneuvered around for a closer look, Aiden noticed that her wide-set blue eyes weren’t vacuous tonight. They seethed with something that was either passion or anger.

          She wasn’t as scary thin as she appeared to be in her photos. He’d thought her an attractive woman when he’d seen her on the cover of People magazine or US Weekly but in person, she radiated a kind of beauty that left him quite speechless.

          Nevaeh was his enemy’s daughter. So, Aiden knew the details of her life. That her mother had died when she was six of complications due to breast cancer. He knew that Nevaeh had been shipped off to a boarding school in Switzerland and, from all reports, been an excellent student until she turned eighteen and came into the fortune left her by her grandparents.

          She’d dropped out of school and joined Europe’s party set and never looked back. For six years she partied hard and with little regard for others. There were rumors of affairs with married men, scandalous photos of her in every paper on the continent and occasionally in the U.S.

          Then she’d dropped off the party circuit and returned to the States to go to college. The report he’d read of her transcripts had indicated Nevaeh Belmont was an excellent student. But once again she found herself embroiled in a scandal just weeks before graduation when pictures of her and the dean of students surfaced in a local paper.

           After replying to an old woman, Nevaeh glanced around the room and caught him staring. Aiden arched one eyebrow at her but didn’t look away.

“What are you doing?”

          Aiden didn’t take his gaze from Nevaeh as he replied to his brother Landon’s question.

“I’m flirting with the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

“Den, she’s off-limits. Unless you’ve changed your mind about…?”

“Oh, no, I haven’t.”

          He would never change his mind about going after Skyler Belmont’s business. Skyler was the reason that Aiden was so successful. The reason he’d driven himself and his employees to take his company to the top. The reason he was here tonight.

          Since he’d been old enough to understand the business world, he’d known who Skyler was. At first, Aiden had been in awe of what the man accomplished but seeing his methods up close and personal had changed the admiration to disdain.

          He’d never forget the excitement he’d felt when he’d heard that Skyler Belmont was opening one of his innovative Nevaeh’s Dresser stores in his hometown. But Aiden hadn’t understood his father’s quiet anger toward the man.

          Aiden had felt a wave of disdain for his father and his small-town mindset in a way only a twelve-year-old boy could. But in a short while, as the life his father had provided for the Cargill family had fallen apart, Aiden had come to understand why his father hated Belmont.

          Soon Aiden felt hatred for the man, too, slowly turning to a need for revenge that had never left him. The opening of Nevaeh’s Dresser had slowly driven all the Main Street shops out of business. Aiden had watched his father struggle to keep the downtown area vital, even going to Skyler Belmont for help. But Belmont had refused.

“Of course, you haven’t.”

“What’s your point, Land?”

“Just that you don’t want to get involved with someone who works for a company we’re going after.”

          He glanced at Landon.

“Since when do I need advice?”

          Landon punched him in the arm.

“Old man, you always need advice when it comes to your personal life.”

“Yeah, right. I think I see Melinda trying to get your attention.”

          Landon groaned under his breath but turned toward the woman he’d been dating on and off for the last four years.

“When are you finally going to marry her?”

“When you start taking my advice.”

“Then… Never?”

“I don’t know,” Landon said, but the comment felt as if it were directed more at himself than to Aiden. “Catch you later, Den. Remember what I said.”

“Later, Land.”

          As his brother left, Aiden realized that Nevaeh was no longer talking with the group. The doors opened for seating in the main banquet room. Aiden held back, hoping for one more glance of Miss Belmont.

          He felt a hand on his shoulder. Long manicured fingernails rested on the black fabric of his dinner jacket. A sweet sultry scent perfumed the air and he glanced over his shoulder at Nevaeh.

“Well, hello, there,” he said.

“Hello to yourself! I saw you watching me.”

“Good.”

“In some cultures, it’s considered impolite to stare.”

“Your point is?”

          She walked around in front of him, staying close in the crush of people trying to enter the banquet room.

“My point is I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“Aiden Cargill.”

“Ah…”

“So, you’ve heard of me…”

“Vaguely,” she said, with a twinkle in her eye, the took another sip of her drink. “I’m Nevaeh Belmont.”

“I know who you are.”

“Because of your business interest in Nevaeh’s Dresser?” she asked.

          Her boldness surprised him. And he wasn’t sure why.

“Among other things.”

          Nevaeh took another sip of the drink in her hand, tipping her head to one side.

“Don’t believe everything you read about me, Mr. Cargill.”

          She was an enticing bundle of femininity.

“I don’t.”

          To his great surprise, she reached up and touched his chin. Just her fingertips against the stubble on his face.

“That’s good because I have a proposition for you.”

“I like the sound of that,” he replied with a little grin on his lips.

“No, not that kind of proposition.”

“A man can hope.”

          Nevaeh turned away, but not before he saw a flash of desire in her eyes. Interesting.

“What’s your offer?” he asked.

“I’m in the market for a job, Aiden,” she said.

          Just the sound of his name on her lips made everything male in him come to point. He wanted to hear her say his name, but from the tangled sheets of his bed after they’d had wild sex. Not in the middle of this crowded function while he was trying to follow Landon’s advice to keep his hands to himself.

“No.”

          She sighed.

“I’m very good at PR and I think I can be an asset to your company.”

“Again, no. I can’t hire you.”

          Aiden wondered if Skyler had set his daughter up to come to him for a job… maybe with the intent of using her as a corporate spy.

“Don’t say no. If I were you, I wouldn’t do that… Not yet, anyway. Let me come to your office tomorrow and talk to you. Once you see my resume you might reconsider.”

          He took her arm. God, her skin was smooth and soft. Softer than a woman’s arm should be. Aiden drew her away from the flocks of people and into a quiet part of the hallway. She didn’t hesitate to follow him. He stopped when they were alone and she leaned back against the wall watching him the way a woman watches a man she wants.

“Don’t play with me, Nevaeh.”

“I’m not, Aiden,” she replied, quietly.

          Oh, but he knew she was. Aiden hated to think that he might be falling in lust with the daughter of his worst enemy. Hated that Skyler might have found the one chink in his otherwise impenetrable façade.

          What kind of man would use his daughter like that? Suspicion and desire warred inside him and he finally gave into desire. Aiden leaned in over her. So close he could see that her blue eyes weren’t a pure color but a combination of several different shades. And that her lashes were thicker than a mink stole.

          And her lips… ah, hell, her lips were full and wide and as she drew her tongue over the bottom one, he remembered exactly how long it had been since he’d held a woman in his arms. And he couldn’t trust her.

          His best bet would be to scare her off with a bold pass. From what he’d read of her, she was used to pampered boys who lived off their family’s fortunes.

“Aiden?”

“I don’t need you in my PR department… but…” he countered.

“Don’t say it,” she warned him.

          He didn’t voice his request, just tugged her a little closer and brought his mouth to her ear. Nevaeh shivered as his breath brushed over her and he felt an answering spread of sensation. Aiden felt the first tingling of arousal in his loins.

“It’s obvious we’re attracted to each other,” he whispered.

          She pulled back from him.

“I’m attracted to you, which makes no sense at all.”

          Hell, he knew that. But he wanted her. More than he should. This wasn’t logical or rational but she felt so right. Too right. It reminded him that the deep freeze he’d carefully existed in while focusing on his plan of revenge was starting to thaw.

          In her gaze, Aiden saw a hint of sadness and the kind of determination that played havoc with his control. She closed her eyes. He saw her skin flush at his words and her shoulders sank back, lifting her breasts toward him.

          He caressed the long line of her cheekbones. Her skin was softer than the sea mist. Her lashes drifted down as he explored the angles and curves of her face. Aiden traced the lines of her lips as they parted under his touch.

          Then, he stroked his thumb over her full lower lip, watched the natural pink color of her lips darken. She tipped her head back and leaned the slightest bit toward him. There was a bit of haughtiness in her that intrigued him.

          Aiden wanted to take her in his arms and see how haughty she looked after he ravished her mouth with his kisses. She shrugged her shoulder.

“I’m not looking for an affair, Aiden. I’m looking for a job.”

          He knew he’d never hire her but he didn’t want to just let her walk away from him. And he knew that was her intent.

“I can see you tomorrow at eleven.”

“Great. Prepare to be amazed,” Nevaeh said, walking away.