CHAPTER ONE
The DC Insider: Rumor has it Washington, DC’s most eligible and notoriously difficult bachelor—the man named the Insider’s Hottest Ticket in Town for three years running—might finally be off the market. All that talk about bad security and bad management? Could be a disgruntled baby brother getting even with his sister’s new beau. When asked about a supposed secret girlfriend and her meddlesome brother, hotshot businessman Derrick Jameson would only say, “Ellie Gold is lovely.” Sounds like an admission to us. Stay tuned.
Ellie Gold had never punched anyone before, but she vowed to end that lifelong streak right now.
Wearing the only cocktail dress she owned, simple and black, with a matching black lace overlay, and spiky heels that made her arches ache, she stepped into the private dining room on the top floor of the historic Hay-Adams Hotel named, interestingly enough, the Top of the Hay.
For a second the anger choking her brain cleared. Her breath hitched as her gaze wandered around the sparkling space with the fancy chandeliers and cream-colored walls. Only the business people milling around with death grips on their drinks, all looking awkward and out of place in their navy suits, threatened to ruin the fairy-tale moment.
French doors lined the outer walls and vaulted skylights soared above her. She stretched up on tiptoe to peek around more than one set of shoulders to the stunning view of the White House below.
Her balance faltered and she might have landed headfirst in a nearby tray of champagne glasses but fingers wrapped around her elbow and steadied her. She glanced up to say thank-you and saw a face…his face.
Derrick Jameson, the oldest son of a vast empire that included everything from commercial real estate in Washington, DC, to a prize-winning horse farm in the Virginia countryside. The guy who excelled at making her life miserable.
Just seeing him made her forget how to spell. She wasn’t all that sure she could recite the alphabet if pressed, either. She wanted to blame the fury flowing through her, but even she had to admit that might not be the real reason for her hottie-induced speech lapse.
She’d researched Derrick before tonight, reading online in stories that droned on about his money and dating life. But seeing him up close? No one had prepared her for that.
The black hair and striking light brown eyes. She’d read about his family background and picked up on the subtle hint of Japanese heritage passed on from his maternal grandmother. The firm chin. Those shoulders.
The features combined into a potent package of tall, dark and delicious. He gave off a confident vibe. In control and assessing. But his unspoken determination to destroy her reputation and rip her family apart marred her appreciation of his pretty face.
“Ms. Gold.” He nodded and threw in a little smile for a group of people walking past him. “I didn’t expect to see you at a business function.”
Her voice came back to her in a rush. So did the rage swirling in her gut. “Interesting tactic.”
“Excuse me?”
“That charming thing you’re doing?” She leaned in closer and dropped her voice to a whisper, ignoring how good he smelled. “I’m not buying it.”
He continued to hold her arm. Not in a tight grip. No, his thumb brushed back and forth over her bare skin in a gentle caress, as if trying to soothe her. The guy seemed oblivious to the fact that he was the one causing her stress. Well, him and everyone and everything else in her life.
He might not know it but she hovered right on the edge and his decisions kept shoving her closer to the abyss. Her baby brother, Noah, was in a strange emotional downward spiral, all thanks to Derrick and his claims about Noah stealing from him.
She’d practically raised Noah after their parents died in a car crash. He wasn’t easy, but he wasn’t a thief. Her brother had been argumentative and frustrated back then, much more so than other kids. She’d dragged him to a specialist, who diagnosed him with oppositional defiant disorder, something she’d never even heard of before that moment.
She’d scraped together the money for the therapies not covered by insurance. But even now, at times of stress or when he felt cornered, the flashes of anger would come back and he’d buck authority. Something about Derrick had Noah’s negative behavior kicking to the surface again.
The worst part was that Noah didn’t even see it. She did. She’d watched him make bad choices as a kid, tried to help him to the point where she’d sacrificed her personal life to spend all of her extra time with him. The idea that his issues were resurging now, at twenty, deflated her.
She’d deal with that later. Right now she needed to handle Derrick.