The Billionaire's Seductress ✔

31. My Lucky Red Dress

"What was that?" he repeated, looking in the direction that Terrence had gone.

Scarlett swallowed because her mouth suddenly felt dry and exhaled again.

"Was he bothering you?" Ace asked, looking at Scarlett.

She began to laugh, nervously and her chest tightened at the thought of Ace being ticked off that Terrence had been bothering her.

"No," she shook her head, "He just told me that I looked familiar."

Ace sniffed, unhappily. "Stay away from him. He's friends with Brad." He turned and walked away in the direction of his conference hall as Scarlett slipped into the panel room.

Evening had fallen and there was a tinkling of conversation behind Scarlett as she stood in the garden, overlooking the lake, letting the breeze dance with her loose hair. The proceedings of the conference were finally over and all that was left was the launch dinner later that evening.

The thought of Ace presenting his own work made her feel slightly sick.

She had a feeling that after Terrence's demo tonight, Ace would put two and two together and kick her out. The thought of being cast out of his life made Scarlett feel a bit green around the gills.

Ace, surveying the crowd for his assistant, found her standing on the grass, the heels of her stilettos digging into the dirt. She seemed to be in pensive thought, but he couldn't see her face.

He stepped out on to the grass and walked up behind her slowly. "Penny for your thoughts, Ambrose?"

Scarlett turned to meet his eyes and gave him a small smile. "They're worth a lot more than that."

He gave a small laugh that she had become accustomed to over the past months of living and working together. "I'm sure they are," he said, leaning his elbows against the waist-high wall.

"How important is this launch to you?" Scarlett asked after a few silent minutes where the two of them just watched the water.

Ace sighed. "Very. It sort of decides things for the rest of the quarter."

Scarlett sighed.

"Don't worry, Ambrose. I've got this in the bag," Ace assured her, thinking the nervous look on her face had come from place of concern that he would be worried, "Let's go get ready for this thing, shall we? You're going to come with me?"

Scarlett smiled and turned to him. "I even brought my lucky red dress."

The launch was just beginning when Scarlett and Ace walked into the grand hall. People were milling around, dressed lavishly.

Scarlett was turning heads in the red, satin dress that she wore. Brad and his friends watched from one side of the room as the pair took their seats at the table with their friends.

Scarlett easily slipped into a conversation with Isabella Hammond and the night began.

Very soon, the inhabitants of the hall were sitting through various presentations and demos. Once the launch demo videos began to play, everyone stood and moved closer to the screen to see better.

Scarlett stood next to Ace, watching his face from time to time.

When the video for Terrence's company was announced, Scarlett bit down on the inside of her cheeks, increasing the frequency of looking over at Ace. She watched the video, realizing the places where Terrence had taken ideas from Ace.

Throughout the video, Ace didn't even bat an eye.

His stoic expression didn't change and he didn't in the least bothered by the familiarity of the content.