So for a full 24 hours she was Jemima.
Perhaps she could take Chloe to lunch with her? Jem instantly dismissed the thought. Keeping Chloe ignorant of the party had been just as tricky as keeping her father in the dark. Children loved parties and she would not have been able to keep it a secret.
On a sigh Jem rose from the table intent on using the hour or so before David returned to check her email for any more replies.
Amazing how more replies had come in than invitations issued. Word certainly had got around and so many people "so adored" Ethan that they "just had to come" and were "not really miffed" at being left off the invitation list. The risk of a miffed "friend" whose fishing for an invitation wasn't successful of enlightening the party boy was too great. So the small gathering initially planned for looked like being bigger than Ben Hur.
Darlene had explained. Society doyens had eyed Ethan, in the 4 years since his split from his wife, as an eminently suitable suitor for their lovelies. Unfortunately for them he always turned up at society get-togethers with a partner. Even then there was hope that their daughters could catch his eye since he rarely was seen with the same lady for any significant length of time. In the past the events he chose to attend didn't help in the hunting. It was hard to display the "goods", as Darlene disparagingly called the women in their finery, at dinner parties and opening nights, with their set seating and limited opportunities to flaunt. Charity auctions, art gallery openings and society balls did provide a chance to mingle, to be seen, to sidle up to but Ethan assiduously avoided them preferring to send donations, peruse catalogues and especially to dance to The Wiggles in private. With Chloe, of cause.
A party at the targets house was a godsend, a golden opportunity and the mere trifle of no invitation was patronisingly overlooked. Gossip spread the word and the email address set up by Jemima easily garnered, the secret fastidiously maintained. After all the sweet little thing helping the dragon of a housekeeper could be forgiven for her oversight in not inviting a "close' friend and her delectable daughter.
So the number of guests grew along with Jems anxiety.
Darlene took it all in her stride.
Was this a second date, one without a chaperone? Jem questioned herself, as a waiter flipped a napkin expertly across her lap.
Only now did she realise how much of a buffer Chloe's presence on Saturday night had been. Ever since meeting Ethan at the entrance the man had been up, close and personal; the squeeze of his hand as he helped her out of the limousine, the invasion of her personal space in the lift, the feather light touch on the small of her back guiding her in, even opting to sit on the side of the small square table next to her rather than the usual opposite side. She couldn't help but recognize the latent passion behind his intent gaze or the promise in the barely there smile.