Outmatched

“Of course.” Mom squeezed my arm, giving me a small smile. “I don’t know how we can give you much space right now since we’re all at the same party, but I promise not to push for a family dinner with Rhys just yet. Rhys.” She smiled at my father. “That’s a solid name, don’t you think?”

Dad returned her smile and then focused on me again. He brushed a thumb over my cheek before releasing his hold on me. “All I know is he must be something special to have caught our Parker’s eye.”

It didn’t surprise me that my parents couldn’t care less that Rhys wasn’t of society. All they cared about was seeing me happy again.

And that was what made lying to them so goddamn awful.

“Parker!”

Feeling exhausted by my mental self-flagellation, I had to paste on a smile as I turned toward Jackson and Camille. My boss strode across the lawn with his fiancée, and they weren’t alone. A woman around my height, a little curvier, dressed in a white, conservatively cut summer dress accompanied them. Her shining dark hair was styled into an immaculate bob and when she raised her arm to take a sip of champagne, sunlight dazzled off her diamond tennis bracelet. Her face was strangely ageless, either because of enviable genetics or the best plastic surgery I’d ever seen. She could be anywhere between thirty-five and fifty and you wouldn’t know, unless you asked.

However, since her face was also familiar, I knew she was forty-seven years old.

She was Diana Crichton Jones. Billionaire. Her grandfather opened an asset management company in the mid-1940s. Her father then ran it, and when he died, Diana was twenty-three. People scoffed when she stepped up to take his place as CEO.

However, Diana had proven to be the best thing that ever happened to Crichton Investments and Research. They now had over $2 trillion in assets under management. Moreover, she had private investments that took her personal fortune to a staggering number.

I knew all this because she was a very impressive woman and it was difficult to not have heard of her when you grew up in society.

However, I had never met her.

Until now.

Momentarily distracted from the disaster unfolding between me and my family, I shook Diana’s hand when Jackson introduced her, and then introduced my family to my boss, his fiancée, and the somewhat awe-inspiring billionaire.

My father, with his usual canny instincts, seemed to sense that Jackson had brought Diana over for a reason. He touched a hand to my mom’s lower back. “Why don’t we get another drink?”

Mom nodded and gave my boss a little wave as she allowed Dad to lead her away.

“I’m … with them.” Easton threw me another cheeky grin before hurrying after my parents.

Relaxing marginally to be out from under their watchful gazes, I turned to Jackson.

I recognized the light in his eyes as excitement. It was the same light I’d seen when he realized how significant my suggested changes to the forecast model were going to be.

“Parker, I don’t know if you know this, but Diana is very interested in the future of renewable energy, and I was telling her what an asset you’ve been to our team.”

There was something emphatic in his tone I didn’t quite understand, but I smiled anyway, pleased by his praise. “Thank you, Jackson.” I turned to Diana, feeling a little nervous in her presence. She had steely gray eyes that seemed to look right through you. “You’re interested in renewable energy?”

“Very much so. I’m interested in anything that’s important to our future.” Diana stepped toward me, tilting her head slightly as she inspected me. “So far I haven’t come across that many women in your field. Not that there aren’t any. It’s just very male dominated.”

“Engineering tends to be.” I shrugged as if to say, “What can you do?”

“True. I was telling Jackson I’ve been looking to invest with a renewable energy company but I’m very cautious about where I put my money and my own energy.” She gave me a cool smile. “I don’t like male-dominated companies. I like diversification. I like passion. I like to know that a company hires the best because they are the best and not because they have a dick.”

Blinking at her blunt language, I felt a bubble of laughter on my lips as I wished Rhys were over here. He’d like her forthright manner.

This time I blinked because, whoa.

When did Rhys become part of my equations?

“I almost passed over Horus when I saw there were no women on their roster. But then you showed up and not only that, according to Jackson here, you’ve shown up impressively. There are no other companies using a model like yours. Which is why you’re gaining the traction you are abroad.”

I nodded, knowing all this but wondering where Diana was going with it.