father too deeply. There were things in his past that were better left in the past. Probing would resolve nothing.
“The men you’ll meet tonight might be a bit…” he searched for the right word. “Chauvinistic,” he informed her. “And we might get more information from them if you play along with their…beliefs.”
Ella looked confused for a moment, then she smiled as if the idea were intriguing. Damn, she was amazing!
“I remember hearing one of the teachers at my high school boarding school tell another teacher that, if they remained silent during field trips, the students in the van or bus would forget that an authority figure was around. The teacher explained that she learned most of what was going between the students during those road trips.” She laughed. “So I’m supposed to play dumb and silent tonight, is that the strategy?”
He chuckled, looking at her strangely. “This might be a bad idea.”
“Why’s that?” she laughed, and he wondered if Ella was aware of her fingers tangling with his.
“You might be a bit too smart to play dumb.”
She laughed outright. “I don’t think anyone has ever complimented me so beautifully!” and she leaned her head against his shoulder for a brief moment. When she lifted her head up, Ella looked startled, as if she hadn’t meant to be openly affectionate.
Malcolm chuckled at her expression. “Don’t worry, Ella. I won’t assume anything. Let’s just have fun tonight, okay?” He leaned back in the leather seat. “You play dumb and I’ll ask leading questions.” He squeezed her hand. “If you want to pretend a bit of drunkenness, that might go a long way towards convincing these men that you’re invisible and harmless.”
“Ah, what every woman aspires to be; invisible around strong, powerful men!”
The limousine pulled up outside of a massive house that looked as if it might be a castle, except that it was less than ten years old. There was something about older houses that seemed to exude dignity and reverence. But this house gave the impression that it continued to yell “Look at me!” instead. Such a sad state of affairs. In a country filled with beautiful, old houses, the owner of this one had to fake it with a pretend-old house.
The driver pulled up to the curb and someone immediately opened the back door. Malcolm exited first and turned to offer his hand to Ella.
“Good evening, Lord Theeds,” the butler greeted him.
As they walked into the house, Ella took Malcolm’s hand, her eyes wide as she feigned excitement at the pretentiousness. “Do you think we’ll see any movie stars?” Ella asked, adding a note of breathlessness to her voice.
Malcolm laughed and patted her hand. “Anything is possible, my dear. Let me get you something to drink.”
“Oh, goody!” she replied, playing her part perfectly.
Malcolm chuckled and, to further convince anyone who might be watching, she pressed herself against his arm and looked around. Ella pretended to be awed by the enormous foyer with the shimmering chandelier, but in reality, she was stunned by the muscles underneath Malcolm’s tuxedo jacket. For a member of the aristocracy, she hadn’t thought that he would be buff. Handsome, yes. But not strong and muscular. Weren’t aristocrats supposed to be lazy and indolent?
They stepped out onto a large balcony and a man with a booming voice called out, “Marquis of Theeds,” to the crowd below. There was a slight pause in the volume of the conversation in the area and most of the room turned and look up. Malcolm ignored it, feigning indifference. He really didn’t give a damn about any of this. Most of the men in this room were over the age of sixty. Meanwhile, the women hanging on the arms of the gentlemen were in their early to mid-twenties. The ladies all wore glittering dresses that revealed almost as much skin as they covered. Obviously, these women weren’t chosen to be companions for their business intellect.
Then Malcolm looked down at Ella, thinking of her last article, which had outlined the corruption in that mid-east government. That piece had resulted in the arrest of several government officials, including two royal princes.
Never underestimate a woman, he told himself. Ella was playing the part of the beautiful ditz perfectly, looking around with wide, amazed eyes. But she was one of the smartest people he knew. He wondered why Ella didn’t write a book about her experiences. Why did she prefer to dive into the worst, most dangerous situations in the world, find an injustice, and then