What a Woman Gets by Judi Fennell

and—
    No. He didn’t kick dogs. Or cats. Or small children.
    Sexy brunettes who didn’t have the sense God gave them (or then again, maybe not) to stay at least a hundred yards behind him, however, were another story.
    â€œTitania! Stop that! He’s been here all day. You know him!”
    The fluff-ball uttered one last growl and made a beeline for her “Mommy.” Fine. Whatever. God save him from temptation-in-heels . . . and her little dog, too.
    He couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

Chapter Five

    Y OU look lovely, Cassidy. As usual.” Burton held out a glass of Clicquot to her.
    Cassidy resisted the urge to down it in one swallow. She and Burton hadn’t gone much beyond attending these sorts of events and the occasional dinner together, so he’d probably be stunned if she did guzzle it. Her father would have a cow at her appalling lack of breeding, but, man, wouldn’t it feel good to shock them?
    She did drink a third of her glass. Champagne flutes were too small anyhow, and after the day she’d had, she needed the pleasant fuzziness the bubbles could provide. Not enough to get her drunk, though. God knows what she’d unleash on her father if she had a buzz going and he decided to mention her painting.
    â€œSo your father told me you have a new hobby.” Poor Burton. He’d walked into the trap with no warning. But it was interesting that her father had thought to share the info with Burton. Dad was pushing this relationship a little too much.
    â€œActually, I don’t. I have a career.”
    â€œA career?” Burton smiled the smile that had always left her feeling a bit icky but she’d never figured out why.
    At this moment, she knew. It was Mitchell’s smile. That patronizing, isn’t-that-nice-dear smile he gave most of the women in his life. Actually, now that she thought about it, Deborah was the only one Cassidy had never seen be the recipient of it.
    â€œSo what is this new
career
?” Burton sipped the champagne with his pinkie finger slightly extended.
    God, what an affectation. Why hadn’t she ever noticed before now? What else was an affectation?
    She looked at him. The gold cufflinks, the Rolex, the diamond pinkie ring . . . Oh my God. He was becoming her father. Burton hadn’t had all the trappings of
über
-wealth when they’d first met. Mitchell had recruited him out of Wharton, and while she knew he’d been groomed to fit in with the company, she’d never realized until right this minute that Mitchell had groomed him to
be
him.
    Oh God. Her father was grooming Burton to take over his role in the company when he retired. Not that Cassidy could see that happening any time soon, but this was suddenly as plain as the diamonds on that Rolex’s face. And if he was planning
that
, she got why he was pushing Burton on her. He wanted Burton as a son-in-law to keep the company in the family.
    It’d be a cold day in hell before Cassidy would
ever
marry a man handpicked and tutored by her father.
    â€œSo what is it?” Burton, to his credit, tried to look interested, but Cassidy could see the little darts out of the corners of his eyes as he looked for some advantageous conversation to become a part of. He’d obviously already been given Mitchell’s blessing to pursue her—none of her other boyfriends lasted long if Mitchell didn’t approve. Since none of them had been her Prince Charming, she hadn’t really minded, but this . . .
    Burton was a nice guy, could hold a conversation, and had actually seemed to find talking to her interesting instead of merely staring at her cleavage, but marriage material he was not.
    Maybe Mitchell ought to marry him.
    â€œCassidy?”
    Oh. Right. He’d asked a question. “I paint.”
    â€œWhat, like watercolors and stuff?”
    â€œNo. Furniture. I turn old pieces into custom-painted pieces of