“We’ve been wooing that son-of-a-bitch for months, and he’s been playing us against Firth Enterprises every step of the way.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“What’s the one thing that motivates Easterbrook more than anything else?” When Addison’s only response was to stare, Fran said, “Ego.”

Addison cupped her chin, stroking it slowly as she studied the woman sitting across the way. They may have butted heads on more than one occasion, but she respected Fran. Addison may have been the driving force behind the success of Kane Holdings, but there was another force to be reckoned with, and she was sitting in a wing-back chair with not a strand of her blonde hair out of place.

“I’m still listening,” Addison said, reaching across the desk for her cigarette case.

Fran’s eyes began to twinkle as she leaned in closer. “Easterbrook lives and breathes attention. From the fancy cars he drives to the beautiful women on his arm—”

“I’m telling you right now, he’s paying for those tarts.”

“Of course he is,” Fran said with a laugh. “But the point is the man likes to dance in the spotlight. He courts attention like it was a mistress, and I have it on good authority that he’ll beg, borrow, or steal invitations to the biggest events just to say he was rubbing elbows with the latest and greatest.”

“So the man’s an ego-maniac. What’s your point?”

“When I accepted that invitation for his Christmas bash, I accepted it for both you and Joanna.”

“And why exactly did you do that?” Addison said, rocking forward in her chair.

“Because when he finds out that the elusive Addison Kane and her never-before-seen-in-public-wife will be attending, he’s going to make sure everyone knows. Paparazzi will be hanging from the bloody trees trying to get photographs, and if I know Easterbrook, he’s going to be in every one of them.”

“I still don’t get your point. Just because I show up at his party doesn’t mean he’s going to sign on the dotted line. He could still sell to Firth.”

“He won’t.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because we know what Firth is offering, and we know what we’re offering, and it’s the same bloody thing. Easterbrook has been riding this deal for months just to keep his name in the papers and the speculation up. Once the deal’s done, he’s going to be just another ex-owner of a company, and he knows it, but if he comes out of this with a story to tell, something to boast about for the rest of his life, he won’t dare sell to Firth. You can’t very well big yourself up about having convinced Joanna Kane to make her first public appearance at your party if you dissed her wife...now can you?”