She nodded quickly. “I’m fine. I just… It’s my birthday!” she blurted, as if that explained everything.
Oh, geez.
“I guess I just got a bit carried away in the ride over,” she mumbled. “And…uh, maybe I had a couple of glasses while I was dressing.”
A couple of bottles, more like.
“If it’s your birthday, why did you come out tonight? You could have told me,” I said.
“It’s my job,” she said. “And I… I wanted to,” she added, her cheeks turning pink.
“Look, you don’t need to be working on your birthday. I’ll get Horatio to take you home.” I reached for my phone to call my driver. He could come back for me later.
“No!” she said sharply. “I mean…I don’t want to go home.” Her eyes were fixed on my mouth.
Fuck.I knew where this was headed.No. Nope. Not gonna happen.
“You’re right, of course,” I soothed. “How about a suite at the Peninsula? Take tomorrow off. Book a spa day and chill out. You’ve earned it.”
“Um…” I could see her thinking it over.
“My treat, of course,” I pressed. Horatio had picked up the call and I told him to bring the Bentley around. “I’ll take you to the door,” I added. Jane was now convinced. Hopefully, beyond the booze haze, she could tell nothing was going to happen between us.
“I’ll be right back,” I told Andy. He was staring at me like I’d lost my mind. “Good help is hard to find.” I shrugged and tried not to stiffen as Jane tucked her hand through my arm. Nearby, I noticed how the Delavigne women had perked up as they watched me go.
Game on.
∞∞∞
Angelique Delavigne
“Do you know who that was?” Angelique’s mother asked her daughter in a whisper. She blinked her eyes in a flurry of excitement.
“I didn’t get a good look at him, but I’m guessing he is someone rich. You look as though you’ve sighted a huge trout.” Angelique was ready to go home, already bored to death with the gala. Her feet were growing sore in her heels. “Can we leave soon?”
“Of course not, that’s Prince Walker. We have to introduce you to him. I didn’t expect him to be here because he never comes to these things.”
Angelique rolled her eyes. “That ship has sailed, Mom. He’s just left.”
“Stop calling me that,” she snapped, glancing around. “Sophia – call me Sophia. And don’t lose hope. I’m pretty sure only his companion is leaving.”
Angelique didn’t argue with her mother. The woman had been around the block enough times to read a situation.
“I’m not interested, Sophia,” Angelique carefully enunciated the name. “I met someone in Paris, remember? The guy who bought me this dress?”
Sophia ran an appraising eye over her daughter’s trim form. She’d hated to admit it, but she’d been impressed when the package had arrived that week. Haute couture still made her mouth water. It had been a long time since Sophia had been able to afford it. The jewelry box that accompanied it had even made her suck in a breath. Rubies the size of pennies encircled her daughter’s graceful throat.
Angelique narrowed her eyes on her mother. She had a good idea of what was going through her mother’s mind. A man she’d barely met was openly and extravagantly pursuing her. And she hadn’t even had to spread her legs yet. It didn’t hurt that the urbane and mysterious “Dmitri” was easy on the eye too.
Sophia exhaled through flared nostrils. Clearly weighing up the opportunities.
“But a Russian, darling? He’s probably a gangster,” she tutted. Angelique masked a grimace.
“How could you possibly know that, Mo-…Sophia?”
“Because no ordinary man simply showers strange women with gifts. Not after a few measly encounters in Paris. But—” She sucked in a breath. “Wait! There Prince is now. Don’t turn around. He’s walking toward us.”
Angelique kept her back ramrod straight, though she truly wanted to turn around.
