Ten Ways To Win Her Man

“Who?” Roger looked at him oddly.

“Danielle Harrington. Here. Just now. To the cameras.”

“You were standing right next to her.”

“I was distracted.”

“By what?”

Max opened his mouth and closed it again firmly.

Roger’s frown deepened. “She says your birds can nest on the senator’s land. You could even use her donated half million to buy it.”

Max felt his heart fall hard and fast. It landed in his gut with a thud. “What land?”

“That land over there.”

Roger pointed. Max’s gaze moved reluctantly in that direction.

“You’re telling me that that stretch of beach belongs to Stan?” he asked.

“It’s not something that would have come to the coalition’s attention unless the owner decided to build on it,” Roger said indignantly, as though Max had somehow implied that this nightmare was his fault. “We can’t be expected to police the ownership of every scrap of beach, every field and stream in California, just in case someone might decide to do something with it. There are too many battles to fight without inviting ones that aren’t even an issue yet!”

It was true, Max thought. His lobby rushed in when nature was in danger of being spoiled, raped and ruined by the cancerous spread of civilization. Along this coastline, only Harrington Resorts was threatening that.

Then he had another thought. His heart chugged in alarm. “Did she tell the cameras that Stan was going to build here?”

“She certainly implied it.”

Of course she would, Max thought. This part of the beach was outside the city limits, and anyone planning to develop it needed the power companies to extend their services out this far. The companies would demand an astronomical price for the favor. That was what had protected the land from development for so long. But now Dani Harrington had footed the worst of the bills, and it was logical to infer that other owners would jump in and start building also.

Max rubbed at a headache growing behind his forehead. It was time to have a talk with the man who was the closest thing to a brother he would ever know. But Max looked the way Danielle’s car had gone instead.

Damned if he hadn’t just been sucker punched by a woman in red underwear.

Chapter Three

Was that her? She looked like a…a harlot!

Danielle stood rooted in the middle of her bedroom, clutching the VCR remote in both hands. She shuddered in her thin silk robe, more from shock than the fact that, with usual April capriciousness, the weather had taken a turn back into winter by the time she’d gotten home from the site.

Angelique had dropped off a video tape she’d made of the broadcast. Now, right there on television, Danielle watched her own neckline plunge and her lapels gape. Then the camera pulled back for a wide-angle shot and the public saw more of her legs than her husband probably had in the seven years they’d been married.

What had she done?

When the telephone rang, Danielle jumped and pivoted to the night table. She reached for it, then her hand went still. What if it was a board member? She pressed her fingers to her temples as the phone kept shrilling.

She had a responsibility to so many people and she had always projected a cool, capable image to all of them. Now she’d been caught on all three networks parading around in her underwear.

Danielle took in a deep breath and finally picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Did you watch it yet?” Angelique demanded.

Danielle let her air out. “Half of it.”

“You were perfect.”

“I was—” She broke off, stunned. “What?”

“Watch his eyes!”

Danielle spun back to the television and aimed the remote to freeze the screen. Her own image was nose-to-nose with Maxwell’s in the frame. She remembered this part. It was when she had accused him of not conceding. She’d thought—then—that he’d been staring her right in the eyes—and his hadn’t been cool and clever and amused in that moment. They had been so intent she’d felt the impact of them like a physical touch. But she’d thought it was his temper that had changed them. Now—here, in this frame—she realized that he wasn’t looking into her eyes at all.

He was looking…downward. At her breasts. And the smoke in his gaze had nothing whatsoever to do with plovers.

A steady quaking started inside her. It had worked. Angelique’s advice had worked!

“You’ll be hearing from him soon,” Angelique promised. “I give it forty-eight hours at the outside. Just look at him. He can’t even breathe.”

She couldn’t breathe. Danielle pounded a fist against her chest to jumpstart her heart.

In that moment, if only for that moment, Max Padgett had definitely been interested in what he was seeing. Excitement leaped in her, hot and expectant, then it shredded apart. There was still the matter of her board members. And the plovers. She had a mess on her hands, and for the first time in her entire thirty-six years, her hormones were in overdrive. She could barely even think coherently. Danielle hung up numbly, then the line rang again.

Her heart vaulted. Was it him? Already? No, of course not. He didn’t have her home phone number. She picked up anyway. “Yes?”

“A truly inspired approach!” came the robust voice of Albert Tresca, one of the board members. “You never gave him a chance to build up any steam at all! Is it true? Does Senator Roberson own that land?”

“So says our R & D department.” Would he mention the way she had looked?

“I wonder if Richard ever really knew what he had in you.”

She winced. Did he mean professionally or—she cringed away from the thought—personally?

“What’s next?” Tresca asked. “What else have you got up your sleeve?”

Danielle reached for her usual businesslike tone. Then the words she’d been about to say got jammed in her throat.

An idea leaped into her mind. Her gaze flew back to the television, to the video shot that remained frozen there. Max Padgett was still looking downward. His gaze was still smoky. Danielle’s heart slammed against her chest.

This attraction between them could be useful.

What if she used that angle? Could she keep that awareness going and keep his mind off the plovers? Was it possible?

“Are you still there?” Tresca asked.

“I’m here,” she answered a little hoarsely. “I…I have a thought but I’m not ready to share it yet.” She said goodbye quickly and dropped the phone back into its cradle. Then she picked it up again to leave it off the hook.

Was she actually thinking of seducing him? No, she decided quickly, of course not. But she could certainly sidetrack him a little with…well, with feminine wiles. Why not? He certainly hadn’t been his usual forceful and confident self in front of those cameras this afternoon. Except…