Barefoot and Pregnant?

She cocked her head. “Actually, no one ever has.”

It was his turn to laugh. “Well, you look like an Ellie to me.”

Out of any other stranger’s mouth, his words would have sounded ridiculous to Elise. At the very least, a really bad pickup line. But she was oddly flattered. She didn’t feel like an Ellie, but secretly she had always wished she could be one. To Elise, an Ellie was relaxed. Carefree. As the daughter of Edwin Montgomery, she had never felt like she was, either.

“So, you come to this kind of thing often?” Zane stood beside her, gazing out at the room.

“Way too often,” she confessed.

“Me, too. I hate ’em.” He chuckled. “I was supposed to be here with a date, but she bailed on me at the last minute.”

She noted that he said date and not girlfriend. “Flu?”

“That,” he confessed, “or an aversion to bad hors d’oeuvres, long boring speeches and dry chicken.”

Elise tipped back her head and laughed louder than she really should have. A man and a woman, both dressed in black standing nearby glanced their way.

Elise covered her mouth, embarrassed. “Everyone’s going to think I’ve had one too many,” she whispered. “Don’t make me laugh like that.”

He grinned. “What’s the point in living if you can’t have a good belly laugh every once in a while?”

She glanced at him. Was this guy for real? Good-looking, charming and funny? She eyed his left hand. Liz said there was no ring, but she double-checked to be sure there was no white telltale ring of skin where a wedding band normally rested. Negative.

“So if your date bailed, why did you still come?”

He met her gaze, his eyes sparkling. He just seemed like such a happy guy. A guy who was happy with himself. A girl didn’t see that often in the dating world.

“It was my sister, Meagan, who was supposed to come with me. Our grandfather was one of the major contributors when this hospital was being built in the sixties.” He lifted one broad shoulder. “He’s in a nursing home now and can’t get to things like this. I come for him. Bring his donation check. Say hi.”

That was so sweet that for a moment Elise didn’t know what to say. A man with family ties? A man who cared about the previous generations? Elise had never even known any of her grandparents. “It was nice of you to come in his place.”

“Yeah,” Zane sighed. “But I just told Pops I would come, not that I’d stay. I’ve been here an hour, shook hands with everyone on the board. Ate several little balls of what, I have no idea and now I’m bored. Time to hit the road. How about you?” He lifted a brow.

He was just a little cocky, but not obnoxiously so. In a world of mamby-pamby beta males, could this possibly be the last alpha wolf in the pack? She resisted a smile. “There’s still the dry chicken and the boring speech to get through.”

He nodded. “You’re absolutely right. We could go into the dining room and saw on that chicken. We could yawn through the speeches, or…” His tone changed as if he had some secret to share only with her.

“Or?” she murmured, transfixed by his gaze.

“Or, we could slip out the back and take a walk on the beach. If you’re hungry, I’ll buy you a cheeseburger when I take you home. I know a great little dive.”

Elise stared at him in disbelief for a moment. Slip out of here? She’d spent more than an hour getting ready for this affair. She’d bought new shoes and Seduction lipstick. Waterfront Realty had paid five hundred dollars for her to see and be seen here tonight. Elise couldn’t just walk out…could she?

Well, her company hadn’t really paid for the chicken, had they? Their check had been a donation to fund the new maternity wing.

A smile played on her lips. To sneak out would be totally out of character for her. Elise Montgomery always went by the book. She always followed the rules, and the rules were that if your boss paid five hundred dollars for bad chicken, you ate it. But she could already tell that Zane Keaton was not a man who played by the rules.

“Ah, you found her, Zane.” Richard Milton, a prominent local attorney, approached them.

Zane lifted a brow.

“Elise Montgomery, the real estate agent I was telling you about. You want to make a large land purchase in this county, she’s the person to know.”

Elise felt her face grow warm with embarrassment.

“You’re a real estate agent?” Zane asked looking to her, as if he didn’t quite believe the attorney.

She nodded. “That’s right.”

“Well, I’ll leave you two kids alone. Call me if Elise finds what you’re looking for.” Richard walked away.

Elise smiled at Zane. “So you’re looking for land.”

He lifted a broad shoulder. “Maybe. So, you still game?”

“Game?” she asked.

“For getting out of here.” He pointed to the door.

“Come on, Ellie, it’ll be fun,” he whispered when she didn’t answer right away. His breath was warm in her ear. The chemistry was wicked. “And just a little naughty. Tell me you like to be naughty once in a while.”

She looked at him in wide-eyed surprise and he winked.

The man winked…it was like right out of an old black-and-white movie she liked to watch on Sunday afternoons when she should be working.

“Okay,” she exhaled, tantalized by the thought of just walking out. “But I need to tell my friend Liz that I’m going. She gave me a ride here.”

He took her empty glass from her hand and placed it on the tray of a passing waiter. “Tell her you won’t need a ride home.” He pointed at her. “Now I’m giving you two minutes to meet me at the door. Then we make our getaway.”

Elise watched Zane walk away, feeling a little numb. Was this the night she had dreamed of since she was little girl, tucked in at night by a nameless nanny?

She found Liz at the bar. “I won’t need that ride home.”

Liz grinned. “How’s he coming on that checklist of yours?”

“Too early to say,” Elise confided. Inside her chest her heart was pounding. Her pulse fluttered. She couldn’t remember the last time a man had made her feel this way.

Liz nodded with a conspiratory look. “Call you later,” she mouthed.

Elise made a beeline for the door, her black clutch purse tucked under her arm. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. She did feel naughty and she had to admit, the feeling was wonderful.

Zane was waiting for her just outside the hotel’s reception area. He offered her his elbow. His smile made her feel like a million bucks.

“I figure we’ll make a grand exit,” he said as he strode forward, his chin high as if they were royalty.

“We get out on the beach and we throw our shoes into the dunes and make a run for the water.”

Elise laughed. “I can’t really walk on the beach. I’m wearing hose.”