The Bridal Chronicles

The reporter laughed. “Hey, I’m not helping either one of you out.” She raised a brow. “You backed out on our deal, so you’re on your own, although I would like you to reconsider and sign the release. Think how good it would be for your business.”

Anna’s scowl faded, but the tiny crease between her brows remained. “I’m really sorry, Colleen. I lost my nerve.”

“I know. But my editor is expecting to go ahead with the whole thing, especially since you’re the last photo to be taken and the spread’s almost ready for production.” She turned to leave. “Why don’t you think about it and contact me later, all right?” she said over her shoulder. “And keep in mind how hard it will be for me to find someone else on such short notice.”

Anna half nodded and Colleen left. Ryan mulled over how Joe Capriati, the supervising editor, had stressed the importance of the photo-release waiver. According to Joe, the Beacon required the release because some woman had sued the paper after they’d printed her picture without her permission the year before. They weren’t taking any chances now.

He looked to Anna, gearing up to do a little steamrolling to convince her to change her mind and sign that release.

She had pressed her glossy, pink lips into a firm line and was glaring at him, something he didn’t get the impression she did very often.

“Please leave me alone,” she said.

He raised his brows. “Oooooh, that’s real scary.”

She sniffed and yanked her head back into the dressing room, rattling the curtain. “I can be scarier, I assure you.”

His smile grew. Even though she could blow his whole plan for damage control and good publicity for the foundation sky-high, he liked her gumption. “Yeah, you’re a real scary gal,” he said, searching for levity.

He then took out his handheld, electronic planner and consulted it. No meetings until four o’clock. Plenty of time to convince her to sign the release. “How about lunch?”

She popped her head out and blinked owlishly. “You’re asking me out?”

“Well, yeah. Is that a problem?”

“Maybe.” She disappeared again. A moment later, she emerged wearing a light pink cotton sweater and figure-hugging, dark blue designer jeans that showed off her trim but curvy body. She had her wedding dress, covered by a garment bag, draped over one arm and an oversized straw tote bag in the other hand.

He snagged another look at her curves without being too obvious, his blood percolating. Damn, she was hot.

“I don’t usually go out with guys like you,” she said.

Guys like him. His hackles raised. Could she somehow smell the dirt poor of his childhood on him? He was sure that was one of the reasons Sonya had dumped him.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you mean, ‘like me’?”

“You know.” She waved a hand in the air. “Good-looking. Dimpled. Don’t make me go on.”

His hackles relaxed and her compliment filled him with a sense of pleasure. “Oh, so you’d rather spend time with an unappealing man without dimples?”

“Quite frankly, yes.” She ran her hands through her heavily styled, dark red hair, loosening the stiff strands. “I’ve found that most really charismatic men are selfish, manipulative, and—” she shrugged “—hurtful.”

Ryan instantly wanted to know what selfish jerk had hurt her. But he was pretty sure she wouldn’t share that sort of information with him. She barely knew him. “How about if I promise to behave? Then will you go? Quite frankly, I’m starving.” And he hated that feeling. It reminded him how often he hadn’t had enough to eat during his childhood. Now, eating was his favorite pastime.

She sighed heavily and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Look,” he said, taking another tack to convince her to go. “What’s the harm in an innocent lunch? You have to eat, right?”

She looked at him, an odd worry clearly reflected in her brown eyes. She chewed on her lip, glanced away, then looked back. She then rummaged around in her tote bag. “Can we go somewhere vegetarian?”

He cringed. He’d been a meat and potatoes man, and whatever else he could get his hands on, after he’d spent his childhood living off nothing but his mom’s stale sandwiches made with a layer of peanut butter so thin he could barely taste it. “How about a compromise?” he suggested. “I know a place where you can go veggie and I can get a thick steak.”

She drew out a large pair of dark sunglasses and put them on. “You eat steak? For lunch? That sounds wonderful.”

He stared quizzically at the shades for a moment. Why was she wearing such big, ugly sunglasses? He then cupped her elbow with his hand, appreciating the softness of her skin. “You don’t look like you need to diet.” Not with a body like that. And it surprised him that she liked the sound of steak. He figured her for a genuine legumes-for-lunch kind of gal.

“I don’t, but in the interest of keeping my body healthy, I make myself stay away from fatty food,” she said. She pierced him with her dark eyes. “Okay. You’ve talked me into it. Lead the way.”

“Let me change and we’ll go.” He headed toward the tent where he’d left his street clothes, inordinately happy she’d agreed to go considering this lunch was nothing but an opportunity to convince her to sign the release.

As he changed out of his tux, a vision of Sonya rose in his brain like a bad dream. Maybe he shouldn’t spend any time with Anna, who he was obviously attracted to.

He willed away the tiny lump of anxiety taking up residence in his gut. Relax. Lunch with Anna was no big deal. It was for his image and his pet charity, an organization that helped underprivileged kids. Two very good causes he was committed to. Yes, lunch with the delectable Anna was simply a casual meal designed to garner her cooperation.

Nothing more than that, right?

Anna followed the waiter through the posh restaurant to their table. She tried to calm her still fluttering nerves. What had possessed her to agree to this lunch?

Aside from her unacceptable fascination with the handsome man following behind her, his hand burning a hole in the small of her back, of course.

Actually, she’d agreed to appease her guilt, hoping she could help Ryan come up with another way to acquire the publicity he wanted for his charity. She’d had quite a bit of experience, through her mother, with charitable organizations and fund-raising.

And it certainly wasn’t a crime to enjoy a necessary meal with an attractive, charming male, something she hadn’t experienced since Giorgio had swept her off her feet.

A cold shiver slid up her spine. Giorgio had been oh-so-attractive and charming at first, blinding her to his true nature and intentions. Like a total ninny, she’d forgotten all of the other men who’d burned her and she’d fallen for him faster than a bear stock market. She couldn’t let down her guard and make that mistake again.

Thankfully, this was a simple lunch to discuss Ryan’s charity, not a date. Forcing her thoughts away from Giorgio, she swallowed and tried to focus on her goal—to find another way to help Ryan so he would leave her alone, ensuring her secret identity would be safe.

She pressed her large straw hat lower on her head and adjusted her sunglasses when every woman they passed turned to watch Ryan walk by. At what she guessed to be well over six feet two inches, he was hard to miss. Especially since his tall, broad body was impeccably presented by the well-cut designer business suit he’d changed into. He moved with an easy, loose-limbed male grace that all women probably found hard to ignore.

Anna vowed to fly in the face of tradition.

Ryan was just a guy who had offered to buy her lunch.

No problem.

She would simply eat lunch, brainstorm about fund-raising, and that would be the end of their brief association.

The waiter seated them in a secluded booth at a table draped in white linen, set with lots of crystal and silver gleaming in the muted afternoon sunlight. People dressed in business attire talked in subdued tones and muted strains of Vivaldi floated to her ears.

The pleasant, earthy scent of cooking meat laced the air. Her mouth watered but she tried to ignore the feeling in favor of maintaining a healthy diet.

Did Ryan eat at such elegant places often? She usually avoided swanky restaurants because she’d spent too many hours of her youth stuck with the pretensions and dictates of society her father had drilled into her head.

She could make her own choices now, thank goodness.

Anna took the menu and opened it, pleased and surprised by the vegetarian selections, then glanced at Ryan. “Aren’t you going to look at the menu?”

“I already know what I’m having.”