The Hudsons: Max, Bella and Devlin: Bargained Into Her Boss's Bed / Scene 3 / Propositioned Into a Foreign Affair / Scene 4 / Seduced Into a Paper Marriage

“I’ll call next week and we’ll work out the details.” Dana stepped aside and let others offer their good wishes.

She glanced at Max and found his narrowed eyes focused on her. What was he thinking? From his forbidding expression she’d bet he wasn’t remotely interested in following in his brother’s footsteps to the altar.

All she had to do was find a way to change his mind, because there was nothing she’d like more than to marry Max on the grounds of Hudson Manor and begin her own fairy-tale romance.

Seven

“How did you know?” Max asked Dev after dinner when the men had retired to the patio for cigars and left the women inside to yap about the sixtieth anniversary gala.

“Know what?”

Max divided his attention between the women on the opposite side of the French doors and the far end of the patio where his father and uncle looked to be having another tense discussion. Jack was with them, running interference, Max would guess. “How did you know Valerie was the one?”

Dev puffed on his cigar. He exhaled long and slow as if the answer might be found in the smoke slowly dissipating in the air above their heads. “You’re not expecting something sappy and romantic, are you?”

From his brother the cynic, who seemed to believe women were put on this earth only to procreate and provide entertainment? No.

“I just want an answer. Why Valerie? Why now?”

“I’m thirty-five. It’s time to settle down. Valerie’s well connected. Her father’s a newspaper mogul and that could work in Hudson Pictures’s favor when we need publicity in the future. She and I suit each other, and she won’t give me a lot of backchat.”

Like Karen had. His brother didn’t say it, but he didn’t need to. Max’s wife had been quite opinionated. That she hadn’t been a suck up or a pushover was one of the things Max had liked and respected about her. But she’d had a tendency to get in people’s faces when crossed. Sometimes that had caused friction.

Dana was a hell of a lot more diplomatic.

He nixed the thought. There was no comparing the women and no reason to, especially now when the anniversary of Karen’s death was just around the corner.

His gaze wandered to the woman in question on the other side of the closed glass doors. Her dress tonight had nearly knocked him to his knees. She’d gone from conservative, figure-concealing clothing to the kind that accentuated every curve of her luscious figure.

The wrap top of her black dress cupped her breasts and showed just enough soft skin to make him want to bury his face between the smooth globes and slip his hands beneath the short hem to see if she wore panties.

But he was stronger than that. No woman would make him weak with wanting again. He kept his head these days. No more getting swept away by passion. Reason ruled.

He forced his attention back to his brother and practical matters. “If you’d made a spectacle of the wedding instead of secretly sneaking off, it would have been great PR for Honor. Romance While Filming the Romance, or some similar headline. The press would have eaten it up. You know you wasted that opportunity.”

Dev shrugged. “I know. But Valerie is an only child.You know what kind of production a traditional wedding would have turned into. Months of planning, too many trivial, irritating decisions…You know the drill. You did it.”

Max knew. Karen had been an only child, too. Their wedding had taken a year to plan, and there had been times when the process had spiraled so crazily out of control he’d wanted to say to hell with it and elope. By the time they’d walked down the aisle he’d been relieved to have it over with and not to have to make any more decisions about stupid stuff like the color of the napkins and the like.

“Besides,” Dev continued, “I didn’t want to deal with the paparazzi, and we don’t have time right now for all the cloak-and-dagger theatrics necessary to pull off a Hollywood wedding. Tents, helicopters, security.”

“Amen to that.”

“I preferred to close the deal as quickly as possible.”

“That’s it? Convenience? You weren’t swept away by passion?”

Dev exhaled a smoky plume. “You do remember who you’re talking to, don’t you?”

Funny, he’d expected more from his big brother. But he shouldn’t have. “Do you love her?”

“Like love worked so well for you.” And then Dev winced. “I’m sorry. That was a low blow.”

Love had worked for him. For a while. “Forget it. Did you at least get a prenup, so she won’t take us to the cleaners?”

“What? You think I’m stupid?”

“No. I’m just looking out for our assets.”

“While you’re covering Hudson assets, what have you found out about Dana and Doug Lewis?”

“Nothing yet. I’m working on it.”

“Any progress?”

He wasn’t about to share his strategy. “Some.”

“Let me know what you discover.”

“As soon as I know it myself.” And that meant he needed to turn up the heat and steam some information out of Dana.

And the desire to do so had nothing to do with how hot she looked tonight in that low-cut dress and those killer high heels.

Nothing whatsoever.

But damn, she looked amazing.

Good thing his hunger for her was temporary and could be turned off as soon as Honor hit the screen.

Otherwise, he’d be in trouble.

“The wedding announcement was a surprise,” Dana said from beside Max in the darkened car on the way home from the dinner party.

Max kept his eyes on the winding road. “Yes.”

“Did you know? Did Dev mention his plans at lunch?”

“No.”

He heard her sigh and then the rustle of her dress as she shifted on the seat. Her scent and each sound she made seemed amplified in the quiet confines of the dark car. But the lack of light also kept him from checking out her legs the way he had on the way over to Hudson Manor. He was damned lucky he hadn’t run them off the road.

How had he never noticed she had great legs before tonight?

“Does he realize what an amazing PR opportunity he missed? We could have had free airtime on every network and in a substantial number of magazines and web pages.”

That’s what he liked about Dana. Not only did she think like him, she reacted with logic rather than emotion. Karen had tended to go the opposite—He choked off that thought. He had to stop comparing the women. He’d promised Karen forever. The most he could offer Dana was for now, and then only because she might have the information he needed.

“He knew and he chose not to exercise that option.”