Lessons in Seduction

Danni sighed heavily. “See? Your whole approach is wrong. It’s not a transaction that you can expedite. You can’t put time limits on things like this.”

“This is why I need your help. As a friend.”

“You might think you want my help, but I remember you well enough to know that you don’t take advice or criticism well. Especially not from me.”

“No,” he agreed. “But I’m not looking for criticism as such, just pointers.”

“You might see my pointers as criticism.”

“I’ll try not to.” Sincere, with the merest hint of a smile.

There was a time when she practically hero-worshipped Adam and would have done anything he asked of her. So she had to fight the unquestioning instinct to agree to his request. Just because it wasn’t a big job and she had a little time on her hands didn’t mean it was a good idea. She hadn’t been this hesitant about anything since her skydiving course last year. She needed to know what she’d be getting into and she needed Adam to know she wasn’t that blindly devoted girl anymore. “Normal rules would have to not apply. Because if I agree to do this, there could well be things I want to say to you that usually I absolutely wouldn’t.”

“This is sounding ominous.”

“It won’t work if I don’t have the freedom to speak my mind.”

He hesitated. “If you do this for me, then I’ll accept that much.” His dark eyes were earnest. “I’d appreciate it, Danni.” When she was younger he’d called her Danni. But somewhere along the way as they’d both gotten older, and he’d gone away to school and become even more serious, formality had crept into their relationship and he’d switched to calling her Danielle with rare exceptions. Calling her Danni now brought back recollections of those easier times. He touched a finger to the small bump on his nose. Just briefly. The gesture looked almost unconscious, and she’d seen him make it before. But it never failed to make her feel guilty. Did he know that? Was it part of persuading her that she owed him?

Whether he knew it or not, it worked. “I don’t know how much help I can be.”

He recognized her capitulation. She could see the guarded triumph in his eyes, the almost imperceptible easing to his shoulders.

“I can’t guarantee anything. Like you pointed out, I’m no expert on romance.”

“But as you pointed out, you are a woman. And I trust you.”

She sucked in a deep breath, about to make a lastminute attempt at getting out of this.

“I’ll be seeing Anna DuPont. She fits all my criteria. I’ve met her a couple times socially and I think there’s potential for us. Drive for us. Please.”

He could, if he chose, all but order her to do it, make it uncomfortable for her or her father if she refused, but his request felt so sincere and so personal—just between the two of them—that the hero worship she’d once felt kicked in and she was nodding almost before she realized it. “One date,” she said, trying to claim back some control. “I’ll drive you for one date.”

Three

On Friday, Danni pulled up to Adam’s wing of the palace in the Bentley. The sandstone building towered above her, the shadows seeming to hide secrets and to mock her for how little she knew. What had she gotten herself into? There was no protocol for this situation, for being part driver, part honest adviser, part friend. She took a fortifying breath. All she could do was to stick with what she knew and maybe trust her instincts. At least she wouldn’t be expected to guard her tongue quite as closely as normal.

She got out and waited by the passenger door while he was notified of her arrival. On those occasions she had driven for him in the past, he’d been scrupulously punctual. Tonight was no different. As the clock on the distant tower chimed seven, he appeared, stepping out into a pool of light.

Danni looked at him and couldn’t figure out whether this was going to be ridiculously easy or ridiculously difficult.

She was still shaking her head as he stopped in front of her. “You have something to say? Already?”

“Yes. You’re wearing a suit and tie.”

“Yes.”

“You’re going to have dinner at the riverside jazz festival?”

“Yes.” He managed to make that single word of agreement intimidating.

But it was clearly time for some of the honesty he’d said he trusted her to voice. “Nobody wears a suit and tie to a jazz festival.”

“I do.”

“Not tonight. This is not a state dinner.” She held out her upturned palm. “Hand over the tie.” For a moment Danni thought he might refuse. “You want my help?”

Gritting his teeth, he loosened his tie and slid it from around his neck. He dropped the strip of fabric into her hand. “Satisfied?”

She closed her fingers around the warm silk. “No.”

“No?”

“The top button.” She nodded at the neck of his shirt.

His lips pressed together but he reached up, undid the button then dropped his hand and looked at her patiently. Obviously waiting for her approval. But he still didn’t look quite right. He still looked tense and formal. A little fierce almost.

“And the next one.”

He opened his mouth, about to protest, she was certain, then closed it again and slowly undid the second button.

“Much better,” she said. “Just that extra button makes you look far more relaxed, almost casual. In a good way,” she added before he could object. She wanted to tousle his hair, mess it up just a little but knew that tousled hair would be a step too far for Adam. Tonight anyway. Maybe they could work on that. She settled for reaching up and spreading his collar a little wider. “See, this vee of chest?” She pointed at what she meant, at what riveted her gaze. “Women like that. It’s very appealing.”

“It is?”

“Definitely. And you smell really good. That’s always a bonus.” She was close enough to know. Without thinking she closed her eyes and inhaled. And the image of a shirtless Adam—branded in her memory—came back. The image had lurked there since the incident that had gotten her banned from driving. Her shortcut, the potholes, the spilling of his coffee that had required him to change his shirt in the back of the limo. Oh, yes. She’d seen him shirtless then. An unthinking glimpse in the rearview mirror of a broad contoured torso and sculpted abs. More than appealing. A fleeting moment of stunned and heated eye contact. It was a sight that had left her breathless and slightly dazed and slipped into her dreams. His banning her after that episode had almost been a relief.

She opened her eyes now to find him studying her, curiosity in his gaze and something like confusion. Despite the cool night Danni felt suddenly warmer. This new role was an adjustment for both of them. The normal boundaries of protocol and etiquette had blurred—they had to—but it left her floundering. Maybe she ought not to have admitted with such enthusiasm that his chest was appealing or that he smelled good. But surely if she was going to criticize and point out where she thought he went wrong, then she also needed to point out where she thought he went right.

She reached for his door, opened it wide.

She slipped his tie into her pocket, stepped back and gestured to the open door. “Let’s go find your princess.”

An hour later boredom was setting in. Just another reason, she reminded herself, why she’d never have made a good chauffeur. No matter how much her father would have liked it for her.

Danni fiddled with the radio again, adjusted her seat and her mirrors, and then leaned over and opened the glove compartment. A white card stood propped up inside. Definitely not regulation. Frowning, she pulled out the card. Across the front in strong sloping letters it read, “Just in case.” Behind the card sat a white cardboard box. Curious, Danni pulled it out and opened it. Neatly arranged inside was a selection of gourmet snacks.

The thoughtfulness of the gesture had her grinning and taking back any uncharitable thoughts she’d ever had about Adam.

Another hour passed, during which Danni snacked and read, before Adam and his date walked out of the restaurant. Was that a hint of a stagger to the fashion-model-slender Anna’s gait as she laughed and leaned against Adam? Perhaps having so little body fat meant she was just cold and needed to absorb some of his heat.

But the impression Danni got was that there had been no shortage of the champagne that they’d started—at her suggestion—on the way to the restaurant.

Anna somehow managed to stay plastered to Adam as they got into the backseat. At a nod from him—and a brief moment of eye contact, Danni drove off.

At the first set of traffic lights, she glanced in the mirror. And then just as quickly looked away.

Anna apparently had no need for eye contact or poetry. Maybe there had been enough of that in the riverside restaurant. She had undone more of Adam’s buttons and had slid her hand into the opening. It certainly didn’t appear that anyone was cold anymore. The screen between them blocked out most sound but Danni could hear Anna’s laughter, throaty and, Danni supposed, sexy. Some men might like it. Some men apparently being Adam.