Lessons in Seduction

She thought of the tie still in her pocket and knew that there was something wrong with her because she wanted to pass it back to him and tell him to put it on. But really, carrying on like that, it was undignified. Then again, it was the sort of thing she’d once expected from Rafe, and never thought it was undignified in his case. But the two brothers were different. They always had been. Adam was all about barriers. And the way the woman in the back had bypassed them didn’t seem right.

Danni’s only consolation was that it looked like her work here was done. He’d been deluding himself if he’d thought he needed her help and she’d been deluding herself if she’d thought she had any to offer. He didn’t need help at all. Anna was doing all the work. And they were both clearly enjoying themselves while she did it. Danni would be able to go home and forget all about Adam Marconi and his search for the right woman.

Her grip on the wheel tight and her jaw even tighter, Danni pulled to a stop in front of Anna’s apartment building. And maybe, just maybe, her stop wasn’t quite as gentle as it ought to have been.

The couple in the backseat drew apart. Anna trailed her long red fingernails down the front of Adam’s shirt. The green-and-gold-uniformed doorman stepped forward to open the car door and the couple got out, Anna still managing to drape herself over Adam. Danni wasn’t sure if she was whispering into Adam’s ear or trying to eat it. It looked like the latter. Danni rubbed at her own ear in sympathy.

Not wanting to watch her passengers walk to the doorway of Anna’s building—public displays of affection held no appeal—she retrieved her book and reclined her seat. She hadn’t even found her page when Adam reappeared and slid into the backseat.

“The palace,” he said, the words terse. He lowered the privacy screen but said nothing more as she drove through the city and out toward the palace estates. She chanced the occasional glance at him in the mirror. He hadn’t fallen asleep though there was a definite weariness about his eyes as he watched the city slide by.

She knew something of his schedule and so she knew that the days and evenings of the previous week had been hectic and full, meetings after functions after openings and launches.

She eased to a careful stop in front of his wing of the palace and met his gaze in the mirror.

“Better,” he said.

“Better? Your date?”

“No. The date was decidedly worse. I meant your stopping. Compared to the one in front of Anna’s apartment.”

Ahh. “I apologize for that. My foot slipped.”

“Thank you.”

For apologizing or for her foot slipping in the first place? She wasn’t going to ask. By the time she’d walked around the back of the car, he’d opened his door and stood. His gaze slid over her from head to toe.

Usually she was good at the whole calm, stoic thing but Danni fought the urge to squirm under his scrutiny, having no idea what he thought when he looked at her. Or maybe it was just the cold making her want to fidget. It was freezing out here tonight. Cold enough for snow.

Her gaze flicked to Adam’s shirtfront, still largely unbuttoned. Frowning, as though only just remembering that they were undone, he reached for the lower buttons and slowly did them up. The movement of his fingers held her mesmerized.

It wasn’t till he was finished that she remembered what she needed to say. “Thank you, too,” she said. “For the food.”

“It was no trouble.”

And it wouldn’t have been. Someone else would have prepared the food and another person would have put it in the car. But it was Adam who’d had the idea and she was still oddly touched by it.

He slid his hands into his pockets and tilted his head toward the palace. “Come in.”

“To the palace?”

“Where else? I don’t want to talk about the date out here.”

Danni looked around. Assorted staff members stood discreet distances away, always at the ready. If she insisted on staying out here she’d only make everyone colder. Besides, she’d been into the palace before. Many times in fact, though not in the last few years. This should be no different. So she shrugged and walked with Adam, went through the door held open by a staff member she didn’t recognize. As Adam led her up a flight of stairs and along a corridor hung with gilt-framed portraits, she realized where they were going.

He opened the door to the library. The room, with its floor-to-ceiling shelves of leather-bound books, and armchairs big enough to curl up in, had been her favorite when she was younger. The chess set they used to play on was still here too, nestled in a corner by a window.

Despite the fact that the room had been designed to be restful, Danni was far from relaxed. It had been years since she was last here and in that time her ease in Adam’s company and her confidence in their simple friendship had vanished.

In the car she was in charge, of the car at least. Her father’s gatehouse was her territory, too, and outside was … outside. A place of freedom. But here, inside the palace, where everything was governed by rules not of her making and many of them outside of her awareness, standing with the heir apparent, she was out of her depth and well out of her comfort zone.

She walked to a side table and set her cap on it then slowly peeled off her gloves, feeling oddly vulnerable without the protection her uniform afforded her. A protection that said this is who I am and this is who you are. We’re people defined by our roles. But now, as she raked a hand through her hair, she was just Danni and he was Adam. There could never be a just in front of his name unless it was used in its opposite meaning. He was just gorgeous. Serious, but gorgeous with those dark eyes that seemed always to be watching and thinking.

Even without the props of her uniform, she knew she had to keep focused on her reason for being here—which had nothing to do with Adam’s eyes. Although maybe the eyes had helped sway her, subliminally at least. “So, your date?”

“Let’s wait till after dessert.”

“Dessert?”

She turned at the sound of a tap on the door. A footman walked in carrying a tray, set it on the low table between two armchairs and then left.

Danni glanced from the tray to Adam.

“I thought you might be hungry.”

“Not that hungry!” She looked at the twin slices of cheesecake and the two mugs of cream-topped hot chocolate.

He smiled his first smile of the evening. “It’s not all for you.”

“But you’ve just eaten.”

He shook his head. “Anna was a salad-only type of woman. No carbohydrates. No dressing. I was hardly going to eat dessert while she’d scarcely touched a thing. As it was, her pushing her lettuce around her plate all evening almost put me off my linguine. And I love linguine. So aside from it being bad manners, I was in no hurry to prolong the evening. By the time the waiter asked if we wanted to order dessert, the future chances for a relationship were crystal clear.”

“You’ve already fed me once tonight.” Her mouth watered even as she pretended that she wasn’t hungry.

“It was a long evening and that was just a snack. And unless things have changed drastically from when you were younger, you have—let’s call it a healthy appetite and a sweet tooth. And cheesecake was a particular favorite.” He watched her. “Have things changed?”

A grin tugged at her lips and her gaze strayed back to the cheesecake. “Apparently not all that much.”

He picked up the two bowls. “Sit down then.”

Once she was settled in an armchair he passed her a bowl and took the opposite chair.

Danni bit into the tart velvety cheesecake and her eyes almost rolled back in her head in ecstasy while she savored the delight. “Charlebury’s still chef?” she asked once she’d opened her eyes again.

Adam laughed. “Yes.”

For the next few minutes they ate in appreciative silence. Finally, sated and the dessert finished, Danni set down her bowl.

“Not licking it?” Adam asked, teasing in his tone.