The Bridesmaid and the Billionaire

Kane didn’t want to do anything resembling a doggie massage, but he also didn’t want that stray hanging around his cabin, so he’d suck it up and do what Susannah asked. He leaned forward, splayed his fingers and sunk them into the dog’s deep fur. The dog wriggled against his touch, and seemed to almost…smile.

Beneath his fingers, the retriever’s fur was thick and heavy, but it parted easily, allowing him access to the animal’s skin. He gave Susannah a dubious glance; she offered him an encouraging smile, and he dug in, doing his best to offer—

A soapy doggie massage, as insane as that sounded.

Yet his thoughts kept returning to the blond human beside him. Susannah started humming snippets of an old sixties tune, her hips swaying with the rhythm, her hair catching the dance, as if her whole body was part of the concert. So natural, so uninhibited. So different from anyone he’d ever met.

“I hear people find TLC rewarding, as well,” Kane said.

“Mmm-hmm.” Susannah stopped humming and stroked the dog behind the ears instead. “That’s a good girl, Dakota. Just a few more minutes, pup.”

But Kane wasn’t thinking about the canine at all. His thoughts were entirely focused on Susannah. In a few days, the two of them would be at a wedding together, which meant he’d be escorting her down the aisle, then dancing with her at the reception. Holding her in his arms. The anticipation drummed in his veins.

Maybe…he didn’t need to wait that long. He could ask her out and—

His cell phone began to chirp, its annoying ring cutting through the room like a bullhorn.

“Do you want me to get that for you?” Susannah asked.

“Ignore it. I’m on vacation. Apparently not everyone got the memo.” His assistant was supposed to redirect all calls, but a few must have gotten past her eagle eyes. Either that, or his father was already noting his absence. Regardless, Kane refused to be reattached to the business umbilical already.

He had more important things to attend to right this second. Things like Susannah Wilson.

“Speaking of people TLC…do you know a place in this town that has good food? For people, not dogs.” He gave her a grin. “I think I have the dog menu all covered.”

“You can get great takeout at the Corner Kitchen over on Main and Newberry. The owner makes homemade everything, from strawberry jam to mashed potatoes. It’s nothing gourmet, but—”

Kane chuckled. “To me, that’ll be exotic, trust me.”

She gave him a curious look. “How can mashed potatoes and strawberry jam be exotic?”

He directed his attention to the dog again, using the overhead sprayer to rinse out the shampoo, and to avoid looking at Susannah. Damn. Good thing he’d never gone into the CIA. His cover could have been blown by a three-year-old. “I, ah, eat out a lot. You know, all that nonhomemade food. The Corner Kitchen will be a real treat. I haven’t had food like that since I was a little kid.” Actually, he’d never had any of that kind of food, but at least saying “since I was a little kid” sounded plausible.

“Did you have an aunt or something who liked to cook?”

“Something like that.” A maid. Who’d fixed gourmet meals at his parents’ beck and call. And after that, a host of restaurants that served five-star meals, none of which had strawberry jam or sweet-potato pies on the menu.

“What about you? Do you have dinner plans?”

“I’m busy tonight, sorry.”

The brush-off came as fast as a bucket of ice water. Something new for him—a woman turning him down so quickly. That must come with the incognito territory.

And instead of depressing Kane, the words invigorated him. Issued a challenge, of sorts. He had finally met a woman who didn’t know who he was, had no interest in his money—because she didn’t even know it existed. How many women had he met, who had looked at him with dollar signs in their eyes? They saw his money first, and him last, if at all.

All his life he’d wanted to meet a woman—meet people in general—who connected with him for him, not for his fortune. Not for his name. He’d thought he’d done that back in college, until his father had yanked the relationship away, with that all-powerful dollar. All Kane had ever wanted from his father was a relationship, but he’d only received criticism and money. Even now, his father was back in New York, probably in the Lennox Gem Corporation boardroom, raising a holy fit over the fact that he had no idea where his son was right now. Not because he cared, but because he’d lost control of the reins.

Which left Kane free to pursue Susannah Wilson, if he wanted to. If she did date him, even only for the few days he’d be here, it wouldn’t be because he was Kane Lennox. Or because she hoped to be draped in diamonds by the end of the week. Not because of anything other than she truly liked him.

A curl of desire ran through Kane, a feeling so new, it was almost foreign. It awakened a hunger he hadn’t felt in so long, he thought he might have imagined it all those years ago.

Beside his feet, the stray dog, which Susannah had started calling Rover, raised his snout and let out a little bark. “I think someone else wants a bath, now that Dakota’s about done,” Susannah said. “We could always do a two-for-one today.”

“Sorry. One dog’s my limit.”

“You did a good job,” Susannah said a minute later, thankfully taking Kane’s place and allowing him back into doing leash-holding duty. “Dakota’s nice and clean. Maybe I’ll offer you a job.”

“I have one, thank you.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m, ah, in the jewelry business.” He left it at that. No telling her he imported billions of dollars worth of diamonds and precious gems.

“Really? Do you work in a shop, too?”

“Uh, sort of.”

The last of the suds ran down the drain, and Dakota, sensing the end of her bath, began to shake. Susannah tightened her grasp on the leash, and calmed the dog with a few soothing words.

“If you want, I can bring Rover closer, and then we can get that two-for-one,” Kane said.

She laughed. For the first time, he noticed how easily her laughter came, how light the sound was, almost like chimes. The animation in her face brought a lightness to him, too, like spreading sunshine. “Now, there’s a great business idea. Almost like assembly-line dog washing.” She reached over the tub for a giant hose and turned it on, blowing a steady stream of warm air on the dog. In minutes, the retriever was nearly dry.

A teenage girl breezed into the shop, dumping an overstuffed neon-pink backpack into a chair as she did. Her brown hair, tied back in a ponytail with a blue-and-gold ribbon, swung back and forth as she bounced over to the cage holding the standard poodle. “Sorry I’m late, Suzie,” she called over her shoulder. “Hey, Dakota. Hi, Fancy Pants.” She cooed at the white dog, unlatching the cage and opening the door enough to give the dog a little head scratch.

Then, as if Kane was a lesser species that she had just noticed, the teenager latched the poodle’s cage and sent Kane a half nod. “Oh, hi. Who are you?”

“This is Kane. Kane, meet Tess.”

He greeted the girl, but she had already bent down and started petting Rover. “Do you belong to him? He’s a cutie.”

“No, no. No.”

Tess grinned when Rover perked up at the sound of Kane’s voice and darted over to his side. “Seems he disagrees.”

Susannah opened the gate on the side of the tub, helped Dakota down, then led the retriever over to a grooming table in the next room. Kane took Rover out to the front of the shop. With the distance of a room between them, relief whispered through Susannah. Working so close to Kane had set her on edge.

She’d been aware of his every move, of the water droplets on his skin, of the way his muscles flexed when he’d worked the soap into Dakota’s coat. She needed distance from him, from the senses he’d awakened. Most of all, she needed to redouble her focus on her job—and her ultimate goals.

“Tess, do you mind finishing up Dakota and then holding down the fort alone for a little while? There’s only one more appointment left for the day.”

“Not at all.” Tess slipped a Sudsy Dog apron over her head and helped Susannah get Dakota into place on the grooming table, then readied nail clippers and brushes. “Let me guess. You have ten thousand errands to do for other people.”

Susannah smiled, but the grin seemed to droop. “Only nine thousand and ninety nine.”

“Just say no. That’s what they teach us in health class.” She grinned.

“That might work with randy teenage boys, but not when it comes to my sister. She’s—”