Lessons in Seduction Page 3

  “I said I wouldn’t tell you.”

  “For pity’s sake, Adam.”

  A wry smile touched his lips.

  “You do need help.”

  “Not with my list or what’s on it. That’s nonnegotiable. I just need help with being a better me and a much better date.”

  She shook her head. “You don’t need help being a better you. You just have to let people see the real you, not the you that you think you have to be.”

  He hesitated. “So you’ll help me?”

  Had she just put her foot into a trap that was starting to close? “I haven’t said that. I’d like to, Adam, really I would. But I don’t have time. I’m only staying with Dad for a couple more weeks while I’m on leave and my apartment’s being redecorated.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “It’s that big a job? Making me into a better date? It’s going to require more than a couple weeks?”

  “No. I’m sure it’s not.”

  “Then it won’t take up much of your time, will it?”

  She chewed her lip as she shook her head. When she was ten, Adam, who’d had a broken leg at the time, had taught her to play chess. Over the next few years when he came back on summer vacation he always made time to play her at least once or twice. But no matter how much she’d studied and practiced he’d always been able to maneuver her unawares into a corner and into checkmate.

  “For so long I haven’t really had to try with women and…after Michelle I didn’t really want to. I’ve almost forgotten how.”

  Michelle, whom he’d dated several years ago, well before the advent of Rafe’s wife Lexie, was the last woman he’d been linked seriously with. They’d looked like the perfect couple, well matched in so many respects. An engagement had been widely expected. Then suddenly they’d broken up, and Michelle was now engaged to another member of Adam’s polo team.

  “What about your mystery woman?”

  He frowned. Not annoyed, but perplexed. “What mystery woman?”

  “Palace gossip has it that…”

  “Go on.” The frown deepened.

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Danni? What palace gossip?”

  She took a deep breath. “Rumor has it that whenever you get free time, you disappear for an hour or two. When you come back you’re generally in a good mood and you’ve often showered.”

  The frown cleared from his face and he threw back his head and laughed like she hadn’t heard him laugh in years. The sound pleased and warmed her inordinately. “Does this mean there’s no mystery woman?” she asked when he stopped laughing.

  He was still doing his best to quell his amusement. “There’s no woman, mysterious or otherwise.”

  “Then where—”

  “Let’s get back on track. Because there does need to be a woman, the right one, and I think you can help. This is important, Danni. All I really want is your insight and a few pointers. It won’t take a lot of your time.”

  Danni hesitated.

  “Is there something or…someone you need that time for?”

  She didn’t want to admit there wasn’t. There had been no someone since the rally driver she’d been dating dropped her as soon as he started winning and realized that with success came women—beautiful, glamorous women.

  “You’ll be compensated.”

  He correctly interpreted her silence as admission that there wasn’t anyone. But the offer of remuneration was insulting. “I wouldn’t want that. You wouldn’t have to pay me.”

  “So you’ll do it?”

  “But you think finding the right woman is about lists and boxes you can check off, and it’s not.”

  “That’s why I need you. Lists and tickable boxes are part of it and you’ll have to accept that, but I know there’s more. I want more.” He paused. “I want what Rafe has.”

  Danni stifled a gasp. “You want Lexie?”

  “No.” The word was vehement and a look of disbelief and disappointment crossed his face. “I just meant he found someone to marry. Someone he could be happy with.”

  “She was supposed to be yours,” Danni said quietly, daring to voice the suspicion she’d harbored.

  “Only according to my father. We, Lexie and I, never had anything.” As far as Danni could tell, Adam seemed to be telling the truth and she wanted to believe him. But it was common knowledge that Crown Prince Henri had at one point intended that the American heiress with a distant claim to the throne herself would be the perfect partner, politically, for Adam. “And to be honest,” Adam continued, “I’m inclined to believe my father’s later assertion that he’d always intended for Lexie and Rafe to be together. He wanted Rafe to settle down and rein in his ways, but he knew Rafe would rebel against any overt matchmaking.”

  Rafe had been charged with escorting Lexie to San Philippe to meet Adam. By all accounts the two had fought falling in love almost from the time they laid eyes on one another. When Rafe and Lexie finally gave in to their feelings, they utterly derailed the Crown Prince’s perceived plans and Rafe’s carefree bachelor existence. They’d since married and now had a beautiful baby girl. Rafe had never looked happier. And while to all outward appearances Adam had also seemed more than happy with the arrangement, Danni had always wondered. A little.

  He shook his head as he watched her. “You don’t believe it?”

  She shrugged.

  “I like Lexie.” He sighed heavily as though this wasn’t the first time he’d had to explain himself. “In fact, I love her. But as a sister. It was obvious from the start that it was never going to work for us. We just didn’t connect.”

  “She’s beautiful. And vivacious.”

  “She’s both those things. But she wasn’t for me. And I wasn’t for her.”

  Danni nodded, almost, but not quite, buying it.

  He must have read that shred of doubt in her eyes. “I’ll tell you something on pain of death and only because it will help you believe me.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  “I think I do.” Adam glanced away looking almost embarrassed. “On our first date…”

  A log shifted and settled in the fire as she waited for him to continue.

  “I fell asleep.”

  She covered her mouth. “No.”

  “I’d been working hard, putting in some long hours. The timing was off. Dad never should have had her brought out then.” He reeled off his excuses. “But anyway, we went to dinner at the same place I went with Clara, we had a lovely meal and on the drive home…” He shrugged. “It was inexcusable. But it happened.”

  “Was my father driving?”

  Adam nodded.

  “That explains why he’s always been adamant that you were okay with Rafe and Lexie.”

  “I’m more than okay with it. But I’ve seen how happy they are, and Rebecca and Logan, as well.”

  Hard on the heels of his brother finding love his sister, Rebecca, had, as well. Her wedding to Logan, a self-made millionaire from Chicago, would be in two months. “And I wonder…”

  “If you can have it, too?” Probably every single person in country had wondered the same thing, the fairy tale come true. Danni certainly had.

  He sighed. “It’s not realistic though. Not with the life I lead. The constraints on it, constraints that whoever marries me will have to put up with.”

  He’d deny himself love? Deny himself even the chance at it? And for someone as smart as he was, his reasoning was screwy. “Don’t you see? That’s why it’s more important than ever that there’s love. That she knows, whatever the constraints, that you, the real you—” She touched her fingertips just above his heart and the room seemed to shrink. She snatched her hand away. “—are worth it.”

  Adam’s gaze followed her hand. “So, you’ll help me?”

  Danni hesitated.

  A fatal mistake.

  “I have a date on Friday.” He spoke into the silence of her hesitation. “If you could drive for me then you’ll be doing me and my fath
er and the country a favor.”

  “So it’s my patriotic duty?”

  “I wouldn’t quite put it like that but…” He shrugged. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the doctors have told Dad to ease up on work and watch his stress levels. This is one way I can help. So, I need to expedite this process. I want a date for Rebecca and Logan’s wedding, and I can’t take just anyone. It has to be someone I’m seeing seriously. So that means I need to be working on it now. We’ve only got two months.”

  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 last-minute 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.

  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.