Scent of a Woman (3 page)

“I met the captain today after you left the welcome reception. Apparently
Alexandra’s Dream
is newly refurbished.”

She’d read that somewhere, along with the fact that the ship had been named after the owner’s late wife. The tearoom was supposed to have a portrait of Alexandra Stamos and Danielle planned to see it tomorrow when she met Monsieur Nordham. Elias Stamos must have loved his wife to name this big, beautiful vessel after her a decade after her death. The thought touched Danielle, perhaps because she still missed her mother so much.

“We could not have asked for a more decadent setting for the fragrance conference.” Her cocktail-style dress flapped against her calves in the breeze off the water, the silk teasing her skin. “May I ask what business you hope to accomplish while on board?”

She didn’t know how the companies might help each other, but it was worth investigating since Prestige had made an offer on Les Rêves in the past.

“I’m here to secure a deal with the Dubai retailer,” Adam said. “Joe thinks we need a greater presence in the United Arab Emirates and a contract there would bring in substantial new revenues.”

Danielle’s heart sank. They were no longer competitors in a general sense. With Adam’s declaration, she realized they would be vying for the same piece of lucrative business this week.

“It seems we will be in direct competition then, because I am here for much the same reason.” And although she was not afraid of the competition, she had to admit to a twinge of disappointment that Prestige wasn’t looking at business possibilities with an elite French import like Les Rêves.

“You’re pursuing the Dubai account, too?”

“
Oui.
And I guess that should come as no surprise to either of us since the promise of business there is profitable to say the least. No doubt many of the other fragrance houses aboard will make a similar pitch.”

“So you’re not upset that we’ll be competing?” He turned toward her, his body blocking her from the breeze for a moment.

She caught a hint of his scent and was taken aback by the blend of hyssop and cedar and another note she couldn’t quite define. The desire to lean closer and inhale was strong. But damn it, why did they have to be vying for the same account?

She needed to present a strong front.

“Why would I be upset?” Her thoughts about Adam were taking a much too personal turn. “Do you think you have the account all sewn up? I have to admit I think I have the advantage over you when it comes to perfume, even if you did correctly guess the fern.”

“That’s good news.” He looked down at his leg and she realized the fabric of her dress had blown around the back of her legs and the purple silk now clung to his trousers.

She tugged the material away, flustered even though she had no real reason to be.

“Danielle.” Adam touched her arm and she looked up from her wayward dress to his face.

The expression in his eyes didn’t surprise her. She had sensed the attraction there earlier, yet she hadn’t been prepared for the heat of it. Never had a woman’s elbow felt like such an erogenous zone.

“This could be complicated.” She didn’t need him to spell out what he wanted because she saw it too clearly in his eyes.

“What if we keep business separate from pleasure? We don’t talk about our work, we just—”

“My work is who I am. If I tried to talk to you without talking about my business, I would be giving you a woman who wasn’t Danielle Chevalier. Don’t you see?”

“I’ll tell you what I see.” He stepped closer, claiming a corner of her personal space as his own. “I see a ten-day cruise stretching out in front of me and the opportunity to enjoy it with a woman who’s smart, entertaining and sexy. That’s ten days, not a lifetime commitment. So I ask myself, why not make the most of that time until the real world calls again? Why does it have to be more complicated when we know it’s going to end on the pier in Barcelona?”

She tried to form an objection but it was difficult now that he stood so close. His very presence had her swaying toward his point of view.

The spicy scent of him seduced her as surely as his strong, masculine build. Hadn’t he charmed her with his bold-talking American ways? His willingness to admit he knew nothing about perfume had caught her off guard and made him different from other men, who, in her experience, liked to bluff their way through any situation.

Heaven help her, she couldn’t say no.

“How could we possibly hurt each other in a mere ten days?” she said. The answer was they couldn’t, right?

But Adam approached the question from a different direction.

“I think it might be more to the point to see how much pleasure we could bring to each other in ten days.” He reached to capture a stray strand of hair blowing across her cheek. The warm strength of his hand along her face churned a tenderness deep inside her.

This was dangerous ground to tread with Adam. It was one thing to find shared pleasure. It was another to discover tenderness and mutual regard. Memories of Gunther assured her the latter was far more dangerous.

“Shall we toast to pleasure seeking?” she said finally, powerless to halt whatever magic lurked between her and this man. At least she could control her response to it.

“No.” He shook his head, his hand cradling her cheek as he tipped her face to his. “I think this is the kind of agreement one seals with a kiss.”

A
DAM DIDN’T WANT
to scare Danielle away by being too intense so he couldn’t kiss her the way he wanted. He knew he’d never craved a woman this deeply before, and he sure as hell wouldn’t lose the ground he’d gained with her by pinning her to the rail and kissing her senseless.

He tried to remember what she’d told him about perfume—that you had to appreciate the individual components to fully appreciate the harmony of the whole composition. With that in mind, he savored the silken feel of her cheek beneath his hand, the delicate throb of her pulse as he trailed his finger down her slender neck.

Surely he could slow himself down enough to enjoy those individual facets.

“Your intentions are noble,
monsieur,
” she whispered through the darkness as she wrapped her hands around his neck. “But I think we should not waste time, lest I change my mind.”

His heart slugged harder at her words as realization dawned. She didn’t want to savor individual notes. She was ready to explore the whole range of sensations working together.

Arching up on her toes, she rose to meet his kiss. She kissed like an angel, light and graceful in his arms, making him want to squeeze her tighter so she didn’t get away.

“Danielle.” He spoke her name between kisses, breathing the word over her mouth like an invocation.

Everything about her seemed dark and exotic, from her violet eyes to the seductive French accent that he would hear in his sleep tonight. He hadn’t planned on involving himself with another woman for a while after the debacle back in the States with the actress who had misconstrued his motives when he’d squired her around New York a few times. He’d tried to set her straight gently, but she’d threatened to withdraw her endorsement of Prestige’s newest perfume. Although the company could find another “face,” the publicity would be negative.

But his decision to back off dating for a while had been made before he met Danielle. She had the kind of allure that made it easy to break rules.

“I must say good-night.” She pulled away, speaking softly. “Perhaps we can spend some time together tomorrow after you finish your meetings.”

When she glanced behind him, he realized another couple had come up to the raised observation deck. Still, he couldn’t make himself release her.

“Come ashore with me tomorrow.” He would set up something with the Dubai retailer later in the week. Right now, his top priority was to make the most of this time with Danielle. “I’ve never been to Corfu.”

Gently he combed her hair off her shoulders and felt it ripple down her back.

“You are not alone. I hear it is a gorgeous port.”

“How about we meet at eight o’clock?” He thought the ship docked around 7:00 a.m.

“Unlike you, I have to work on this cruise in addition to play. How about we meet at noon instead? That will give me time to make my apologies to Monsieur Nordham since I won’t be able to meet him for tea now. And I do have a meeting with the Dubai company rep tomorrow.”

He realized the account must mean a great deal to her and he hoped she wouldn’t be too disappointed when he firmed up an agreement for Prestige by the end of the cruise. He’d already set up an appointment with Ahmed for later in the week, and from his brief phone call to the rep, Adam felt confident he understood what the retailer wanted to see in a presentation. Besides, there was no way he’d let himself fail. Joe had charged him with only one business goal at a time when all of Burns Inc. was in an uproar over their father’s inevitable retirement.

For years Joe and Adam had let their father take credit for getting business done that they’d accomplished for him. Neither of them looked forward to dismantling the myth of Jack Burns, and despite all the good they’d done for their family’s foundation, neither son wanted the top spot that would soon be vacant or all the stress that came with it. Adam and Joe had already sacrificed too much to become embroiled in company politics and the inevitable infighting that would follow their father’s departure. A behind-the-scenes role suited Adam just fine.

“Noon it is. I’ll wait for you down by the disembarkation deck.”

She backed out of his grip, taking her warmth and effervescent spirit with her.

“Very well.” She plucked her wineglass off the floor as if to return it to the bar. “But I hear the temperatures can sizzle this time of year. I hope you can take the heat.”

She winked at him before turning on her heel and walking away, leaving him staring at her swaying hips. As much as he admired the view, he hoped it wouldn’t become a common one, since he much preferred the sight of her walking toward him.

He’d be ready for a hot day tomorrow. In fact, he was counting on it.

“H
AVE YOU TOUCHED
base with our contact at International Markets? Ahmed?”

Danielle rolled her eyes, knowing her brother Marcel could not see her on the other end of the phone as she lay on the bed in her suite.

“Marcel, how rude would I be to demand attention from a business associate who already agreed to meet with me tomorrow? I set this meeting a week ago and there’s not a chance I’d break it or do anything to jeopardize the most important piece of business I’m here to conduct.” She might be enticed by the chance to spend time with Adam, but she wouldn’t botch this deal that Marcel insisted was crucial to their continued success.

Les Rêves meant everything to her, and she trusted her brother’s instincts when it came to the company’s finances.

“Right. Will you give me a call tomorrow to let me know how it goes?” There had been a tense edge in Marcel’s voice for the last few months and it came across now despite the hundreds of miles between them.

“Actually…” she hedged, unsure how Marcel would feel about her having a personal life. Then again, why should she apologize when she hadn’t dated for almost two years? “I’m going ashore at Corfu with a new friend tomorrow, so I won’t be able to call until quite late.”

She rolled to her back on the white coverlet, waiting for the worst of his lecture to subside. He trotted out stock phrases about her love of partying and her need to take life more seriously, then he moved to his central theme lately of needing to bring in more business. But what hurt the most was his closing statement.

“You’ll need to provide the name of this new ‘friend’ so I can run a routine background check on the guy, Dani. I’m not going to have a repeat of your last boyfriend now that we’ve just started recovering from the damage he did to earnings.”

Anger roared through her, hot and quick.

“How dare you?” Sitting up on the bed, she tossed aside the decorative pillow she’d been holding and paced the floor. “After all I’ve done to bring Les Rêves back in line—all of the accounts I have hand sold to make up for that loss—how can you have the nerve to suggest I would ever let someone like that into my life again?” Memories of Gunther’s betrayal still stung even two years later, but not because he’d broken her heart. No, she’d gotten over that hurt long ago. But she hadn’t been able to repair all the damage he’d done when he stole a valuable perfume recipe and marketed it more cheaply by using inferior ingredients.

“Just give me the guy’s name, Dani.” Marcel sounded beyond weary, but she was still so angry she could hardly speak.

“Because my judgment is tainted for the rest of my life now? I have lost all ability to form opinions about people because I was wrong once?”

“If you trust your judgment, why does it matter if I check him out? Are you afraid I’ll find something we should be concerned about?”

Danielle sighed, not liking her brother very much at the moment. They’d always been very different people, but never more so than when it came to the future of Les Rêves.

“His name is Adam Burns. He is a VP with Prestige Scents and, yes, he is competing with us for the Dubai retail account.”

“You realize you’re not the only one with a livelihood at stake here, right?” Marcel had done the books for Les Rêves for as long as Danielle had been the company’s public face. They’d always disagreed about where to take the business, but never as often as in the last few years.

“Yes, I realize. And you should know I would never do anything to jeopardize the future of our very loyal staff.” She fumed for another moment before sliding into an armchair, exhausted at treading old ground. “It is not fair to beat someone up for the same mistake forever, you know.”

“It hasn’t been forever, Danielle. It’s been two years, and even though you want to forget it, I promise you the accounting ledgers remember all too clearly. Have fun in Corfu, but if there is anything remotely suspect about Adam Burns, I’m going to ask you to make a decision in the best interest of Les Rêves.”

The thought darkened her mood, which had been flying high after the kiss she’d shared with Adam earlier. Would Marcel find any reason she should stop seeing a man who intrigued her so completely?

“Fine.” She had told Adam that she and Les Rêves were inseparable and she meant it. The company her mother had started with a dream and a few plants in the backyard was Danielle’s first priority. “Good night, Marcel.”

“S
O TELL ME
what you know about the Burns family.” Danielle sipped her tea at a table with Monsieur Nordham late the next morning after convincing him that tea could be taken any time of day in the Rose Petal, the ship’s English-style tearoom.

Although a more formal high tea would be served later in the day, the Rose Petal offered finger sandwiches and scones until the dining rooms opened in the evening. Danielle settled into her chintz-covered chair and sipped from the delicate floral teacup. The ginger-peach tea was a far cry from Earl Grey, but very soothing. Her nerves were still upset after last night’s phone call with Marcel, so she had decided to do a little investigating of her own between workshops.

“First you must tell me if you are interested in the business profile or what I know of the family personally.” Nordham smiled as if he’d already guessed the answer. His aristocratic aura lingered in everything from the silver ring he wore bearing an etching of his family crest to the unassuming studs in his French cuffs.

“Actually, I wonder what you might know of the family personally.” She saw no reason to hedge with a man who’d always expressed open admiration for her mother and her tendency to live life to the fullest.

“I know more about the younger brother, Joseph, who is apparently the more polished of the pair. When Prestige Scents debuted their new line in London last year, Joseph made the rounds of highend retailers to ensure placement the same time I toured those shops myself.”

“But this is the first you’ve met Adam?” She hoped the more she found out about Adam and his family, the more relaxed she would be when they spent time together today in Corfu.

Her last error in romantic judgment had resulted from ignoring warning signs that something was amiss. Fancying herself in love, she’d discounted any rumors she’d heard that suggested Gunther wasn’t all he seemed.

“I struck up a conversation when I caught him trying to stack the hors d’oeuvre meats into a club sandwich,” Nordham explained. “He claimed he was food deprived after a long flight, but I gathered later that he’d arrived by his family’s private jet so I don’t think the poor chap could have suffered too greatly, do you?” Nordham poured himself more tea from the individual pot. “He has a great fondness for brandy, I discovered. I had to replenish my stock after he joined me for a nip.”

Danielle hid a smile.

“So the family must be very wealthy.” She knew many people with money new and old, but private jets were a luxury that traditional wealth couldn’t always afford.

“Burns Inc. has interests all over the world. Prestige Scents is a moderately sized piece in a vast global pie that makes Adam’s father one of the most successful men in business today.”

The news sat well with Danielle. Why would Adam attempt some kind of corporate espionage to undermine Les Rêves when his own companies had met such a level of success?

“How do you think Adam’s prospects are with International Markets? Any better than ours?” She knew Nordham would be pitching to the Dubai retailer, as well.

“Only six companies have been invited to give a presentation, you know.” Nordham lifted his teacup to the genteel-looking older woman playing the harp who had just paused between songs. “I think contracts will be awarded to at least two of those, so the odds are decent for all of us. Prestige’s advantage is that they bring a lot of star power to the table with all the Hollywood endorsements they seem to garner.”

Danielle hadn’t really considered that edge, but then she’d been so confident in her own secret weapon that she hadn’t given much thought to scouting the competition. She’d spent weeks analyzing scents native to the region to infuse her fragrances with authentic touches, and her specialty line of Arabian Nights perfumes was going to dazzle the Dubai retailer.

“How did your meeting go this morning, by the way?” Nordham asked, clearly taken with the harpist. He couldn’t seem to drag his eyes away from the elegant, silver-haired woman dressed in crisp white linen.

“It went well.” Danielle was certain she’d impressed Ahmed with her ideas for the themed line of scents, which would be sold exclusively to International Markets. Even the packaging was a departure from Les Rêves’s signature pink-and-gold boxes. The Arabian Nights fragrances were tentatively slated to sell in jewel-toned bottles with Moorish style boxes, the whole collection as colorful and varied as a walk through a Middle Eastern marketplace. The retailer had liked her concept but had asked her to go deeper and see if she could make the marketing more specific to the region. She’d agreed to meet with him once more before the cruise was finished. While she didn’t usually invest so much time on an account without a contract, exceptions would be made for the Dubai account since it represented a potentially lucrative untapped market.

Danielle would go the extra mile to sketch some ideas for packaging and promotion.

“Ah, I sense a secret selling point or two in there,” Nordham teased, finally turning his attention her way. “Well, I wish you luck, my dear. But for now I must hurry you on your way since it’s already noon and I happen to know you have another date awaiting you.”