The Courtship of Dani (4 page)

But that was a lot easier to say than to do. At work Dani spent the rest of the week closeted with Roger while he brought her up-to-date on his current project. She focused all her energies on the new assignment, approaching it with her usual thoroughness and concentration, asking probing questions, listening attentively, taking notes and going over all the data Roger had already gathered. She put in long hours at the office and still more at home and dropped into bed every night bone weary. But still she seethed.

By Friday she was fed up and thoroughly irritated with herself. When her dearest friend, Phil Lathrope, called and asked her to dinner, she reacted as though he'd thrown her a lifeline.

"I'd love to," she said, almost before he got the words out of his mouth, drawing a chuckle from Phil.

"Bad day, love?"

"Try bad week."

"Well, before you make any hasty decisions, I feel it's only fair to warn you we'll be joining some friends of mine."

"Fine. The more the merrier. I just want to relax and forget about work for a while." Work, and everything associated with it, she amended silently. Most especially Jason St. Clair.

"Great. I'll pick you up at eight."

Dani left the office early, allowing herself plenty of time to indulge in a long, hot soak, a shampoo and a fresh manicure. By the time she opened the door to Phil she was dressed in a stunning pale-blue lace creation, with long, fitted sleeves, a swirling calf-length skirt and no back. Diamond teardrops swung from her earlobes and a matching stone, suspended from a delicate gold chain, rested against the top of her lace covered breasts. Her shining sable hair, pulled back on one side and held by a diamond clip, cascaded around her shoulders.

Phil just stood and gazed appreciatively for a moment. "As usual, you look gorgeous," he said quietly, a debonair smile growing on his face as his eyes swept over her from the strappy pale-blue sandals on her feet to the glorious mane of hair.

"Thanks." Dani stepped back and motioned him in. "Make yourself at home while I get my things."

When she returned a few minutes later with her purse and a light cashmere stole, Phil was standing by her cherry-wood block-front chest, his slender, elegant hand running back and forth over its smooth surface, his expression thoughtful.

"Oh no you don't," Dani said with mock severity. "You're not getting that chest back. I don't care if you do have a rich buyer looking for one just like it. It's mine and I'm not parting with it."

Phil turned his head and gave her a calculating look, his hazel eyes glinting. "As a matter of fact..." he began, only to have Dani cut him off.

"Forget it, friend."

"Just kidding," Phil assured her with a laugh. "Anyway, would I do that to you? I know how much you love your treasures."

Dani smiled. Yes, Phil knew her passion for antiques better than anyone, since he was the one who had introduced her to them. They had met over six years ago when, inexplicably drawn by the lady's desk in the window, she had entered his very exclusive, very expensive antique gallery. She had been instantly captivated by the beauty and timeless elegance of the old pieces, and Phil had been quick to encourage her interest. The meeting had marked the beginning of a deep, comfortable friendship and Dani's abiding love for things from the past.

"Actually," Phil said in a ruminating voice, "I was thinking that you might be interested in the piecrust table I got in today. It's of the same period and in excellent shape."

Dani groaned. "Why do you tempt me like that, you beast. You know that now I'll have to see it. And if I see it I'll have to have it, even though I said I wasn't going to buy anything else for a while."

An indulgent smile wreathed Phil's thin, aristocratic features. "If I didn't tell you about the new pieces I get in you'd have a fit, and you know it. Anyway, I like the best ones to go to someone who has a special affinity for them."

Dani ran her fingertips lovingly over the smooth surface of the cherry-wood chest and smiled. Yes, she had an attachment to antiques that went far beyond a mere appreciation of beautiful things. Whenever she looked at the craftsmanship and the rich patina of age each piece bore, whenever she thought of the loving care they had to have been given over the years to have survived in such excellent condition, she pondered the countless lives they had borne witness to and wondered how many hands had touched them. It was strangely comforting, giving her a sense of kinship with all those former owners. A feeling of roots. Of permanence. Of belonging.

"All right, you win. I'll be by tomorrow to look at the table." Smiling, Dani looped her arm through his and urged him toward the door. "Now, how about that dinner you promised me. I'm starved."

During the drive downtown Dani relaxed, while Phil told her about an estate sale he had attended in England the week before. Idly, her eyes ran over his attractive profile, his dark hair with its precision cut, his nattily clad body, and she wondered, not for the first time, why there had never been anything of a romantic nature between them. They had common interests, they enjoyed each other's company and genuinely liked each other. Dani knew that if she ever needed him, for any reason, Phil would be there for her as she would be for him. They shared a deep affection yet there was no spark; they were simply the best of friends.

"Who is it we're meeting?" Dani asked as they surrendered Phil's car to the parking attendant and walked into the posh restaurant.

"My banker, Paul Haggerty, and his wife, and another couple whom I don't know."

"Oh, I know Mr. Haggerty." Dani smiled up at him in pleased surprise. "He was a client of mine about three or four years ago. He's a very nice man."

"Yes. Yes, he is," Phil agreed, giving her arm an approving pat.

Phil gave the maitre d' the name of their party, and they followed the haughtily formal man through the dining room to where the other two couples were already seated. When Dani and Phil reached the table the men rose. ..and Dani's heart gave a little leap then settled heavily in her chest.

The tall, gray-haired, distinguished-looking man was unmistakably Paul Haggerty. The other was Jason St. Clair.

Dani's first instinctive reaction was to turn and run for the nearest exit—and for a fraction of a second, she actually considered it. But even as her body braced for flight, common sense returned. Don't be a fool, she admonished herself, tearing her gaze away from Jason and turning to the Haggertys with a wan smile. You would only embarrass Phil, and he certainly doesn't deserve that.

"Ms. Edwards! What a nice surprise." Paul Hag-gerty pumped her hand exuberantly. "It's good to see you again."

"It's nice to see you too, Mr. Haggerty," Dani somehow managed, acutely aware of the tall man on the opposite side of the table. She could actually feel those dark eyes on her. Her heart was booming and she felt horribly flustered, and it was only through sheer dint of will that she kept her expression calm.

"Oh, please. Make it Paul." He grinned and clapped Phil on the back. "I didn't realize you knew this lovely lady, you sly devil you."

"Danielle and I go way back," Phil told him with a complacent smile.

Paul Haggerty introduced his wife, a plump, brown haired little woman in her mid-fifties. Dani lingered over the greeting as long as possible, but finally the moment she had been dreading came. As Paul rattled off the names of the other couple, Dani slowly turned and found herself pinned by Jason's dark gaze.

"Linda and I have already met Danielle," he said smoothly, giving her a sardonic smile before reaching across the table to shake Phil's hand.

For the first time Dani's gaze went to the woman seated between Jason and Paul Haggerty, and her spirits dropped another notch when she met the hostile glitter in Linda Hastings's eyes. "Hello, Ms. Hastings," she said, mustering what she hoped was a pleasant smile.

The other woman merely nodded and looked away, her face sullen.

When they were all seated, Dani, to her dismay, found herself on Jason's immediate right. They were so close she could feel the warmth of his body all along her side, could smell his cologne and his unique male scent. He leaned back in his chair with easy nonchalance, his forearm braced against the edge of the table. From the corner of her eye she could see him cup a squat whiskey glass, the fine dusting of golden hair on the back of his large hand glittering in the glow from the candle flickering in the middle of the table. For a moment his long, blunt fingers idly rotated the glass, then he lifted it to his mouth, his arm brushing hers. Dani stared straight ahead and clamped her teeth together so tightly her jaws began to ache.

Phil leaned forward and smiled at Linda and Jason. "So, how is it that you know Dani?" he asked, directing the question at both of them.

"We met at a party," Jason replied smoothly, giving nothing away.

"Well, my boy, you ought to hire her to do the make-over on that door and window factory you just bought," Paul put in. "It'll be making money hand over fist in no time if you do, I can personally guarantee it."

Dani turned her head slightly and slanted Jason a cool look, then switched her gaze to the older man. "Actually, Update is doing the revamping of Mr. St. Clair's company, Paul, but I'm not in charge of the project," she said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Well, Frank Manders's outfit is good; there's no disputing that. But if I were you, Jason, I'd insist that he assign the project to Dani. She's the very best there is." Paul smiled proudly at her. "A few years back my bank was sinking in a sea of paperwork, red tape and inefficiency, then I finally bit the bullet and admitted that the computer age was here to stay and called in Update. Well sir, Dani and her crew breezed in, sifted through it all and had us straightened out in just a matter of months."

"You mean you're actually one of those.. .those consultants that Jason hires?" Linda asked, somehow managing to make it sound like something slightly disreputable.

"Actually, I'm a manager," Dani returned with an indulgent smile. "Which means that I head up a team of consultants."

"But... don't you have to be terribly... well... brainy to do that?"

"It helps."

"I see." Linda gave her a pitying look and shrugged one bare shoulder. "But don't you find that an awful handicap? I mean, it seems so... so unfeminine."

"Unfeminine?" Dani's brow arched high, and she glanced down at her slender body. A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. It wasn't the first time she had encountered jealousy of this kind. It didn't bother her. If anything, she found it amusing and rather silly. Especially since Dani knew full well that it wasn't her intelligence or her job, but her physical appearance that Linda found threatening. "I'm sure I have my share of shortcomings, but I don't think a lack of femininity is one of them. At least I've never had any complaints about it."

"I wouldn't imagine so."

Jason's murmured comment brought Dani's head around and her breath caught. His dark eyes slid over her, slumberous and hot, the half smile that tilted his mouth pure provocation. A tingling sensation feathered over Dani's skin as she stared at him, her agile mind, for once in her life, completely blank.

Before she could respond, both Paul and Phil gallantly echoed the sentiment, much to Linda's annoyance. With an effort of will Dani pulled her gaze away from Jason. He's just trying to rattle you, she told herself. Ignore him.

Doing precisely that, she smiled at the other two men then switched her attention back to the petulant woman. "Intelligence is not a prerogative of the male sex, I assure you, Linda."

"No, of course not. But don't you find that men are rather put off by a woman who is so obviously intelligent? I mean, no man wants to marry a woman who is smarter than he is."

Dani tipped her head back and laughed, a soft, throaty sound that made Jason's eyes gleam appreciatively as they ran over the graceful arch of her throat. "You may be right. But since I'm not interested in getting married, it hardly matters."

Linda looked shocked, then her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You don't want to get married?"

"Not particularly, no."

"Oh, my dear. Surely you don't mean that," Marge Haggerty protested. "A lovely thing like you?"

"Marge is right, Dani," Paul declared in support of his wife. "It would be a crime against nature for you to remain unmarried."

While Dani tried to explain the merits of the single state to the older couple, the others remained silent. Phil smiled in amusement, and Linda, tight-lipped and sullen, drummed her red enameled nails on the table. Jason leaned back in his chair and studied Dani, his dark eyes intent and searching, his expression thoughtful.

The good-natured argument went on for several minutes, until at last the waiter arrived to take their order. When he had gone, Phil deftly changed the subject, earning himself a warm look of gratitude from Dani as she reached under the table and squeezed his hand.

Throughout the meal Linda continued to make snide little digs at Dani, but she merely ignored or laughed them off. Had she wanted to, had she felt beleaguered enough, Dani would've been perfectly capable of annihilating the woman with a freezing look and a few well chosen words. Though Linda's spiteful jealousy was mildly annoying, it aroused more pity than irritation. It was not Linda who got under Dani's skin but the large, silent man by her side.