Still feeling shaky from Richard’s unexpected and thoroughly devastating kiss, Melanie retreated to the living room immediately after breakfast. She grabbed a legal pad and pen and settled in front of the warm fire, determined to get some work done for some of her more appreciative clients. She had plenty of challenges on her plate. She didn’t need a stubborn man who wasn’t interested in listening to her advice.
Despite her best efforts to concentrate, though, her mind wandered back to that kiss. No matter how hard she tried to steer her thoughts to something productive, she kept coming back to the way Richard’s mouth had felt on hers, the way he’d managed to make her blood sing without half-trying. She found herself doodling little hearts like some schoolgirl with a crush. This was bad, really bad. Annoyed with herself, she impatiently flipped the page, cursing when it tore.
“Having trouble concentrating?”
She jumped at the sound of his voice, then scowled at the teasing note in it. “No.”
He laughed. “I won’t call you on that. However, since I can’t seem to concentrate, either, I was going to suggest that we go for a walk and grab some lunch in town.”
“We just had breakfast.”
Richard gestured toward his watch. “Four hours ago,” he noted. “You really have been drifting off, haven’t you? What were you daydreaming about?” He gave her an amused, knowing look, then added, “Or were you fine-tuning your PR plan for me in case I decide to relent and let you present it?”
He reached for her legal pad with a motion so quick and sneaky, he managed to get it away from her. When he saw the hearts she’d drawn, he grinned.
Melanie wondered if it was possible to die of embarrassment. If so, now would be the perfect time for the floor of this place to open and swallow her up.
“Actually I was thinking about this really sexy television reporter I met last week,” she lied boldly, thankful that she hadn’t scribbled any initials on the page to give herself away and confirm the obvious conclusion he’d leaped to. That would have been totally humiliating. At least now he could only guess where her mind had been drifting. He couldn’t prove a thing.
Richard took the bait, regarding her with curiosity. “Which reporter?”
“What difference does it make?”
“Just wondering about your taste in men,” he claimed.
She didn’t buy that for a second. Her taste in men was the last thing on his mind. He was just trying to trip her up. She named the most eligible bachelor on any of the news teams in town. He was an insipid bore, but maybe Richard wouldn’t know that.
Unfortunately, he lifted a brow at her response. “Really? Everyone tells me he’s pretty, but not too bright.”
There was no mistaking the derisiveness in his voice. That “pretty” label sealed it.
Melanie refused to be daunted by his attitude. “Maybe I’m not interested in holding a conversation with him,” she suggested.
Richard merely laughed. “You’re going to have to do better than that, sweetheart. One rule of thumb when you’re lying, you have to make it believable.”
“I’m not surprised you know that,” she muttered.
He ignored the gibe. “Come on, kiddo. On your feet. The exercise will clear your head, maybe get all those hot thoughts of your young stud muffin out of your brain.”
Melanie sighed. He was right about one thing—she really did need a blast of cold air. Maybe then she’d stop making an idiot out of herself. It was not the best way to get Richard to take her work seriously.
Richard couldn’t recall the last time he’d gone for a walk in the snow just for the sheer fun of it. Of course, in this case it was also a way to get out of the house and away from those wayward thoughts he was having about the impossible woman staying with him. The fact that she’d tried to sell him a bill of goods about that insipid reporter suggested she was aware that the temptation was getting too hot to handle, too.
Outside, though, the air was crisp and cold off the river. The sky, now that the storm had ended, was a brilliant blue. The sun made the drifts of white snow glisten as if the ground had been scattered with diamonds. He was glad he’d thought to put on his sunglasses. Of course, the almost childlike excitement shining in Melanie’s eyes was just as blinding, and the glasses couldn’t protect him from that.
When they’d left the house, she’d been totally guarded, most likely because of his teasing. Now all of that seemed to be forgotten. Every two feet, she paused to point out some Christmas-card-perfect scene.
“Look,” she said in a hushed voice, grabbing his sleeve. “A cardinal.”
Richard followed the direction of her gaze and found the cardinal, its red feathers a brilliant splash of color against the snow, a holly tree as its backdrop. Its less colorful mate was sitting on a tree branch, almost hidden by the dark green leaves and red berries. The birds were common, but Melanie made it seem as if this were something totally special and incredible. Her enthusiasm was contagious.
Melanie sighed. “I wish I had my camera.”
“We can pick up one of that throwaway kind at the store,” he suggested.
She looked at him as if he’d had a divine inspiration. “Now?” she asked with so much eagerness that he laughed.
“You are so easy to please,” he teased. “A cheap camera and you’re a pushover.”
“I’ve decided to go with the flow today,” she informed him.
Now there was a notion he could get behind. “Oh, really?”
She frowned at him in mock despair. “Not that flow,” she scolded.
He shrugged. “Just a thought.”
She gave him an odd look. “It’s not as if you really want to seduce me,” she said with surprising certainty. “So why do you say things like that?”
“What makes you think I don’t want to seduce you?” In truth, the idea had been growing in appeal by leaps and bounds.
“You’ve admitted as much,” she reminded him. “Not that I think you’d turn me down if I agreed to take you up on it, but you’re really flirting to annoy me.”
Richard wondered about that. He seemed to be taking the idea more and more seriously by the minute. Melanie wasn’t his type, but there was something about her, something refreshingly honest and open and enthusiastic. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d encountered that particular combination, much less been drawn to it. Maybe Destiny was right about that much, at least. Maybe he was ready for a change in his life, a spark of excitement and a few heady thrills. It would beat the mundane existence he’d been telling himself he was perfectly contented with.
He glanced at Melanie, noting the expectant look on her face as she awaited a reply to her challenge. “Maybe I am trying to annoy you,” he agreed. “Then again, perhaps I’m just trying to prepare you for the moment when I make my first totally irresistible move.”
She blinked at that, but then a smile broke across her face. “I don’t think so,” she said with complete confidence.
Vaguely disgruntled by her conviction, he asked, “Why not?”
“Because you don’t play games. You take life far too seriously to be bothered with them.”
His gaze narrowed. “Destiny’s theory again?”
“No, my own personal observation,” Melanie assured him. “I’m a good judge of people. That makes me an excellent public relations person, because I know how to make the public see what I see.”
Richard was more curious than he’d expected to be about her perceptions. “What would you make them see about me? Not that I’m stuffy, I hope.”
“No, I’d emphasize that you do take responsibility seriously, that you’ve worked hard at Carlton Industries and would work just as hard for your constituents. Those are good, solid recommendations for a candidate.”
“I thought you didn’t think I’d be a viable candidate because I hadn’t walked in the shoes of those who’ve struggled,” he reminded her.
She shrugged. “Maybe you convinced me otherwise.”
“Or maybe you want this contract so badly, you’re willing to say whatever it takes to get it,” he said with an edge of cynicism.
She stopped in her tracks and scowled at him. “If you believe that, then you don’t know me very well,” she said, sounding genuinely miffed. “I don’t work for anyone I don’t believe in.”
“You don’t know me well enough to believe in me,” he countered.
“Actually, I think I do. After your aunt suggested we meet, I did a lot of research before I agreed. I talked to people. I read everything in print. I wanted to be sure that Destiny wasn’t being totally biased about your capabilities or your honesty and integrity. She wasn’t. You’re a good man, Richard. The consensus on that is unanimous.” She gave him a considering look. “Whether you have what it takes to win an election is something else entirely.”
Richard bristled at the suggestion that he wasn’t up to the challenge of running for office or winning. “What is it you think I might be lacking?”
“An open mind,” she said at once.
He started to argue, then saw exactly the trap she’d laid for him. “Because I made up my mind about hiring you before we’d even met,” he guessed.
“That’s one reason,” she agreed. “And because now that we have met, you can’t divorce my professional capabilities from the fact that I’m a woman who rattles you.”
“You don’t rattle me,” he claimed, doubting whether he sounded the least bit convincing.
She regarded him with amusement. “There’s the first real lie I’ve heard cross your lips.”
“That you know of,” he said, not denying that he’d lied in that instance. She did rattle him, no question about it. He’d just hoped to convince her otherwise. The woman saw too darn much. He didn’t like it that she could get into his head. He prided himself on keeping most people off guard and at a distance. That kind of safety suited his comfort level.
“The first lie,” she insisted.
Richard sighed. “Okay, say you’re right about that. Say I’m addicted to telling the truth and that you rattle me, so what?”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” she said more cheerfully.
He stared at her in confusion. “Where?”
“You’re very close to admitting that you’ve been mule-headed and stubborn and that you will read my business proposal when we get back to the cottage.”
He regarded her incredulously. “You got that out of my admission?”
She grinned. “Brilliant, aren’t I?”
He laughed despite himself. “Not necessarily brilliant, but sneaky. You’re a lot like my aunt, in fact.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
He sighed. “To be honest, I’m not sure you should.”
Melanie was feeling confident and in control when they sat down to lunch at a small café in the center of town. She was finally making progress. Maybe coming all the way down here hadn’t been such a harebrained idea, after all. If she’d done this well before the man had even eaten, just think what she could accomplish once a crab-cake sandwich, some coleslaw and homemade apple cobbler with ice cream had improved his mood.
He gave her an odd look as she ordered the hearty lunch, then chuckled. “Trying to ply me with food, so I’ll be in a more receptive frame of mind?”
“It did occur to me,” she said. “Of course, you don’t have to have what I’m having. And lunch is on me, by the way. I’m wooing a prospective client.”
“I’m buying,” he contradicted for the waitress’s benefit. “As for the meal, I have to have what you’re having if I expect to have the energy to keep up with you.” He gave the amused waitress a conspiratorial wink. “Same thing for me, along with the strongest coffee you have.”
The older woman grinned. “Honey, we don’t serve it any other way.”
“Too bad you’re not running for office here,” Melanie said when the woman had gone to place their order. “You’d have her vote locked up.”
Richard sighed. “It’s not supposed to be about charisma.”
“It’s not supposed to be, but it is, at least in part,” she argued. “A dull man with a good message can get elected—it’s just harder. You have both. Why not capitalize on it, instead of pretending that one thing doesn’t matter?”
“In other words, I’m not going to get out of kissing babies and shaking hands,” he said.
“Few politicians get elected without doing both,” she said. “People want to see that the man they’re electing is real, that he’s human. They like to look him in the eye and gauge for themselves whether he’s honest. They like to know that his handshake’s firm.”
Funny thing about that, Richard thought, falling silent. More than once he’d been accused of not being human—by competitors faced with his hard, cold stare during negotiations, by women who’d hoped for more from their relationship. He’d come to accept that there was something missing inside him, some connection he’d lost when his parents had died. Once, he’d despaired of ever getting that piece of himself back, but now, looking at Melanie, feeling her vitality and warmth touching him, he had a feeling he might be able to get it if only he reached out.
Then he immediately shook off the fanciful notion. Melanie was here for one reason and one reason only, to strike a deal with him. Not to heal him. Like so many others, she simply wanted something from him. He didn’t dare lose sight of that, despite the fact that he’d managed to veer her away from her mission on more than one occasion since her arrival.
Her fingers skimmed lightly across the back of his hand, startling him.
“Hey,” she said softly, her expression puzzled, “where’d you go?”
“Back to reality,” he said grimly.
Before she could ask the question that was so obviously on the tip of her tongue, their lunches came. Richard had never been so relieved by the sight of food in his life. He bit into his crab-cake sandwich with enthusiasm, but noted that it was some time before Melanie finally picked hers up, as if she couldn’t quite get past his sudden shift of mood and all the questions it raised.
Once she’d tasted the crab-cake, though, her attention was totally focused on the sandwich. “Terrific crab, don’t you think?”
He nodded. “Even out of season and frozen, it’s delicious. Better than any I’ve had at some of the finest seafood places in Washington.”
“Wonder what that spice is?” she mused, taking another taste. “It gives it a little kick.”
“Given your avowed inability to cook, what difference does it make?”
“For something this good, I could learn,” she insisted. “I’m not totally hopeless.”
“Why bother, when you can just come here?”
“It’s not like I get down this way all the time,” she said. “In fact, I’ve never been to this part of Virginia before.”
“Now that you know about the crab cakes, I’ll bet you’ll be back,” he said. “Who knows, maybe I’ll even invite you.”
“I could probably starve before that happens,” she said. “Maybe they’d ship them up to me. Even I could be trusted to cook them, if they’re already prepared.” Her expression turned wistful. “It would be so nice not to eat every meal out, at least if I want anything edible. Nuking a frozen dinner doesn’t do it for me, except in an emergency.”
Richard could relate to that. He ate far too many of his own meals at his desk or in restaurants, except on those occasions when Destiny commanded his presence at her table. She was an excellent cook, when she took the time to do it, and it had spoiled him for anything less than the best. The conversation around her table was also lively and challenging, even when it was a simple family meal with his two brothers. They didn’t get together for those meals nearly often enough anymore. He needed to change that.
Funny how he recalled the laughter more than the actual food on the table. It had been good, but it was being with the three of them that he missed the most. He hadn’t realized how lonely his life had become until just this moment. Not that he didn’t see Destiny or talk to her almost daily and his brothers almost that often, but it wasn’t the same as it had been when they’d all lived under one roof.
Sighing heavily, he gazed at Melanie. “Tell me about your family,” he coaxed.
She stared at him as if he’d asked her to reveal her deepest secrets. “My family?”
“Yes. Big? Small? Where are they?”
“I have two older sisters, both married, both totally unambitious and disgustingly content with their husbands and kids. They still live in Ohio, within a few miles of our folks. They all pester me about my solitary lifestyle. They don’t get it.”
“Were you close?”
She smiled. “As close as three girls can be when they’re fighting over the same dress to wear to a dance.”
“Do you envy them? What they have now?”
“At times,” she admitted, her expression thoughtful. “I love what I do and I am ambitious, but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish I had someone to share it with.”
Her thoughts so closely mirrored what Richard had been thinking only moments before, it made him sigh again. “I know what you mean,” he admitted with rare candor.
Melanie regarded him with surprise. “You do?”
“Sure. What’s the thrill of conquering the world, if there’s no one to tell, no one who’ll get excited about it?”
“Exactly,” she said at once. “It doesn’t mean we’re dissatisfied with what we have or that we’re ungrateful, just that we recognize that there can be more. That’s a good thing, don’t you think?”
“Self-awareness is always good, or so they say.”
“So, if you know there’s something lacking in your life, why haven’t you married any of those women with whom you’ve been involved?” she asked.
Richard shuddered. “Because I couldn’t imagine bringing a single one of them into a place like this for a crab cake and homemade apple cobbler.”
Melanie’s expression softened. “Really?”
“Yes,” he said. “But don’t let it go to your head.”
“Of course not,” she said at once.
“And it doesn’t mean I’ll think about hiring you,” he added for good measure.
“I know that,” she agreed, but she looked a little smug.
“It just means that you remind me a lot of Destiny,” he explained, trying to sort through his feelings even as he attempted to explain them to her. “You’re outspoken and unpredictable and…” He faltered.
“Open to new ideas?” she suggested.
Richard laughed. “Don’t push it.”
“But people who are open to new ideas aren’t—”
“Stuffy,” he supplied before she could say it. “I know. I get it.”
She studied him intently. “Do you really?”
“Yes,” he assured her.
“Then maybe we should go back to the cottage,” she suggested.
“So I can read your proposal?”
“That, too, but I was also thinking of getting totally wild and letting you kiss me again.”
Richard stared at her, bemused by the outrageous suggestion. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I have an open mind.”
“Which means seduction could be back on the table?” he asked, wanting to be sure he got it exactly right before he made a damn fool out of himself. He hadn’t wanted a woman as badly as he wanted Melanie Hart in so long, he wasn’t sure he could trust his own instincts.
“You never know,” she said with a shrug.
“I think you need to be clearer than that,” he said, as he tossed a handful of bills on the table to pay for lunch, then grabbed his coat.
“What fun is life, if everything has to be spelled out ahead of time?”
He frowned at her. “It may be more fun, but my way averts disaster.”
She accepted his help with her coat, then faced him, her expression totally serious. “Okay, then, here it is. Not that I’m crazy about it, but right now, this minute, I want you to kiss me again. I am still opposed to anything more happening between us, because it could get messy, especially if I wind up working for you.”
“I see,” he said.
“However,” she added, then grinned, “I might be open to persuasion.”
His pulse kicked up at the tiny opening.
“Maybe not today,” she added pointedly. “Maybe not tomorrow. But the future could hold all sorts of surprises.”
Despite the fact that she’d pretty much told him he was going to go to bed frustrated tonight and possibly for many nights to come, Richard couldn’t seem to help whistling as they walked outside into the cold air.
Melanie frowned at him. “You seem awfully chipper for a man who’s just been told he’s not going to have sex.”
He laughed. “Is that what you said?”
“I certainly thought it was.”
“Not what I heard,” he said. “I heard that there would be no sex tonight, but that tomorrow—as a very famous fictional Southern belle once said—most definitely is another day.” He took her hand and kissed it. “I’m a very patient man. Was that in that research of yours?”
She regarded him with a vaguely shaken expression. “I thought I was very thorough, but I must have missed that.”
“Keep it in mind. It could be important,” he told her, then scooped up some snow and pelted her with it. Best to cool them both down for the moment, he thought.
Eyes wide, she stared at him in shock for fully a minute before her eyes filled with that fire he’d come to crave.
“You are so dead,” she said, bending down to make a soft snowball of her own.
“I doubt that,” Richard said, not even bothering to run.
“You don’t think I’ll throw this at you?”
“Oh, I think you’ll throw it,” he said, then grinned. “I just think you’ll miss.”
Even as he started moving, she hauled off and managed to hit him lightly on one cheek.
“Bad move, darlin’,” he said, coming back for her, even as she frantically scooped up more and more snow and threw it with dead-on accuracy. He had her off her feet and on her backside in a deep drift of snow before she realized what he intended.
Sputtering with indignation, she stared up at him and then started laughing. Only when he was laughing right along with her did she snag his ankle, give him a jerk and land him on his butt right beside her.
Richard didn’t waste time protesting her sneakiness. The snow was cold as the dickens. Only one way he could think of to counteract that. He rolled over and caught her, then captured her mouth under his. He’d hoped for a little heat, but he got a full-fledged blaze. Apparently she didn’t hold a grudge.
Of course, if she also stuck to her resolve about keeping sex out of the equation, at least for tonight, it was going to be a very long time till morning.
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