A Risky Affair

by Maureen Smith

  Solange frowned. “With all due respect, sir, I really can’t afford—”

  “The clothing allowance is on me.” He smiled blandly. “Consider it part of your signing bonus.”

  “That’s awfully kind of you, Mr. Thorne, but I really couldn’t—”

  Crandall didn’t know too many young women who would have balked at being treated to an all-expenses-paid shopping trip. “You really don’t have a choice, Miss Washington,” he snapped impatiently. “I’ve already contacted Daniela to make the arrangements, and it’s all settled.”

  Solange opened her mouth, looking like she wanted to offer another protest. After one look at his stern face, however, she wisely reconsidered. “Well, if you insist—”

  “I do.”

  “All right.” Those bow-shaped lips curved in a slight smile. “Thank you, Mr. Thorne. Your generosity is appreciated.”

  He gave a short nod. “You’re welcome.”

  “Will that be all, sir?”

  “Not quite. I’m throwing a small dinner party tomorrow evening. Just a few close friends and family members will be invited. Do you own a decent cocktail dress?”

  She hesitated, then shook her head.

  “Get one tomorrow,” he instructed.

  “All right. I will.”

  As she rose to leave, he said, “Oh, by the way, Miss Washington?”

  “Yes?”

  Crandall leaned back in his chair, his head tipped thoughtfully to one side as he regarded her. “This may be nothing, but after you left the house this morning, I overheard Rita on the phone telling Dane Roarke that you’d be attending the meeting at the convention center.”

  Solange grew very still. “Oh?”

  Crandall nodded, watching her closely. “Just in case he happened to show up at the meeting, I thought you should know it wasn’t a coincidence—as he may have led you to believe.”

  “I see.” Although her expression remained impassive, Crandall knew he’d struck a nerve. Good. If the girl had any silly, romantic notions about Dane Roarke, Crandall was only too willing to strip her of them. A man like Roarke would only bring her heartache and disillusionment. The sooner she realized this, the better.

  “Thank you for sharing that news with me,” she said evenly. “If you need me for anything else, I’ll be in my room.”

  Crandall inclined his head, then watched as she turned and left the room with an air of quiet dignity.

  And for the first time ever, he wondered if, perhaps, he was making a terrible mistake by not telling her the truth about who she really was.

  Soon enough, he told himself, thinking ahead to tomorrow night when they would all be together—him, Tessa and their long-lost granddaughter.

  Soon enough.

  Chapter 16

  After leaving the Riverwalk hotel, where he’d spent one of the most memorable afternoons of his life making love to Solange, Dane went home to shower and change before heading to the office.

  When he arrived, his cousins Kenneth, Noah and Daniela were seated in the reception area, laughing and talking as if they hadn’t spent most of the previous day together at their mother’s house for Sunday brunch.

  The receptionist had left early, and Christmas tunes drifted merrily from hidden speakers.

  “So you finally decided to show up,” Kenneth Roarke remarked as Dane stepped through the door. “We were beginning to wonder.”

  Dane chuckled. “What is this? You guys taking an extended lunch break or something?”

  They all laughed. “You know business slows down around this time of year,” Noah reminded him.

  “Yeah, people don’t believe in spying on their cheating spouses during the holidays,” Kenneth added drolly.

  Grinning, Dane sauntered over to Daniela and planted a kiss on her smooth, upturned forehead. “What’re you doing here, baby girl? You ready to come back to work for the family business?”

  “Not quite,” Daniela Thorne said with a rueful grin. “I had a doctor’s appointment today, so I decided to swing by afterward and check up on you fellas.”

  “How’d everything go?” Dane asked. “You and the baby doing okay?”

  “We’re doing just fine. Caleb Junior weighs almost three pounds, which is what he’s supposed to weigh at twenty-eight weeks, and the doctor says he’s probably going to be tall like his daddy, his uncles and his favorite cousin, Dane.”

  Kenneth snorted. “Who says Dane’s going to be his favorite cousin?”

  Dane laughed. “I hate to break it to you, my friend, but the kid has already spoken. Watch and weep.” He dropped to his haunches in front of Daniela and laid the flat of his palm upon her gently rounded belly. Almost at once, he felt a hearty kick against his hand, which made Daniela giggle.

  Dane threw a smug grin over his shoulder. “See, what’d I tell you?” he bragged. “The kid loves me. He only does that when I touch Daniela’s stomach.”

  “You and Caleb,” she said.

  Dane’s grin widened with triumph. “See?”

  Kenneth scowled. “Well, if you ask me, he’s not kicking you because he likes you. That’s his way of telling you to get lost.”

  Dane chuckled. “Aw, don’t be jealous just because your nephew’s gonna want to hang out with me more than you.”

  “You’re both wrong,” Noah, seated nearby, chimed in. “I’m going to be Caleb Junior’s favorite, just like I’m the twins’ favorite.”

  Kenneth looked affronted. “What? I’m their father—”

  “Boys, boys!” Daniela laughingly intervened, reminiscent of the way she’d refereed their childhood skirmishes. “Are you trying to send me into preterm labor? You know all this bickering isn’t good for me or the baby.”

  “Sorry, El,” the three men muttered sheepishly.

  “That’s all right.” Daniela smiled, idly rubbing her swollen belly. “Between Caleb, the three of you and Daddy Thorne, it’s good to know that my son will be surrounded by such strong male role models.” While her older brothers basked in the praise, she leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially in Dane’s ear, “Pay them no mind. You’re my favorite cousin, so why wouldn’t you be my child’s?”

  Dane grinned at her.

  Daniela, who’d once been a gangly teenager with a mouthful of braces and wild hair, had blossomed into an extraordinarily beautiful woman. The skinny arms and legs that had once been fodder for merciless teasing had been replaced by an hourglass figure that turned male heads wherever she went, and her unruly mane had been tamed into soft, lustrous black curls that now tumbled past her shoulders. Her long-lashed dark eyes sparkled, and her face had the pregnancy glow often referred to by other women.

  “Marriage and pregnancy really agree with you,” Dane told her with an affectionate smile.

  Daniela grimaced. “Marriage agrees with me. The jury’s still out on the whole harvesting another human being thing. I spent the first three months with my head stuck in a toilet, I couldn’t sleep through an entire night without having to get up and pee every hour and now my ankles swell up like water balloons if I’m on my feet for more than a few hours.”

  Dane chuckled sympathetically. “Hang in there, kiddo. You only have three more months to go.”

  She shot him a withering look. “Easy for you to say, He Who Hath No Womb. And don’t even get me started on that husband of mine.”

  “What has Caleb done?” Noah asked, sounding distinctly amused. “Other than give you unlimited back rubs, make runs to the store at ungodly hours of the night to satisfy your weird cravings, tell you on a daily basis how beautiful you are and force you to take an early maternity leave from the law firm so you could rest during your final trimester?”

  Daniela glared at her brother, fighting the tug of a smile. “As I was about to say before I was so rudely interrupted,” she said, directing her words at Dane, “Caleb has been nothing but good to me, which only makes me feel guilty for any whining and complaining I do.”

  “Yeah, well, there
’s a solution to that,” Kenneth muttered under his breath.

  Dane and Noah snickered, which earned them dirty looks from Daniela.

  Dane reached up and chucked her lightly on the chin. “Seriously though, El. We all think you’re going to make a wonderful mother, even if we don’t tell you often enough.”

  Her expression softened with gratitude. “Thank you, Dane,” she said tenderly. “You’re a sweetheart.”

  He flashed a wolfish grin. “Don’t tell anyone else, though. I’ve got a rep to maintain.”

  “Yeah, we know,” Kenneth said drolly. “I was speaking to one of our clients this afternoon, and he could have sworn he saw you at the Riverwalk earlier today, having lunch with a young woman he described as ‘very fetching.’”

  Noah chuckled, shaking his head at Dane. “No wonder you were so eager to trade places with me at this month’s chamber of commerce meeting. I should have known something was up when you called early this morning to let me know you’d be going to the meeting instead.”

  Dane grinned. “Maybe I really wanted to hear the senator speak.”

  “Like hell.” Kenneth and Noah guffawed.

  Daniela smiled, arching an inquisitive eyebrow at Dane. “Come on, fess up. Who’s the mystery lady?”

  “No one you know,” he said evasively, rising and walking over to the reception desk to retrieve his mail, all too aware of the three pairs of eyes that followed him.

  “Where’d you meet her?” Daniela persisted.

  Dane snorted. “Like I’m really going to tell you. And by the way,” he added, turning from the desk, “thanks for telling old man Thorne about me and Renee.”

  “Which one is Renee?” Kenneth asked.

  Noah laughed. “The dental hygienist. Keep up, man.”

  Daniela frowned in confusion. “I didn’t tell Daddy Thorne about…Oh, wait a minute. Yes, I did,” she admitted with a sheepish grin. “He said he was looking for a new dentist, because the one he’d been seeing for years had retired. So I told him about Renee and the office where she works. Why? Did he say something to you?”

  Dane scowled. “Let’s just say he brought her up—and a few others—at an inopportune moment.” The instant the words left his mouth, he realized his mistake.

  Daniela traded amused, knowing looks with her brothers. “You mean he put your business out there to a woman you were trying to impress,” she translated.

  With a grunt, Dane turned and started down the hall toward his office. He wasn’t surprised when his cousins followed him.

  “When did Daddy Thorne bring up Renee?” Daniela started firing questions at him. “Were you at the ranch? Did he have company? Who was there at the…” She trailed off as comprehension dawned. “Wait a minute. You’re not talking about his new personal assistant, Solange Washington, are you?”

  Dane plopped down in the leather chair behind his desk, tossed his mail on a growing pile of paperwork and met Daniela’s incredulous stare. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, straight-faced.

  This set off a chorus of disbelieving groans. “Please don’t tell us the woman you were having lunch with today was Crandall’s personal assistant,” Kenneth demanded.

  Dane’s mouth twitched. “Okay. I won’t tell you.”

  “What? Damn it, Dane.” Kenneth barged into the tiny office, hot on the heels of his sister, who claimed one of the visitor chairs while Noah lounged in the doorway, arms folded loosely across his broad chest. Noah—ever the calm, cool, collected one. There was a reason Dane had always gotten along better with him than Kenneth, who had a tendency to make mountains out of molehills.

  “Crandall Thorne is our biggest client,” Kenneth said, jabbing an accusing finger at Dane from the opposite side of the desk. “You can’t go messing around with his personal assistant!”

  Dane cocked an eyebrow. “Since when does he get to dictate what his employees do in their private lives?”

  “Since he became one of the richest, most powerful men in Texas! Since his law firm consistently makes Fortune’s list of the one hundred best companies to work for!”

  Dane scowled. “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

  “I think what my brother is trying to say,” Noah interjected dryly, “is that it might not be good for business if you get on Crandall’s bad side by breaking his poor assistant’s heart.”

  Dane took umbrage. “Who says I’m gonna break her heart?”

  Kenneth snorted rudely. “Come on, man. This is us you’re talking to, remember? We all know how you operate. You’re the proverbial love ’em and leave ’em guy.”

  “Maybe this time is different,” Dane countered, a note of subtle challenge in his voice as he glared at his older cousin. “Maybe this woman is different.”

  The hushed silence that swept across the room was deafening. Three pairs of dark eyes stared at him with identical expressions of stunned disbelief. Dane would have found his cousins’ reactions rather comical—if he wasn’t reeling from shock himself.

  Maybe this woman is different.

  Had he actually spoken those words out loud? And what had possessed him to say such a thing in the first place?

  Kenneth was the first to break the silence. “Nice try,” he said, grinning and shaking his head. “You almost had us going there for a minute.”

  Dane smiled, but only briefly. Noah and Daniela were studying him with a look of quiet speculation that made him decidedly uncomfortable. He shifted in his chair, then sat forward and busied himself straightening a sheaf of papers on his desk.

  Kenneth glanced at his watch. “I have to go. I promised Janie I’d be home early to attend the twins’ Christmas recital at school.” He pointed sternly at Dane. “Stay away from Crandall Thorne’s personal assistant.”

  Dane met his gaze unflinchingly. “I can’t do that,” he said in a voice edged in steel. And it was true, he realized with some surprise. He could no more stay away from Solange than he could deny that he was a Roarke, born and bred.

  Kenneth threw up his hands in surrender. “Talk some sense into him, please,” he told Noah and Daniela before stalking out the door.

  When he’d left, Dane divided a warning look between the two remaining siblings. “Save your breath.”

  Noah laughed, holding up his hands in mock surrender. “Hey, I’m the guy who spent five years secretly pining away for my best friend’s fiancée. I’m the last person to be telling anyone who they should, or shouldn’t, date.”

  Daniela grinned. “And you know I wouldn’t dare, considering how hard I fell for Caleb when all I was supposed to be doing was ‘investigating’ his father. However, at the risk of appearing to side with Kenny—God forbid—he may be right in this case. In the four years since I’ve been married to Caleb, I’ve had an opportunity to really get to know Daddy Thorne. He has a big, soft heart and can be incredibly generous when he wants to be, but he also doesn’t forgive or forget easily. When it comes to members of his family or his employees—many of whom he considers family—he can be very protective. Territorial, even. So if you’re not interested in having a serious relationship with Solange, it may not be worth making Crandall angry or losing his valuable business.”

  Dane grabbed a letter opener and went to work opening his mail. “Everyone needs to calm down,” he muttered irately. “Just because a client saw me having lunch with Solange doesn’t mean I plan to run off and elope with her.”

  Noah and Daniela exchanged glances. “Then I guess we have nothing to worry about,” Noah murmured.

  “Exactly.”

  “I see.” Daniela made an exaggerated show of studying her manicured fingernails. “So you probably wouldn’t care if I told you that I’ll be spending most of the day tomorrow with her.”

  Dane glanced up from his task. “Doing what?”

  “Daddy Thorne asked me to accompany her on a shopping trip. He says she needs a new wardrobe, but he gets the impression she wouldn’t really know where to star
t.”

  Dane chuckled. Not that he would know, either. He’d spent more time trying to get Solange out of her clothing than into it. “Well, knowing what a clotheshorse you’ve always been, El, the old man made the right choice in asking you to go shopping with her. I’m sure you’ll help Solange pick out some really nice outfits.” And skimpy lingerie would certainly be appreciated, he thought wickedly.

  “Yeah, we’re going to have a lot of fun hanging out together,” said Daniela. “I can hardly wait to meet her. And then tomorrow evening, Caleb and I are attending a dinner party at the ranch. Crandall called to invite us just as I was leaving the doctor’s office. He apologized for the short notice, but said this would be a great way to introduce Solange to a few more people.”

  Dane stared at his cousin, the mail he’d been opening all but forgotten. Since parting with Solange that afternoon, he’d been thinking of ways to see her again. A dinner party at Thorne’s ranch gave him a perfect excuse.

  There was just one problem.

  “Think you could, ah, wrangle an invitation for me, as well?” he said, giving Daniela his most disarming smile.

  She sent him a blank look, all wide-eyed innocence. “Now why would I want to do something like that?”

  Noah, still leaning in the doorway, threw back his head and roared with laughter.

  Dane scowled without any real rancor. “Come on, Daniela. Don’t make me beg.”

  “Why would you do that? You don’t even like Daddy Thorne all that much. Why would you beg for an invitation to one of his dinner parties?” At his aggrieved look, Daniela grinned smugly. “I knew it! You do have a thing for Solange Washington. Now I really can’t wait to meet her.”

  “You and me both,” Noah drawled with an amused expression. “Maybe I ought to show up at this dinner party as well. Should be rather entertaining to watch our little Dane follow his crush around like a lovesick puppy.”

  Dane leveled him with a look that would have cut through granite. Noah merely laughed.

  Returning his attention to Daniela, Dane said, “So what do you say, El? Can you hook me up with an invite, or what?”