BOOK 1

“And just what will I have to do to solve your problems?”

He shrugged. “Nothing too hard. I will only require you to perform a small service for me.”

“Excuse me, but the only service I agreed upon was to be your date.”

“Right, and in doing so, you will be . . . doing a job, so to speak.”

She pondered that a moment. “So let me understand this. To pay off my debt to you, I must attend the ball with you, but while doing so, I should look upon it as a job and not as an opportunity to have been?”

“Mmmm, Em afraid you don’t quite have it yet. I said if you had nothing but fun, it wouldn’t constitute paying off your debt.”

“I see.” She nodded. “I must suffer part of the time. Okay. So what type of suffering would you prefer?”

“Not suffering, just a little bit of work.”

“Oh, we’re back to the job part. Okay, I’m game. You have dishes that will need to be washed? Floors that need to be scrubbed? What?”

“More like debutantes and their mamas to be blocked, along with the odd divorced socialite or two.”

“Oh, blocked. I’m glad you told me. I had no idea a ball would require wearing pads and a helmet.”

He was hard-pressed not to laugh. “A gown will be fine.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“I figure anyone who could throw herself at me as you did must know how to prevent someone else from doing the same thing.”

She took another bite of her scrambled eggs and munched thoughtfully. “You know, Nathan, before meeting you, I had no idea a grown man could be so helpless and unable to simply tell a woman to leave him alone.”

“I wasn’t able to do it with you, now, was I?”

“You have a point there. As I recall, your message to me was a totally different one.”

“Yes,” he agreed softly. “It was. In fact, I wasn’t ready for you to go when you did.”

“I know,” she murmured, looking down at her plate.

A charged silence fell between them, then Stan entered again, this time to serve Nathan his steak and eggs and refresh his coffee. He waited until Stan left. “At any rate, after this is all over, you’ll thank me for having given you something to do. These things can be terribly dull.”

“I suppose if it’s something you do all the time, but a charity ball can accomplish a great deal of good, so in the end it must be worthwhile.”

“That’s why we do this one.”

“We? Your family is underwriting it?”

“That’s right. We want to add a new children’s wing to the hospital this year.”

“Then it will be all worth it.”

Yes, he thought, gazing at her. He didn’t know where their date would lead, but nevertheless, he had the feeling that it was definitely going to be worth it. “By the way, I've arranged for a car to meet you at the airport and drive you home.”

“Thank you. That’s very thoughtful, but I can take a cab.”

“As I said, there will be a car to take you home. I’m also going to need your address so that I can pick you up Saturday night.”

“Of course. I’ll write it down for you before we land. You take the A train and get off at 125th Street. It’s a brownstone.”

“Harlem?” His brows drew together. “What are you doing up there?”

“I live there and I teach there.”

“Teach what?”

“Ballet.”

He’d been right, he reflected. She was a dancer.

“I have a small studio on the ground floor and an apartment above it.”

“Who do you teach?”

“Anyone who wants to learn or continue in their studies.”

“Do you teach full-time?”

She nodded. I also do the occasional performance as long as it doesn’t interfere with my students, like the Nutcracker at Christmas, for instance. Likewise, I choreograph various productions. I also have a small corps of advanced dancers who perform on occasion.”

He had a feeling that anything she did would be enchanting. “I’d like to see you perform.”

“You will.” She smiled at him. “Saturday night. Isn’t that going to be my job? To perform as a blocker?”

“No.” Sitting cross-legged on her sister’s bed, Dani shook her head at the bright green spangled evening gown Natalie was holding up for her approval.

“Okay.” Natalie tossed it onto a growing pile of gowns on her chaise longue, returned to her closet, and several moments later reappeared with a long black sheath. “How about this one?”

“No. I have no breasts. There’s no way I could hold that one up.”

“A seamstress can give it a tuck here and there, and it would be perfect.”

Dani shook her head. “No, it’s you, not me.”

“That must be why it’s in my closet and not yours,” Natalie mumbled. She cast a rueful gaze at the heap of gowns Dani had already refused, then sighed. “Don’t worry, sweetie. It’s not for nothing that I’m married to a man who loves going out to any and every event in town. In fact, the Damaron party list must be about the only one we’re not on.”

“Sorry I can’t help you. This is a onetime shot for me.”

Natalie chuckled. “Somehow I think I’ll manage to get along without yet another charity event to attend. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even have a romantic evening with my husband. Stranger things have happened. But back to your problem. I’ve still got half a closetful here you haven’t seen.”

“You own a lot of fabulous gowns, Nat, but let’s face it, you and I are totally different when it comes to the way we dress. You’re designer clothes. I’m more . . . thrift: shops.”

“Nonsense. With your graceful body, you can wear anything.”

In a pinch, she and her sister could wear each other’s clothes. Basically they’d always had the same body type, but in the process of giving birth to two beautiful children, Natalie’s body had filled out more. “In fact, I probably don’t have a style.”

“You dress like you . . . which is flat-out beautiful, even when you’re wearing jeans or leotards.” Hopefully, she held up a sophisticated pleated column of white. “How about this one?”

Dani shook her head at the gown. “You know what? I think one of my problems is that I just can’t get over the fact that Nathan sent me a gown to wear.” She thumped the large box she’d brought with her so that she could show its contents to her sister.

Natahe tossed the latest gown aside and sat down beside Dani on the end of the bed. “I’m sure his intentions were good.”

“I suppose.”

“Oh, come on. You told him what you do. You told him you pay your own way. It wouldn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out you don’t have closets and closets of clothes. I’m sure he didn’t want to put you in an embarrassing situation.”

“You’re probably right. It’s just the idea that really gets me. I’m going to send it back.”

“Are you sure you should? I mean, you haven’t found anything else to wear yet. Let me see it again.”

Dani lifted the top of the box. Inside was a black lace sheath with long sleeves and a scooped neckline. The entire bodice of the dress gfittered with black beads and paillettes.

“It’s magnificent,” Natalie said as she pulled it out of the box. “It’s your size, honey, plus, this black would look stunning on you.”

“Those beads weigh twenty pounds if they weigh an ounce. I wouldn’t be able to move. Who in the world do you think picked this out anyway?”

“Probably a personal shopper, who, by the way, has excellent taste. This is a designer original.”

“Of course it is,” Dani said gloomily. She pushed at the heavy bodice. “You know, the real problem is that I said yes to this whole thing at all.”

“Nuh-uh. The real problem would have been if you’d said wo, because then I would have really worried abo^ut you.” Her sister’s gaze softened on her. “You know, Dani, you haven’t gone out with any man since Gil.”

“I know,” she said, taking the dress from her sister and staring down at it.

“That was nine years ago. It’s about time you got out, don’t you think? I mean, with someone other than that group of friends you run around with.”

“There hasn’t been anyone I felt was worth the effort of an actual date.”

“Until now, you mean.”

Dani looked at her sister. “Until now.”

“Didn’t you like the dress I had sent to you?”

The rumble of Nathan’s deep voice skittered along Dani’s nerve endings. It was the first remark he’d made about the dress he’d sent her. She looked over at him.

He was sitting next to her at the large, roimd table he had been assigned to host. Each of his cousins had also been given his or her own table. Now the dinner portion of the evening was drawing to a close, and people were already beginning to split up into different groups while others milled about.

Surprisingly, Nathan had kept her by his side up to now. Even though he had been responsible for makings sure that everyone at their table had had an interesting and relaxed dinner hour, he’d also somehow managed to make her feel as if she were the most important person in the room and that he was aware of every breath she drew. An interesting talent. A very seductive talent. “The dress was lovely, but I’m perfectly capable of outfitting myself.”

He turned his upper body toward her so that the person on his other side would be shut out of their conversation, while the intimacy of his expression and the low timbre of his voice kept the person on her other side from joining in. “I didn’t say you weren’t. The dress was my way of—”

“Ensuring that I wouldn’t embarrass you by not having anything appropriate to wear,” she said, her voice equally low as she finished his sentence.

He grinned wryly. “Believe it or not, I wasn’t thinking of myself. I didn’t want you to be embarrassed.”

She chuckled. “Do I honestly seem like the type of woman who wouldn’t know what would and wouldn’t be correct to wear to a function such as this one?”

“No, but—”

“And if I didn’t own such a garment, do I seem like the type of woman who wouldn’t be resourceful enough to come up with something to wear anyway?”

“No, but—”

Deciding to let him off the hook, she smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Nathan. It was very kind of you to even think of the gown. Really. I’m surprised you even gave the matter a thought.”

He slid his arm around the back of her chair and leaned closer to her. “Do I seem like the kind of man who would be incapable of being kind?”

“Touche. Sending me the gown was definitely a kind act and I thank you for it.”

“Even though you sent it back?”

“I knew Ed feel more comfortable if I was wearing something of my own. It’s just a personal quirk of mine, but I need to feel as if I can really move in the things I wear. And as utterly wonderful as the gown you sent was, it would have weighed me down.”

He tilted his head and studied her, as if he found her remarks odd. The warmth of his body was so strong, she could feel it on her skin. His scent of dark spices and potent sexuality filled the air between filled the air between them. By default she was forced to breathe him in. Not that it was any hardship.