I reached for the water and took a sip. I’d splashed some of it on my gloves. I could see the faint little marks on the silk left by the water. I took another sip and then sent him a cool look. “I’m done.”
“Good.” He took another step toward me. “I’m sorry. I was…” He looked away, staring at the counter over my head for a long moment. Finally, he looked back at me, his eyes solemn. “You’re right. This is your home and I shouldn’t have forced my way in, so I also owe you an apology for that. I’m sorry. About the matter with the party planner, I was letting a personal issue get in the way and I took it out on you and Fawna. Sometimes, I can be an ass. I have no intention of firing you. You clearly have no problems recognizing when I’m being an ass—you’ve seen it this past week and you’ve behaved admirably. You actually should have just told me I was being an ass.”
Sniffing, I looked away. “You’re my employer. That’s not my place.”
“I’m making it your place.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw him reach up. I tried to brace myself for his touch, but it was impossible.
He trailed his hand down my arm, his fingers grazing my skin. “I’m sorry.”
That light touch sent a shiver down my spine. I edged away and rubbed at my arms, pretending to shiver again.
“You’re cold.”
“It’s cold outside,” I replied.
“I…yes.” He sighed.
The sound was…strangely desolate. Empty, somehow. I slid him a look and saw that he was looking at something. I followed his gaze. He noticed and held up the item in his hand.
It was a mask.
“It’s for you, Ms. Davison.” His tone was formal.
I’m going to regret this
, I thought. “Aleena,” I said quietly as I held out my hand for the mask.
He studied me and then moved behind me. “If I may?”
“Why do I need this?” I asked as he lifted the mask and settled it into place.
“It’s a masquerade…Aleena.” His voice was rougher than normal and I closed my eyes, swallowing around the ache that came to my throat.
This was torture. I was starting to think I’d be better off if he
did
fire me.
“But I’m just helping…”
He turned me around and studied me, lifting my chin to angle my head back.
“Come.” He held out his arm. “It’s almost time for the ball.”
“I…um.” I cleared my throat and backed away. “I need to get my coat.”
***
I didn’t take his arm.
I don’t know if he noticed—or cared—but he held the door for me and we walked side by side toward the house.
“There’s somebody I wanted you to meet before the ball starts,” he said as we neared the house. He gave me a look that was decidedly grimmer than it had been a few moments earlier. “Ah…you’ve talked to her a few times…”
The door swung open before he could finish and I glanced up and then grinned.
“Max!” I climbed the steps and caught the older man around the neck, hugging him. “Don’t you look handsome?”
Maxwell had become my regular driver, but I hadn’t expected to see him today. He was clad in a tuxedo rather than his normal suit tie and when he saw me, his face lit up. “Miss Aleena. You looked positively lovely.” Then he paused, arching a brow. “That is you, isn’t it?”
I laughed. “No. It’s Cinderella, silly.”
“Ah, yes. Of course. I’ll keep an eye out for pumpkins and missing shoes.”
“Do shut that door,” a cool, cultured voice said. “It’s freezing out there.”
I turned and found myself facing the very picture of American aristocracy. If such a thing existed…did it?
She looked to be in her early fifties, or perhaps later forties, although I was learning to pick up on the subtle signs of excellent plastic surgery. She was probably in her sixties, but she was absolutely lovely, regardless. Her hair was dark, swept up in an elegant style. As a matter of fact, almost everything about her was elegant.
She stared at me with an arched expression on her face. Somehow, I didn’t think introductions were necessary.
Not for me anyway.
“Aleena Davison, this is my mother, Jacqueline St. James-Snow.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” I extended a hand.
She accepted, although I had a feeling it was more out of politeness and obligation. After a light press of her palm to mine, she took her hand back.
“You’re replacing Fawna?”
I felt more than saw Dominic stiffen. I gave his mother a polite smile. “No one can replace Fawna. The best I can do is hope to rise to the standard she set.”
“Of course.” She inclined her head and then turned to Dominic. “I should go out and check the arrangements, make sure your staff has everything under control, Dominic.”
“That’s Aleena’s job, Mom,” Dominic said. He glanced at me. “She’s perfectly capable of handling it herself. Besides, I want you here with me.”
“Of course.” I gave them both a polite nod. “Mr. Snow. Mrs. St. James-Snow.”
As I walked away, I wondered just what he meant by that. It seemed like their relationship was strained at best, but maybe he just didn’t want her wandering around by herself.
I focused on work, heading toward the front of the house. There was a ballroom, small but elegant. In addition to that ballroom, the living room and library had been cleared of furniture, while an elegant buffet had been set up in the formal dining room. There were other public areas as well, a large den, several sitting areas, the oversized foyer and a music room.
I’d wondered if he could possibly fill this huge house, but just the catering staff alone had me shutting down that line of thought. The RSVPs had been flooding in, so my newest worry was where we might
put
all the people who were going to show.
When the guests began to arrive, everything was ready. Fawna was there.
She didn’t work for Dominic anymore, but she’d made this one exception.
“My going away party,” she told me, snagging a glass of champagne from a passing tray. She asked me if I wanted one and I shook my head.
“You can relax a little,” she said. “It’s going beautifully.”
“I can’t drink and work.” I shrugged. “I’m a lightweight. You should, though. This is one heck of a going away party.”
“Yes.” Fawna heaved out a sigh and I don’t think it was my imagination that it seemed a little sad. “It certainly is.”
Dominic’s laugh rang out over the low roar and we both looked up, following the sound. The sadness in her gaze deepened.
Reaching out, I touched her arm. “He’s going to be fine.”
“I know.” She gave me a smile that just ripped at my heart. “He’s…Dominic is like the son I never had, Aleena. This hurts.”
Then she nudged me between the shoulder blades. “Now, you, pretty young thing, go out there. Dance a little. Live it up.”
“I…” I gaped out at the crowd and looked back at her. “I can’t!”
“You can.” She gave me a sage nod. “Call it a break.”
I went to argue and she gave me what I’d come to call her schoolteacher look.
There was no arguing with that. And I knew it.
***
It was the mask, I decided.
Wearing the mask made it so much easier to move among these people.
I’d been watching how everybody acting—not just tonight, but over the past three weeks. I put it into practice now, how they spoke and moved, their mannerisms.
But not their actions.
Maybe I’d pull a chameleon and pretend to fit in. I’d been doing
that
all my life, but I would never be one of these people who smiled at your face and then cut you off the moment your back was turned.
Still, when a man caught my eye and then my hand and proceeded to flirt with me, I was more than a little surprised, then…delighted. I started to smile, then flirt back.
The mask was surprisingly freeing.
Nobody here knew who I was, just a girl from small-town Iowa. They saw a woman in a lovely dress who moved with confidence and poise.
Fake it until you make it
, I told myself.
“May I have this dance?”
I glanced up to meet a pair of dark eyes, hidden behind a mask of ivory silk. It glowed against deep brown skin and I felt my lips bowing up in a smile. I almost said yes. It would have been nice, I thought, to see what it was like, to spin across a floor in the arms of a man who found me attractive.
Back home, I’d been the oddball, the geek…the freak.
Ugly fat whore
had come up once or twice, too, after my one, miserable attempt at dating. Yeah, that hadn’t gone well.
But as he stood there waiting, his hand outstretched and a smile on his handsome face, I shook my head. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“Another time,” he murmured and then retreated into the crowds.
“I think you might have broken his heart,” Dominic said.
“I…”
I licked my lips and went to step aside.
But he caught me around the waist and then lifted my hand. “Fawna sent me to dance with you.” The music began to play and my breath caught as he dipped his head to murmur in my ear, “Do you know how to waltz?”
“I…ah, yes.” I managed a weak smile. “My mom and dad loved to go ballroom dancing, so they taught me. It’s been a very long time, though. I was just a kid.”
“Just follow me.”
“You can find a better partner.”
“No.” He drew me in closer and the shock of his body so close to mine was almost more than I could handle. “I couldn’t. Besides…I’m following orders. And you’re following me.”
We started to move and it wasn’t long before the familiarity of the moves came back to me. I’d never confess it to anybody, but Dad and I used to waltz around the basement. I’d loved dancing and thought, maybe, for a while, I’d pursue it, but it hadn’t ever happened.
“For someone who hasn’t waltzed since she was a child,” Dominic said. “You do it very well.”
“Thank you.” I managed to smile. “You can tell Fawna you did your duty.”
“Not all of it.” A slow grin curled his lips. “She also said you’re to take the rest of the evening off. You’ve worked hard all day and since this is her going-out party, she’s going to enjoy it.”
His palm flexed on my back, that subtle movement sending a shiver up my spine. There was no way I could pretend I was cold, not as warm as it was in here with all the bodies swaying to the music.
You’re so beautiful,
I thought, darting a glance up at his features, partially concealed behind the simple mask. So beautiful.
He watched me expectantly and I looked away, unable to think of anything to say.
Maybe it was that beautiful face that left me feeling so tongue-tied.
A soft sigh escaped him and I glanced back at him. Our eyes connected and I felt like I was falling, drowning, lost in the depths of his eyes. That’s what it was. His eyes left me feeling mesmerized.
They left me weak.
“You look lovely tonight, Aleena,” he said, his voice barely loud enough to be heard above the music.
Uncertain what to say, I just smiled and focused on the diamond—and I was sure it was a diamond—that winked at me from the small pin on his lapel.
“Are you still angry with me?”
“No.” I swung my gaze back up to his just as he moved me into a quick spin. It left my heart racing and I was breathless by the time I looked back at him. “No, I’m not angry.”
“Then why aren’t you speaking to me?”
“It’s…loud,” I said lamely, shrugging.
“It was loud earlier, but I saw you talking to Fawna.”
The song ended and I started to pull away, but he tightened his grip on my waist, sensing my need to escape, but unwilling to let go.
The next song that began was a slow song, low and smooth, sexy as hell. I couldn’t have named the singer for the life of me, but every time I heard it, from now until the end of my life, I’d remember this. The way he felt as he drew me in even closer, the way it felt as he caught my right hand and drew it up to the back of his neck.
“I should go,” I said, my voice rasping.
“You’re not working anymore tonight,” he said as he brought one hand down to the base of my spine. It rested there, burning through the silk of my dress. The other slowly slid up and down my back, a touch that was strangely soothing and sensual at the same time.
I could feel his hair tickling my wrists and I resisted the urge to run my fingers through the golden strands. I looked away and stared out into the sea of bodies, all of them swaying to the music.
“Well, I guess you’re happy with how your ball is going.”
“Yes.” The deep, guttural tone of his voice, so close to my ear, had me turning my head to look at him.
That was my mistake. He’d bent his head to speak to me. Now, with our mouths so closed together, we froze.
I licked my lips.
I had one split second to think,
Move, Aleena!
And then somebody moved, alright.
But it wasn’t me.
The hand on my back slid up, cupping the back of my neck. I gasped as his mouth covered mine, firm and hard and striking soft at the same time. His tongue slid out, flicking at the seam of my lips and I gasped.
Then, I twisted away.
Immediately, Dominic’s hands fell away.
He gazed at me with cool composure. “Thank you for the dance, Aleena. Happy Valentine’s Day.”
He turned on his heel and walked away.
Chapter 5
Dominic
She tasted like temptation.
Brooding, I stared into the scotch I’d poured.
I no longer wanted the liquor.
It had been stupid, kissing her like that. It had been stupid, dancing with her like that. Stupid…and I’d do it all over again.
The past week had been lousy, even though the Valentine’s party had been a huge success, launching
Trouver L’Amour
to the masses. While I should have been celebrating, I’d been distracted. I’d been worried about Aleena taking the job because she seemed so…not right. Innocent and sweet, yes, but she didn’t move in my world and when you were a cute little guppy swimming among the sharks, you tended to get eaten—fast.
But she wasn’t a guppy.
She was sweet, yes, and definitely innocent, but there was more spine to her than I’d imagined. More steel, too. I can’t think of too many people, other than Fawna and a few select members of my management who would have stood up to me the way she had. I guess that was what Fawna had seen in her, but it had caught me off-guard.