Stormy Passion (18 page)

Easing back in his wine-colored, leather
chair, he swiveled toward the window and looked out across the
Manhattan skyline. He couldn't truthfully say that Dani was easy to
forget. At least, he hadn’t been able to.

Oh, maybe the first week or so he hadn't
thought about her, but only because work had been backed up and it
had taken awhile before his schedule eased off into the normal ten
hour work days.

Unfortunately, the blonde-haired beauty had
tumbled back into his thoughts with full force. When he should have
been reviewing contracts, he’d found himself daydreaming about
their days on the island. He had even started to call her on
several occasions, but he'd always stopped himself.

They were better off apart.

When he’d returned to New York, he found his
divorced still hadn't been finalized because his wife had refused
to sign the papers. Now, however, he was legally a free man, and it
would be a long time before he'd marry again. If ever. His ex-wife
had taught him several things: get a pre-nuptial agreement and
don't trust a pretty package.

Besides, he'd tried several other
relationships after her and they had all gone wrong. His work was
very important and he had to work long hours and that was something
that women didn't understand.

However, now when he worked he had the
strangest feelings irritating him like a pesky fly. He couldn't put
his finger on exactly how he felt . . . Dissatisfied? Distracted?
Definitely. And then when he thought about it again he just figured
it was indigestion. Of course a pill would take care of that
problem. But he hadn't found a pill to solve the woman problem.

Adrian began gathering up the papers and
notes for his next meeting. He'd tuck the lovely Dani back into the
corner of his mind because business was at hand. And business
always came first.

Walking into the boardroom, he smiled in
anticipation of closing one of his large deals. His company would
soon be the proud owner of a chain of department stores.

As he closed the door, he realized that
though this deal might be larger, the amphitheater he closed on
last week was the sweetest deal he'd made. The first act to appear
there would be The Rolling Stones, and he had two front row
tickets.

The solid click of the conference room door
shutting behind him brought him to the situation at hand.

“
Gentlemen, let's start the
meeting.”

To say Dani was nervous would be like saying
boiling water was warm. Or at least, she thought that's how the
saying went.

She turned to look at the stewardess who had
apparently asked her something while she’d been gazing out the
window. “I'm sorry. What did you say?”

“
You mentioned earlier that
you felt queasy. I I thought some ginger ale might help.” She
smiled and handed Dani a cup of bubbling liquid.

The bubbles tickled her hand as she took the
drink. “Thank you,” she murmured. Queasy. That most definitely was
an understatement.

How about nauseous? Real nauseous!

Dani checked the back of the seat for a barf
bag. God, she hated to fly, and where she usually took Dramamine
for her airsickness, she had taken nothing because of the baby.

Sipping the golden liquid, she felt a cool
relief as it slid to her stomach. So far--so good. But landing
would be the real test.

She gazed out the window again thinking about
how many pills she'd taken on the trip out to Sea Horse Island. It
was a wonder that she'd been able to stand. She let her mind wonder
though those pleasant memories while she finished her drink.

“
Ladies and Gentlemen,
we'll be on the ground in ten minutes.”

“
Oh, God,” she moaned to
herself.
Please don't let me throw up.

The plane descended, dropped down to a lower
altitude and her stomach went up. Dani swallowed hard and slammed
her eyelids shut. Then the plane smoothed out and she took a couple
of deep breaths.

She could feel the heat rising up her back
and she fanned like crazy. Faster. She peeked out the window and
saw no more clouds, then the familiar thump a couple of more times
as the wheels touched the ground.

Slowly she released her breath, unclenched
her death grip on the chair's arms and collapsed back against the
seat.

“
I made it,” she whispered,
then watched as the man who'd been sitting next to her scrambled to
get out of the plane. It was a wonder that anybody wanted to sit
next to her on a plane, the way she had acted.

Dani retrieved her presentation from the
over-head bin and filed out of the plane.

Once in the terminal, she stopped by the
bathroom and splashed her face with water. Then she proceeded to
the baggage area where she pulled her garment bag off the carousel,
then headed for the transportation area. A man dressed in a gray
chauffeur's uniform held up a sign that read
Danielle
Kapur
.

“
I'm Danielle Kapur,” she
told the chauffeur. He was a man in his fifties with long, gray
hair that was pulled back into a ponytail.

“
Let me take your bag. You
can follow me.” He led her to a shiny, black
stretch-limo.

“
I'm impressed,” she
commented as she slid in.

Once he'd taken his seat, he looked at her in
the rearview mirror. “There isn't nothing cheap at the Mass
Corporation.

A sudden rap sounded on Adrian's office door,
and he looked up. “Come in.”

Marty stepped inside. “All set. Henry just
picked her up at the airport.”

“
Good.” Adrian reached for
a folder. “Listen. I'm not going to sit in on the
meeting.”

“
W--what!” Marty walked the
rest of the way in the room.

“
I've given this some
thought. She seems to think that I'm a beach bum. Dani never did
believe that I owned the beach house and I kind of like that. It's
a refreshing change from 'buy me this and take me
there.'

“
Another thing, I want Dani
to give her best sales pitch. If I'm there she'll probably be
nervous and crash.”

“
Let me get this straight.”
Marty put both his hands on the back of the large chair. “The woman
that you've been wanting to see again is going . . . Are you with
me --” he gave Adrian an off-the-wall look. “-- is going to show up
in our office and you're not going to see her?”

“
Something like that. I'm
going to be on the other side of the two-way mirror, listening to
her presentation.”

“
Then what? Are you going
to jump out at her like a jack-in-the-box? I bet she'd be pleased
by that.”

“
Of course not. Let me
see.” Adrian rubbed his chin. “I could wait for Dani to call my
answering service, but she might not call. I got it!” He tapped the
folder on the desk. “You can take her down to Nick’s for
lunch.”

“
I get it. You'll just
happen to drop by?”

“
It'll work.” Adrian
grinned. “She probably won't question how I know you. Then I'll
simply sit down and you can disappear.”

“
Then what?”

“
Well, she'll either be
glad to see me or dump food over my head.”

“
I want a picture of that.”
Marty laughed. “You know you usually don't care if women are glad
to see you or not.”

“
I find that strange,
myself. But I almost died with this one, and somehow that makes it
different. I wish I could explain it myself. Maybe then I could get
her out of my system.”

Dani couldn't believe how the limo weaved its
way in and out of the heavy traffic like it was the size of a
Volkswagen bug.

She had to admit, she did feel important
riding in a luxury car and she could see how the more affluent
could get use to the privilege.

“
Have you ever had an
accident?” Dani asked. Then she added, “I don't believe I caught
your name?”

The chauffeur laughed. “Name's Henry. And
believe it or not, I've had some close calls, but never actually
hit anyone.”

“
That's a relief.” She
glanced out the window again. “It appears to me that there are too
many cars trying to fit onto these very small streets.”

“
You've got a point there.
Take it this is your first time to the Big Apple?”

“
Yes, it is. Look at all
these tall buildings.”

“
Things are different up
here so be careful. He pulled over to a curb. “Here we are.” Henry
got out and hustled around to her side of the car, opened the door,
and stood back so she could get out.

“
Thanks,” she said as he
handed her the bag, which he’d stowed in the trunk. She pulled the
handle out of her garment bag, tucked her presentation folio under
her arm, and started into the gray and black modern
building.

There were two sets of elevators on the left
and right. She wished she'd taken time to stop by the hotel before
coming here. But since the Mass Corporation had made the
arrangements for her room, she had no earthly idea where she was
staying.

Moving over to a glass case, she paused and
scanned the building register. “Mass Corporation. The fifteenth
floor.”

Great, she thought. The only thing that was
worse than a plane was being closed up in an elevator. She took a
breath and pushed the button. Surprisingly enough, the elevator was
super quick and opened up into a beautiful, plush suite.

Dani swallowed to settle her stomach, brushed
at her suit, and fluffed her hair, then stepped out into the
lobby.

A woman, who she assumed was the receptionist
directed her down a long hall to another woman who sat behind a
gleaming Chippendale desk, large enough for two people.

“
Hi, I'm Danielle Kapur. I
have an appointment.”

The receptionist peered over her reading
glasses, giving Dani a disapproving once over, then glanced back
down at her appointment book. “Kapur Agency?”

“
That's right,” Dani said
curtly, acknowledging the old bat who made her feel like she was on
trial.

“
They're waiting on you in
the conference room, Ms. Kapur.” She pointed. “First door on the
right.”

Since the woman had gone back to work,
effectively dismissing Dani, she didn't bother to thank her, but
turned and started down the hall. She felt pretty stupid pulling
her luggage behind her, but she couldn't think of anything else to
do. They’ll probably think, “
Great, someone straight out of the
sticks
.”

Dani shrugged. What else could she do?

She rapped on the door, then entered, leaving
her bag by the door. Unsure of what to do, she proceeded to the
head of the table where a very tall gentleman stood watching her.
Perhaps she wasn't important enough to meet with both partners.

“
Miss Kapur,” he said,
smiling as he took her hand. “I'm Marty Townsend, and I'm looking
forward to your presentation. This project is one of my personal
favorites.”

“
My goodness,” Dani looked
at the tall man. He had to be seven feet. “You've certainly been
eating your Wheaties.”

Marty chuckled. “They grow them tall where I
come from.”

“
I believe that's a Texas
accent, isn't it?”

“
You got that right,
ma'am.”

Dani smiled. “Shall we get started?”

Marty nodded and she advanced to an easel to
set up her drawings. At least Marty had made her feel easier, but
she'd heard that the president called all the shots, and she was
more than a bit disappointed he'd not shown up. She didn't know the
gentlemen's name, but she heard from another advertising firm that
the head of Mass was no pushover.

Turning around, Dani asked. “Should we wait
on your partner?”

“
You're getting off easy
today. I'm the only one you have to convince how good you
are.”

Dani studied him across the width of the
conference table. “Oh, I assure you, Mr. Townsend, I’m very good.”
She flashed him a devilish smile. “Shall we get started?”

“
Proceed,” Marty said with
a laugh. “And please call me Marty.”

Adrian's gaze was fastened on the petite
blonde as she made her points on how she could best promote their
theater.

He liked her ideas, especially the idea of
the Mass emblem appearing on all the programs. He'd chosen the
lion's head with pride when he started his company, because it's
how he did business: Strong, aggressive, and if you screwed up--he
bit your head off.

When he'd began this company on a hope and a
prayer, he'd never imagined in his wildest dreams he would have
been so successful.

His parents had scraped and saved to buy
their restaurant a quaint little place in Bar Harbor two blocks
from the sea. Adrian could attest to the fact that they served the
best Italian meal in Maine. They had worked hard for their place
and they were satisfied with their one little restaurant, yet he'd
always wanted more. Since he had other brothers to go into the
family business, his father wasn't too disappointed when Adrian had
decided to take a different route.

Adrian could remember wearing hand-me-downs
during a slim time when the restaurant was just beginning. Even way
back then, he knew he never wanted to have to worry about money
again, and he swore his parents would never want for anything.

Dani smiled at Marty, and Adrian decided he
didn't particularly like the way his friend looked back at her. He
was flirting with her.