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turning away to hide the effect that brief kiss had on her pulse.
“Dana?”
“Yes?” she replied without turning, at the foot of the staircase.
“I want children very much.”
Stunned, she met his eyes, saw the dark gentle smile in them, and couldn’t find words to answer
him. She only nodded and turned away, curiously breathless.
The next afternoon, Dana was sealing a letter when the phone rang and a familiar deep voice
came over the line.
“What are you doing?” he asked lazily, as if he had all the time in the world to talk to her.
“Getting out a letter, to that textile equipment company you wrote to about the buttonhole
machines,” she replied softly.
“Learning the textile business, are you? I’ll have to take you through one of the plants. How
about tomorrow? I’ll take you to lunch first.”
“A…all right,” she murmured, taken aback at the invitation, at the caress in his deep voice. It
was as if last night had lowered all the cold barriers between them.
“By the way,” he added, “call Fayre and tell her I won’t be able to make it tonight. I’ve got to fly
up to South Carolina for a meeting. And get me a reservation on the next flight to Greenville.”
“Yes, sir,” she said absently, jotting down notes.
“Dana…!” he threatened.
“I…I mean, yes, I will,” she replied quickly, omitting the “sir” this time.
“Behave, brat. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Yes…” She stopped again, just in time.
“Try ‘darling’,” he suggested in that deep seductive tone he could use when he wanted
something. “Later, honey.”
The line went dead, and she sat there holding the receiver as if it were a fragrant rose, just
looking at it for a long time afterwards.
Fayre was stunned by the news that Adrian wasn’t going to take her to the ballet, and Dana
caught the full weight of her disappointment.
“I don’t see why he couldn’t fly back tonight,” she said icily. “We’ve had tickets for three
months, it isn’t as if he didn’t know in time! What kind of meeting was it?”
“I don’t know, Miss Braunns,” Dana explained patiently, toying with her pencil. “He didn’t tell
me, and I didn’t ask.”
“Cute, aren’t you? Did you make that appointment for him?” Fayre asked pointedly.
“To get him out of town, you mean?” Dana laughed shortly. “Miss Braunns, what he does is no
business of mine except where my job is involved. I don’t want to be here any more than I want to
live in the Colombian jungles, but I don’t have a choice. If you want to know why he isn’t coming
back tonight, you call him and ask him. For all I know, he may have two women…”
“How dare you?” Fayre spat. “Nobody talks to me like that!”
“Adrian does,” Dana replied calmly.
There was a long, burning silence on the other end of the line, and she could feel her ears burn.
“You little tramp,” Fayre hissed. “I’ll get you for that if it’s the last thing I ever do. You’re not cutting
me out with Adrian…!”
Dana put the receiver down with a thud. She found herself shaking with rage, with humiliation,
with apprehension. This would just give Adrian another stick to beat her with. Why couldn’t she keep
her mouth shut? She sighed. Fayre would have irritated her anytime, anywhere—she was just
naturally abrasive. But her relationship with Adrian made it worse. To think of that small, too-sweet
face pressed against his dark, broad chest…
The phone rang. Hesitantly, she lifted the receiver, her heart thudding, expecting disaster in a
deep, angry voice…
“Hello?” she murmured.
“Miss Meredith?” came the reply. “This is the Juliane Travel Service. I’m confirming your
reservation on the flight to Greenville…”
She listened to the pleasant female voice with a tiny smile. Sometimes, heaven was kind.
The morning of her birthday started off backwards. She overslept and missed breakfast. The
phone went wild the minute she walked into the office, and it was after ten a.m. when the rush finally
stopped.
Lillian poked her head around the door. “I haven’t been able to tell you—the Mister said Frank
was to bring you to his office at eleven. Sorry, honey,” she smiled. “It’s been a busy morning, hasn’t
it?”
Dana smiled. “Very. I know what it’s all about—he’s taking me on a tour of his plant, one of
them, anyway.”
“Oh, is that it?” Lillian asked with a strange smile.
“Of course.” Dana stood up. “I’d better start getting ready, I guess.”
“Wear something pretty,” Lillian said with a wink.
Adrian was waiting for her when she got off the elevator and stepped out onto the carpeted floor
of the Devereaux Textile Corporation offices.
His dark eyes went up and down the soft sleeveless beige jersey dress that clung to her slender
figure like a second skin, narrowing to the upswept hairdo that lent quiet elegance to the simple lines
of the dress.
“Nice,” he remarked quietly. “Are you hungry?”
She nodded. Her eyes darted around to the desks sitting outside the offices.
“I’ll give you the two-dollar tour another time,” he said, and took her elbow to lead her back
into the elevator, ignoring the intense, curious stares his employees were giving the slender young
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