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She faced Jennifer. “I’ll keep the black.”
He had his chauffeur drive them to her hotel and carried her bags up to her suite for her. She opened the door with her key card and let him enter first.
“Where do you want these?”
“The chair will do.”
He set the bags on the chair and headed for the door. “I’ll be back in about two hours.”
She nodded and he left breathing a long sigh of relief. He would go to his penthouse, take a cold shower and return a calm man, who would not, absolutely would not, remember the sexy black lace panties and bra she’d have under that sedate dress.
CHAPTER SIX
DEAN WAS QUIET when he picked Kristen up at her hotel room at noon. The drive to the restaurant was also quiet, and Kristen was glad. It wasn’t that she was angry about him buying her clothes. It was that he was so flippant about doing everything he wanted, but anything she did had to be part of an agreement.
When they walked into the restaurant, Dean didn’t even say his name. The maître d’ smiled and waved him forward, leading them to a private room in the back. Decorated for the holiday with evergreen branches bathed in white twinkle lights and a sophisticated poinsettia centerpiece on the large round table, the warm space welcomed them.
As Winslow had said, the group was small. Eight men in dark suits like Dean’s. Eight women in everything from elegant skirts and jackets to slimming sheaths. In her black knit dress, Kristen fit in as if she belonged there.
But she didn’t. She and Dean entered to a conversation about European vacations, and Kristen suddenly felt like a bumpkin. She was twenty-four, the executive assistant to a princess, who did have a degree, and who wanted to start a foundation that would build schools—but who knew no one. She’d been nowhere...
Well, except to Paris, where she’d picked up with this gorgeous, crazy, somewhat obsessive-compulsive guy, and was now pretending to be his date.
As Dean made introductions, she smiled and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” reminding herself that this was part of her new reality. She had to learn to schmooze prospective donors, speak intelligently about her cause and find support.
Dean pulled out her chair and she sat. He sat beside her.
Mrs. Arthur Flannigan, a woman who looked to be in her eighties, leaned across the table. “Julia tells me you work for Princess Eva of Grennady.”
“Yes, I’m her executive assistant.”
“Sounds exciting.”
Kristen laughed nervously. Everybody assumed that because she worked for a woman who would someday be a queen, she had a fantastic job and glamorous life. But it was Eva who traveled while Kristen stayed behind and kept up with emails.
“Some days my work is exciting. Other days, it’s just like any other assistant’s job.”
Dean slid his arm across the back of her chair. “Kristen is about to leave her post to begin organizing a charity that will build schools in third world countries.”
Mrs. Flannigan’s eyes lit. “Really? That’s quite an undertaking.”
“Having worked for a princess,” Dean said, “she’s up on world politics. She knows what she’s getting into.”
Kristen sat a little taller. Not only did it feel right to have his arm around her, but also he seemed genuinely proud of her. She might not travel, but she did know world politics. Working for Eva had taught her a lot. Now she just had to figure out how to use it.
“I hear your company is in a spot of trouble,” Mrs. Flannigan said, changing the subject as she smiled at Dean.
He shrewdly returned her smile. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
Winslow leaned toward Mrs. Flannigan. “Kristen and Dean met because she flew to Paris to get time with him to persuade him to relocate Suminski Stuff to Grennady.”
Mrs. Flannigan’s face brightened. “Really? Well, my dear, you are quite the adventurer.”
All the pride she’d felt fled as her chest tightened. No matter how much she’d seen working for Eva, she wasn’t really an adventurer. She was a shy woman with a big goal, who milked cows and baled hay. And being in this room, with a small group of influential people, she suddenly wondered about her sanity. How the hell did she ever think she could start a charity that would change the world?
