“I can honestly say that I’ve never been the cause of any wedding being called off.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“It’s true.” But there was something about the way he was looking at her that was so warm and flattering that it made her feel as if she actually might have the power to turn the heads of other women’s grooms.

And suddenly, out of the blue, she wasn’t imagining him holding her hand or putting an arm around her the way she had been earlier. She was imagining him kissing her …

Which was totally inappropriate.

He’s a client, she shouted in her mind. And she was on hiatus from men!

But still, there she was, looking up into eyes that made her feel beautiful, that made her feel as if no other woman in the world existed. And yes, she was picturing him leaning over that car door and pressing his supple mouth to hers …

Wondering what it would be like …

Wishing he would …

A Camden Family Wedding

Victoria Pade

www.millsandboon.co.uk

VICTORIA PADE is a USA TODAY bestselling author of numerous romance novels. She has two beautiful and talented daughters—Cori and Erin—and is a native of Colorado, where she lives and writes. A devoted chocolate lover, she’s in search of the perfect chocolate-chip-cookie recipe.

For information about her latest and upcoming releases, visit Victoria Pade on Facebook—she would love to hear from you.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Excerpt

Chapter One

“See? The gifts for the attendants are wrapped, I’ve confirmed your hairdresser, the caterer and the florist, and we have a guarantee that the cake will be ready and delivered on time. I’m working on the place cards tonight. I promise you, absolutely everything is under control and it will be a truly amazing wedding!”

Vonni Hunter made sure there wasn’t the slightest hint of haste in her voice as she spoke to her client. It wasn’t uncommon for one of her brides to panic as the wedding date approached. But this bride had shown up unannounced at Burke’s Weddings’ offices twenty minutes before closing time, and Vonni was in a hurry to get to an after-hours appointment. Not giving that away in her tone, she asked, “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Yes. You can make me look like you in the next four days. I need to get rid of the extra six pounds I’ve gained from stress eating!” the other woman wailed.

It was Monday. This particular wedding was being held on Saturday. The bride was the daughter of one of Denver’s most prominent men, and while she’d been a pleasure to work with, she was a large and not particularly attractive woman on whom six more pounds was not easy to see.

But, as luck would have it, she’d stopped by the dress designer for a surprise visit today to try on her gown. Although the final fitting had been done weeks ago, the dress no longer fit and would have to be altered again. That had induced the panic that had brought her here to Vonni.

Vonni looped her arm through the bride’s and tugged her closer. “Melanie, you are the woman Douglas fell in love with,” she reminded her. “He got down on one knee and asked you to be his wife—do not forget that—”

“But you’re blonde and beautiful....” the bride lamented.

“And someone who can’t get a man to propose if my life depended on it!” Vonni confided with a laugh. “Not once. Not one man. Ever. No matter how much I’ve wanted it or how hard I’ve tried—and believe me, I’ve tried! I’m the wedding planner who can’t find herself a husband. But you, Melanie Danforth-Hayes, in four more short days, are going to walk down the aisle to the man who loves you like nobody’s business, and become Mrs. Douglas Barnes. And then the two of you are going to party your little hearts out to celebrate that. It’s me who’s jealous of you!”

The round-faced bride broke into a slow smile and blinked back the tears that had been threatening to fall. “He does love me. Just the way I am,” she conceded. “And he’s gained ten pounds—we have to have more alterations done on his tux. That’s what got me to thinking that maybe I should try the dress again.”

“And you did because fate is smiling down on you and now the dress won’t be a problem. Everything will be just perfect,” Vonni assured her again, thinking that she was glad two last-minute disasters had been avoided because it was much easier for her to make a few nips and tucks with her emergency sewing kit than to get a bride and groom into clothes that were too small.

“You always make me feel so much better,” her bride said, obviously beginning to relax.

“I just want you to have a fabulous wedding and a long and happy life with Douglas,” Vonni said honestly. “You deserve it.”

“So do you. Well, not with Douglas, but you know, with someone else.”

Vonni laughed again. “From your lips to God’s ears,” she said. As they’d been talking, she’d slowly moved her client to the front door, which she now opened. “And as always, if there’s anything you need or get worried about—”

“I know I can count on you. I’m sorry for this meltdown—of course you have everything under control. You’ve done every wedding I’ve been to in the past few years and they’ve all been fantastic.”

“And yours will make those pale in comparison. You’ve made some of the best choices I’ve ever seen and it’s going to be just wonderful.”

“I think so, too,” the client confided. “I know at least three people who are going to be green with envy.”

Vonni laughed again. “We’ll make sure of it.”

And she had her out the door.

They exchanged goodbyes on the sidewalk in front of the shop—located in the heart of Cherry Creek North among the more elite boutiques—and Vonni went back inside alone.

It was already past closing time, so she locked the door behind her, and then rushed to her office.

It wasn’t unusual for her to be asked to accommodate clients by going to them rather than having them come to her. The lion’s share of clientele for Burke’s Weddings was Denver’s rich, and they were accustomed to being catered to. But being asked to go to the Camden Building to see Dane Camden was a unique situation.

First of all, although there had been several engagement announcements for members of the Camden family in recent months, Dane Camden’s wasn’t among them.

Second, as a rule, Vonni met with the bride, the bride and her family or the bride and groom together. She’d never met with a groom alone. At least not for the initial appointment.

And third, when Dane Camden had called to make the appointment, he’d said that not only did he want to talk to her about a wedding, he also had a proposition for her that was better discussed away from the shop.

Being propositioned by a groom was definitely not the norm.

Although he had amended his description to a business proposition with a deep, surprisingly appealing chuckle.

There was that Dane Camden charisma she’d heard about.

No doubt, Dane Camden had charisma to spare.

But not enough to make her forget the cautionary tale of the Hunter family’s past dealings with the well-known Camdens. Vonni was leery of any business proposition he had to offer.

With very few minutes to spare, she went into the office that technically belonged to Burke’s Weddings’ owner, Chrystal Burke. But since Chrystal was rarely there, Vonni considered it hers.

As she crossed the expansive space to the private bathroom, she thought about what it would mean to do a Camden wedding. It would be a feather in her cap. And lead to a lot more business. It would help pave her way to the promised partnership in Burke’s Weddings that had long been her goal.

So this was an appointment she intended to keep, as soon as she did a quick check of her appearance.

Today, she’d worn the sides of her blond hair pulled back into a clip, and it was still neat and tidy. But she ran a brush through what was left to fall loose to her shoulder blades.

Her mascara and eyeliner were still in place, accentuating her green eyes to good effect. She freshened her blush, reapplied her mauve lipstick and blotted away the slight end-of-the-day shine from her nose and chin with a piece of rice paper.

Like everyone, there were things about her appearance that she was self-conscious of. She thought she had too much forehead but she looked awful in bangs so couldn’t wear them to diminish it, and she knew that when full lips went out of style she’d be back to wearing pale lipsticks again to hide hers.

On the whole, she was okay with her appearance, though. Certainly she didn’t see anything awful enough in it to scare away men. But she hadn’t been lying to her client when she’d said she’d had no luck finding a husband of her own despite her every attempt. And she had made every attempt.

Early in college something had clicked in Vonni and she’d realized that what she really wanted in life was to get married and have a family. That while a career was nice and she’d fully intended to get her degree and find one, in her heart of hearts, it was the traditional route that called to her—becoming a wife and mother. Picturing herself without that had seemed empty and sad and unfulfilling.

That was when she’d launched what she called her husband hunt.

And she’d been devoted to it ever since. It had been a mission, a passion, her main goal.

But going after something—no matter how keenly—and getting it had proved to be two different things.

“So you really do have one up on me, Melanie Danforth-Hayes. A very, very big one....” she said out loud.

But there was no time for thinking about something she’d already dedicated more years and energy and thought to than she wanted to admit—something she had now put on the back burner. Something she needed a break from. So Vonni tucked her tan shirt firmly into the waistband of her brown slacks and put on the short jacket that matched the pants.

She looked businesslike. That was what she’d set out for and what she’d accomplished.

She swiped a tissue across the toes of her three-inch-heel pumps to make sure they were clean, and hurried out of the bathroom to the oversize antique desk in the office.

She kept everything she needed for an initial appointment in a leather binder. She took it out of the top desk drawer, took her purse from the bottom drawer and went back through the shop and out the front door again.

The Camden Building was three blocks down the street from her and it was a lovely June day, so it was silly to drive. But she walked at a fast clip to not be late.

When she reached the twelve-story yellow brick office building and went in, she headed straight for the reception desk and told the security guard there that she had an appointment with Dane Camden.

“Top floor.”

Of course....

The Camdens owned the building; where else would they be?

After several people exited the elevator, Vonni got on alone and pressed the button for her floor. On the way up, she thought about the man she was about to meet.

She had no doubt she would recognize Dane Camden even though they’d never met. She’d seen him in the occasional photograph accompanying the newspaper and magazine articles about the Camden family. They owned the worldwide chain of Camden Superstores and any number of businesses and manufacturers that supplied them, so they tended to be high profile.

And Dane Camden himself got around. So much so that she’d seen him in the background of several snapshots her brides had shown her—incidental to copying his date’s hairstyle or something else they liked and wanted to use for their own weddings.

Certainly his name had been dropped numerous times between brides and their bridesmaids. Being with him seemed to be some sort of rite-of-passage among the wealthy socialites who formed the majority of Burke’s Weddings’ clients and the entire circle of Chrystal’s friends. Vonni had even overheard one bride laughing with her bridesmaids about how she’d had her turn with Dane Camden so she thought she might as well get married.

Despite the fact that he was a player, though, Vonni had never heard a single complaint about him. No one seemed to have thought there was any chance of getting him to the altar; there were only accolades for any time spent with him, and fondness and affection for the man himself.

“If anyone can show you that men and dating aren’t all bad, it’s him,” one bride had said to her sister, telling her she needed a “hit” of Dane Camden to remind her how good it could be to be with a man again after a bad divorce.

So he was a bit of a legend. At least that was how Vonni had come to think of him.

The elevator stopped two floors from the top for a mail boy to get on pushing a cart. After that brief delay the doors closed again to finish the ascent.

What would it mean to the single women in Dane Camden’s circle if he’d thrown in the towel and actually was getting married, she wondered then.

Not to mention who might have reeled in such a big—and elusive—fish....

When the elevator reached the top floor and the doors opened again, the mail boy charged through them, nearly knocking someone out of the way.

Someone who happened to be her potential client.

Dane Camden.

Who was remarkably better looking in person than in any of the pictures she’d seen of him....

“Vonni Hunter?”

“Yes,” she admitted, wondering if she should let him know she knew who he was or wait for him to introduce himself.

But there was no wait.

“I’m Dane. Our receptionist for this floor left for the day so I thought I’d meet you out here and save you having to figure out which office is mine.”

“Thank you,” she said, surprised that someone with this guy’s clout would be that considerate.

“Let’s go on back,” he suggested. “Can I get you something? We have coffee, tea, soda, water....”

“No, nothing, thank you.”

“I really appreciate you coming to me,” he said as he ushered her into a plush corner office and motioned to the sofa against one wall instead of the chairs that faced his huge mahogany desk. “As I mentioned in our phone call, one of the things I want to talk to you about shouldn’t be discussed at your place of business.”

Vonni sat down on the edge of the couch, hugging the arm, as Dane Camden took the matching chair across the small coffee table from her.

Almost immediately, there was a knock on his office door and a woman who resembled him poked her head in. “Hey, sorry for interrupting, but you have to take a look at this before I can go home,” she said.

“Vonni, this is my cousin January—we call her Jani. Jani, this is Vonni Hunter.”

“Nice to meet you,” January Camden said.

“You, too.”

“And, oh, do you have the most beautiful green eyes in the world!”

“Thank you,” Vonni answered, a bit taken aback by the compliment that was not at all businesslike.

“You’re the wedding planner. I got married on the spur of the moment in a judge’s office or I would have begged you to do a wedding for me. Maybe you could branch out into baby showers....”

Vonni merely laughed, unsure by the look of the other woman in the loose-fitting sundress if she was in the market for that.

“But, Dane, I really do need you to—”

“I know,” he said to his cousin before pivoting back to Vonni and aiming some pretty incredible blue eyes at her. “You’ll have to excuse her. Jani is pregnant and using it against us to get her way,” he said good-naturedly, obviously teasing Jani and confirming that a baby shower was likely on the horizon.

“Doctor’s orders,” Jani said with a beaming smile.

“This will just take a minute.” Dane went over to his cousin, who was still standing in the doorway, and looked over the papers with her.

The two were engrossed in whatever it was they were dealing with, which gave Vonni the perfect opportunity to study the infamous Dane Camden and try to figure out why he was sooo much better looking in person.

There was no denying that in every picture she’d seen of him he was an attractive enough man. But the real thing? Wow! So much better....

His brown hair was a tad lighter than his cousin’s—dark brown but the rich color of chocolate rather than espresso. He wore it short on the sides but a touch longer on top where it had just the right amount of wave to make him look sporty and casual but not unkempt.

She’d already noted the remarkable Camden blue eyes—and they were remarkable. It was another thing her brides and attendants swooned over when they were discussing him, and now she could see why.

Blueberry blue—that was what they were, Vonni decided. And penetrating and intelligent and warm and kind and surprisingly open for a person in his position.

But after more study, Vonni concluded it was his nose that made the difference between the way he looked in pictures and in person. He had a thin, longish nose with a bit of a bump in the bridge before it narrowed and slid down to a slightly squarish tip. It didn’t photograph well, but was somehow very sexy in real life.

Overall, his face was lean and angular and very masculine, complete with lips that weren’t at all full but were still so sensual they alone could chase fuller ones out of fashion at any moment.

He wasn’t a refined kind of handsome, Vonni decided. He was more a rugged, outdoorsy, approachable kind of handsome.

The kind that got to Vonni.

And it didn’t help that the face and hair weren’t all he had going for him. He was also tall and trim, but with enough muscle to fill out both the sleeves of his gray suit coat and the thighs of the matching pants. Plus his shoulders were wide, his back was straight and he looked strong and healthy and virile and...

And altogether terrific.

There was just no denying it, even though Vonni wished she could because she should never be looking at someone else’s groom and thinking how very, very hot he was....

“Nice to meet you, Vonni,” Jani said then as she turned to go.

Vonni jolted slightly out of staring at Dane Camden, unaware until that moment that the two had finished with their business.

“You, too,” Vonni said, as if she hadn’t been lost in the unwelcome stirrings aroused by cataloging every square inch of the woman’s cousin.

“Say hey to Gideon,” Dane Camden said to January Camden before he shut the door behind her and headed back to Vonni. “Sorry about that.”

“No problem. And congratulations, by the way—I should have said that right off.”

“For what?” he asked, his high, boxy brow wrinkling with confusion.

Vonni laughed, thinking that he must be new to his situation. “Congratulations on your engagement.”

It was his turn to laugh. “Oh, I’m not getting married. Not me. Not now. Not ever. Never!”

He seemed very determined.

“But of course you’d think I called you to talk about my own wedding,” he concluded.

“Well...people don’t usually call me about other people’s weddings....”

He laughed again—it was a deep, genuine, sexy sound that resonated through Vonni in a way it had no business doing.

Because even if he wasn’t the groom, it didn’t make any difference to her. Great looking or not, she was on hiatus from her too-long husband hunt. Plus, she’d learned the hard way not to waste time with commitment-shy men—and Dane Camden had just confirmed his reputation on that score. Quite resolutely.

“No, I’m sure they don’t,” he said then. “But this time that’s what’s happening. It’s my grandmother who’s getting married. And she wants it done in two weeks. That’s why she called me—I’m the guy around here who gets the impossible done.”

It took a moment for what he’d said to sink in.

His grandmother was getting married. Not any of the other Camdens whose engagements had recently been announced.

“You want me to do a wedding in two weeks?” Not just a Camden wedding, but one for the matriarch of the entire Camden family....

“Yep,” he confirmed. Then he grinned. It went slightly lopsided and put lines at the corners of his eyes and brackets alongside his mouth, and it just sucked her right in....

“Jani is right, you do have the most beautiful green eyes and they just got so big....” he said as if it delighted him. “They’re the color of jade. Dark jade-green....”

And he was staring into them so keenly. So closely. So thoroughly....

But just as Vonni was getting uncomfortable he went back to what they’d been talking about.

“The wedding in two weeks,” he said, more as if he was dragging himself back into the moment than as if he was reminding her. “Don’t run scared. I think between the two of us it’s doable because we aren’t talking a spectacular production. GiGi—that’s what everyone calls our grandmother—only wants a small wedding at home.”

“How small?” Vonni asked cautiously.

“Maybe a hundred guests. Including family, which... I haven’t done a recent head count and it’s growing, but I’d say we’re about a quarter of that number. And GiGi doesn’t want anything too fancy or elaborate. Low-key, tasteful. She and her fiancé are seventy-five and neither of them wants a lot of hoopla. They just want something nice. And you won’t have to worry about the ceremony—that will be in the den with only family looking on—so that cuts down on the preparations, too.”

“But it’s you I’ll be working with?” Vonni asked, unsure if she liked that idea, since the man seemed to have a strange effect on her.

“GiGi is in Montana taking care of a friend who had surgery. She can’t get back until just before the wedding but this is the date they want—it’s when they started going steady in high school. I’ll be texting her and sending her pictures of everything, but yeah, you’ll be working with me because it goes hand in hand with the other part of what I wanted to talk to you about today, which is my special project....”

“The business proposition?”

“Really slick how I got that in there, wasn’t it?” he joked, laughing at himself. “Anyway, let’s talk about that. We’ve decided that we want Camden Superstores to offer wedding packages. It’s always been our goal to be a one-stop shop and now we’d like to introduce wedding departments to each of our stores to add that—”

“Wedding departments?” Vonni parroted, unclear about what this had to do with her. Then she became alarmed—did he want to learn from what she did for his grandmother’s wedding and use it for his own special project? Camdens was notorious for undercutting and driving other companies out of business.

“Are you talking about selling wedding gowns? Bridesmaids’ dresses? Tuxedos?” Things that she could recommend clients use Camdens for but that wouldn’t take any of her business away....

“I’m talking about everything,” he answered. “Clothes, yes, but the whole deal. Everything you do, too.”

Oh, wonderful. And then she could be up against all of Camden Superstores....

“We want to offer packages that range from inexpensive to very elaborate,” he continued. “From soup to nuts, including venues we can either contract with or that we might buy outright for rehearsal dinners and receptions. We’ll provide decorations, tables, chairs, plates and silverware, linens—whatever’s necessary. We can offer catering through our food departments. Cakes through our bakeries. Liquor through our liquor department. Flowers through our in-store florists—”

“Everything,” Vonni summed up.

“And because you’re known to be the best at what you do, we’d like to hire you to spearhead the whole thing.”

That had not been what she’d thought he was going to say, and Vonni wasn’t sure she’d understood correctly.

“First you want me—through Burke’s Weddings—to do your grandmother’s wedding in two weeks—”

“Right.”

“And then you want me to spearhead the formation of wedding-planning departments in Camden Superstores to put you in direct competition with us?”

He shook his head. “Well, yes, there would be competition, but Camdens wouldn’t be competing against you. I’m asking you to leave Burke’s Weddings to come on board with Camden Superstores. You’d be the division director, responsible for completely designing and developing wedding departments with us that would be uniquely you.”

“I’d come to work for Camden Superstores?”

“Yes. With the kind of contract we give our highest executives, including one of the best golden-parachute clauses around.”

Vonni went from worry to disbelief in a nanosecond.

“You want me to quit Burke’s Weddings—where I’ve been promised a full partnership—to become an employee of Camdens?”

Apparently her tone had alerted him to how unlikely she was to consider that.

“You wouldn’t just be an employee. What we’re talking about is making your name a signature brand. And you’ll be in an executive position,” he repeated. Then more somberly he said, “I know there might be some bad blood here.”

The unsavory dealings between the Hunters and the Camdens went all the way back to 1953. Vonni hadn’t been sure coming here today whether or not this generation of Camdens would know what she knew. Apparently Dane Camden did.

“But try to keep in mind that it wasn’t a Camden who did the dirty deed—” he said.

“It was the Camdens who benefited from it.”

“So did—”

“Yes, I know,” Vonni cut him off.

“I’m just pointing out that we didn’t have a hand in what went on,” he insisted. “So couldn’t you put aside what happened all those years ago? Especially since what I’m offering you is an opportunity for something much bigger and better than a potential partnership at Burke’s Weddings. What I’m offering is a bird in the hand....”

As if her partnership wasn’t.

Now he was making her a little mad, and the involuntary cock of her head must have alerted him to that fact.

“We want the best here,” he said before she had a chance to comment. “And when it comes to wedding planners, you’re it. We’ve all seen your work in weddings we’ve gone to. We know your reputation. And we know that you are Burke’s Weddings. But it’s Burke’s Weddings getting the real credit.”

“And with you it would be Camdens getting the credit.”

He shook his head. “No. With us, you’ll be the draw. People will have to come to Camdens to get a Vonni Hunter wedding. From high-end to lower-end—even couples who couldn’t otherwise afford a Vonni Hunter wedding will be able to get more conservative packages designed by Vonni Hunter, with Vonni Hunter’s eye, with Vonni Hunter’s taste, with Vonni Hunter’s expertise. Brides who can afford you will get more personal attention—and with us that could be not only Denver brides, but celebrities and European royalty that we’ll send you off to do first-class. What we want is to bring you into the spotlight, give you credit. And all the perks that go with it.”

Okay, so it was flattering. And an intriguing idea. Enough to rid her of that small wave of anger.

“So you’re going to put all the world at my feet as a wedding planner if only I can pull off a wedding in two weeks for your grandmother?” Vonni asked.

“The job offer is on the table no matter what. And we’re figuring that if anyone can pull off a wedding in two weeks, it’ll be you and me working together. I told you, around here I’m the guy who gets things done, and from what I understand, when it comes to weddings, you do, too.”

Reminding herself that planning a Camden wedding would look very, very good for her, Vonni said, “Doing any kind of wedding for any number of people in two weeks is a push. But since I already have long-standing relationships with everyone it will take to accomplish it, it can probably be done. But as for the other—”

It was terrifying to think of what could become of her existing job if Camden Superstores did what he was proposing. But it was also completely unnerving to think about turning her back on Chrystal and Burke’s Weddings to sign on with the Camdens and then ending up with nothing the way her grandfather had....

“Don’t say anything about the business stuff for now,” Dane Camden advised, interrupting her spinning thoughts. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk about it. You can grill me, and negotiate, and tell me everything about it that might worry you, and shape it into exactly the kind of deal you’d feel most comfortable with. And if you need to yell at me or slap me around to feel better about what happened with your uncle and your grandfather and the way things turned out on that front, you can do that, too.”

Oh, but when the man grinned it made her knees weak....

“You’re not afraid that slapping you around might be pretty tempting?” she asked impudently.

“Just say the word. I’ll get the gloves and you can beat the hell out of me.”

She couldn’t not smile at him. Although she made sure it was reserved. There was just something about him, and she could see how he got away with being the player he was.

“But you’ll do GiGi’s wedding with me one way or another?” he asked.

“That I’ll do,” she conceded.

“Then why don’t you come up with a get-started list and we’ll—” he shrugged one of those broad shoulders “—get started.”

“I have two weddings on Saturday and this week is my race to the finish line for them both, so I’ll have to do much of this after-hours—like this meeting.”

“I’m open to evenings if you are.”

“And the weekend—after the weddings on Saturday, and Sunday...” she said as if challenging him to back out.

“I’ll be available whenever you can fit me in.”

“Okay, then. I’m already swamped tonight working on place cards for five hundred but hopefully sometime tomorrow or tomorrow night I’ll come up with the list and a schedule that we will have to stick to. Maybe we can meet again on Wednesday night?”

“I’ll clear all decks.”

“Then I guess we’ll do a wedding. In two weeks.”

The grin again. “I guess we will,” he confirmed.

Vonni took her business card from her binder, along with her standard contract for him to look over, and the printout of what her services entailed.

Then, with nothing more to discuss at that moment, she stood to go.

“I’ll show you back to the elevator,” Dane offered, and she again had to give him points for courtesy.

While they were retracing their steps through the outer office, he said, “And when you’re not thinking about my grandmother’s wedding, think about your name on signs in every Camden Superstore—”

He raised an arm and swept his big hand across an imaginary banner. “Weddings by Vonni Hunter,” he said as if reading what the signs would say.

But Vonni had had an entirely different sign in mind for years now. Stylishly painted in script letters on the shop’s front window, Burke’s Weddings would be replaced with Burke and Hunter Weddings.

She didn’t say anything, but he must have sensed her lack of enthusiasm for his offer because as the elevator doors opened and Vonni stepped inside and turned to face him, he said, “Just think about it. And let me know when and where Wednesday.”

“I will,” she answered, pushing the button for the lobby.

Then as the doors began to close, he cocked his head to one side and said, “Wow. Yeah. Beautiful eyes...”

Which was strange because that was exactly what she’d been thinking the minute she’d turned and looked straight at him—how terrific looking he was and what beautiful blue eyes he had....

But then the doors closed completely and the elevator began its descent.

She was thinking about Dane Camden on the entire ride down, though.

And how she could definitely see his appeal.

Even if she had no intention whatsoever of tapping into it.

Chapter Two

“How can you be so hard to get hold of when you’re taking care of a sick friend in Northbridge where there’s next to nothing to do?” Dane had finally connected with his grandmother after four calls to her cell phone the next morning.

“Oh, Dane, I’m sorry. We needed to take Agnes to physical therapy so that’s where I was, and I forgot to bring the cell phone with me when we left,” Georgianna Camden explained. “Is anything wrong?”

“No, everything’s fine. But if you’re gonna make me put on a pinafore and do your wedding like a girl, then you have to at least be available, Geege,” he chastised, using his particular pet name for her.

“You’re wearing a pinafore? That I’d like to see,” she said with unabashed glee.

“I figure that’s next since you’ve given me a job one of the girls would be better at. You know I’m not ever going to have a wedding of my own, so it isn’t as if I’ve paid a lot of attention to what goes on at them. And now you want me to plan one? Come on, me?”

“Jonah and I are doing just fine, thanks for asking,” GiGi said, ignoring his complaint.

Jonah Morrison was GiGi’s fiancé, a man she’d known since they’d both grown up in the small Montana town of Northbridge.

“And how’s Agnes?” Dane asked, knowing he was being cautioned not to venture too far from the manners his grandmother had taught him.

“She’s doing well. Her knee replacement was a success and she’s even getting out of the wheelchair to use the walker a little.”

“Tell her hello for me and that she’d better be ready to get out on the dance floor for your first anniversary.”

GiGi laughed and relayed both messages to her friend.

“Agnes says she’ll be ready,” GiGi repeated, though he’d already heard the seventy-nine-year-old herself in the background.

“I guess if I’m going to have a first anniversary, that must mean I’m getting the wedding when I want it?” GiGi asked.

“I met with Vonni Hunter last night and she says it won’t be easy, but yes, she’ll do it. I still don’t understand why you want me to organize it,” he persisted. “I don’t know anything about weddings. I don’t even pay attention when I go to them, I just look for the bar.”

“And whatever single women you can pick up,” his grandmother muttered.

He laughed. “That’s what single guys do at weddings.”

“Sorry, but I elected you to be my proxy,” GiGi said remorselessly. “Just let the wedding planner guide you.”

The prospect of being guided by the delicious Vonni Hunter did make the situation more palatable. But he wasn’t going to admit that to his grandmother.

“Planning my wedding,” GiGi went on, “will teach you what goes into the process and give you some background for setting up the stores’ wedding departments.”

“Developing the wedding departments is business. That I can do. And I’m fine taking my turn at making amends for old H.J.’s wranglings.” H.J. was H. J. Camden, Dane’s great-grandfather and the founding father of the Camden empire. “But all the frilly details for one specific wedding—”

“When have you ever known me to be frilly, Dane?”

The thought made Dane smile despite the fact that he was in protest mode. His grandmother was a tough cookie and she was right—there was nothing frilly about her.

Still, he liked giving her a hard time. “This stuff is frilly all on its own. Better suited to the girls than to me.”

But his grandmother was adamant. “It’s you I’ve asked,” she said with finality. She obviously had no doubt that he’d do it—how could he deny any request from the woman who had taken him and the rest of his siblings and cousins in to raise when they were orphaned by a plane crash that had killed their parents?

“Okay, but if you end up with cigars as wedding favors, it’s your own fault.”

“There will not be cigars as wedding favors. There will be little bags of candied almonds—five in each bundle for good luck.”

“See? That’s not something I know about—”

“Which is why we have a wedding planner. Now tell me about Vonni Hunter,” GiGi commanded.

“Jade-green eyes.” Dane said the first thing that popped into his head.

“Jade-green eyes...” GiGi repeated. “They must be pretty....”

“Remarkable,” he confirmed matter-of-factly. “She also has long blond hair, flawless skin, the kind of perfect nose that women usually pay for, though I think she was born with hers, lush lips that catch your eye and a petite, trim little body with just the right amount of curves to complete the package.”

“So you hardly noticed what she looks like?” his grandmother goaded.

Oh, he’d noticed all right....

The woman was a knockout, and even though he didn’t usually go for blondes, she’d hit all the right notes for him. So much so that the image of her had lingered in his mind since she’d left his office last night, even when he was thinking about other things. Even when he’d closed his eyes to go to sleep—there she’d still been in living color, making it tough for him to drop off.

But it didn’t mean anything.

“I’m describing her to you strictly to let you know that if I can get her on board, she’s beautiful and we won’t have any problem at all putting not only her name but also her picture on all the promotional material,” he informed his grandmother. “The way she looks will be a good marketing tool to go along with her track record as a wedding planner. So she’d be the perfect person to head our wedding department even if we weren’t trying to compensate her—as the last remaining Hunter—for H.J. buying stolen goods and helping to give her grandfather the shaft.”

H.J. had long been suspected of using any means necessary to get what he wanted. The recent discovery of his journals had confirmed for the family what they’d hoped wasn’t true—that H.J. had been unscrupulous in his business dealings.

It was something the current Camdens were intent on making amends for. But in order not to incur a multitude of frivolous lawsuits, they were trying to atone for the misdeeds quietly, on the sly, without drawing too much attention or bringing the worst of H.J.’s behavior into the limelight.

“I see,” Dane’s grandmother said facetiously. “Memorizing every little detail about the way Vonni Hunter looks was purely business related.”

Nothing got by GiGi. Her tone let him know she was fully aware that he was attracted to the wedding planner.

But that still didn’t mean he was admitting anything. “Yep,” he said, not letting her get a rise out of him. “I’m just looking ahead to marketing and advertising.”

“Sure you are.”

It was true, though. Regardless of how struck by Vonni Hunter he might have been, for Dane, women were just for fun. And he didn’t play and work on the same field.

Plus there was the unsavory connection between the Hunters and Camdens in the past—he would never get mixed up with someone who could have any kind of ax to grind.

So there were two reasons he wouldn’t let anything happen with her.

“I’m just telling you, Geege, that if matchmaking is what you have up your sleeve with this, don’t run the risk of me screwing up your wedding for it. The past few of these assignments may have gotten some of us coupled up, but it isn’t going to happen to me.”

And Dane didn’t have so much as a shadow of a doubt about that.

Yes, his younger brother Lang and cousins Jani and Cade had met their mates on these restitution projects atoning for H.J.’s sins, but Dane was going to break the pattern.

And for a third and very good reason over and above the fact that he didn’t mix business with pleasure and that there was history with the Hunters.

He wasn’t ever getting married or having kids.

As one of the three eldest Camden grandchildren, he felt as if he’d already been domesticated to death. He’d been answerable to GiGi, to his great-grandfather and to Margaret and Louie, the household staff who had been involved in raising them all. He’d done plenty of adapting and compromising. He’d helped care for and look after and teach so many younger siblings and cousins that he felt as if he’d already been a parent.

And now he just wanted the blissful quiet and sanctuary of living alone in his own house.

He wanted not to keep anyone’s schedule but his own.

He wanted company when he wanted it and not when he didn’t.

He wanted the perfect freedom of a single man who was not a parent.

So no matter how green Vonni Hunter’s eyes were, it wasn’t possible for her to get to him any more than she already had.

“I do not have matchmaking up my sleeve,” GiGi objected. “I need my wedding planned. I decided it was you who should handle making things up to Vonni Hunter, and the wedding departments were just my suggestion.”

“Uh-huh...” Dane muttered at her feigned innocence.

Because he knew his grandmother. He knew that she wanted all of her grandchildren to get married and have great-grandchildren for her. And he also knew that while his cousin Jani might be newly married, pregnant and on a lighter work schedule, either of his sisters could have also been given all three of these projects without any problem. And certainly, they both would have been better suited to planning GiGi’s wedding than he was.

“I’m not getting married, Geege. And no woman on the face of this earth is going to change that. Not you, not Vonni Hunter or anyone else.”

“That’s fine,” GiGi claimed loftily. “You’ll just be Poor-Old-Uncle-Dane-Who-Doesn’t-Have-Anyone.”

Dane laughed. “How about if I’m just Fun-Uncle-Dane-Who-Doesn’t-Have-Anybody-Tying-Him-Down?”

“Finding a woman you love and having a family lifts you up, Dane. It raises you to a higher level and makes you a more well-rounded person. It’s what we’re put here to do.”

“And your opinion wouldn’t be at all colored by your own romance, would it? Plus, I’ve found a woman to love—more than one—you and Jani and Lindie and Livi—”

“Me and your sisters and cousin don’t count.”

“And I have plenty of family to lift me up and raise me to a higher level and make me about as well-rounded as I’ll ever be.”

“Kids you have with a wife—that’s the family that elevates you and makes you complete,” his grandmother persisted.

“I’m complete just the way I am. And happily single. Forever!”

GiGi’s sigh on the other end of the line was pronounced, but Dane decided it was time to end this back-and-forth and return to the work he had to do. So he said, “I’m supposed to meet with Vonni Hunter tomorrow night to get started. So keep your cell phone with you—you never know when I’ll have to call or text or send you pictures for approval. And we don’t have any time to spare.”

“I feel the same way about you,” she muttered.

“You love and adore me no matter what I do with my life?”

“Yes,” she confirmed begrudgingly. “I just don’t want you to be a lonely old man.”

“Couldn’t happen in this family,” he said, before saying goodbye and finally getting off the phone.

He was resigned to accomplishing all his grandmother had asked of him—short of getting personally involved with Vonni Hunter, which was not going to happen.

“Sorry, GiGi,” he muttered as he set his cell phone on his desk. “The best I can do on the personal side is enjoy the view.”

Of the lovely Vonni Hunter.

Who could not change his mind about marriage and family any more than any other woman could.

* * *

Vonni was standing outside the Cherry Cricket at eight o’clock Wednesday night when she spotted Dane rush out of the Camden Building a block down.

Neither of their schedules had allowed for an earlier meeting, and since the rough-and-tumble bar and grill was between their offices on Second Street, Dane had suggested he buy her a burger as they began the process of planning his grandmother’s wedding.

Vonni had hesitated. She’d found it unnervingly difficult not to think about this guy since she’d met him, and because of that she knew it was better to keep this strictly business. A burger at the Cricket hardly qualified as being wined and dined, but there would be dining and she didn’t want anything about her contact with him to seem date-like.

But he was very persuasive.

Plus, she knew she wouldn’t have the chance to eat before they got together and didn’t want her stomach rumbling through a business meeting.

So there she was, watching the intensely attractive Dane Camden coming toward her.

He was tieless, the collar button of his white shirt was unfastened and his suit coat was slung over one shoulder. He very much looked as if he was done with business for the day and ready to relax. Like on a burger date.

Luckily Vonni was still wearing what she’d put on this morning for work—a white cowl-necked blouse under a teal green jacket and pencil skirt with the toes of her four-inch heels pinching to remind her she was still working even if he wasn’t.

“I didn’t keep you waiting, did I?” he asked as he approached, flashing a smile that was enough to make her forget about her aching feet.

“I was a few minutes early.” Which she always tried to be when it came to business. And that was all this was, she reminded herself when he held the door for her, told the bouncer sitting on a stool in the alcove that they were two for dinner then ushered her with a hand not quite touching her back to the table when the bouncer passed them off to the hostess.

All very date-like.

He requested a table outside where it was quieter and the hostess took them beyond the noise of the bar to a café table in the patio section that ran alongside the building.

Then the hostess traded places with a waitress who asked if they would like something to drink.

Before answering, Dane said to Vonni, “I’m having an end-of-the-day beer. How about you—beer, wine, something harder...?”

Vonni shook her head and spoke to the waitress. “I’ll have a lemonade.”

Dane ordered his beer and the waitress pointed out the menus that were stashed in the handles of a caddie that held ketchup, mustard, hot sauce and liquor ads.

“I’m starving,” he said, grabbing the menus and handing one to Vonni. “Let’s decide what we’re eating so we can order when she comes back and then we can just talk.”

About his grandmother’s wedding, Vonni said to herself to neutralize the effect of his very casual attitude. And his appeal. And the feeling that this was a date.

But it wasn’t! she reminded herself yet again.

Vonni focused on the menu, and by the time the waitress returned with their drinks, Dane ordered for them both, not forgetting a single detail of how Vonni wanted her burger or what she wanted on the side, proving just how attentive he’d been even as he focused on deciding his own meal.

Attentiveness that would have gained him points if this had been a date.

“Okay,” he said when the waitress had left. He reached around to the breast pocket of the suit coat he’d draped across the back of his seat and withdrew some folded papers. “Here’s the contract—signed, sealed and now delivered.”

He handed her the Burke’s Weddings contract she’d given him to look over.

“The deposit check is there, too, to get the ball rolling.”

Vonni glanced over them both and meticulously put them in a pocket of her leather binder.

“Now let’s talk turkey instead of burgers,” he suggested.

Vonni outlined the to-do list and the pace at which it would have to be done, then opened her date book to sort through some very tight scheduling.

“It’s June—prime wedding month—and I’m booked to my eyeballs,” she warned.

“Anything that works to fit us in. I’m completely at your disposal,” he assured her, and he meant it because he agreed to everything she laid out for him—including evenings and the weekend.

“So,” he said when they’d gone through it all by the time their burgers arrived, “we’ll be seeing a lot of each other....”

“Until the wedding, yes, we will be,” Vonni qualified.

He smiled as he checked out his bacon-and-blue-cheese burger. “Is that my limit? GiGi’s wedding? If I haven’t convinced you to come on board with Camdens by then will I have lost you for good?”

Leaving Burke’s Weddings and working for Camdens—that should have been what she’d thought about since meeting him. But somehow every time it had come to mind, so had he, and she’d just ended up thinking about him.

A really good reason not to accept his offer....

“I’m happy where I am and doing what I do,” she hedged.

“Great bargaining chip!” he proclaimed, sounding undaunted.

Then, just when Vonni thought he was going to launch into more sales pitch, he instead said, “We don’t know much about the man responsible for our makeup line. Tell me about him.”

“My grandfather?”

“And how he came up with formulas for makeup.”

“Seriously?” Vonni said, doubting that he was genuinely interested.

“Seriously.”

One of Vonni’s big turnoffs on her manhunt had been men whose attention wandered when she talked. Certain that would happen with Dane Camden, she decided any kind of turnoff was a good thing. So she said, “My grandfather was a chemist. Well, he’d actually just graduated with a degree in chemistry when he was recruited into the army during World War II. He was put to work creating skin camouflage.”

“Camdens’ award-winning makeup line began as war paint?”

“That’s what I was told. When my grandfather came out of the army—”

“Abe—that was his name, right? Abe Hunter?”

“Right. When he came home he had some trouble getting a job. My grandmother had read an article about Max Factor and she actually came up with the idea that my grandfather adapt his formulas for camouflage into makeup that women could use. You didn’t know this?”

“Until recently all we knew was that once upon a time there was an obscure brand of makeup that my grandmother and my mother and my aunt all used and loved. So when my great-grandfather—H.J.—decided to add a makeup counter to Camdens stores, that was the brand he wanted to carry. And he bought the formulas for it in order to produce it, too. That’s it. That’s all that any of us knew until... Well, like I said, recently.”

“But now you know more?” Vonni asked.

“Some,” he said, taking a turn at hedging himself. “We just came across a little more information.” His eyebrows pulled together in a half frown.

But he obviously wasn’t going to tell her more than that because then he said, “So your grandfather developed the makeup and started his own company with it....”

“Actually, it was my grandfather’s cousin, Phil, who did the business end of things. Phil was a car salesman and he thought that he and Abe could go into the cosmetics business. My grandfather would be in charge of development and production, Phil would do everything else—marketing, sales, delivery. And Hunter Cosmetics was born.”

“It was in its infancy when H.J. came on the scene, right?”

“It was in the initial stages of succeeding,” Vonni corrected. “And it wasn’t only H. J. Camden who came to my grandfather and Phil with their offer. There was someone named Hank, too...”

“My grandfather, H.J.’s only son—Henry James Junior. He was called Hank.”

“Ah.” Vonni had known the name, not the relationship. But she didn’t judge the son to be any better than the father.

Not that there was anything hostile in her tone. Instead, it was neutral, conversational. The same way Dane’s was, probably because what they were talking about was so far removed from them both.

“I knew there were two Camdens who met with my grandfather and Phil,” Vonni said. “They didn’t want to just buy the products for their stores, though, they wanted to buy out Hunter Cosmetics.”

“It’s something H.J. started and something we’ve stuck with—if it’s more cost-efficient for us to produce what we sell, that’s what we like to do.”

Vonni wanted his attention to wander, wanted him to start texting someone while he only half listened to her—things that had happened on bad dates—but Dane was still interested. He was participating. Being open and sharing information with her. Providing a good exchange.

Why couldn’t you be someone different and have come around months ago?

But he was who he was and it wasn’t months ago, so she forced herself to steer away from that dangerous train of thought and focus back on what he was saying.

“But H.J. and my grandfather wanted Abe and Phil to come to work for them,” Dane added. “The plan was to have Abe continue to mastermind the cosmetics line, and hire Phil in sales.”

“Phil wasn’t thrilled with that,” Vonni said, repeating the story she’d been told several times growing up. “He’d gone from selling cars to co-owning Hunter Cosmetics. He didn’t want to go back to just selling again. And my grandfather didn’t want either part of the deal—he didn’t want to hand over his formulas to anyone and he didn’t want to go to work for Camdens. So they said no to the offer.”

“Then H.J. sweetened it. Considerably,” Dane filled in, popping a French fry into his mouth.

“That didn’t matter to my grandfather,” Vonni said. “But the second offer was substantially higher—”

“And at that point Phil liked the idea of all the money he could make selling out,” Dane said before taking a drink of his beer. “I guess your grandfather hadn’t taken out patents on his formulas....”

“No. He was keeping them as trade secrets, locked in a safe that only he and Phil knew the combination to. When the offer to buy the formulas went up, Phil stole the formulas and sold them to H.J. and Hank. Then he disappeared with all the money.”

“Hunter Cosmetics was set up in a way that allowed Phil to make the business deals, right? Even without Abe’s say....” Vonni had the sense that Dane was being more careful about what he said.

“It was my grandfather’s biggest regret. So the sale was binding and my grandfather had lost his formulas. Phil and the money were nowhere to be found. And H.J. and Hank Camden got what they wanted.”

Raising one eyebrow, Vonni gave Dane a challenging look. “But they knew, didn’t they? And rather than do the ethical thing—rather than making sure my grandfather was in on the agreement—they turned a blind eye and bought stolen property.”

Dane flinched with flourish. “Ouch!”

They were talking academically and there continued to be nothing hostile in Vonni’s tone—or in her feelings about something that had happened so long ago. So she smiled and went on, purposely maintaining the challenging look on her face. “The formulas belonged to my grandfather. Phil stole them from him. Your family bought them. Do you see it differently?”

“To be fair, when Phil made the deal, he said Abe had changed his mind.” But Dane wasn’t defensive enough to sound as if he totally believed the party line.

Vonni pooh-poohed him. “Come on, they had to have know that wasn’t true. My grandfather said he’d given them a once and for all no that same day. And Phil had to have shown up in the middle of the night to sell the formulas because my grandfather had locked them in the safe at midnight and when he found it empty first thing the next morning and couldn’t reach Phil, he called H. J. Camden. He could only get Hank, and Hank played innocent but he confirmed that they already had the formulas in hand, along with the paperwork that made them property of Camdens. If you believe it went down like that honestly, then it’s because you want to believe it,” she accused.

“I’ll concede that it wouldn’t happen like that today,” he said with a somewhat shamed smile. “And that H.J. or my grandfather or somebody should have confirmed the sale with Abe rather than just taking Phil at his word—”

“In the middle of the night,” Vonni pointed out again with a facetious laugh.

“But the money was paid out to Hunter Cosmetics, not to Phil personally—”

“A check that no one offered to stop payment on even if there was a chance that Phil hadn’t cashed it the minute the banks were open that day.”

“Phil claimed that he and Abe would both be coming to work for Camdens after all,” Dane said. “And even though Phil and the money were gone, Abe still could have done that.”

Vonni laughed once more and shook her head. “There was no way! My grandfather wasn’t going to go to work for people who had helped rob him, working on exactly what they’d robbed him of. Would you?”

“No,” Dane confirmed.

And since his tone held a certain amount of concession to what Vonni was accusing his family of, she conceded a little, too.

“It wasn’t as if my grandfather didn’t blame Phil for stealing from him—he did. He knew that was who stuck the knife in his back. But he gave the Camdens credit for twisting it because they bought the formulas they had to know weren’t coming to them legitimately. So yes, growing up I did hear the Camden name said like a curse, but it wasn’t as bad as what was said about Phil.”

“Who was never heard from again? Or was he?”

“No, no one in the family ever heard from him or knew what happened to him.”

“And Abe died in 1976?”

“Someone in your family kept track of him?”

“When the new information about H.J. and Hunter Cosmetics came to light recently, GiGi did some research.”

“Yes, that’s when he died. After open-heart surgery.”

“But between 1953 and then, what did he do to make a living?”

“He worked for a company that produced hair products, developing shampoos and conditioners and that kind of thing.”

“So he went on.”

“To raise his family and have a pretty regular sort of life, sometimes wondering out loud just how rich he might have been if things had been different.”

Dane absorbed that shot with a stoic nod of his head. “Well, if you come to work for us we’ll see what we can do to make it up to him through his granddaughter.”

Vonni laughed again, realizing that it had been fun going back and forth with him, and she had to give him credit for working the conversation back to his job offer. “Oh, you’re good.”

He grinned, and everything was worth it to get to see that.

“I’m just saying....” He shrugged and her gaze went to broad, broad shoulders hugged impeccably by his dress shirt.

“You’re just saying I should do what my grandfather wouldn’t—give up a partnership and being my own boss to go to work for Camdens.”

“You’d still be a boss. To hundreds. With not that many of us over you.”

She had a sudden, vivid image of Dane Camden over her, but it was purely physical and inappropriate and she chased it away.

“But in the meantime,” he said as he paid the bill that had arrived when they’d finished their burgers, “just keep thinking it over and let’s do this wedding for my grandmother.”

“That I can do,” Vonni said.

“Without any hard feelings for what happened before?”

“Without any hard feelings for what happened before,” she agreed.

And she meant it.

But as they left the Cherry Cricket and said good-night with plans to meet again Thursday evening, it occurred to Vonni that she was having some softer feelings for Dane Camden that she didn’t want to have.

That she shouldn’t have.

Softer feelings that she wasn’t going to let get the best of her.

Even if she was beginning to understand some of the things she’d heard about him and why so many women in his circle wanted a turn with him.

Whether or not it would get them to the altar.

Chapter Three

“Georgianna Camden is getting married? Now, that’s a wedding I’ll have to show up for!”

The excitement in Chrystal Burke’s voice was unmistakable when Vonni told her Thursday afternoon that Georgianna Camden’s wedding was the latest job to come their way.

Although Burke’s Weddings had been Chrystal’s college graduation gift from her father, Chrystal only came into the shop sporadically. For an hour here or an hour there, she dropped in to have Vonni update her on what weddings Vonni was doing and—if the bride or groom were of interest to Chrystal—to hear all the details and dig for dirt. But she never offered to help. The actual work was done by Vonni.

Then, if it was a wedding Chrystal wanted to attend but hadn’t already been invited to, Chrystal came to the wedding itself—under the guise of the wedding planner—to basically become one of the guests anyway while Vonni oversaw and coordinated the event and ensured that it went smoothly.

It was the way things had been for the eight years Burke’s Weddings had been in business—at least after the first few months when Chrystal had come in every day, from opening to closing, and learned that a job was not her cup of tea.

“And am I understanding right—did you say that you’re doing all the planning with Dane Camden?” Chrystal asked.

“His grandmother is spending time in Montana with a sick friend and can’t do it herself. So yes, you heard right—Dane Camden is acting as go-between, with Mrs. Camden having final say long-distance.”

“You know, I never got a turn with him....” Chrystal confided as if the idea titillated her.

Vonni’s mother, Elizabeth Hunter, had been the personal assistant to Chrystal’s mother, Helene. Since both women had had two-year-old daughters when Elizabeth started the job, Vonni had joined Chrystal in the nursery every day, under the supervision of the nanny.

As a result, Chrystal and Vonni had grown up together, friends on opposite ends of the silver spoon, but friends nonetheless. They’d even gone to the same schools until college. Their relationship was sisterly but they had very, very different personalities.

“But you’re married again,” Vonni reminded Chrystal with a touch of reprimand in her voice. “Marriage number two—that you swore you were going to make work. So you can’t have a turn with him now, either.”

“Maybe I should do this wedding....” Chrystal suggested.

“What do you mean?” Vonni asked, feeling unusually territorial suddenly.

“You know, I could be there for your meetings with Dane Camden. Go along to check out the church or the reception venue or whatever....”

In other words, Chrystal would be there to flirt while Vonni was trying to do a rush job on the Camden wedding.

Chrystal wasn’t malicious or spiteful. She just tended to be flighty and self-centered. And since Vonni knew that about her, she didn’t ordinarily take offense to what Chrystal said or did. But for some reason Chrystal taking an interest in spending time with Dane Camden rubbed Vonni wrong.

“You’d still be there, too,” Chrystal said, “so it isn’t as if I’d be alone with him or doing anything I shouldn’t. I’d just be...you know, working.”

Vonni took a breath and held it to fight the increasing annoyance she felt.

She didn’t understand why she felt it, but it was eating her alive.

It wasn’t as if she was interested in Dane Camden, she thought as she attempted to sort through her feelings and get them under control. He hadn’t been arrogant or conceited or conniving or upper-class smarmy the way she’d expected him to be, the way she’d found too many of the other entitled rich boys she’d learned in adolescence to stay away from. But she still wasn’t interested. Even despite the fact that he had a good sense of humor, that he seemed humble and down-to-earth, that he was agreeable and cooperative and accessible. And not at all conceited—because if he was aware of how incredibly handsome he was it didn’t show.

But no matter how many positive attributes he had, Vonni was off the find-a-husband carousel, and even if she wasn’t, Dane Camden was absolutely not someone she would even think of going after.

So what she was feeling about Chrystal tagging along couldn’t have anything to do with the man himself.

It was just the inconvenience, Vonni decided.

Because she did have a job to do. And she was in a huge hurry. Too much of a hurry to be able to afford the distraction Chrystal would cause—that was why she so, so, so hated the thought of Chrystal butting in on this.

Banking on the fact that she knew Chrystal well, Vonni decided to call her bluff.

“Maybe you should just do this one yourself,” Vonni challenged with an edge she couldn’t quite keep from her voice, even though she’d convinced herself there was nothing personal in her feelings. “It’s June and I have more weddings on my plate than I can handle already. I only took this one on because—” not because Dane Camden was involved or had great hair or the bluest eyes she’d ever seen or the best shoulders “—because it’s a Camden wedding and I didn’t dare turn down something that could be a gold mine for the future. But if you want to start working again—”

Oooh, that had come out a little bitchy.... But Chrystal didn’t seem to hear it.

“Oh, I don’t want to do the work!” Chrystal said guilelessly.

“And because of time constraints he’s scheduled all nights and this weekend,” Vonni continued in a more conciliatory tone, still with the goal of making things sound unappealing, but trying to make it seem as if she was only thinking of her friend. “What would you tell Richard about not seeing him from now until after this wedding in order to spend that time with Dane Camden—who I believe Richard hates because two of his old girlfriends left him to date Dane Camden instead, didn’t they?”

Chrystal made a horrified face. “Oh, Richard would have a fit! He does hate Dane Camden—I forgot about that.”

“Plus this has to be done in such a hurry that it’s going to be business, business, business—there won’t be a minute to spare,” Vonni went on bleakly. “And meeting with Dane Camden isn’t even a drop in the bucket—he’ll be in and out and then there will be orders and paperwork and calls and scheduling and confirmations and all the details that will have to be done without him...”

Chrystal made a face. “I forgot about all of that. And no, I couldn’t do nights or this weekend—Richard and I are going to Napa this weekend to see his mother.” Chrystal sighed regretfully. “But Dane Camden...I’ve barely gotten to see him across a room at parties. I can’t ever get anyone to introduce us—men are afraid if they do, you’ll go off with him and leave them behind, and other women just want him to themselves.”

Vonni was quick to assure herself that that wasn’t what she was doing—even unconsciously—that she was not feeling the urge to keep him to herself.

“How is he—up close and personal?” Chrystal asked confidentially, as if to find some appeasement.

“I’m just working with him. We haven’t been—and won’t be—up close or personal.”

“Still, you’ve talked to him—I haven’t even done that.”

“He’s very nice,” Vonni conceded. “He has good manners—old-fashioned good manners—holding the door and ordering for me—”

“You’ve been out to eat with him?” Chrystal demanded, sounding jealous.

“Just at the Cherry Cricket for a dinner meeting because it was the only time and place we could both fit it in.”

“But it was just the two of you and he ordered for you? That sounds like a date.”

There was no question in Vonni’s mind that last night had been a business meeting, not a date. And she made that clear to Chrystal. All the while not admitting that she had still gone away from her time with Dane feeling as if she’d been on a date. With someone she wanted to see again....

“He’s pleasant enough company,” was all she would admit, however. “And nice looking—better in person than in any pictures I’ve ever seen of him. But you must know that because you’ve seen him. Otherwise, he’s just another guy.”

“And wasted on you right now,” Chrystal said in a chastising tone because she didn’t agree with Vonni’s current course of taking a break from the husband hunt.

“And definitely wasted on me,” Vonni agreed.

“You’re serious about the no-men thing, aren’t you?” Chrystal said disapprovingly.

“Yes, I am,” Vonni confirmed.

“You’re losing valuable time, you know.”

“I’ve already lost valuable time. Years and years of it. I’ve been on the husband hunt since college. It’s been my second job.”

“Still,” Chrystal persisted.

Vonni had been over and over this. With Chrystal, and on long-distance phone calls with Vonni’s mother in Arizona who was in the blush of new romance with a man she’d met at the retirement community she’d moved into. Neither Chrystal nor Elizabeth liked the idea of Vonni taking a hiatus from the husband hunt, and Vonni was almost as frustrated with defending her decision to them as she was with the husband hunt itself.

It was that frustration that pushed her into a rant. “I’ve been on every internet dating site, Chrys. I’ve gone to every dating event I’ve ever heard of. I’ve done blind dates, dates with friends who I thought maybe could become more than friends, dates with guys I wasn’t attracted to just in case an attraction might develop. I’ve been on dates with newly divorced men to see if I could snatch them up before someone else did. I’ve been there for a widower so when he finished his grieving I might be the one he turned to for the future. I even paid the eighteen-hundred-dollar fee to that private matchmaker and took all of her criticism and all of her advice, and still no husband. Instead, I’ve invested myself in relationships with go-nowhere, commitment-phobic men and ended up with nothing but lost time, lost money and lost energy.”

All the while putting her life on hold.

And that was what she wasn’t going to do anymore.

“I’m taking Vonni time,” she said to Chrystal, what she’d told both of the naysayers several times. “At least six months of Vonni time.”

“I just don’t understand that. Vonni time? It just sounds boring. And lonely. What are you actually going to do?”

“I’m going to get a dog. I’ve always wanted a dog, but thought I should wait—husband first, then a dog. Now I’m just going for the dog. I’m going to buy a house to bring that dog home to. I’m going to decorate that house with no one in mind but me. I’m going to take a real vacation to somewhere that isn’t a meet-a-man destination or cruise or resort. To somewhere I just want to go for the fun of it—”

“It won’t be fun if you don’t have someone to share it with.”

Vonni pointed an accusing finger at her friend. “That’s the kind of thinking that’s kept me putting everything off. And what do I have to show for it? No husband so no dog, no house, no vacation to anywhere worth going, no nothing. I’ve denied myself what I wanted because fate has denied me a husband. Well, no more! Fate may deny me a husband forever, but I’m giving myself the rest.”

Chrystal looked at her with pity and shook her head. “We’ll find you a husband. I’ll talk to Richard—some new lawyers have come into his practice. Maybe one of them is single.”

“It doesn’t matter if they are!” Vonni nearly shouted. “I don’t care. I don’t want to know. I don’t want to meet them. I can’t, Chrystal. I’m tired—exhausted—by the husband hunt. It’s drained me dry. It’s sucked the life out of me. And for now I’m done! I just have to be.”

“I think that’s dumb. Especially now. You’re thirty. Every year—every day—you let go by without trying to get a man puts you a day closer to being forty. Or fifty. Or sixty. And alone with nothing but a dog and a house and some vacation snapshots you had to ask a stranger to take of you.”

“Thank you for making it sound awful,” Vonni said, laughing because to her the course she’d set for herself for at least the rest of the year didn’t feel oppressive, it felt freeing.

“Let’s look at it like this,” she reasoned with Chrystal. “I’m only thirty. I can afford to take six or eight or ten months off the husband hunt to concentrate on myself, to regroup, to recharge, to reset. Then, when I can face it again, I’ll be fresh and maybe instead of attracting another man who takes, takes, takes and doesn’t give back, another man who doesn’t have any intention of ever getting beyond the have-a-good-time stage with any woman, I’ll attract the kind of guy who wants the same things I want.”

“Or, while you’re off getting a house and a dog, the kind of guy who wants the same things you want will have found someone else who wants them, too, and they’ll be coming to you to plan their wedding.”

“I won’t let myself think like that,” Vonni said with a firm shake of her head. She needed this breather. She needed to put some things in her life that made her feel as if she actually had a life. She needed not to just be in limbo, putting everything off until she found a husband.

“Well you should think like that,” Chrystal decreed, getting up from the sofa in the office to signal that she was leaving. “But you’re right not to hang any hopes on Dane Camden—I’ve heard he has a no-marriage-ever policy. Although...” Chrystal added as if something had just occurred to her. “If you know that going in and you’re not looking for a husband right now anyway, a little rest and respite with Dane Camden might be just the ticket.”

Why did that idea inspire a wave of excitement?

“No way,” Vonni swore to herself and to Chrystal at once. “A dog, a house, a vacation as soon as there’s enough of a lull between weddings for me to get away—besides work, those are the only things getting my attention. No men!”

Not even Dane Camden.

“And speaking of work...” Vonni said as Chrystal headed for the office door. “Getting a Camden wedding is a big deal. And it could lead to more of them since there have been a couple other Camden engagement announcements lately—that seems like something to point out to your dad when we have that meeting he promised me this month to talk about partnership.”

In spite of the fact that Burke’s Weddings had been Chrystal’s graduation gift, it fell under the umbrella corporation that Chrystal’s father ran, so he had ultimate say and control.

Vonni had decided against telling either Chrystal or her father about the job offer with Camdens yet.

“I’ll tell Daddy.”

“And set up the meeting?”

“Maybe. But the new girlfriend is keeping him busy so I don’t know....”

“He said June and this is business so it’ll be during business hours, not girlfriend hours. And we’re starting a new fiscal year July 1, so this is a prime time,” Vonni pointed out.

“I’ll talk to him,” Chrystal said. “And you think about having a rejuvenating fling with Dane Camden so you can give me all the details and I can live vicariously through you!”

“All I want from him is his business,” Vonni maintained.

“That’s the saddest thing you’ve ever said,” Chrystal countered.

But as Vonni walked her friend out, she refused to let anything about her self-imposed holiday from husband hunting get her down.

* * *

Dane Camden arrived at Burke’s Weddings at six-thirty Thursday evening and Vonni immediately got to work on a marathon of choosing the basics for his grandmother’s wedding—times, locations, colors, decorations, floral arrangements, invitations, seating, menu, napkins, linens and chair covers.

They went on until after eleven o’clock, when Vonni began to talk about whether to opt for lace or satin sashes to tie around the chair covers.

That was when Dane sat back in the white velvet tufted seat he was sitting in, held up his large, powerful-looking hands in surrender, and said, “Okay, okay, uncle! I’m crying uncle! Have some mercy, woman! I need food! I need hard liquor! Maybe I need to hunt wild game or toss around a football or something that proves I’m still a man!”

Vonni laughed at him and at the notion that he needed anything to prove that he was more man than he was.

He’d again come with his tie and suit coat already removed, wearing bluish-gray slacks and a barely gray dress shirt with the collar button undone and the sleeves rolled midway up his forearms. Thick, muscular forearms.

And sitting in her elegant, all-white and definitely feminine planning room with the Queen Anne chairs around the ornate antique table, he most certainly did not fit in. In fact, he had the air of a bull in a china shop.

But she got the point.

“Enough for tonight,” she said.

“More than enough! It’s hot wings and beer time. Come on, let’s go. I’m gonna get you out of the glare of all this white before you go blind!”

Vonni laughed again. “I spend every day here and haven’t gone blind yet.”

“It could happen anytime,” he said ominously. “We need to get somewhere dark and dingy on the double!”

“I should organize things here before I leave,” Vonni said, knowing that what she shouldn’t do was go anywhere with him. Especially when he’d already banned her from working any more tonight so it couldn’t be considered business.

“Come on.... You wouldn’t make me eat alone, would you? And you can’t tell me you haven’t put in at least a fourteen-hour day already.”

Sixteen, but who was counting.

It was true—Vonni was tired and hungry. So she blamed that for not having the stamina to fight him.

Plus, she wasn’t inclined to say good-night to him quite yet because even planning his grandmother’s wedding with him for the past several hours had been fun....

“Somewhere close by?” she asked.

“We’ll hit that little place in the basement around the corner from here—they have local beers on tap.”

Vonni knew the place—it was a pub that served a few comfort-food dishes. It was also a prime spot people went after work. Which was what she’d be doing with Dane Camden, so it would also not qualify as a date, she told herself.

“Okay,” she agreed. “I am hungry, and maybe we can still talk sashes for the chairs to get just one more thing done?”

“No! You’re relentless,” he said as if she were torturing him. But he’d joked around and teased her through most of the work they’d done, so she recognized when he wasn’t being serious now. She did, however, believe that he had no intention of talking any more about his grandmother’s wedding tonight.

He stood and grabbed his suit coat. “Lock this white nightmare up and let’s get out of it!”

Vonni shook her head at his incorrigibleness. “Let me get my purse and keys out of the office.”

“Hurry or I might swoon.”

She laughed at his melodramatics again and went to retrieve her things, glad that she’d worn her most comfortable wedge sandals today because she could easily walk the distance to the pub in them.

In her office she put on the crocheted shrug that went over the yellow dress she had on, took her purse from the desk drawer and resisted the urge to pop into the bathroom to check her hair and makeup. She’d worn her hair pulled back in a clasp at her nape and she didn’t think anything had come loose, anyway. And fussing with those things made it seem as if she cared what she looked like for Dane, and she wouldn’t let herself.

Instead, she left the office without a clue, merely hoping for the best, and returned to the front of the shop where Dane was waiting for her.

And one glimpse of him after even so short a break somehow caused her to be struck all over again by how terrific looking he was. Tall and lean and strong and so much man that there was no question of his masculinity even if they had been talking all evening about doilies and decorations.

But the power of his presence and how terrific he looked were as inconsequential as her hair and makeup, Vonni silently ruled. And in the hope of stifling the effect he seemed to have on her no matter how hard she tried not to be affected by him, she glanced beyond him at the door he held open for her.

“Go ahead out, I have to set the security system,” she advised.

He did, still holding the door for her from the sidewalk while Vonni punched in the code to start the alarm. Then she joined him outside, using her key to lock the door after he’d closed it behind her.

It was a beautiful, balmy summer night, and that was what they talked about on the way to the pub. But it wasn’t the only thing Vonni thought about.

Images kept flashing through her mind of him taking her hand as they walked. Or putting his arm around her. As if they were a couple.

It was absurd and it was Chrystal’s fault, she decided, for planting the idea of having a fling with the man.

But that wasn’t going to happen! It absolutely was not going to happen!

Attempting to make sure there was nothing personal going on between them, she walked a few inches farther to the side, away from him.

The pub was half-full when they got there. There was no one to seat them so they took a free booth, sitting across from each other.

Positioned like that, it became impossible for her not to look at him and appreciate all over again how terrifically handsome he was even after what was probably a fourteen-hour day for him.

Then, out of the blue, he said decisively, “Satin ribbons, not lace sashes—the lace would be too froufrou for GiGi. You decide whether they should be green or gray or both to stick with the color scheme. Now don’t make me talk about any more of this stuff.”

“Deal,” she agreed, unable to suppress a smile at his unexpected outburst and the fact that he’d complied with what she’d wanted despite his reluctance.

He was a hard man not to like, she realized then. He was easygoing, upbeat, good-natured, smart, quick, funny, warm and altogether nice and pleasant to be around.

Pleasant to work with, she mentally corrected when she realized that she had slipped into doing what she’d done when she was dating—she was cataloging attributes that would have helped her judge whether or not to devote more time to someone she’d just met. To judge whether or not he had husband potential.

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