A Business Engagement by Merline Lovelace

Author:Merline Lovelace [Lovelace, Merline]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-07-31T07:00:00+00:00

Ten

Still troubled by Dev’s parting comment, Sarah knotted the sash to her robe and stepped out onto her little balcony. She’d lost herself in the view before, but this time the seemingly endless vista of chimneys and gray slate roofs didn’t hold as much interest as her bird’s-eye view of the street four stories below.

The limo Dev had called for idled a few yards from the hotel’s entrance. When he strode out of the hotel, the sight of him once again outfitted in his business attire gave Sarah’s heart a crazy bump. She couldn’t help contrasting that with the image of his sleek, naked body still vivid in her mind.

The uniformed driver jumped out to open the rear passenger door. Dev smiled and said a few words to him, inaudible from Sarah’s height, and ducked to enter the car. At the last moment he paused and glanced up. When he spotted her, the friendly smile he’d given the driver warmed into something so private and so sensual that she responded without thinking.

Touching her fingers lightly to her lips, she blew him a kiss—and was immediately embarrassed by the gesture. It was so schmaltzy, and so out of character for her. More like something Gina might do. Yet she remained on the balcony like some lovelorn Juliet long after Dev had driven off.

Even worse, she couldn’t summon the least desire to get dressed and meander through the streets. Peering into shop windows or people watching at a café didn’t hold as much allure as it had before. She would rather wait until Dev finished with his meeting and they could meander together.

She’d take a long, bubbly bath instead, she decided. But first she had catch up on her email. And call Grandmama. And try Gina again. Maybe this time her sister would answer the damned phone.

*

Gina didn’t, but Sarah caught the duchess before she went out for her morning constitutional. She tried to temper her habitual concern with a teasing note.

“You won’t overdo it, will you?”

“My darling Sarah,” Charlotte huffed. “If I could walk almost forty miles through a war-torn country with an infant in my arms, I can certainly stroll a few city blocks.”

Wisely, Sarah refrained from pointing out that the duchess had made the first walk more than fifty years ago.

“Have you heard from Gina?” she asked instead.

“No, have you?”

“Not since she texted me that she was flitting off to Switzerland.”

She’d tried to keep her the response casual, but the duchess knew her too well.

“Listen to me, Sarah Elizabeth Marie-Adele. Your sister may act rashly on occasion, but she’s a St. Sebastian. Whatever you think she may be up to, she won’t bring shame on her family or her name.”

The urge to tell her grandmother about the missing medallion was so strong that Sarah had to bite her lip to keep from blurting it out. That would only lead to a discussion of how she’d become involved with Dev, and she wasn’t ready to explain that, either. Thankfully, her grandmother was content to let the subject drop.

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