One Night with Prince Charming (Aristocratic Grooms #2)(12)
Author: Anna DePalo

Pia felt a sensation like emotional vertigo.

Hawk looked relaxed and at home in a green T-shirt and khakis, as casual as she’d ever seen him. He looked, in fact, as if he might have sauntered in after watching some television or grabbing a bite to eat in another part of the house.

Pia glanced at Lucy, bewildered.

“Have you met my brother, James Carsdale?” Lucy said with an inviting smile, seemingly unaware of anything untoward happening.

Lucy cast her brother an impish grin. “Do I need to recite all your titles, or will it suffice to enlighten Pia that you’re also known as His Grace, the Duke of Hawkshire?”

“Carsdale?” Pia repeated, still forcing herself to focus on Lucy. “I thought your surname was Montgomery.”

“Pia knows I have a title,” Hawk said at the same time.

It was Lucy’s turn to look perplexed. She glanced between her brother and Pia. “I feel as if I’ve walked in during the middle of the second act. Is there something I should know?”

Pia swung to look at Lucy. “Your brother and I are—” she spared Hawk a withering look “—acquainted.”

Hawk arched a brow. “Well-acquainted.”

“Past tense,” Pia retorted.

“Obviously—on all counts,” Lucy put in before turning to look at her brother. “You didn’t tell me that you knew Pia. You suggested only that, on good authority, you had the name of an excellent wedding planner whom you wanted to recommend to me.”

“The truth,” Hawk responded.

Lucy arched a brow. “I take it the good authority was none other than yourself?”

Hawk inclined his head in silent acknowledgment, a mocking look in his eyes as they met Pia’s.

“Yes,” Pia put in acidly, “your brother is practiced in making the artful omission.”

Lucy looked with interest from her brother to Pia and back. “On the stage, this would be called a moment of high drama,” she quipped. “And here I thought, Hawk, that I had a lock on the thespian skills in the family.”

Pia stood and reached for her handbag. “Thank you for the offer of tea, Lucy, but I won’t be staying.”

As Pia tried to step by Hawk on the way to the door, he took hold of her elbow, and she froze.

It was the first time he had touched her in three years—since the night they had first met. And despite herself, she couldn’t help feeling Hawk’s casual touch on her elbow to the tips of her toes. Her skin prickled at his nearness.

Why, oh why, did she have to remain so responsive to him?

Pia forced herself to look up. It was at a moment such as this that she rued her lack of stature. And Hawk bested her on all counts…physical height, bearing and consequence in the world.

“I see you have the knack of anticipating requests,” he said smoothly. “It’s a useful skill in a wedding planner. And, as it happens, I was going to ask for a private word.”

Fortunately, she regained some of her combativeness at his words, and she fumed silently even as she let Hawk guide her out the door to the parlor without protest. She was headed in that direction anyway and there was no use making a scene in front of his sister.

Once in the hall, however, she pulled away from Hawk’s loose hold. “If you would summon your butler or majordomo, or whatever you call him, for my coat, I’ll be on my way and we’ll put an end to this charade of an interview.”

“No,” Hawk responded, pulling shut the parlor door.

“No?” The gall…the utter nerve.

Hawk smiled grimly. “Why pass up the chance to tell me, again, what you think of me? Or better yet, say it with finger food?” He nodded toward the room they’d just exited. “I noticed at least a few good scones in there.”

“I’ll permit Lucy to enjoy them.”

“What a relief.”

Her gaze clashed with his.

“It seems we’re at an impasse,” Hawk said dryly. “I refuse to let you leave with your coat until we’ve spoken, and you’re—” he looked at a nearby window and the steady drizzle coming down “—determined to get wet.”

“You’re all wet,” she retorted. “And for your information, I have a compact umbrella with me in my handbag.”

Hawk sighed. “We can do this the hard way, and perhaps make a scene that Lucy will overhear, or we can retire to somewhere with a bit more privacy.”

“You leave me little choice,” Pia tossed back, her chin set at a mutinous angle.

Without waiting for a further invitation, Hawk steered her into a room across the hall.

As Hawk shut the door behind them, Pia noted that this room was unmistakably a library or study. It had built-in bookshelves, a marble mantel as impressive as the one in the parlor, and a large desk set in front of high windows. With plenty of dark, leather-upholstered furniture, the room was clearly Hawk’s domain.

Pia turned back to confront Hawk. “I had no idea Lucy was related to you. She gave her name as Lucy Montgomery. Otherwise—”

“—you’d never have come?” he finished for her, his tone sardonic.

“Naturally.”

“Montgomery is the stage name that Lucy adopted. It is, however, also a surname that appears in our family tree.”

Pia raised her eyebrows. “Do all you Carsdales operate under a variety of names?”

“When it suits.”

“And I suppose it suits when you’re intent on seduction?”

She’d intended the comment as a sharp riposte, but he had the audacity to give her a slow, sensuous smile.

“Is that what it was—seduction?” he murmured. “To which you fell victim?”

“Through foul means.”

“But still you were seduced by the man…not the title.”

Pia detected a note of na**d honesty in Hawk’s banter, but she didn’t let herself dwell on it. She didn’t let herself dwell on anything—including the fact that they were in his library alone together—except holding on to her outrage.

“You masterminded this,” she accused, looking around them. “You arranged to have me come here when you knew I was not suspecting…not ex-expecting…”

Words deserted her.

“It’s not a charade, however,” Hawk countered. “How could it be? My sister needs to move up her wedding date, and you’re a wedding consultant, last I heard.”

“You know what I mean!”