One Night with Prince Charming (Aristocratic Grooms #2)(32)
Author: Anna DePalo

Ah, yes. Hawk.

If Lucy only knew, Pia thought.

Even though her acquaintance with Hawk three years ago had been fleeting—a one-night stand, if she looked at the matter unflinchingly—Pia recognized that he’d changed a lot. He was shouldering a lot more responsibility, and could claim a lot of success through his own hard work. He was also considerate. Look at how he’d tried to help her with her business—insisting on making amends. And she had intimate knowledge that he was a terrific lover.

Still, she couldn’t help wondering how Hawk viewed their current sexual interlude. They’d never attempted to attach labels to it. Whatever was the case, though, she insisted to herself, this time she would no longer be the naive and vulnerable young thing.

Lucy regarded her closely. “If you don’t mind my saying so, I couldn’t help noticing that you and my brother had a testy interaction when you arrived here for our first meeting.”

Pia schooled her surprise—Hawk’s sister had never brought up that first meeting in prior conversations.

Still, she couldn’t deny the truth.

“We did,” Pia confessed. “I…didn’t form a good opinion of him when I first met him a few years ago.”

Now that was a lie. She’d been so taken with him, she’d fallen into bed. It was after their romantic interlude had ended that her opinion of him had soured.

Lucy gave her a small smile. “I can understand why you might not have. I know my brother had his party years, though he never shared the details with me because I was so much younger.” She paused, looking at Pia more closely. “But that phase of his life all came to end three years ago.”

“Hawk told me,” Pia said with sympathy.

Still, Pia got the distinct impression that Lucy meant more than she was saying. Was she trying to persuade Pia that Hawk wasn’t so terrible anymore? And if so, why? Because she cared what her wedding planner thought of her brother?

Again, Pia wondered how much Lucy suspected, and what she would say if she knew Pia and Hawk knew each other intimately these days.

Lucy sighed. “I guess there’s no going back, is there?” she asked rhetorically. “In any case, Hawk has taken over as head of the family remarkably well. And Sunhill Investments has reversed the state of the ducal finances in just a couple of years—it’s remarkable.”

Pia fixed a smile. She was reminded of how Hawk had spent his time while he was apparently forgetting her, and an element of doubt intruded again. She was crazy to think she could somehow become remarkable herself—let alone unforgettable—to a man like him. He was a duke and a multimultimillionaire. She was a wedding planner from Pennsylvania.

She pushed back the heart-in-the-throat feeling and convinced herself again that she was prepared for the eventual end of their fling.

Lucy reached out a hand and touched her on the arm. “All I’m saying, Pia, is that Hawk isn’t the person that he was even three years ago. You should give him a chance.”

Pia wondered what kind of chance Lucy thought she should be giving Hawk. Was she suggesting that Pia should like him enough to interact nicely with him…or more?

Pia opened and closed her mouth.

“All is forgiven,” she said finally for Lucy’s benefit. “You needn’t worry that Hawk and I are unable to get along.”

In fact, lately, they’d gotten along so well, they’d gotten into bed together.

“Good,” Lucy said with a smile, seemingly accepting her vague answer. “Because I know he likes you. He sang your praises when he suggested you to me as a wedding coordinator.”

Pia smiled uncertainly.

She wasn’t sure upon what basis Hawk’s sister was resting the observation that Hawk liked her, but she felt a flutter of happiness at the thought.

Her reaction was both wonderful and a cause for concern…

Pia walked beside Hawk in his impressive landscaped gardens.

Since arriving at Hawk’s family estate near Oxford two days ago, she and Hawk had gone fishing and riding on his estate, as promised. She’d also been busy working long distance and taking in the many, many rooms that comprised Silderly Park.

She’d tried not to be overwhelmed by the medieval manor house itself. On a previous trip to Britain, she had toured nearby Blenheim Palace, the Duke of Marlborough’s family seat. And she could say without a doubt that though Silderly Park didn’t carry the identifier in its name, it was no less a palace.

Pia glanced momentarily at the windowed stories of Silderly Park as she and Hawk strolled along and he pointed out various plantings to her. They were both dressed in jackets for the nippy but nevertheless unseasonably warm November weather.

Hawk’s principal residence had two wings, and its medieval core had been updated and added to over the centuries. The manor house boasted beautiful painted plaster ceilings, two rooms with magnificent oak paneling and a great hall that could seat 200 or 300 guests. The reception rooms displayed an impressive collection of eighteenth-and nineteenth-century artwork, from various artists, including Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Even though the income was no longer necessary to him, Hawk had kept Silderly Park open to the public, so that the formal reception rooms could be visited by tourists.

Still, Pia couldn’t help feeling as if she didn’t belong here. Unlike Belinda and Tamara, she hadn’t been born to wealth and social position. Maybe if she had, she would have recognized Hawk as more than a plain Mr. James Fielding on the first occasion she’d met him.

“The gardens were created in the late eighteenth century,” Hawk said, calling her back from her thoughts. “We use at least five or six different types of rose plantings in the section we’re in now.”

Pia clasped her hands together in front of her. “This would be a wonderful place to consult for roses to use in weddings. Every bride is looking for something different and unique.”

“If you’re interested, the gardener could tell you more,” Hawk said, sending her a sidelong look. “Or you could come back in the Spring.”

Pia felt a shiver of awareness chase down her spine. Was Hawk thinking their relationship would continue at least until Spring—well past Lucy’s wedding?

“Perhaps,” she forced herself to equivocate, careful not to look at him. “Spring is my busy season for weddings, as you can well imagine.”

“Of course, only if you can fit me into your schedule,” Hawk teased.