Dane arched his well-shaped eyebrows. “You’ve been with Burke’s Weddings for eight years? How long have you been promised partnership?”
For a lot of those eight years.
But Vonni was embarrassed to say that, so she said, “A while. When the shop proved profitable—”
“I heard it was the number-one place to have a wedding planned. And it was your name I heard along with that recommendation, not Chrystal Burke’s.”
That embarrassed her, too, so she didn’t address it, she merely went on with what she’d been about to say. “Even though the shop was a gift to Chrystal, Mr. Burke—”
“Really owns it and calls the shots,” Dane said as if it came as no surprise.
“Right. Not on the day-to-day decisions or the staff or any of the weddings or what I do, but—”
“On the bigger picture.”
She confirmed that by not denying it. “Anyway, when the shop proved profitable and Mr. Burke realized that Chrystal wasn’t actually doing anything to bring that about—other than letting her name attract her friends and other people who know her or know of her—he started talking about making me a partner—”
“To keep you.”
“I suppose,” Vonni conceded as their food arrived.
“Because you are Burke’s Weddings—its only asset.”
Vonni shrugged. “There’s always someone else who can do your job.” She was just repeating what had been said numerous times by her grandfather and by her mother, neither of whom had ever taken their employment for granted—and so Vonni didn’t, either.
Something about that made him smile thoughtfully, but he didn’t respond. Instead, he offered her a chicken wing.
“I’m not a big fan of those,” she said, but reciprocated by telling him he was welcome to share her nachos.
“Just give me one chip with a little of everything on it.”
Vonni did, marveling again at how down-to-earth he was. There was an overall sense of familiarity that made it seem as if he felt comfortable with her, and that somehow opened the door to her feeling comfortable with him.
There was no doubt that the man had a way about him.
“And you feel sure the partnership will materialize....” he said then.
“You don’t,” she challenged in response to his tone.
He shrugged and gently, diplomatically admitted that no, he didn’t. “From Howard Burke’s perspective it isn’t to his advantage. And if you’ve let him slide by on promises for eight years—”
“Why give me partnership when he can get the same thing from me as an employee,” Vonni finished for him.
“I could be wrong,” he allowed.
Vonni didn’t want to entertain the idea that he could be right, so she changed the subject.
“What about you?” she said. “You said you’re the guy who gets the impossible done—what does that translate into in the family business?”
“My official title is senior vice president but none of us take those things seriously—”
“Us?”
“We really are family owned and operated. There are ten Camden grandchildren—me and my three brothers and two sisters, and our four cousins. We’re the board of directors and we run the whole shebang, each of us doing pretty much just what suits us—”
“That doesn’t sound very organized.”
He laughed. “It actually is. Somehow it works out. No matter what comes up, there’s always one or another of us willing or able to do it. We all do some project development here and there. We all oversee certain things. We all solve problems. If GiGi says, ‘Why doesn’t Camdens get into the wedding business,’ we put that up for discussion, too, even though she isn’t really part of the company. But I’m usually the one called in to get things done when no one else is making headway. If deals are becoming difficult or look impossible, I go in and negotiate or juggle or do whatever it takes—”
“Right or wrong?” Vonni couldn’t resist the jibe.
“Nope,” he said without skipping a beat. “Not right or wrong. I can’t speak for the old days, but now I—we all—make sure that no deal goes down unless everyone is satisfied.”
“Even if it means not getting what you want?”
“That’s usually where I come in. I don’t get ruffled or frustrated or mad too easily, so I guess that makes me the diplomat. But I’m also persistent. If we want an area for a new store and it means displacing small businesses, I work with those small businesses until new and better locations have been found for them, or they can go away with enough buyout money to make them happy. If an area doesn’t want one of our stores to come in, I negotiate and work with the cynics until they’re happy—or at least appeased. I don’t accept excuses, but I can also usually get things accomplished without using a heavy hand. Or being underhanded in any way....”
Vonni took that as an admission that what had happened with her grandfather hadn’t been completely aboveboard.
“So you’re the reformed Camdens,” she teased with a bit of an edge.
He laughed. “We might have reformed some of the practices, but we didn’t need reforming. I can honestly say that not a single thing any of us has done since we’ve come into the business has been anything to be ashamed of.”
“You just inherited the reputation along with the business?”
“Afraid so. But that’s part of why we do things the way we do them now—to make sure that reputation isn’t deserved.”
“Anymore,” Vonni contributed.
He shrugged and that drew her gaze to those remarkable shoulders of his. “All I can say is that not only do you have my personal promise that if you come to work for us you’ll be treated well and you’ll find your association with us beyond reproach, but you can write any kind of protection you want into your contract. We know that with you, in particular, our old reputation works against us and we’re willing to do whatever it takes to overcome it so I can have you....”
He grinned at his own turn of phrase.
“So we can have you working with Camdens,” he amended. “See? It’s too late to be talking business—I’m putting my foot in my mouth.”
Was he thinking about having her? Himself?
Oh, it was late, and her own mind was wandering dangerously.
Their waiter showed up table side again just then to ask if they wanted anything else. After checking with Vonni, Dane said they were finished and the waiter left the check.
Vonni tried to split it with him but Dane wouldn’t hear of it. “I’m keeping you working until eleven at night—the least I can do is buy you nachos. Besides, tomorrow night you’re providing dinner.”
It wasn’t actually dinner she was providing. They were scheduled to spend another evening like they had earlier at her shop. Except tomorrow night there would be an abundance of dishes and cakes for him to taste from the caterers and bakers she’d recommended. So while there would be plenty of food eaten, it wasn’t actually a meal.
After he settled the bill and they left the pub, Vonni expected them to part ways—him in one direction to where his car was likely parked at the Camden Building, and her to where hers was parked behind her shop.
But instead he insisted on walking her to her car.
“You know I’m just giving you a hard time when I complain about this whole wedding-planning thing, don’t you?” he asked along the way. “It’s not my forte, but you do make it painless.”
Vonni laughed. “I’m glad to hear it. But to be honest you are in a league of your own—I do usually do most of this with the bride. Even if the grooms come along they don’t have to be as hands-on as you are.”
And why had hands-on come out with the tiniest breath of a seductive sound to it?
Vonni hoped he hadn’t heard it but the s
mile she saw from the corner of her eye told her he had.
She was grateful that he didn’t comment, though.
Instead, he said, “I’ll run everything by GiGi first thing tomorrow morning, and if she wants anything different than what we’ve set up tonight I’ll let you know. But I went pretty strictly by her guidelines, so there probably won’t be a problem.”
“Would you call—or have your secretary or assistant or someone—call as soon as you’ve talked to her just to let me know it’s safe to put in the orders? I should do that first thing, too, to get things going.”
“GiGi will be up at the crack of dawn, and I’ll call her then. What time will you be in in the morning?”
Vonni told him.
“I’ll be on the phone to you five minutes after that to let you know what GiGi thought so you can put in the orders without losing any time.”
“That would be great,” Vonni said, appreciating how accommodating he was.
They’d reached the small employee parking lot behind her shop by then. It wasn’t well lit and she was always uneasy being there alone after dark so she also appreciated that he was with her.
And that was the only reason she was happy he was there, she told herself firmly when it struck her that even after hours and hours of working with him and sharing a late supper on top of it, she still wasn’t eager to say good-night....
“Thanks for the nachos and walking me back here,” she said as she unlocked the door of her small black sedan, opened it and stepped behind it to face him again.
“The least I could do,” he said in a voice that was slightly deeper than it usually was. For no reason Vonni could fathom.
He was looking at her more intently than usual, too, she realized then. Studying her in a way that caused her to wonder what he was thinking about.
Maybe her hair had come loose after all....
Or worse, maybe she had nacho cheese on her chin....
She rubbed at it nonchalantly but didn’t feel anything, and something about that made him smile as if she delighted him.
“You know, originally I wasn’t altogether pleased with my grandmother for giving me this job,” he confessed. “But now...I’m kind of glad she did.”
Vonni laughed at him. “An hour ago you said it was a horrible job.”
His smile turned into that grin she liked more than she wanted to.
“That was just the need for food and drink talking.” His grin tilted to one side. “But all day today I surprised myself by looking forward to tonight, and I don’t see that changing tomorrow.”
She refused to admit that she’d spent today watching the clock and willing the time to go faster in anticipation of seeing him again, too. She refused to admit that to herself or to him. Even though it was true.
“I’m not surprised that not too many brides bring their grooms around to work with you—it might cause a lot of weddings to get called off,” he said then.
Vonni laughed wryly at that. “I can honestly say that I’ve never been the cause of any wedding being called off.”
“I can’t believe it,” he said, still staring at her, giving the impression that he liked what he saw.
“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—something she’d never felt before, let alone done.
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, and she told herself that. She silently shouted it at herself.
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....
Until she snapped herself out of it again.
Client. He was a client, she shouted in her mind.
And she was on hiatus from men!
And even if neither of those things had been true, she wasn’t wasting another minute of her life with a man who wasn’t marriage material—and Dane Camden apparently might as well have taken out a billboard announcing that no one was ever getting him to the altar.
So Vonni stood a little straighter, putting just a smidgen more distance between them, forcing herself to think of the door as her shield against him.
“Can I drive you to your car?” she offered, swearing to herself that it was nothing more than she would do for any other client.
“Nah,” he said. “I’d better walk off all that blue-cheese dressing I ate with the wings. And you’d better get home—it’s late.”
Once more fighting the image of him leaning over that door to kiss her, Vonni got behind the wheel of her car and started it. Then she pushed the button to lower the window as he closed the door after her.
“Tomorrow night at six-thirty?” she said to confirm.
“Maybe six-fifteen,” he said, as if he might not be able to wait until six-thirty.
“I close the shop at six and that’s when the food is due to be delivered. I was just going to get everything ready between six and six-thirty. But you can come anytime after six if you don’t mind watching the setup.”
“I don’t,” he said with that secret sort of smile again, hinting that he liked looking at her no matter what she was doing.
“I’ll just see you tomorrow night, then. Whenever....”
“Whenever....” he repeated as he stepped away from her car so she could pull out of her spot.
Which Vonni did, spending her short drive home feeling just a little flushed and aglow with the warmth Dane Camden had induced in her.
And understanding more and more why he was the cure so frequently recommended for any woman who needed a boost.
Chapter Four
“Ordinarily this process would be spread out—I’d have you sample different caterers on different days, and we’d go to each bakery separately,” Vonni explained to Dane on Friday evening. “But because of the rush we’re in, we’re doing it all here tonight.”
He’d arrived at the shop at six o’clock sharp, just when the food was being delivered. Recalling the exchange they’d had at the end of the night before—and the fact that he’d called her himself this morning to give his grandmother’s go-ahead and then chatted a little before hanging up—it was tempting for Vonni to believe he’d come earlier than planned because he was eager to be with her again.
But she resisted that temptation and still tried to tell herself that it was Friday, he probably hadn’t wanted to hang around his office any longer than necessary, which was why he hadn’t waited until six-thirty to come to the shop. That it didn’t have anything to do with being eager to see her.
But deep down there was a part of her that hoped that was the reason....
She was having the tasting in the same planning room they’d used the night before. As she organized and arranged the food on the antique table that was the size of a conference table, he stood nearby watching and she explained how she thought it best to taste so many things at one sitting.
“I think we should go through course by course, trying what each caterer sent and comparing the dishes. Some might fall short on one course or another, but I’ll keep track, and at the end we can see who came out ahead overall. And I wouldn’t recommend taking more than a bite or two of each taster—we have hors d’oeuvres, soups, salads, fish, beef and chicken dishes, pastas and sides. Then we have wedding cake—three different bakeries sent four cakes each. That means a dozen kinds of wedding cake to test, t
oo.”
“So a bite here, a bite there, will add up,” Dane summarized.
“Exactly. One of the caterers sent sorbets as palate cleansers, so that will help, but there’ll be that to eat, too. And to drink I can get you soda or iced tea or lemonade, but I’d recommend sparkling water—also to clear the palate.”
He pretended disappointment. “What? No wine for every course?”
“Sorry. But I did talk to my liquor people today and I negotiated the champagne you asked for down to two hundred dollars a bottle—”
“That’s a bargain price for that champagne,” he said, sounding impressed.
“Plus I got a discount on the rest of the liquor for the wedding, too.” Which still put the bill for the liquor alone at what many people paid for their entire wedding.
But Vonni didn’t point that out. This was a Camden event, the wedding of the matriarch of the entire Camden clan—it might be a relatively small affair, but there weren’t any corners being cut.
“You’re trying all this stuff, too, aren’t you? You wouldn’t make me eat alone....”
Ordinarily no, Vonni didn’t join her clients in this endeavor, she just took notes. But there wasn’t anything ordinary about the way this wedding was being planned. And in envisioning how to do the tasting tonight, and thinking about what she’d already learned about Dane Camden, she’d had a feeling that he wouldn’t want to do this while she merely stood by and watched.
So she’d decided to participate.
But not because she was engineering having dinner with him for a third night—she made that point perfectly clear to herself. It was for the client’s sake, plus it would give her the opportunity to check up on the caterers she recommended to most of her clients to make sure they were still worth using. So all the way around it was only a matter of business.
“Yes, I’ll try everything, too,” she assured.
A Camden Family Wedding Page 6
