in until tomorrow.”
She’d moved into the Jardine office building where Don still ran his printing business on the side. He’d given her the suite next to him with a connecting door. So far the arrangement had been working perfectly.
“I told him that, but he insists on seeing you anyway.”
“What’s his name?”
“He said he preferred to surprise you.”
“That’s a pushy salesman tactic. He’s probably the regional manager from Mid Valley machines. They’ve been pestering us to buy their products for months. Get rid of him, Jan.”
“He warned me he wouldn’t leave until he’d spoken to you. I’m afraid he means it.”
“They all mean it. If he’s so anxious, tell him to talk to Don.”
“He doesn’t want to talk to him.”
“Then he’s wasting our time. If he were a client, he would have told you his name. Since we’ve paid all our bills, he couldn’t be a creditor. Tell him we just got back from Sydney with a ton of work to do. Tomorrow’s Tuesday. I’ll see him then.”
In the last six months she and Don had already garnered four lucrative advertising accounts with American companies doing business in Australia and South America. Piper had more work than she could handle now.
“I’m afraid he’s not going to take no for an answer.”
A certain nuance in her voice brought Piper’s head around. Bringing Jan in as office manager and head of their calendar sales in the U.S. had been a master stroke. Because Jan had great business sense, Piper was surprised to discover that her recently engaged assistant could be intimidated by anyone.
“How come you’re afraid to tell him no?”
“He has an aura about him. You know…a certain presence, probably because he’s foreign.”
The hairs prickled on the back of Piper’s neck. “How foreign?”
“If you’re talking about his English, he speaks it perfectly with a slight accent. I think he might be a Mediterranean type or something close to it.”
“So he’s dark-haired?”
“Yes. But tall and…well…you know…built like you wish all guys were built if you know what I mean. To be honest, he’s the most attractive male I’ve ever met in my life. Please don’t tell Jim what I said—”
The charcoal slipped from Piper’s fingers. Three men fit that description. They all belonged to the same family.
“Did this man’s accent sound French?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Are his eyes a fiery black?”
“No. They’re a piercing brown.”
Help!
Piper tried to swallow. It was impossible. “Is he wearing an arm band?”
“A what?”
“A black arm band above the elbow to designate he’s in mourning?”
“No. He’s dressed in this fabulous stone gray suit. I know this might sound weird to you, but he carries himself like he’s…royalty.”
Piper jumped up from her drafting table in shock. “Jan? You’ve just met the future Duc de Pastrana of the House of Parma-Bourbon. Nic is the first cousin of Greer and Olivia’s husbands.” No wonder Jan acted as if she’d just been through a life-changing experience. In an absolute panic she continued.
“If you value your job, you’ll let me put your engagement ring on. I only need it for a few minutes. Until he leaves I’m not just Don’s business partner, I’m his fiancée! Have you got that?”
Her assistant slowly nodded before removing her modest diamond ring. Piper slipped it on. It was a little loose because Jan was larger boned, but it didn’t matter. It was an engagement ring and would do the job.
“Thank you. For this favor you’ll get a bonus in your next paycheck. Go ahead and send him back.”
Piper’s heart thundered beneath the navy pullover she’d slipped on with her jeans earlier that morning. When she wasn’t traveling to meet with clients, she hibernated in her office to do her artwork away from people.
She sat down at her desk, then stood up again, trying to decide how she would greet him. When she caught sight of his tall, striking physique in the doorway, she’d just sat down again which was a good thing. Her legs wouldn’t have supported her.
“Well, well, well,” she declared with feigned nonchalance, taking the offensive. “If it isn’t the captain of the Piccione.”
CHAPTER TWO
“BUENOS dias, Señorita Piperre.”
When Nic rolled the “r” that way, Piper felt it resonate through every particle of her body. No matter how hard she tried to harden herself against his potent male presence, she failed.
“The last time I saw you, you were hiding in the bushes on your estate, waiting to spirit me away so Luc could do his worst to Olivia.”
At the time she’d hoped Nic had forgotten about his mourning period and would do his worst to her. After all, he’d removed the mourning band for a short while on the Piccione. Piper had been dying for him to kiss her.
Instead he’d led her to the family chapel with the priest in attendance. That’s where she’d found Greer and Max, in fact the whole Parma-Bourbon family, waiting to observe the imminent nuptials of the youngest Duchess triplet and the oldest son of the Duc de Falcon.
Nic must have been remembering that night too. He flashed her what she and her sisters called his Castilian smile, a dazzling white masculine smile that was his unique signature.
But as he’d once explained, Castilian was a misnomer since the Varano part of him was Italian, and the Pastrana side of him didn’t come from Castile. The Pastrana’s royal roots lay in that southern region of Spain known as Andalusia.
Through Piper’s sisters she’d learned that the Robles family also claimed a royal connection through the Spanish House of Bourbon, but never gained the Pastrana’s prominence.
“How come you’re slumming it in American waters? Has some urgent business brought you to the other side of the Atlantic?”
He lifted his proud, aristocratic head and shot her an enigmatic glance. She thought he looked leaner, a little more drawn, yet he was more gorgeous than ever. Piper wasn’t the type to faint, but if she were, she’d be lying flat as a pancake on the floor of her office!
“I’ve been in New York for the last few days because another piece of jewelry from the stolen collection showed up at Christie’s auction house. It turned out to be authentic.”
“Don’t
