but there’s bound to be something there that will do.”
Relieved to have him occupied, she fled to her room to change. She abandoned the baggy sweat suit idea—she did have some pride, after all—and settled for a comfortable pair of slim-fitting jeans and a becoming russet sweater.
She was on her way back to the living room, when the doorbell rang. The chauffeur stood on the stoop with two huge insulated bags designed to keep carryout food hot. Melanie stared at the familiar logo on the bags, mouth gaping.
“You ordered barbecue?” she asked as Richard came up behind her and took the bags. “From Ohio?”
“Your assistant said you go into raptures every time you talk about it,” he said. “I figured I owed you something after canceling that meeting. I wanted to make you smile.” He studied her intently. “You’re not smiling yet.”
“Give me a minute,” she said, still wrestling with the appearance of food from an Ohio restaurant on her doorstep as if it were being delivered around the corner. “When on earth did you talk to Becky?”
“About twenty minutes before I had my secretary call and cancel the meeting. Once I spoke with Becky, I wanted to be sure I could pull this off before I had Winifred call you. I knew you’d be disappointed in me, and I wanted to make up for that.”
“Oh, my God,” she whispered. No wonder Becky had been so worried earlier. She’d already spoken to Richard and knew he was planning this extravagant surprise. Becky also knew how Melanie was likely to react to a man who did something this totally unexpected and extraordinary.
Richard studied her with a narrowed gaze. “You’re still not smiling. You do like this barbecue, right?”
“It’s amazing,” she said. “It’s one of the things I miss most about home.”
“That’s what Becky said.”
“But for you to go to all this trouble,” she said, still stunned. “It must have cost a fortune to have this flown in.”
“That’s what corporate jets are for. Next time, we’ll fly over and eat there. You can see your family.”
Feeling totally dazed, Melanie turned around and walked past him. Until this instant she hadn’t comprehended what it meant to be a man like Richard Carlton, a man who could do something this outrageous on a whim. She’d been frightened by her growing feelings for him before. Now she was terrified. It would be way too easy to be seduced by grand gestures like this and forget all about the dangers of getting seriously involved with the man making them.
She sat down at the kitchen table, picked up her glass of wine and took a careful sip to steady her nerves. Richard put the bags on the table, sat down opposite her and regarded her worriedly.
“Are you upset about this? I thought I was doing something nice.”
Melanie met his gaze and finally allowed herself a small smile. “You did. In fact, no one has ever done anything so incredibly sweet and nice and over-the-top for me before.”
“Okay, I’ll confess I’m new to this. Is that a bad thing?” he asked.
“It could be,” she admitted, her smile fading.
“Why?”
“It’s wildly seductive,” she said before she could censor herself.
“Oh, really?” he said, clearly intrigued. “How seductive?”
She gave him a scolding look. “Don’t even go there. I meant that I don’t know what to do with it.”
He regarded her blankly. “Eat it. In fact, if the aroma coming out of these bags is anything to go by, that is definitely what we should do with it.”
“I meant I don’t know how to handle a gesture like this,” she said impatiently. “It’s too much.”
“It’s dinner.”
“From Ohio! From my favorite restaurant, where I used to go with all my friends when we wanted to celebrate a special occasion.”
“Would you have been happier if I’d brought in Chinese from down the block?”
“Not happier,” she admitted. “But that would have made sense.”
He reached for her hand, then pressed a kiss against her knuckles. “That would have been safe, that’s what you really mean, isn’t it? It would have been ordinary, acceptable, not scary.”
She nodded slowly, trying not to notice that he was still holding her hand, that he was still sending shivers down her spine just with that touch.
“Why are you so desperate to feel safe around me?”
“Because we’re playing a game, Richard,” she said a little desperately. “That’s what we agreed to.”
“And barbecue from Ohio changes the rules?”
“Pretty much,” she said, afraid she was sounding both ungrateful and ridiculous.
“Want me to throw it out?” he asked, picking up the bags.
Reacting purely to the needy growling in her stomach that came with each whiff of the familiar food, she grabbed the bags away from him. “Don’t you dare. I don’t pretend to know why you really did this, but I want that barbecue.”
He grinned. “Shall I get the napkins?”
“Get lots of them, because this is not food that can be eaten neatly,” she said, opening the bags to find enough baby-back ribs, coleslaw, potato salad and corn bread to feed a half-dozen people. She looked at Richard incredulously. “Were you expecting company?”
“I figured if it was that good, you’d want leftovers.” He grinned. “Besides, Becky made me promise there would be some for her in return for her not telling you what I was up to.”
Melanie shook her head. “If she can bamboozle you to make a deal like that, maybe I should send her out to negotiate our contracts from now on.”
“I think you do okay on your own,” he told her.
“Thank you.” She looked him over. “If you expect to have a prayer of staying clean, lose the tie, roll up your sleeves and tuck a napkin in your collar.”
He grinned and did as she’d instructed. He immediately looked more casual, more relaxed…more seductive. Lord, give me strength, she prayed. “And thank you for this food,” she added aloud.
Richard gave her a questioning look.
“Just saying a little blessing before dinner,” she said.
Judging from the amusement flickering in his eyes, she had a hunch he knew that was only a small part of what she’d been praying for.
“Melanie?”
“Hmm?” she murmured distractedly as she took her first bite of the tender, perfectly seasoned pork.
