what’s a real palace like?”
A barrage of questions filled the air.
Dan tried to focus on Howard’s question. He thought of the ornate guest room with its lush wine-colored velvet drapes, upholstered furniture to match and the lace curtains at the windows. There had been a bed large enough for a family of four to sleep in. And a portrait of a dour Baron ancestor that had looked down on him from over the large fireplace where a fire smoldered. As luxurious as the setting had been, he hadn’t been able to sleep.
A glance out the window had taken him outside to a woman he would never, in this lifetime, forget.
“Nice, but formal and a little intimidating,” he finally answered. “I couldn’t wait to get home where I can put my feet up and have a cold beer.”
“What’s the duchess like?” Linda Kimball asked wistfully. “Is she as beautiful as they say?”
“Let’s just say she’s not like the girl next door,” Dan said wryly. He waved off any more questions and backed into his office.
What continued to surprise him after all this time was that eighteen months later he still thought about the ethereal woman he’d encountered in the Baronovia palace gardens. He’d wondered on and off why he hadn’t been able to find her the next morning. Maybe, he thought as he stared into his blank computer screen, she had been just a dream.
A burst of laughter outside Dan’s open door distracted him. He glanced up in time to see a female junior officer being kissed under a giant spring of mistletoe left hanging after the recent office Christmas and New Year’s parties.
Cheered on by laughing bystanders, the kiss was lasting longer than Dan thought necessary. To make him really uncomfortable in his nostalgic state of mind, the kiss served to remind him of a night that, by all logic, he should have forgotten long ago.
He wasn’t a ladies’ man, but he hadn’t been a hermit, either. His mystery woman hadn’t been the only woman in his life, but she was the one he couldn’t forget.
There had been something so special about her that he had searched for her among the guests. On the chance she was a member of the bridal party, he looked for her during the wedding rehearsal and at the dinner that followed. To add to his frustration, the pomp and circumstance of the wedding had prevented him from actively searching for her. He couldn’t have exactly asked if anyone knew a woman of her description; young with long, auburn hair and a body that had been made to fit in his arms, could he?
“Commander?” A knock on the open door broke into Dan’s reverie.
It was Howard again. “Sorry to bother you, sir, but we were trying to decide what kind of gift would be appropriate for the commander’s housewarming. We figure it has to be something special for someone like the duchess.”
“Suit yourself. I’m planning on giving them a toaster.” He motioned for Howard to close the office door so he could get back to work.
Instead of opening the file on his desk, Dan decided it was time to get his mind off the past. He needed to map out his New Year’s resolutions and stick to them. And they didn’t include daydreaming about a woman who might not have been real. Who, if she had been real, hadn’t been interested in seeing him again.
With a last look through the glass door of his office at the celebration going on outside, Dan turned on his computer and drew up his first New Year’s resolution. After all, he told himself with a glance at the waiting file, it had to be smarter to plan for the future than to wait for his future to come to him. A methodical man by nature, he spent the next half hour drawing up a five-year plan.
Bottom line, he mused when he finally checked the printout of his plan and closed down his computer, he was in his thirtieth year and it was time to settle down. Ergo, he would marry when he turned thirty-five and have two children by the time he was forty—that is, if his wife were willing. At that age he would be old enough to choose a wife wisely. As for children, he assured himself as he mentally flexed his arm muscles, he would still be vigorous enough to play baseball without looking like a complete fool.
In retrospect, he should have known fate had a way of laughing at the plans of a mere mortal man.
TWO WEEKS LATER, Dan stood on the doorstep and admired the Stevenses’ new address. The redbrick house on the outskirts of D.C. had green-and-white shutters and showed its distinguished lineage.
Bushes flanking the green doorway were lit with ropes of tiny bright lights. A welcome sign hung over a large wreath of apples, pears and pinecones woven with red and green ribbons and giving off a tart, sharp scent. As he started up the steps, music and laughter drifted through the open windows.
Dan grinned and crossed his fingers. With both the duchess and Mike Wheeler’s wife, Charlie, present tonight, he hoped the evening would go without a mishap. Or if it didn’t, that he wouldn’t be asked to help clear it up. He’d already been chewed out by Admiral Crowley, the JAG, for getting involved with the duchess’s and Charlie Wheeler’s life-threatening problems. The memory of Crowley’s flashing eyes and hard language on both occasions still stung.
His friend Wade Stevens had eventually married his duchess, and Mike his free-spirited concierge, but Dan intended to stay clear of anyone even associated with Baronovia.
Relieved to find the door guarded against unwelcome visitors, he handed over his invitation and sauntered inside.
To the left of the entry hall was a room filled with guests. Waiters were circulating with trays of hors d’oeuvres and champagne. To his right, a large room with a polished wooden floor had been cleared of furniture to make room for dancing couples. A string trio was playing in a corner.
“O’Hara! Over here.” Wade Stevens motioned Dan to join him. Dan nodded and made his way through the crowd.
Pretty as a picture in her short black cocktail dress with a single diamond hung on a slender gold chain at her throat, Wade’s petite royal wife held out her hand. “We are so happy to have you and all of our friends here to help us celebrate our good fortune. The night is wonderful, no?”
“Wonderful, yes,” Dan agreed, amused at the way her syntax still remained old-country. It was a habit that endeared the duchess to everyone who met her.
“I have someone I would like you to meet.” May smiled and looked over his shoulder. “My cousin Victoria. Have you met her?”
“Sorry. I’m afraid I wouldn’t recognize her if I did.”
“Are you sure you didn’t meet her at my wedding?”
Puzzled by May’s question when he’d already disclaimed recognizing her cousin, Dan turned back. “Not that I remember. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention when we were introduced.”
May smiled at him over the rim of her glass. “I’ll introduce you.”
“I’ll look forward to it,” Dan said politely. Whatever the reason for May’s questions, he wasn’t particularly interested. “If you don’t mind, I could use a drink,” he said with a smile. “See you later.”
Dan made his way around the room to the bar and refreshment tables, stopping now and again to say hello to someone he knew. If he were lucky, he mused as he reached for a cold beer, May’s cousin Victoria wouldn’t show up. The last person he cared to meet
