Dane Camden himself got around. So much so that she’d seen him in the background of several snapshots her brides had shown her—incidental to copying his date’s hairstyle or something else they liked and wanted to use for their own weddings.
Certainly his name had been dropped numerous times between brides and their bridesmaids. Being with him seemed to be some sort of rite-of-passage among the wealthy socialites who formed the majority of Burke’s Weddings’ clients and the entire circle of Chrystal’s friends. Vonni had even overheard one bride laughing with her bridesmaids about how she’d had her turn with Dane Camden so she thought she might as well get married.
Despite the fact that he was a player, though, Vonni had never heard a single complaint about him. No one seemed to have thought there was any chance of getting him to the altar; there were only accolades for any time spent with him, and fondness and affection for the man himself.
“If anyone can show you that men and dating aren’t all bad, it’s him,” one bride had said to her sister, telling her she needed a “hit” of Dane Camden to remind her how good it could be to be with a man again after a bad divorce.
So he was a bit of a legend. At least that was how Vonni had come to think of him.
The elevator stopped two floors from the top for a mail boy to get on pushing a cart. After that brief delay the doors closed again to finish the ascent.
What would it mean to the single women in Dane Camden’s circle if he’d thrown in the towel and actually was getting married, she wondered then.
Not to mention who might have reeled in such a big—and elusive—fish....
When the elevator reached the top floor and the doors opened again, the mail boy charged through them, nearly knocking someone out of the way.
Someone who happened to be her potential client.
Dane Camden.
Who was remarkably better looking in person than in any of the pictures she’d seen of him....
“Vonni Hunter?”
“Yes,” she admitted, wondering if she should let him know she knew who he was or wait for him to introduce himself.
But there was no wait.
“I’m Dane. Our receptionist for this floor left for the day so I thought I’d meet you out here and save you having to figure out which office is mine.”
“Thank you,” she said, surprised that someone with this guy’s clout would be that considerate.
“Let’s go on back,” he suggested. “Can I get you something? We have coffee, tea, soda, water....”
“No, nothing, thank you.”
“I really appreciate you coming to me,” he said as he ushered her into a plush corner office and motioned to the sofa against one wall instead of the chairs that faced his huge mahogany desk. “As I mentioned in our phone call, one of the things I want to talk to you about shouldn’t be discussed at your place of business.”
Vonni sat down on the edge of the couch, hugging the arm, as Dane Camden took the matching chair across the small coffee table from her.
Almost immediately, there was a knock on his office door and a woman who resembled him poked her head in. “Hey, sorry for interrupting, but you have to take a look at this before I can go home,” she said.
“Vonni, this is my cousin January—we call her Jani. Jani, this is Vonni Hunter.”
“Nice to meet you,” January Camden said.
“You, too.”
“And, oh, do you have the most beautiful green eyes in the world!”
“Thank you,” Vonni answered, a bit taken aback by the compliment that was not at all businesslike.
“You’re the wedding planner. I got married on the spur of the moment in a judge’s office or I would have begged you to do a wedding for me. Maybe you could branch out into baby showers....”
Vonni merely laughed, unsure by the look of the other woman in the loose-fitting sundress if she was in the market for that.
“But, Dane, I really do need you to—”
“I know,” he said to his cousin before pivoting back to Vonni and aiming some pretty incredible blue eyes at her. “You’ll have to excuse her. Jani is pregnant and using it against us to get her way,” he said good-naturedly, obviously teasing Jani and confirming that a baby shower was likely on the horizon.
“Doctor’s orders,” Jani said with a beaming smile.
“This will just take a minute.” Dane went over to his cousin, who was still standing in the doorway, and looked over the papers with her.
The two were engrossed in whatever it was they were dealing with, which gave Vonni the perfect opportunity to study the infamous Dane Camden and try to figure out why he was sooo much better looking in person.
There was no denying that in every picture she’d seen of him he was an attractive enough man. But the real thing? Wow! So much better....
His brown hair was a tad lighter than his cousin’s—dark brown but the rich color of chocolate rather than espresso. He wore it short on the sides but a touch longer on top where it had just the right amount of wave to make him look sporty and casual but not unkempt.
She’d already noted the remarkable Camden blue eyes—and they were remarkable. It was another thing her brides and attendants swooned over when they were discussing him, and now she could see why.
Blueberry blue—that was what they were, Vonni decided. And penetrating and intelligent and warm and kind and surprisingly open for a person in his position.
But after more study, Vonni concluded it was his nose that made the difference between the way he looked in pictures and in person. He had a thin, longish nose with a bit of a bump in the bridge before it narrowed and slid down to a slightly squarish tip. It didn’t photograph well, but was somehow very sexy in real life.
Overall, his face was lean and angular and very masculine, complete with lips that weren’t at all full but were still so sensual they alone could chase fuller ones out of fashion at any moment.
He wasn’t a refined kind of handsome, Vonni decided. He was more a rugged, outdoorsy, approachable kind of handsome.
The kind that got to Vonni.
And it didn’t help that the face and hair weren’t all he had going for him. He was also tall and trim, but with enough muscle to fill out both the sleeves of his gray suit coat and the thighs of the matching pants. Plus his shoulders were wide, his back was straight and he looked strong and healthy and virile and...
And altogether terrific.
There was just no denying it, even though Vonni wished she could because she should never be looking at someone else’s groom and thinking how very, very hot he was....
“Nice
