fussed with the blue bow, continuing blithely as Ralph blanched. Sweetums panted and drooled on top of the marble countertop. “Oh, she really likes you, Ralph, but then again Sweetums has always had exquisite taste.”
Ralph blushed. “I’m sorry ma’am but—”
“Oh no, please don’t call me ma’am. It makes me feel…” she shivered and said in a low voice, “…matronly.” She leaned in closer, engulfing him in a wave of perfume. “You don’t think I look matronly do you?”
The top of Ralph’s ears turned pink. “No. You’re beautiful.” He gulped for breath. “Er, I mean—”
“No need to apologize for a compliment, young man.” She leaned in a little closer and caught Ralph’s eyes with her own, letting him fantasize for a moment about her. “But you’ll be wanting to do your job. You can look us up in that computer now. We have a suite. Mr. and Mrs. Clint Marshall.”
Ralph began typing into his computer, his gaze flickering between the screen and the dog. “Got it.” He looked at her apologetically. “I’m afraid the hotel has a policy against animals.”
“A very good policy it is, too.” She straightened Sweetums’s ribbon. “Imagine animals in a hotel. Whatever do some people think of?”
Ralph’s ears turned red. “I meant pets. I’m afraid we don’t allow pets of any kind.”
Laura smiled at him. “Of course not. It’s a very sensible policy. I knew I liked this place. Didn’t I say so as soon as we saw the hotel. I said, ‘Clint, honey, this looks like a first-class establishment.’ Didn’t I say that, dear?”
“You sure did, honey pie,” Clint agreed from behind her.
She heard the laughter in his voice, but she refused to turn around and glare at him. Instead, she continued to smile sweetly at Ralph.
Ralph’s ears reddened even more as he swallowed and looked again at Sweetums. “I’m afraid we can’t, I mean—” he faltered as he pointed to Sweetums. The dog yawned and drooled on the marble countertop. “Your pet…”
She picked up Sweetums and kissed the top of the Lhasa apso’s head. “Sweetums isn’t a pet, she’s part of the family.”
“She’s a dog,” Ralph persisted.
Laura covered the dog’s ears. “Ssh, you mustn’t say those words around her. Sweetums has species issues.”
Clint made a curious sound, but she ignored him. She’d told him she was going to get Sweetums into the hotel and she was enjoying playing the part of cousin Mindy. Perhaps this odd sense of power was why Mindy traveled with her animal menagerie. “Ralph, I thought this was a first-class hotel. I hope you’re not about to change my impression within the first five minutes. We’re here for the York-Chandler wedding. Sweetums goes everywhere I go. Surely you don’t want me to tell the happy families that you’re refusing to let us stay?”
“Of course not, Mrs. Marshall, but your do—”
“Not that word,” she held up her hand. “Species issues.” She rubbed Sweetums behind her ears and Ralph gulped.
“Sweetums is against hotel policy,” Ralph said as he tugged on an ear.
“Of course I understand that for your average d-o-g,” she spelled out the letters, “this is a very good policy. But Sweetums isn’t average.” She leaned a little closer and stroked Ralph’s cheek, her hand lingering just beneath his earlobe. “Sweetums will be very good. No one will know she’s even here. I promise,” she breathed and raised her blue eyes to his and held him. She watched worry about his job and desire to please her cross his face and his ears wiggled. She held herself very still, every inch of her regal family’s genes giving her strength.
Just as she was afraid she might have lost him, Ralph hit some keys on the keyboard and nodded to the bellboy behind them. “They’re in the honeymoon suite.”
“We are?” Laura couldn’t keep the shocked surprise out of her voice. She cast a suspicious look at Clint, but he smiled blandly. There was absolutely no way she was going to spend four nights together with Clint in the honeymoon suite. “Won’t the bride and groom want that suite?”
“They have separate rooms until the wedding and are leaving for the Bahamas right after the reception.”
“How sweet and old-fashioned,” she muttered.
“Honeybunch, I reserved us the honeymoon suite.” Clint had stepped forward and he hugged her to his side. Her face was pressed into his leather jacket and she couldn’t breathe. She tipped her face up and saw Clint smiling down on her like he’d won a prize. “I thought it would be nice to combine a little honeymooning of our own with this wedding shindig.”
“How lovely. You should have told me.” She tried to move away from him but his hold was like a vise.
“Don’t worry, I packed my favorite negligee.”
She bared her teeth at him. She kicked him in the shins, but his cowboy boots protected him while her expensive shoes offered her no protection. “Ouch, er, a second honeymoon. What a nice idea.”
“Well, Sugar, nothing’s too good for you. And since we never saw anything of Paris on our first honeymoon, I thought we could do things proper this time.”
“Chicago isn’t Paris.”
“No but this time we’ll leave the hotel room occasionally.” He winked.
“Darling, you’re making my toes curl in anticipation.” She managed to loosen an arm and elbowed him in the side. Clint let go of her and grinned, enjoying her discomfort. Laura scooped her dog back into her arms to keep Clint away from her.
“I married a big strong man, didn’t I, Sweetums?” She stepped a little closer to Clint and rose on tiptoe so that her lips were next to his ear. Irritated with the man beyond belief, but also unable to resist, she brushed her teeth across his lobe and had the satisfaction of feeling his body stiffen. His hands shot out and grabbed her arms. Before he could pull her away from him, she whispered “Peter and Cassandra Monroe at four o’clock.”
His tight grip turned into a caress as he turned slightly so that he was able to see the couple. “Did he notice us?” he asked against her ear.
She ignored the shiver his warm breath sent down her spine. “He looked over in our direction, but that’s it.”
“The whole point of our being here is for him to notice us. Let’s make sure he does.”
Before Laura had any idea what he planned he took Sweetums out of her arms and she found herself holding her breath thinking: he’s going to kiss me. She’d considered that at some point over the festivities she and Clint might kiss, but she’d been sure she would know when it was going to happen and have time to prepare herself. She didn’t want to give Clint any inclination of her true feelings for him.
She took a deep breath, which steadied her nerves. She smiled at him, ready for his mouth to descend over hers and her world to turn upside down.
Her world turned upside down. She felt her feet leave the ground and found herself
