too.”
“Oh, I know, I know. Isn’t it lovely, sharing a father and a birthday? But you’re not as excited as I am.”
Nick laughed. “That’s because I’m over the hill. After all, I’m thirty-four.”
“Seriously, Nick, you will be here on time, won’t you?”
“Absolutely.”
“Not early, though.” Dawn laughed softly. “Otherwise, you’ll expect me to change what I’m wearing.”
Nick’s brows lifted. “Will I?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Meaning what you have on is too short, too low, too tight—”
“This is the twenty-first century, Your Handsomeness.”
“Not when you’re on Quidaran turf, it isn’t. And stop calling me stuff like that.”
“A,” Dawn said, ticking her answers off on her fingers, “this isn’t Quidaran turf. It’s a penthouse on Fifth Avenue.”
“It’s Quidaran turf,” Nick said. Dawn smiled; she could hear the laughter in his voice. “The moment I step on it anyway. What’s B?”
“B, if Gossip can call you ‘Your Handsomeness’, so can I.” She giggled. “Have you seen the article yet?”
“I’ve seen the cover,” Nick said tersely. “That was enough.”
“Well, the article says that you and Deanna—”
“Never mind that. You just make sure you’re decently dressed.”
“I am decently dressed, for New York.”
Nick sighed. “Behave yourself, or I’ll have you sent home.”
“Me? Behave myself?” Dawn snorted and switched the portable phone to her other ear as she strolled through her brother’s massive living room and out the glass doors to the terrace. “I’m not the one dating Miss Hunter.”
“Hunter? But Deanna’s name is—”
“Hunter of a titled husband. Hunter of the spotlight. Hunter of wealth and glamour—”
“She’s not like that,” Nick said quickly.
“Why isn’t she?”
“Dawn. I am not going to discuss this with you.”
“You don’t have to. I know the reason. You have this silly idea that because Deanna has her own money and an old family name, she’s—what’s the right word—trustworthy.”
Nick sighed. “Sweetheart,” he said gently, “I appreciate your concern. But—”
“But you want me to mind my own business.”
“Something like that, yes.”
His sister rolled her eyes at the blond woman who stood with her back against the terrace wall. “Men can be clueless,” she hissed.
Amanda Benning did her best to smile. “Have you told him yet?”
“No. No, not—”
“Dawn?” Nick’s voice came through the phone. “Who are you talking to?”
Dawn made a face at Amanda. “One of the caterer’s assistants,” she said briskly. “She wanted to know where to put the cold hors d’oeuvres. And speaking of knowing, aren’t you curious about what I got you for your birthday?”
“Sure. But if you told me, it wouldn’t be a surprise. And birthday presents are supposed to be surprises.”
“Ah. Well, I already know what my gift is.”
“You do?”
“Uh-huh.” Dawn grinned. “That shiny new Jaguar in the garage downstairs.”
Nick groaned. “There’s no keeping anything from you.”
“Nope, there isn’t. Now, you want to take a stab at what I’m giving you?”
“Well, there was that time you gave me a doll,” Nick said dryly, “the one you wanted for yourself.”
“I was seven!” Dawn grinned at Amanda. “Definitely clueless,” she whispered.
“What?”
“I said, you’re clueless, Nicky. About how to decorate this mansion of yours.”
“It’s not a mansion. It’s an apartment. And I told you, I don’t have time for such things. That’s why I bought the place furnished.”
“Furnished?” Dawn made a face at Amanda, who smiled. “How somebody could take a ten-million-dollar penthouse and make it look like a high-priced bordello is beyond me.”
“If you have any idea what a bordello looks like, high-priced or low, I’ll definitely send you home,” Nick said, trying to sound affronted but not succeeding.
“You don’t, either, dearest brother, or you’d never have the time or energy to bed all the females the tabloids link you with.”
“Dawn—”
“I know, I know. You’re not going to discuss such things with me.” Dawn plucked a bit of lint from her skirt. “You know, Nicky, I’m not the baby you think I am.”
“Maybe not. But it won’t hurt if you let me go on living with an illusion.”
His sister laughed. “When you see what I’ve bought you, that illusion will be shattered forever.”
“We’ll see about that.” Nick’s voice hummed with amusement.
Dawn grinned, covered the mouthpiece of the phone and looked at Amanda. “My brother doesn’t believe you’re going to shatter his illusions.”
Amanda thumbed a strand of pale golden hair behind her ear. “Well, I’ll just have to prove him wrong,” she said, and told herself it was just plain ridiculous for an intelligent, well-educated, twenty-five-year-old woman to stand there with her knees knocking together at the prospect of being the birthday gift for a sheikh.
CHAPTER TWO
AMANDA swallowed nervously as Dawn put down the phone.
“Well,” Dawn said, “that’s that.” She smiled. “I’ve laid the groundwork.”
“Uh-huh.” Amanda smiled, too, although her lips felt as if they were sticking to her teeth. “For disaster.”
“Don’t be silly. Oh, Nicky will probably balk when he realizes I’ve asked
