Leigh Michaels - A Convenient Affair

Relief trickled through him, followed by irritation at the very idea of feeling pleased because she was sticking around to talk to him. As if she didn’t have plenty of reason not to rush onto that bus! Her timing was impeccable, though, he had to admit. She’d actually made it look as if she was doing him some sort of favor by staying to listen.

His voice held a sharp edge. “I’d just as soon the rest of the world didn’t hear this conversation, so let’s go where we won’t have to shout. I’ll buy you a cup of coffee.”

She looked up at him, her green eyes wide and challenging. “Coffee? Aren’t you at least going to offer me lunch?”

Cynicism swept over him, and for a split second he considered walking off without a word and leaving her standing there. Then she turned slightly and he caught a glimpse of the Lovers’ Box tucked securely under her arm. “I suppose you want to go to the Flamingo Room.”

“No,” she said pleasantly, “but only because I’m going there tonight. For right now, I’d settle for a hot dog from the stand around the corner. I’m hungry, and it’s enough of a sacrifice to actually try to have a conversation with you without attempting to do it on an empty stomach.”

Cooper didn’t bother to answer. He thrust out a hand to hail a passing cab and helped Hannah in with chilly politeness. “Cicero’s,” he told the cabbie.

“Italian? Does that mean you don’t like hot dogs?” she asked with obviously feigned interest.

Did she have to look at him that way? Her eyes were not only wide now but so incredibly clear that if he didn’t know better he’d think he could see her soul…

Knock it off, Winston, he told himself. He knew from firsthand experience how sharp the woman could be, especially when she was looking innocent. Besides, no relative of Isobel’s, especially one that had actually been close enough to live with her, was likely to have a soul any more than the old woman herself had. And even if she did, a little voice in the back of his brain murmured, that wouldn’t be the part of Hannah Lowe you’d be interested in, anyway.

He smothered the thought. Hannah Lowe—attractive? Some men would no doubt think so. Men who didn’t know her as well as he did.

What a puritanical sort of name it was, for a woman who was anything but. Her scent, the same sort of musky perfume that Isobel had fancied, gave the lie to that all-American front she tried to put on. Even when she was dressed for a walk with that incredibly bad-tempered dog, she was sexy enough to melt the sidewalk. A hot dog in the park—he almost wished he’d bought her one, just to see what she’d have done with it.

As the maître d’ showed them to an alcove at the far side of Cicero’s main dining room, Cooper slowed his pace a little, dropping back just far enough to watch the way her silky skirt shimmered as she moved. He’d seen some intriguing walks in his day, but Hannah Lowe’s put them all to shame.

Which was exactly what he ought to be feeling right now, he told himself firmly. Shame, for not keeping his mind on the business at hand.

He held back until the maître d’ had helped Hannah with her chair, and then he sat down across from her, watching as she placed the Lovers’ Box carefully on the corner of the table, as far as possible from him. Which wasn’t far, really, because under the narrow table his knee was brushing hers. She didn’t pull away, merely looked at him with narrowed eyes.

He gave an order to the waiter and settled back in his chair to watch her fiddle with the Lovers’ Box.

Finally it appeared she had it settled to her satisfaction. She looked across at him, and a faint flush crept over her almost-transparent skin. “You look as jumpy as if I was handling dynamite,” she said. “What’s so special about this box?”

“It’s certainly not dangerous. And it wouldn’t be anything special to most people. It’s important to me only because one of my ancestors was a sea captain who brought it back from an around-the-world voyage close to two centuries ago.”

“Sentimental value,” she said thoughtfully.

“Exactly.” The waiter brought two glasses of red wine and a basket of bread sticks. Cooper pushed the basket invitingly close to her and said abruptly, “I’ll give you five hundred dollars for the box, right now.”

“Five hundred,” she mused. She slowly turned the stem of her wineglass between slim fingers. “I thought you said it was special.”

He felt a tinge of reluctant admiration for her negotiating skills. “Don’t let Ken Stephens’s comments about its value deceive you. On the open market it would bring only a fraction of that. As Isobel knew quite well, the value of that box is precisely what I’m willing to pay for it, and not a dime more.”

“But it’s so difficult to define sentiment in monetary terms,” Hannah said.

“Don’t try to blackmail me into a higher offer.”

She tilted her head a little to one side. “And don’t growl at me. I was simply thinking that it must have every bit as much sentimental value for me as it has for you.”

“Because it’s the only thing left you by your dear departed aunt? Don’t be ridiculous.”

She said, sounding almost weary, “She wasn’t my aunt, she was my grandfather’s cousin.”

“Even less of a connection. And less of a reason for you to want to keep it.”

“That,” Hannah said lightly, “depends entirely on the point of view. Why is it called the Lovers’ Box?”

“Agree to sell it to me, and I’ll tell you.” He watched the light from the sconce above her head play against her hair, bringing out red highlights in the chestnut brown. “How much do you think it’s worth?”

“I thought you weren’t willing to go above five hundred.”

Cooper shrugged. “There are limits on what I’m willing to pay, of course. But humor me, Hannah. Give me an idea of what your estimate is. How much?” Come on, sweetheart, he urged. Once you set a value, no matter how outlandish it is, I’ve got you. You’re committed to making the sale. Then it’s just a matter of haggling over the final price.

“I’ll have to think about it,” she countered. “Why do you want it so badly?”

He had to admit a reluctant admiration that she’d avoided the trap. “I told you why.”

She shook her head. “No. You told me how it got into your family, not why it was so important for you to get it back. Or, for that matter, how it got out of your family and ended up in Isobel’s hands. What did she say, in the will? It was freely given to her—something like that. So why you think you deserve to have it back at all is—”

“Nothing was free where Isobel was concerned.” Cooper knew he sounded sarcastic. He didn’t much care; it was true. “She got that box through deceit and extortion.”

Hannah’s daintily-arched eyebrows climbed. “Not much of an extortion scheme,” she murmured, “if the prize was worth five hundred dollars, tops.”

“If that’s your way of warning me that you’re even better at extortion than Isobel was—”

In a flash, her eyes went from clear to turbulent, from a millpond to a storm-tossed sea. “If you expect me to sit here and listen to you, you’d better be careful about throwing accusations around.”

“But if you walk out on me now, you won’t get anything at all. If you name a price we can agree on, you’ll be that much better off and you won’t have to deal with me anymore. So give yourself a break, Hannah. How much do you want for the box?”

“Why are you so sure I’ll take money for it? Maybe, if you tell me how Isobel got her hands on it, I’ll feel sorry for you and give it back for nothing.”

And donkeys will fly, he thought. He hadn’t intended to sit around with her long enough to explain it all, but he supposed there was no real reason not to tell her the Winston side of the story. It might be interesting to find out how it compared to whatever Isobel had told her. “All right, you asked for it. The Captain brought the box home from a trip to the Orient as a gift for his bride, and from then on it was passed down through the generations, given to the oldest child on his or her wedding day.”