Harlequin Romance Online Read

Manhattan Cinderella
by Trish Wylie

It was the dance that did it…

Caterer Erin Giordano may have gotten caught up in the glitz and glamour when she was thrust into the spotlight and asked to model the famous Harlequin Diamond at the last minute. She may have been mesmerized by the gorgeous billionaire—the gem’s owner—who acted as her escort for the evening. But she never, ever would have kissed a complete stranger without even exchanging two words with him, had it not been for their sensual dance!

Especially if she’d known the truth about Nathaniel Van Rothstein….

Erin's friend Clare risks her heart on the real thing in Trish Wylie's latest release, just one of six Diamond Brides books on sale now!

Manhattan Boss, Diamond Proposal by Trish Wylie

Chapter One

It was the dance that did it.

It wasn’t the fact that Erin Giordano was a last-minute stand-in for a sick model; a tad surreal when she was only there to arrange displays of her designer cupcakes on raised podiums around the grand ballroom. It wasn’t the fact that she was poured into a stunning designer dress the minute a tentative okay left her lips. Or that after a somewhat frantic makeover, she had a million-dollar diamond hanging from her neck. Or that the next thing she knew, the billionaire who owned the diamond was her escort for the evening…though in fairness, he was a big part of it.

She had her eyes closed when she first heard Nathaniel Van Rothstein’s voice. It had been the first thing to drag her out of the whirlwind of activity around her, demanding she open her eyes and blink through a haze of hairspray. But it was worth the effort. It was one of those mythical moments when everything else faded into a blur of muted sounds and melting color around him.

Much taller than Erin’s five feet ten—which was deliciously sexy to a woman who was usually left feeling like an Amazon—he had ruffled brown hair and eyes the exact shade of melted dark chocolate. But beyond his initial question of whether she was ready, and an almost lazy examination of her from head to toe, he didn’t have much to say. At least not to her.

For the rest of the night he stayed glued to her side, sometimes placing a large hand against the inward curve of her back to guide her through the throng at the charity event. Occasionally they stopped so he could talk with people he knew. Keen interest in the famous Harlequin Diamond Erin was wearing forced them to smile frequently for photographs.

And then came the dance.

After what felt like hours, they turned away from the last group of people and faced the dance floor. A melancholy saxophone began playing, then the lights dimmed and mirrored globes on the ceiling created what looked like spiraling stardust around them.

Erin gazed upward and smiled, enthralled by the magical wonderland, and that was when she felt a shimmer of awareness wash over her. So she looked at the man who stood beside her. Really looked. And was mesmerized all over again.

He was studying her intently in return, what looked like curiosity in his darkened eyes. Then a large upturned palm was held in front of her in invitation. Such a simple gesture. One he backed up with a small inclination of his head toward the dance floor.

It felt like the most natural thing in the world to slip her hand into his….

Drawing in a deep breath when a long arm circled her waist, Erin placed her free hand on the expensive material of his dark jacket just above his elbow. She looked up at him as his warm fingers closed around hers. And then they began to sway to the hauntingly seductive music, her body echoing the rhythm of his.

She should say something. Surely one of them should try and make idle conversation? But she was rendered speechless.

They moved with a fluidity that suggested they’d danced together hundreds of times. He studied her hair, her face, following the line of her neck to her shoulder. Then their gazes tangled again, and Erin could have sworn his eyes were smiling at her.

Lord, he was gorgeous. No wonder she couldn’t think straight.

Damping her lips, she silently pleaded, Say something…

Dense lashes lowered, he studied her mouth. Then he glanced sharply upward to search each of her eyes in turn while her heart skipped a beat with the instinctual realization that he wanted to kiss her. Erin had never kissed a stranger, let alone one who hadn’t made the effort to so much as talk about the weather.

So in a rare demonstration of willfulness, she lifted her chin. No.

The answering smile knocked the air out of her lungs. Suddenly she was warmed from the inside out, her heart was beating harder against her breastbone and—heaven help her—she was turned on in a way she’d never been turned on before.

Someone in the crowd jostled her, knocking her forward. The shock of her breasts crushing into the hard wall of his chest made her gasp and step back as if she’d been burned. But when she tried to step away he squeezed his fingers tighter and ran the pad of his thumb over the rise and fall of her knuckles. She looked up and found his head bowed to study their hands.

When he took a step forward, she lifted her palm and laid it hesitantly against his chest, directly above his heart. She didn’t know why, she just felt she had to touch him.

He looked up into her eyes once more. Dropped his gaze to her mouth. Then their eyes met again. Erin took a small step forward, her brows wavering a minuscule amount in question. What am I doing?

Lowering his head, the soul-shattering warmth in his smile answered, This.

Erin felt her lashes grow heavy. Their mouths were inches apart, she could feel his warm breath against her skin…

“It was the dance that did it,” she told her enthralled friends forty-eight hours later. “I would never have kissed him if it wasn’t for that dance.”

Clare leaned closer. “You can’t leave it there!”

“I Googled him yesterday…”

“And?”

“Let’s just say he’s no Prince Charming.”

Chapter Two

Nate parked his Lamborghini Murciélago outside the restaurant. Giovanni’s. That was it. Time to find his mystery woman and discover why she’d run for the hills.

Inside the restaurant he found every cliché associated with Italian cuisine. Checkered tablecloths, a tenor singing opera on the sound system, burning candle stumps melting down the necks of old wine bottles. But there was a warm atmosphere to the dimly lit room. And he barely had the door closed behind him before he was greeted like an old friend.

“Come in, come in!” a beaming woman with dark hair in a neat bun spoke with the lilt of an Irish accent. “Are you meeting someone?”

Nate found what he sought in the dinner crowd. “She’s over there.”

The woman turned in the direction he’d indicated with a pointed finger. Then she looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Which one?”

“Dark hair. White shirt.”

“Erin?” To his surprise the woman took a step back and looked him down then up, nodding firmly as if he’d passed some kind of test. “About time we met you.”

Next thing he knew he was being guided through the tables.

“You should have said your boyfriend was coming.”

Nate was frowning in confusion when his gaze locked with Erin’s. Her eyes widened, her jaw dropped, she even blushed. Then she blinked, and her gaze shifted to the woman at his side.

“Momma—”

“Get up, get up.” Her mother waved her other hand in an upward motion. “We’ll get you a table in the corner, away from the crowd…”

Nate glanced at the curious expressions of the two women Erin was with. “Perhaps you’d prefer we sat with your friends?”

Not that it was his first choice. But then neither was meeting her mother before he knew her name.

“Nonsense!” her mother said with a look of admonishment. “I tell Erin—you gotta make the time for a man. She never makes time. That’s why she’s not married, y’know. We’d have had her married five times already if it wasn’t for—”

“Momma!” Her eyes flickered to his long enough for him to see her increased embarrassment, then she shot her mother a silent plea.

So Nate cut her some slack and reached out his hand, offering his upturned palm the same way he had before as he threw a smile at her mother. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

He looked back at Erin as she frowned at him. “Doesn’t it, sweetheart?”

The question brought her stare sharply upward.

Roll with it, he told her without words. And she did. But she ignored his hand.

Five-star restaurants had never given him the attention he received in the next twenty minutes. Considering who he was, that was saying something. He’d never met three generations of a woman’s family so fast, either. Her father, Giovanni, a sister who took on Erin’s waitress’s duty, a grandmother who came in from the house they apparently all lived in next door. Nate managed to answer their questions without blowing Erin’s cover until eventually he was sitting back with a glass of red wine and enough food to feed an army on the table in front of him. If it wasn’t for his fascination with the woman visibly squirming in the seat opposite him, he’d have been exhausted.

“All your boyfriends get this welcome?”

She grimaced. “Look—Mister Van Rothstein—”

“Nate.” When she hesitated he smiled lazily. “It’s my name.”

“I’m sorry you walked into this, but—”

“Is there a boyfriend?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Is now.”

“Why is it?”

Nate watched as she dampened her lips the way she had before he kissed her, the memory of it causing the same visceral reaction it had when she’d kissed him back. “There are lines I don’t cross.”

She glanced around the room and mumbled, “No boyfriend.”

“Your family thinks there is…”

“Because the only way to stop my family finding one for me, was to tell them I already have one. They think I’ll end up like Great Aunt Carlotta.” She aimed a pained expression at a random point over his shoulder. “She had cats.”

“You don’t like cats?”

“I have nothing against cats.”

“Carlotta must be scary, then…”

Long lashes flickered as she searched his eyes with the same emotive look she’d had when they’d danced. Without artificial polish, the soft sheen of her midnight hair and the natural prettiness of her features made her look like a different woman. Less ethereal, possibly? More real? There was just something about her…

Nate was determined to discover what it was. Among other things.

She asked the obvious. “Why are you here?”

He dug into the pocket of his jacket and pushed a cell phone across the table. “You left this behind. I’d never have found you without it. New York is a big place.”

“Why would you want to find me?”

Reaching for a fork, he loaded it with pasta in a rich, creamy sauce before calmly informing her, “To finish what we started.”

Chapter Three

“Excuse me?”

Who did he think he was? There were men who did that? And she’d struck him as the kind of girl who would—?

Erin shook her head as she blinked in disbelief. “You’re kidding, right?”

Chewing on a mouthful of her father’s carbonara as calmly as he’d said the words, he swallowed before answering in the same deep rumble he’d used to get her attention the first time. “You ran away.”

“I had to get changed and take the subway home. I wasn’t supposed to be there as long as I was.”

Technically it wasn’t a lie. Truth was, she had run away. The kiss had both terrified her and somehow been too right—at the same time. And since Erin didn’t believe in love at first sight and was now in possession of more information about who she’d kissed, she didn’t regret leaving. She just wished she’d remembered her cell phone….

“Mmm.” He concentrated on loading his fork again. “Last-minute stand-in. I was told that when I called the modeling agency. They were very apologetic.”

“I was the only random bystander tall enough for the dress.”

“I doubt that’s the only reason you were plucked from the crowd.”

“The shoes were too small.”

“Can’t say I noticed when you were running away.”

Erin scowled at him as he lifted the laden fork to his mouth. “I didn’t run.”

“And you had a subway train to catch. Don’t tell me—midnight curfew, right?”

Funny guy. Frankly, he was making her wish he’d spoken to her that night. If he’d opened his mouth she would probably have been less attracted to him.

Leaning back in her seat, she folded her arms across her breasts and continued scowling at him as he ate. He was too good-looking for his own good. Erin bet this tactic usually worked for him. Add a family fortune similar to that of the Rockefellers or the Vanderbilts and he probably hadn’t slept alone since he hit puberty. It was amazing the information Google could bring a girl’s way….

“I handed your diamond back, the agency team paid me, I did everything I was supposed to do. There really isn’t anything to finish. I appreciate you returning my phone, but you could have let me know where to pick it up or had it couriered over.”

Swallowing, he pointed the prongs of his fork at the large bowl in front of him. “This is really good.”

“I’m sure Papa will sleep better knowing you think so.” She smiled sweetly.

“Don’t like me much, do you?”

Oh, gee, she wondered why that might be.

“What changed in the last forty-eight hours?” he added with one of the intense stares that made her toes curl inside her shoes. “You liked me then…”

Erin lifted her chin and willed her cheeks not to burn. Darned Irish complexion let her down every single time. She could blame her mother for that. “I Googled you.”

“I think you’re the first woman to do that.”

“I doubt it.” Her eyes narrowed at the sight of her friends waving as they left the restaurant. Deserters.

“You’re the first one to tell me you did.” He shrugged. “Kinda stands you out of the crowd.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not stalker material.”

“Not sure I’d complain if you were.”

When he had the gall to wink at her, Erin’s jaw dropped a couple of inches.

Nate shook his head. “No one ever tell you not to believe everything you read?”

“Photographic evidence is hard to deny.”

“And you saw…?”

“Women.” She smiled sweetly again. “Lots of women.”

The fork hovered in front of his mouth. “Jealous?”

How did he get his head through doors? The fact that he wasn’t that far off the mark didn’t help, either. She had been jealous when she found the first couple of pictures. But the more of them she found the more she understood what kind of man he was.

“You’re not my type.”

“What is your type?”

Walked into that one, hadn’t she? With no idea why she was still talking to him, Erin took a breath and found the strength to look him straight in the eye. “A guy who doesn’t serial date would be a start.”

“Glad we’re not jumping to conclusions. I might say from what I’ve learned so far this evening that you’re commitment-phobic. Would that be accurate?”

“No.” She frowned. “I just haven’t—”

“Met the right guy?”

Well, yes, as it happened. Wasn’t that usually the case nine times out of ten?

He then astonished her by asking, “How do you know it’s not me?”

“You’re telling me you’re actively hunting for ‘the one’?”

“No.”

“Then I don’t understand—”

“Dinner. Friday night. We’ll talk about it.” He set his fork down and pushed the bowl back an inch to indicate he was done.

“I’m not going out with you.”

“I’ll pick you up here. You live next door, right?”

Erin frowned. “I won’t be here. And I have to work early on Saturday morning.”

“We’ll stick to your curfew. And we’ll eat somewhere close.” He pushed his chair back, light glittering in his melted chocolate eyes the way it had when they’d danced. “Eight o’clock. And if you’re not here I’m sure a member of your family can tell me where you are….”

“I’ll tell them we broke up.”

“I’ll tell them I’m winning you back.”

She sighed heavily. “Could you be any more annoying?”

“You’ll find out Friday, won’t you?”

Pretty much her entire family made a point of saying goodbye to him as he left, while Erin shook her head and blinked into the middle distance.

What just happened?

* * *

A constant stream of flowers, every hour on the hour, started arriving the next day. One ridiculously large bunch was for Erin’s mother, who told everyone foolish enough to step through the doors of the restaurant that her daughter’s boyfriend had sent them. If the person was someone she knew, it led to a gushing soliloquy of how good-looking he was, how thoughtful to have sent them, etcetera, etcetera. While Erin suffered the worst guilt trip of her life.

When every table in the restaurant and in the house next door had flowers, the gifts started arriving. Perfumes, baskets of expensive toiletries, balloons attached to boxes of handmade chocolates…

“Remind me again why we don’t like this guy?” her friend Madison asked.

Clare reached into the beribboned box. “Any man who sends gourmet truffles can’t be all bad.”

“He probably has the place they come from on speed dial.”

“You need to find out what he’s like with children and small animals.” Clare waved the box temptingly under Erin’s nose. “Not having one? They’re seriously good. And it’s not like you ever put any weight on, no matter what you eat.”

Madison batted her lashes. “We hate you for that.”

“You’ve said,” Erin said as she shooed the box away with the back of her hand. “It’s bad enough he won over my mother in sixty seconds, now I have to deal with you two after a couple of chocolates?”

“Really good chocolates,” Clare pointed out.

Leaning her forearms on the tabletop, Erin looked around at the faces in the Mexican place they’d found to have lunch off Fifth and Broadway. A day shopping in Manhattan with her friends had seemed like the ideal escape from the constant stream of gifts arriving in Brooklyn. It was clever, she’d give him that. He wasn’t giving her a chance to forget him. Not for one single second….

“I should never have told my mother I had a boyfriend.”

Madison smiled. “Honey, your mom had a half dozen friends of second cousins lined up. You had to do something after the last guy tried to teach you the internal workings of a spaceship.”

“Do you think I’m commitment-phobic?” The question made her friends stare at her in silence for what felt like forever, so Erin lifted her brows.

“Of course you’re not!”

“Where did that come from?”

Since he’d said it, it had been rattling round her brain and tangling up with guilt about her nonexistent boyfriend, and paranoia had set in. She wondered if it was why she’d kissed and run. Maybe it was an easier way to satisfy a need for romance if there wasn’t a possibility of anything in the region of dating. Erin didn’t have a particularly good history with dating. But then if her mother hadn’t decided to ‘help,’ she might not have had so many disastrous experiences.

When her cell phone chirped on the tabletop, she picked it up. “Hello?”

“Eight o’clock.”

Trying to remain unaffected by his voice, she lifted her arm and checked her brand-new designer wristwatch. “No. It’s ten to two.”

“So am I winning you back?”

“You never had me to begin with.”

“Is that him?” Madison mouthed.

Erin nodded. “If I go on a date with you, will the avalanche of gifts stop?”

“What gifts?” The smile came through in his voice. “I’ll see you at eight.”

“Determined, isn’t he?” Clare said as Erin set her phone down.

That was one word to describe him.

“He’d have to be after that phone call,” Madison added.

Great. Now she was a shrew. Erin sighed heavily.

“Okay. Work with me.” Madison blew a puff of air at a blond corkscrew of hair and leaned forward. “Your Mom is setting you up on blind dates from hell ‘cos you’re the only daughter she has left to plan a wedding for—and we all know how much she loves a wedding. But you’ve been so wrapped up in work lately you’re practically a hermit, so even if you found Mister Right you wouldn’t have had time for him….”

“Am I going to feel better at any point?”

Madison rolled her eyes. “You need to have fun. Let the gifts come. Go on a couple of expensive dates with this guy. Hell, have a fling since he’s so hot. But have some fun. Call it evening the score for all the women he’s dated and dumped, if you like.”

“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Clare softly pointed out. “You’re suggesting Erin use him the way it looks like he’s used women in the past. And there’s no actual proof he’s done that, is there?”

That was Clare, always the mediator, always the optimist, despite the fact that Erin had immediately dismissed the idea of evening up the score for womankind. “Don’t compare him to Quinn, Clare. Quinn’s a good guy under that layer of cockiness—we all know that.”

The mention of her best friend’s name made Clare’s voice even softer than before. “How do you know Nate isn’t if you don’t get to know him?”

Erin didn’t know which was worse: finding out he was the womanizer the evidence suggested, or discovering he was a good guy underneath all the arrogance.

“You don’t have to sleep with him,” Madison clarified, “just have fun. Sometimes to find your Prince you gotta jump a few lily pads and wade through the frogs.”

There was a certain logic in that. Not that Nate was within hitting distance of anything resembling a frog. But it wasn’t just his looks that made him dangerous. If he added charm to his abundant self-confidence and the talent he had in the kissing department there was a very real possibility she could get in way over her head. And his life and hers? Worlds apart.

“Not like he’s gonna give up on dinner anyway, is it?”

No. It wasn’t, but, “I’m not kissing him again.”

“Wanna bet?” Madison winked.

There was a distinct grimace from Clare. “Don’t make a bet. Those things are dangerous….”

“Okay, spill.” Erin did what she’d always done: she focused on someone else’s problems. It had always been easier than dealing with her own. And anyway, she had six hours until she had to deal with Nathaniel Van Rothstein.

Five hours fifty-nine, five hours fifty-eight, five hours fifty-seven…

Chapter Four

The restaurant Nate brought Erin to put him in mind of a Hollywood movie, the kind that opens with a swelling Gershwin-like tune and a shot of the New York skyline from beneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Looking around the handsomely lit dining room with its Parma gold walls, bistro wicker chairs, fine napery and glassware made him wonder why he’d never been there before. He should see more of the city outside of Manhattan. It might have helped with his growing restlessness over the last few months.

He looked at Erin and stifled a smile as she toyed with the stem of her wineglass. Still wasn’t happy being there, was she?

“Having dinner in silence, are we?” he asked.

Erin looked him in the eyes, then her gaze flickered away. “I thought you might need to rest your ears after being barraged with all the dirt from my childhood.”

“I’ve never met a family that kept photo albums in their workplace.”

“Oh, believe me, if there’s a way to embarrass me, my family will find it.” A small smile flirted with the corners of her lips. “Just be thankful you didn’t pick me up at the house. They have enough home movies to make sure you don’t see daylight for years.”

“Is that why you hide your boyfriends?”

“Actually, you’re the first one I’ve managed to hide.” The irony of the statement seemed to amuse her, and for a brief second she forgot where she was and who she was with and smiled. Then her gaze flickered to his again and she remembered.

It was like the sun disappearing behind a cloud. Teasing it back out immediately became Nate’s mission for the evening. “Stands me out of the crowd the same way you did by Googling me, I suppose.”

Whatever she saw in his face was apparently enough to get her to soften some. One finely arched brow disappeared beneath her bangs as the color of her eyes muted to a mossy green. “Keeping score, are we?”

“You’re determined not to like me.” He made it a statement of fact rather than a question. Not because he was playing hardball the way he did during working hours but because he knew it was true. Underneath her obvious embarrassment when he’d turned up early and spent time talking to her family again, there had been what almost felt like shyness. But the moment she was alone with him, she’d changed again, a combination of caution and suspicion making her study him with narrowed eyes when she thought he didn’t notice.

“There’s no point in trying to like you.”

They were interrupted by the arrival of a waiter, so for a few minutes Erin sampled portions of roasted pancetta-wrapped breast of hen, corn bread stuffing, braised leeks, sautéed spinach, glazed organic carrots and roasted garlic au jus. With an almost reverent respect to each flavor that both amused and fascinated Nate.

“Good?”

The question made her eyes sparkle with enthusiasm. “Mmm-hmm. First taste of early autumn.”

Nate searched his memory for the last time he’d dated a woman who was so appreciative of food. Another first. It was refreshing as hell. And coupled with the way she would take a sip of wine and use the tip of her tongue to slowly savor the last taste of it from her lips, it yelled sensualist at him. Would she show the same indulgence in everything that appealed to her senses?

Now that he could work with…

As if she knew what he was thinking, a flash of awareness shimmered across her eyes. She blinked a couple of times, swallowed the food in her mouth, her moist lips parting so she could draw in a breath that made her breasts rise against the square neckline of her figure-hugging cream sweater.

Every cell in Nate’s body sparked to life the way it had the night they’d danced. When her gaze dropped briefly to his mouth, he smiled a slow smile. She felt it, too.

Searching his eyes, she angled her head and studied him some more. Her eventual conclusion: “You see me as some kind of challenge, don’t you? I ran out on you, and since I’m guessing that doesn’t happen to you very often, it made me interesting….”

“Psychoanalyzing me?”

“Trying to figure out why someone like you would feel the need to pursue someone like me—it shouldn’t matter to you whether I like you or not…”

Shouldn’t, but did. Nate had no idea why. “Don’t go out to dinner often, do you?”

“Not to a place as nice as this, no. Why?”

“When’s the last time a guy sent you flowers? You’re welcome, by the way.”

“I thanked you for the gifts. It was the first thing I said when my mother finished telling you about the time my sister flushed my goldfish down the toilet.”

“No—you said you appreciated the gesture but it was unnecessary and it could stop now.” Nate turned his attention to his food. “And in fairness to your sister, she was four, and it was hardly the first goldfish it ever happened to.”

“Except most of the ones it happened to were already dead.”

“I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

There was a moment of stunned silence and then, finally, a low, “What?”

“That’s why I’m here. And no, I don’t know why. But I intend to find out. Does that answer your question?” When he lifted his chin she was staring at him.

She looked like the proverbial deer caught in headlights.

“Erin?” When she continued staring, Nate lifted his brows.

It took a hand waved in front of her face before she blinked. Then she shook her head and went back to her food. “I hear they do a really good chocolate marquise here, with a terrine of hazelnut and vanilla ice cream…”

Nate smiled.

* * *

I couldn’t stop thinking about you.

The words echoed in her mind for the rest of the evening, and Erin had only a vague memory of the conversation that followed. Either he was way better at the seduction game than she’d given him credit for, or—

She forcibly plumped the pillows beneath her head. Okay. So she didn’t have a second option. But she was working on it. At least she would have if it wasn’t for one small problem…

She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him, either. It was why she’d looked him up on the Internet, unwittingly starting a chain reaction. First came jealously, which was ridiculous when they hadn’t spoken a word to each other. Next came frustration at her reaction, then anger at her frustration, and when she finally decided to talk it through with her friends, Nate arrived with her cell phone.

Then she factored in how much she’d thought about the kiss. The one that had practically been elevated to fantasy status in her mind. Every time Nate glanced at her mouth over the dinner table, she’d convinced herself she could feel his lips on hers because of that kiss. Darn it!

When her phone rang, she turned over on her bed and answered it, fully expecting to hear Clare or Madison asking how her date had gone. “Hello.”

“You really do have a midnight curfew, don’t you?”

Erin jerked upright and looked around her, drawing the covers up with her free hand as if he was in the bedroom with her. “Are you okay?”

Dumb question. Of course he was. And if he wasn’t why would he call her?

She backpedaled. “Why are you calling me?”

“Because I said I would?”

Yes, she remembered that part. But she didn’t think he’d meant so soon. A part of her had even hoped it was the “I’ll call you” that meant he wouldn’t. Because the instinctual need to run had continued growing exponentially the more she thought about him.

“It’s a long drive from Brooklyn to Manhattan. You can keep me company.”

“They built a bridge, you know.” Erin shook her head, staring into the darkness. “This better not be one of those phone calls…”

“What phone calls?”

“I think you know.” She found herself smiling as she slid back into the pillows.

She imagined she could hear an answering smile in the deep rumble of his voice. “Remind me to ask you for the Web site address where you discovered what a great guy I am. I have a team of people ready to start litigation.”

“Good luck with that.”

“Want to know what I think?”

“Honest answer?”

“I think you should forget what you read…” There was a slight change in the intonation of his voice that suggested he’d turned his head, while the almost predatory purring of his sports car sounded in the background “…and get to know me on your own. You might be surprised. I’m generally loved by children and small animals and I’ve never murdered a goldfish.”

Erin rolled her eyes. “Yep, cute as a kitten, that’s you.”

“No middle ground with you, is there?”

“I’m starting to understand why there are so many pictures of you with different women. They all run away, don’t they?”

“Thought about it again tonight, didn’t you?”

Random babbling and the way she’d pretty much slammed the car door in his face at the end of their date had obviously given her away. The constant hint of a smile on his face throughout dinner should have told her he was on to her. But technically it should be easier to be more like herself over the phone when he wasn’t distracting her with the way he looked, so she took a deep breath and gave it a try.

“Yes.”

“Want to tell me why?”

“Not so much.”

The moment of silence surprised her. He was giving up? Perversely, Erin was disappointed. What did that say about her?

“Okay, then—different question.”

And it was going to be worse, wasn’t it?

“Why are you so quiet around your family?”

Nope, she was wrong, that one she could do. “You’ve met my family. You had difficulty getting a full sentence out. That should tell you something.”

“Yes, but you’ve had your whole life to learn the rhythm.”

“Maybe I’m the shy one.” It wasn’t far from the truth.

But it earned a low rumble of laughter. “Says the girl who kissed a stranger without saying a word to him.”

“I’m told conversation is a two-way street.”

“So talk to me.”

The huskiness of his voice gave his words just enough of a seductive edge to warm Erin’s body and make her settle languidly beneath the sheets. “What about?”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

She chuckled softly. “That’s a long list.”

“Start from the beginning.” The purring engine stopped, the silence increasing the sense of intimacy. “Fill in the blanks the photo albums left out.”

“I have to be up at six.”

“Doesn’t have to be all at once. I’m not going anywhere.”

Blinking up at her bedroom ceiling, she wondered why hearing that didn’t tap in to her need to run. But she didn’t make a sarcastic comment or hang up. Instead she searched her mind for a place to begin.

“Once upon a time in a land called Brooklyn…”

A low chuckle of deliciously masculine laughter echoed in her ear.

Chapter Five

Erin slapped Nate’s hand away.

“Would you quit it?” She widened her eyes in warning. “Do you have any idea how long it takes to decorate one of those? And it’s not like you’re aiming for one of the simple ones…”

Aiming for anything simple had never been his style, but Nate didn’t say that. He figured she knew by now. The bigger the challenge, the more he relished it. It was probably part of his continuing fascination with her. It sure as hell wasn’t because he made a habit of pursuing a woman who held him at arm’s length physically for two long weeks and counting. But considering their conflicting work schedules and the fact that their nightly phone calls had allowed them to learn more than they probably would have otherwise, he supposed it all evened out.

Not that he planned on the lack of physical contact continuing for much longer.

When he tossed a lazy smile her way, she caved. “All right, fine, you can try some of the ones that aren’t decorated….”

Reaching over a tray of cupcakes adorned with intricate curls of pink icing and topped with perfect miniature daisies, she lifted one of her ‘spares’ and handed it to him. Then she watched as he peeled the case back on one side and bit into it, her gaze lowering to his mouth as he chewed.

The intensity of that gaze was distracting enough for it to take a moment to think of anything but kissing her until neither of them could breathe. But then what had looked like a completely innocent cupcake caught him by surprise—proving to be superrich chocolate with a taste of cherries and the slightest hint of red wine.

His brows lifted as he looked down at his hand. “Wow. What’s in this?”

An answering smile lit her up from the inside, bringing back the sunshine he always sought out. “It’s a Cabernet cupcake. Secret recipe. Want to try a different one?”

Nate nodded. “Is this a Great Aunt Carlotta recipe?”

Carlotta was more than the family’s spinster aunt, Nate had learned. She’d been Erin’s godmother, and had taught her to bake when she was a child. During one of their phone calls, Erin had talked about how the ritual had bonded them together. Nate suspected she’d needed that when it would have been easy to feel lost inside her large, gregarious family.

“One of them. I’ve embellished some over the years and played with different flavors. Try this one.”

Miniature chocolate chips dotted the rich pumpkin and cream cheese cupcake, and it tasted just as good as the last. So Nate enthusiastically worked his way through a chocolate ganache and then a mocha while wondering how in hell Erin managed to stay so slim while doing what she did for a living.

His gaze slid leisurely over her from head to toe as she continued adding finishing touches of icing roses, pretzel-winged butterflies and swirls of creamed icing depending on the orders. It wasn’t hard to see why she’d been chosen as a last-minute stand-in to wear the diamond. But now that he knew her better, he knew she was completely unaware of how beautiful she was. Another first. The majority of beautiful women Nate dated or had been around had invested a lot of time and money in how they looked, viewing themselves with either harsh criticism, massive ego or a high-maintenance combination of both. But not Erin.

Whether she was in a designer evening dress, soft sweater and tailored pants, jeans and a Yankees T-shirt or the white shirt/black skirt uniform she wore when she helped out at her family’s restaurant, she never obsessed about how she looked. And she was equally sexy in everything as far as Nate was concerned.

When she caught her lower lip between her teeth and narrowed her eyes in concentration, he smiled. “How many of these do you make in a week?”

“A lot more than I used to thanks to word-of-mouth recommendations.” She glanced up at him and he saw the softened green in her eyes. “It’s why I have so many early starts. I’ll have to hire help when I open the bakery.”

“How long till you open?”

The question lit her up again. “Few weeks. Since I moved back to my parents’ place, I’ve saved the deposit a lot faster. Helps take the sting out of living with your mom and dad at twenty-seven if it’s for a good cause…”

Nate knew how much the bakery meant to her. She’d talked about it during their phone conversations and the enthusiasm in her voice had made him smile. It was her dream. She’d spent years working toward it and had a hunger for it he understood. She was lucky. It had taken him a lot longer to find something he got as much pleasure from work-wise; one of the disadvantages of being born into money was everything could be too easy. But then one of the advantages of having money was he could do what he wanted with it….

“I’ll put up the deposit for you.”

What had been intended to make her happy had the opposite effect, her inner light snapping off as if a switch had been pulled. “No. You won’t.”

“It’ll give you more to invest in the business.”

There was a moment when it looked like she might revert to defensive mode, but she took a calming breath and turned away. “I appreciate the offer, but no. Thank you.”

“Why not?” He folded his arms.

“Because it’s nothing to do with you.”

“It’s not a partnership offer. I have my hands full running a half dozen companies already. It’s a gift.”

“It’s not the same as flowers and chocolates, Nate.”

Which was exactly why he wanted to give it to her. Flowers and chocolates didn’t feel like enough anymore. He’d gift-wrap the whole damn store and hand it to her if it made her light up from the inside the way she did. “Not like I can’t afford it.”

“I know. But that’s not the point.”

“Then what is the point?”

Turning again, she lifted a brow at his determined stance. “Can we drop this? If you want to spend the day seeing what I do then we need to get going…”

There hadn’t been raised voices, but it still felt like an argument to Nate. What bugged him most was he knew there was more to it than the issue of money. She was still trying to stop him from becoming entangled in her life. And it was getting to him. But if he pushed too hard she’d run, wouldn’t she?

Nate stared into her eyes as it hit him. As far as he was concerned, her days of running were done. Maybe it was time she understood that, too.

Chapter Six

Falling for Nate was a bad idea.

Erin silently reminded herself of that as she stole another sideways glance at him. No matter how gorgeous he was, how much fun he could be when he set his mind to it, how much easier it had gotten to talk to him or how many million times a day she thought about kissing him again—she could not fall in love with him.

There was no modern-day equivalent of a happily-ever-after up for grabs, not with him. She would never fit into his world. He had to know that as well as she did. The Van Rothstein’s were Manhattan royalty. And Erin Giordano? She could cater quirky cupcakes for glittering parties where his kind sipped champagne and looked down on the rest of the imperfect world from their penthouses. But she was a passing fancy, nothing more.

Predictably he looked sideways at her and smiled a slow, knowing smile. He knew he was getting to her, didn’t he? The fact that he hadn’t pushed when it came to physical contact hadn’t gone unnoticed, frustrating and relieving her in equal measure—or so she told herself. He was allowing her space, and she lo—

She appreciated that.

Even if it did make her excruciatingly aware of every movement he made, every breath of air he took and every single moment his gaze rested on her. She couldn’t remember ever being physically aware of a man on a cellular level. But it had been like that with him from the get-go, hadn’t it? Like they’d danced hundreds of times before…

“So you’re coming to Sunday dinner I hear.”

“I can’t help it if your mother loves me.”

Erin rolled her eyes.

“And I’m playing basketball with Morgan, Evan and Quinn in the morning,” he said, nodded firmly. “Your friends love me, too.”

It was quite the vacation he was taking from the world he lived in. Not content with charming her family, he’d invited himself to the weekly dinner tradition she had with her friends and won them over in less than an hour. Everyone loved Nate.

“You’re obviously irresistible.” She sighed.

“Begs the question of how you’re able to keep your hands off me…”

Turning her gaze toward the river, her feet impulsively made the turn onto the boardwalk. “Finding the answer to that keeps me awake at night.”

It wasn’t a lie. Erin was finding it more difficult to resist him by the day. But she knew instinctively he could break her heart in a way it had never been broken before. Erin had hoped one day she would find a man she could love with all her heart. Someone she could stand beside through good days and bad. A partner, a best friend, a lover—all wrapped up into one. It was the way it was supposed to be. She believed that with every fiber of her being. If she couldn’t have that then she was happier to stay single for the rest of her days with her heart intact than she was to live her whole life aching for someone she could never have. And her heart was already aching….

When they reached the railing, Manhattan spectacularly sparkled against the night sky and reflected in the flowing river below. It was magical. She was looking at his world from hers. On the outside looking in. The way it would always be.

Nate turned, leaned against the railing and studied her with hooded eyes. “So what’s the problem?”

“You have an ego the size of a small county?” She stifled a sad smile.

“You’re attracted to me.”

“I was wrong, it’s a large country.”

“I’ve been patient, Erin.”

“I know you have.” Her answer was soft, even though she didn’t know why he had. It went against everything she’d assumed about him and the statement he’d made about finishing what they’d started. She just didn’t get him at all.

Then he did what she’d been aching for him to do for a long time and she watched, hypnotized, as he reached out a large hand. She held her breath and waited, her heart a tight fist in her chest until impossibly gentle fingers smoothed her hair back from her cheek, whispering over her skin as she exhaled.

When he stepped closer, her eyelids grew heavy. The need to surrender was overwhelming. She could feel heat radiating from him, could see the intense warmth in the dark pools of his eyes. Maybe, just for a moment, she could give in to temptation. Again. Another memory to hold on to when he got bored and went back to his life.

Her gaze dropped to the wickedly sensual curve of his mouth.

His fingers moved to tilt her chin up.

Looking into his eyes, Erin was completely and utterly mesmerized. It had been her downfall last time, too. But this time she wavered, knowledge that she hadn’t had before making her fearful of the repercussions. Until Nate spoke in a husky rumble, his voice filled with frustration.

“I’m done being patient.”

As her lips parted, he leaned in and pressed his mouth to hers, a contented moan leaving her lips as he took control. Firm, warm, practiced lips became insistent for response. So she kissed him back. She had to. It was a biological imperative.

When she reached up and set her palm on his cheek, Nate snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her close. When she moved her thumb against his smooth skin, long fingers threaded into her hair to angle her head so he could deepen the kiss. Erin had never been so utterly consumed. Her imagination hadn’t elevated their first kiss disproportionately—if anything it hadn’t done it justice. No wonder she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. But this time it tapped into a hidden, ravenously hungry part of her that made her moan louder and shift her body restlessly against his.

“We need to stop,” Nate said in a rough mumble against her swollen lips.

As their ragged breathing sounded in her ears, Erin knew he was right. It was neither the time nor place. Not that her body seemed to agree…

“We do,” Erin mumbled back while continuing to kiss him before her subconscious added a whispered, “I can’t fall for you.”

Nate’s head lifted. A roving gaze studied her face. Then he smiled a purely sexual smile that flipped her heart over in her chest.

“Yes, you can.”

No. She couldn’t. She shouldn’t. But she moved her hand to the back of his neck and lifted her chin, her mouth seeking his again. Then she let go, and kissed him with the full ferocity of her pent-up emotions. It was already too late, wasn’t it? They’d been dancing since the first time he held out his hand.

And now she had to wait for the music to end.

Chapter Seven

Nate smiled indulgently. “Ready?”

She glared sideways at him, then looked up at the ornate stonework before her gaze slid down to the double doors. “Remind me again how I was talked into this?”

“There wasn’t a lot of talking involved.” Stepping in front of her, he ducked down to look into her eyes. “It’s just dinner.”

“With your family,” she said, frowning. “I swear, if you hadn’t conned me—”

“Well, we’re here now.” The fine-boned hand he reached for was cold, so he threaded their fingers and squeezed in reassurance as he tugged her up the steps.

“‘Dinner somewhere nice in Manhattan,’ he said.”

“This is somewhere nice in Manhattan. Next to Central Park.”

“‘A few people I know,’ he said.”

“Known them all my life.”

“‘A birthday dinner, so I have to be there,’ he said.”

“My mother can be unforgiving that way. But this way, I can keep my date with you, too.”

“I bet all the people who do business with you read the fine print with a magnifying glass.”

Waiting for her to take the final step, Nate stepped in and silenced her with a kiss. It would be all too easy to tug her back down the steps and take her to his penthouse to spend hours kissing her. Especially considering how much fooling around they’d been doing since the kiss on the boardwalk a few weeks ago. But instead he waited for her to lift her long lashes and calmly ordered, “Take a deep breath.”

She did.

“And exhale.”

Her shoulders dropped at the same time. “I hate you for this.”

A little more than an hour and a half later, he hated him, too. If the day he’d spent making deliveries of cupcakes hadn’t been enough to point out the differences in their lives, then the way his family treated her compared to how hers had treated him would have highlighted it in spades. They looked her over like she was breeding stock, explained parts of the dinner conversation to her like she was a complete imbecile. Then his mother’s best friend discovered Erin had catered the designer cupcakes at the charity event where the family diamond had come out of hiding.

“Those lovely little cakes with the flowers?”

“Yes, some of them had flowers.” Erin smiled politely as her coffee was poured.

“How very clever of you.”

Nate ground his teeth together, his gaze shifting to Erin as she reached up a hand to tuck a shining strand of hair behind her ear. There was no need, it was already there. It had been there the dozen other times she’d checked it, too.

His mother looked at her as if the new information changed her breeding potential. “How long have you been in business?”

“Well, actually—”

“So many good catering companies in Manhattan .”

“We’ve kept every one of them in business,” his father added drily.

“I don’t believe I’ve heard of yours, Erin—what did you say it was called?”

“She didn’t.” Nate kept his tone flat.

“Well, there’s no need to take that attitude, Nathaniel,” his mother said, lifting her nose in the air. “I might employ her services for another event. I’m sure Erin would be very glad of the business, wouldn’t you, dear?”

“She does fine without our help.”

“I—” Erin’s mouth closed when he frowned at her, her lashes lowering a microsecond too late to hide a flash of what looked like anguish.

But she had nothing to feel bad about. Even if he hated that she’d changed her personality to fit the people around her. She did that a lot. It was why she’d always seemed different to him each time he met her. With her family she tended to put the needs of others before her own. With her friends she was bright, animated and funny. Not that she wasn’t all of those things and more when Nate was around, but when they were alone she was several other things, too. Sassy, quick-witted, feisty and his personal favorite: frisky. She was incredible. She shouldn’t change for anyone. Least of all people who put shadows in her expressive eyes. Nate hated those shadows.

And he’d had enough. His duty was done.

Tossing his napkin down on the table, he pushed his chair back and glanced briefly at Erin’s look of astonishment as he walked round the table to her. “We both have early starts. Happy birthday, mother. Dinner was wonderful as always.”

“Nathaniel—”

Drawing Erin’s chair back from the table, he smiled at each of the dinner guests in turn. “Eleanor, Oscar…Dad—I’ll see you in the office.”

His mother wasn’t happy. “But we haven’t served the cheese platter. You adore the cheese platter. There’s a wonderful selection from France this time.”

Setting a hand to the inward curve of Erin’s spine, he gently but firmly guided her toward the archway. His mother was right. He did adore the cheese platter. When he was a kid he used to pray for the arrival of the platter. It was a neon exit sign.

“I’m sure, as a caterer, Erin would love to sample some really fine cheese…”

When his mother turned her patented guilt-trip expression on Erin, Nate increased the pressure on her spine. She lurched forward a little, scowled briefly at him and then stepped away to smile warmly at her hosts. “It really was a wonderful dinner, Mrs. Van Rothstein, thank you. Happy birthday. You have a very lovely home, too….”

“Thank you, dear. Mansions of this size are a little thin on the ground on the other side of the river, I’m sure.”

It was the last straw as far as Nate was concerned. What possessed him to think bringing Erin to dinner was a good idea? Had he been insane? But it had been worse than he’d thought it would. From the way she sidestepped his touch in the hall, he knew she was thinking about running again. And frankly he couldn’t blame her.

So angry he could barely see straight, he took her home in silence.

He didn’t even kiss her good-night.

Chapter Eight

It should have been one of the happiest days of her life. But standing arranging cupcakes inside the display cabinets of her new store, Erin had never felt worse.

She missed him. Easily remedied if she answered any of the calls he’d made, but enough was enough. It was glaringly obvious she’d ignored her own advice, but the decision to stop dancing with him was the right one. Eventually Nate would stop calling. She wouldn’t blame him. Not when she’d embarrassed him so badly in front of his family that he felt the need to remove her from their company so fast. He could see she didn’t belong there. Dinner at the Van Rothstein’s had snapped her out of the fantasy. When she’d foolishly started to think maybe—

There was a knock at the door and a large man in a suit standing outside. She stepped around the counter.

“Erin Giordano?”

“Yes.”

He held up a package and a clipboard. “I have a delivery for you.”

Reaching up to turn the locks, Erin frowned. Who made a delivery so late at night? The paperwork was from a security firm. “What is this?”

“I can’t hand over the package without a signature.”

“Yes, but what is it?”

The man remained impassive. “You signing for it?”

Five minutes later the door was locked and she was staring at the parcel on the counter as if it might sprout legs. There was only one way to find out.

Wide eyes were staring at the gift dangling from her fingers when her phone rang.

The voice in her ear said, “It’s yours.”

Swinging round, she found Nate standing on the sidewalk outside.

“I can’t accept this,” she whispered.

“Well, that leaves us with a bit of a conundrum. Because I have to give it to you. It’s a family tradition.”

Erin found her voice. “It’s a million-dollar diamond.”

“Did I ever tell you the story that goes with it?”

She shook her head.

“You know it hadn’t been seen in public for years.” When she nodded he took a step closer. “There’s a reason for that. It skipped a generation because my grandmother never approved of my father marrying my mother. He married an even older family name than ours. It was never what you’d call a love match. Not in my grandmother’s eyes, anyway. She was right. Probably why there’s only one of me.”

Erin thought about her two brothers and three sisters and immediately felt how lonely it must have been for him growing up in a huge mansion. It made her ache.

“So the diamond came to me when my grandmother died. I ignored the tradition that goes with it when I allowed it to come out in public that night.”

“I don’t understand.”

Taking a step back, Nate examined the storefront. “Is this the only exit?”

“There’s a fire escape off the kitchen, why?”

“Just checking which direction you might go.” He looked into her eyes as he stepped under the light above the door. “This is the end of the line, Erin. No more running. I mean it.”

She felt emotion clogging her throat. “I can’t keep doing this with you.”

“I’m assuming there’s more to this than the fact that I didn’t kiss you good-night.”

“You knew this was coming.”

“Want to tell me why?”

No. But she knew she had to. “We both know this will never work.”

“Do we?”

Erin swallowed hard and held up her hand, the diamond swinging on the end of its fine chain. “Diamonds and cupcakes, Nate. They don’t exactly go together.”

“Says who?” When she glared at him with wide eyes pleading for understanding, he pushed his free hand into the pocket of his jeans and took another deep breath. “I take it I’m supposed to be the diamond in that analogy?”

Dumb question. But before Erin could point out he wasn’t the kind of man anyone would ever refer to as a cupcake, a flash of realization crossed his eyes. Then a hint of a smile tugged on the corners of his mouth. “This better not be what I think it is.”

Sighing, Erin dropped her arm. “What do you think it is?”

“Some archaic notion about class…”

“It’s got nothing to do with class. Or money. Okay—yes—it does have something to do with money. But not the way you’ve just put it…”

“When you Googled me, how far did you get?”

“I got bored after the fifth page of beautiful women.”

“Did you read anything that wasn’t on the equivalent of a gossip column?”

“Like what?” She looked at him from the corner of her eye.

“Anything about the Van Rothsteins.”

“Stupidly rich, own large chunks of Manhattan , that kind of thing?”

The hint of a smile made it up to his eyes. “Immigrant family, enough mixed blood through the generations to attach us to at least a dozen countries in the world. I think my father felt he was improving the pedigree when he married my mother. We’re mutts. We just happen to be mutts with money.”

That’s how he saw himself? With his fancy education and Ivy League colleges and a family mansion overlooking Central Park and—?

“The way my family treated you last night should have shown you how much better you are than them.”

Erin’s brows wavered.

“I drove straight back to the house and argued with my mother for two hours. It won’t happen again, trust me.”

The determination in his voice made her stare at him in wonder. Dressed in comfortable jeans and a simple gray T-shirt over a long-sleeved white vest, with his short hair slightly mussed and his intense dark-chocolate gaze warming her from the inside out, he was the most devastatingly gorgeous male she’d ever seen. But standing there so quietly confident he suddenly didn’t seem so out of reach to her anymore. She wondered why…

“Know what I think?”

Erin slowly shook her head. She doubted she ever had.

“I think you’re scared. That’s why you’ve been putting obstacles in the way.”

When she sucked in a much-needed breath of air, her lower lip trembled.

Nate’s deep voice lowered. “What happened the night we met—it’s rare. To find something that special and lose it? That’s scary.”

Hot tears began to form against her lower lashes, and when she blinked she jostled the first one free.

“I guess we all go back to basics when it comes down to it.” He watched the tear streaking down her cheek, frowning for a moment before his gaze lifted to tangle with hers again. “Fight or flight. You ran. You’ve been running ever since. And giving yourself a long list of reasons why this could never work.”

“While you fought for it.” Her vision blurred as the realization hit her.

“I couldn’t let you go. Even when I didn’t know why.”

“You know now?”

“I knew the day we made the cake deliveries. You’re there for the happiest days of people’s lives. Birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, baby showers. You smiled all day. You know when you smile you light up a room? I always thought that was a cliché…”

“I love that doing what I do let’s me share in those moments. It was Carlotta’s gift to me. She told me happiness can be hard to find, that we should make the most of it where we find it. But when I lost her, I learned how much it hurt to lose someone you love. I used to be braver, I swear I did. But you—”

“Let me in.”

Erin stepped forward and turned the locks. Then they both turned off their phones as he crossed the threshold.

He smiled at her. “About that diamond of yours…”

When she held up her hand, the diamond turned, catching the light as Nate closed the door behind him without breaking eye contact. “Did I mention it’s only worn by Van Rothstein brides?”

Framing her face in his large hands, he used the pads of his thumbs to wipe the last traces of tears from her cheeks. “So the tradition continues…”

What Erin could see in his eyes blurred her vision again. It hadn’t been wrong to kiss him that first night—it felt so right—she’d just run in the wrong direction. Setting her palm firmly over his heart, she smiled back at him. “I never believed in love at first sight. But I think my heart knew who you were.”

“I love you, you know.”

“I know now. I love you, too.” Erin lifted her chin as he lowered his mouth to hers. And they didn’t need words after that.

One day in the future, Erin hoped she could tell their children the story of how they’d met. How the famous Harlequin Diamond had handed a legacy of love through the generations to them and how it had taught her to believe in the possibility of happily ever after in the real world. And she knew she would always start their story the same way.

It was the dance that did it.

THE END