“Besides, makeup cannot improve on perfection.” It was a corny line, but he said it was such offhand seriousness; she couldn’t dismiss it as mere flattery.
“Wow…you know just the right thing to say.”
“The truth often comes out that way.”
“But not always. Sometimes the truth hurts.” She didn’t know why she said it, maybe as a reminder to herself.
His mouth set in a grim line. “You’re right, but I still prefer it over dishonesty.”
“Me, too.” A sudden urge made her blurt out. “Promise you’ll always tell me the truth.”
He stared at her as if testing her motive for the request, but then he nodded. “I won’t ever lie to you.”
“I’ll never lie to you either.” She said it quietly, fervently and he received it without comment.
Taking her arm, he tugged her out the door. “Now that we’ve established that, let’s go eat dinner.”
She laughed, a feeling of buoyant happiness bubbling through her. Unless he was the best actor on the planet, he’d meant his vow of honesty and she knew she had. No matter how odd the pact might seem to others, it gave her a sense of peace and a spark of hope for their future.
They were in Washington Park before she thought to ask where he was taking her for dinner.
“We’re almost there.”
To her knowledge, there was no restaurant near where they were, unless you counted the concession stands in the Rose Garden. Which seemed to be where they were headed, but she couldn’t imagine he was taking her there.
She saw that she was right about their destination however as he pulled the purring Mercedes into a parking spot near the gardens. He came around to open her door and the scent of roses washed over her senses. Midsummer, the air was laden with their sweet fragrance.
She closed her eyes and inhaled. “It’s what I think Heaven will smell like. So sweet and good.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
He helped her out of the car and then led her through an archway and down into the gardens. He kept going until they reached one of the private gardens enclosed by a tall green hedge. He stopped and she saw a linen covered table set with china and lit with candlelight in the center of the small garden bedecked with a thousand more flickering candles. Two antique dining chairs were on opposite sides of the smallish table and he seated her in one before taking the other.
A black clad waiter immediately poured them each a glass of champagne and then set starters of chilled crabmeat over a bed of lettuce.
She looked at Angelo, too stunned to pretend to be the least bit casual about his efforts. “This is amazing.”
“I wanted tonight to be special.”
“Any particular reason?”
“Because what is going on between us is special.”
His words seduced her utterly.
Dinner was an incredible experience. They talked about everything including Angelo’s plans for Primo Tech. He listened to her ideas on the subject and then brought up two more companies he was currently resuscitating.
That discussion took them all the way to dessert when Angelo said, “Tell me about Baron Randall.”
Her muscles tensed. “I already did.”
“Only some of it.”
“Do you spend your other dates quizzing women on past liaisons?”
“Only when those liaisons are still impacting the present.”
“He doesn’t. I’m here aren’t I?”
“He does. You’re here against your better judgment. Because of your experience with him, you wanted to write me off.”
“I’ve been writing all men off for two years. It’s not personal.”
“It became personal the moment I got lumped in with the rest.” And in his arrogant view of the world, that was unacceptable.
She almost smiled.
“Your refusal to date makes it sound like you’re not over him.” He didn’t sound pleased at that idea.
“I am, trust me.”
She couldn’t read his expression, but she wasn’t sure he believed her.
“I told you I wouldn’t lie to you.”
“But if you are lying to yourself, how will you help it?”
“I’m not that much of a fool.”
“I hope that is true.”
She wasn’t offended by his words. In fact, their urgency touched her. “Trust me. It is.”
“How did you meet?”
“At a show.” Perhaps talking about it would set Angelo’s mind at rest. Goodness knew she felt more comfortable sharing her secrets with him than anyone else, though she still wasn’t sure why. “He asked for an introduction from my agent and then swept my then naïve self right off my feet.”
“He’s quite a bit older than you.”
“Sixteen years and that was a big part of his success where other men had failed. Not only did he know just what buttons to push to get a response from me because of his experience, but I made the mistake of assuming age meant maturity. That he knew what he wanted.”
“Didn’t he?”
“Yes, I guess he did…but in the end, it wasn’t me.”
“So you broke up.”
“Yes.”
“He married an heiress within a month of the breakup.”
“Don’t ask me how he accomplished that. She had to have heard the stories. We were splashed across every newspaper. Why would she want a man who had to have been having an affair when they met?”
“He was living with someone else when he met you.”
“How did you know that?” She hadn’t even learned that juicy tidbit until she read one of the nasty articles done on their breakup.
He shrugged. “I read.”
“Well, I didn’t know about her until later.”
“I see.”
“I doubt it.”
“You sound bitter.”
“The tabloids slayed me…portrayed me as the skirt on the side while Baron had been courting his one true love. They dubbed me Tempting Tara when I was the one who’d been tempted and then tossed aside.”
“Anyone who knows Baron Randall would know that he’s absolutely incapable of having one true love.”
“You know him?”
“We’ve met.” The cold dismissal in his voice left no doubt what Angelo thought of the other man.
“So, you don’t think I’m some sort of floozy, ripe for the picking by another charismatic tycoon?”
“Floozy?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes, I do and no, I don’t.”
“But—”
“I want you. That’s not a crime.”
“No.”
“So you think I’m charismatic?”
“On occasion, yes.”