“Sorry. I’d say you could have the limo ride to my office to chat, but then you wouldn’t be able to turn around and fly home.”
Her pretty face softened a bit. “I’m okay with that. Just have your plane take me back to Grennady instead of Paris and I’ll be fine.”
Dean started to say, “Okay,” but Jason caught his arm. “She can’t have the limo ride. You have to start making those calls the minute we step off this plane. I’m guessing you’ll be spending the entire day talking. After that there’s the Christmas gala.”
“I can miss that.”
Jason sniffed a laugh. “Really? After you spend an entire day convincing brokers that the company’s solvent and you’re fine, not some prima donna genius who doesn’t understand real life, you think you can miss an event where you actually mingle like a normal person? The one that opens the season? The one that everybody goes to?”
Damn it. Jason was right. The speculation of why he hadn’t attended the party of the year could undo all the hours he’d spend making those telephone calls.
He unhappily caught Kristen’s gaze. He hated messing up the way he had with her. He didn’t make mistakes. And even when he did, somehow or another, the situation turned out okay, as if his instincts could see the future and know there was a reason he’d done whatever unusual thing he’d done.
But not this time.
There was no “reason” that he’d strung her along except that he had an odd feeling in his gut every time he looked at her. And now he had to brush her off.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Anderson. It appears I really don’t have time to talk to you. It’s best you take the plane back.”
“Seriously? I just sat patiently for hours and you won’t even listen for fifteen minutes?”
The word sorry was on the tip of his tongue again but he swallowed it. Technically this wasn’t his fault. “You orchestrated this. I told you I was a busy man. You took a risk and it didn’t work out.”
Jason caught his arm, but he addressed Kristen. “Just hold on for one second.” Then he faced Dean. “Can I talk to you in the back?”
Dean reluctantly followed Jason to the aisle in front of the office.
“We sort of have a weird opportunity here.”
Not following how or why, Dean said nothing.
“We want to counteract that article. We want brokers and big investors to see you as a normal guy, and be comfortable that you’re not worried about the situation with the new games.”
Dean quietly said, “Yes.”
Jason nudged his head toward the front of the plane. “So why not take her to the party tonight?”
Dean laughed. “What?”
“No one’s ever seen you date. You keep your relationships private. The press has been dying to catch you with a woman. But more than that, a date makes you look normal. Happy even. Who knows? The next article might come out speculating that the rollout is late because you’re preoccupied with your new girlfriend. It’s a chance to totally spin this mess in our favor.”
Dean glanced up at Kristen. His heartbeat slowed. The sweet tingle of attraction rolled through him. Attending a party with her was exactly what his hormones wanted. “She is pretty.”
“She’s more than pretty, Dean. She’s gorgeous. The kind of girl everybody expects you to end up with. She, personally, might not have breeding, but she works for a royal family. She’s on the periphery of the jet-set crowd, good-looking enough to attract someone like you. The connection is logical. We’ll send her out with Stella to get something for the party. Shoes, dress, whatever the hell she needs. Then she’s on your arm tonight.”
“I’ll have to listen to her pitch. Right now,” Dean said emphatically. “I’m not stringing her along and I’m not going to let her think I’m using her.”
Jason shook his head. “Your honesty is going to bite you in the butt one of these days.”
“Yeah, but my arrogance will save me.”
Jason slapped his back. “Whatever.”
Dean led Jason to the front of the plane. “I’m going to listen to your pitch right now.”
Her eyes widened. “You are?”
“Yes. But then I’d like to hire you to do something for me.”
“Hire me?”
“Yes.” Though he and Jason hadn’t discussed paying her, with all the strange feelings tumbling through him when he was around her, he needed to make sure they kept this “date” in perspective. He also wouldn’t ask Kristen Anderson to go to the party with him as a favor. Favors implied that he’d be indebted to her. He was indebted to no one. “I’ll pay you a hundred thousand dollars to go to a party with me tonight.”
She laughed.
He waited until she realized he was serious.
Wide-eyed, she asked, “Why would you do that?”
“You heard a bit of the discussion about my company hitting a bumpy patch?”
She inclined her head in acknowledgment.
“Well, I believe it will make me look a little more—” He wouldn’t say “normal.” Refused. Being a genius took him out of the normal column, but that didn’t mean he didn’t understand kids. Especially lonely kids. He had been one. He knew how to entertain them. “—approachable if I go to tonight’s gala happy. Having a date will make it appear that everything’s fine.”
She just looked at him.
“Stocks are funny things,” Jason said. “They sometimes rise and fall on rumors. How a company’s leader is perceived dictates how much money people are willing to risk.”
Dean frowned at Jason. “She has a degree in economics. I’m pretty sure she knows that.” He faced Kristen. “What I really need to counteract that article is for people to perceive me as a regular guy. Dating is something a regular guy does.”
“And if I say no, you won’t listen to my pitch?”
The odd feeling rolled through him again. The feeling that something about her was significant. Holding the gaze of her pretty eyes, which were serious this time, he knew he had to be fair with her.
“No. Regardless of whether you go to the party with me or not, I’ll listen to your pitch. But if you decide to come with me, we’ll make arrangements to get you something suitable to wear, and we’ll put you up in a hotel suite. Party’s not until eight. You can get some sleep so you’ll be fresh and happy for tonight. Then tomorrow you’re back on this plane, on your way home.”
“For a hundred thousand dollars?”
“I’m not paying you more than a hundred thousand dollars for a date.”
“I don’t want more. In fact, I, personally, do not want the money. But I am in the beginning stages of setting up a charity that will build schools in third world countries. I think what I’d really like is a commitment from you to put computers in those schools.”
Disappointment flooded him. Just like everybody else, she wanted something from him. She might be on an assignment from Princess Eva and Prince Alex, but she had an agenda too. There was nothing special about her.
Still, he was accustomed to people wanting something. Everybody in his life wanted money or a favor or a recommendation of some sort. So what if she was no different? He didn’t know why something about her had caught his attention. Maybe hormones mixing with jet lag? Disappointed or not, he was accustomed to this.
“When