“What happened three years ago? I felt like we were going along smoothly, then the floor fell away and there was nothing holding me up.”
“It was timing, Renee. It just didn’t work.”
“Well, answer this, then. What’s changed in the past three years that you want to be in my company now?”
* * *
The air around their table grew instantly heavy and despite the conversation of the other diners, the room felt utterly quiet.
“Nothing’s changed,” Carter said. And he meant it. He still felt the same way about Renee as he had when he left to go to Afghanistan.
Carter had known this question would come sometime. When he’d left there had been no guarantee that he would return, and he’d wanted to save Renee from what could happen. Three years ago it had seemed like the right thing to do. But tonight, as he looked at her beautiful face and the way her body moved in that red dress, he wasn’t so sure.
He had to tell her, but not right now.
“Do you mind if we postpone that question until the end of the night? I will explain, but I don’t want to start the evening with that.”
Renee nodded. Carter could tell this was not the response she was expecting. But he needed more time to decide how to tell her.
“What’s it like working as a consultant?” he asked, hoping to lighten the mood.
Renee leaned back and seemed to relax. The tension bunching the muscles in the back of his neck relaxed.
“It’s the other side of the table,” she said. “Working directly with the people who buy the gowns we put in the magazines gave me a totally new perspective on what they want and how to please them.”
“Do you like that side of the business?”
She nodded. “Like any job, it has its good and bad moments. For the most part, they were good,” she said. “I love the gowns, and I love seeing the glow on the brides’ faces when they see themselves for the first time in white lace or satin. Often the emotions surprise them so suddenly that tears spill down their faces. That’s something we can’t duplicate in the pages of a bridal magazine.”
“Is that what you want to do?” Carter asked. “Return to the magazine world so you can infuse emotion into the pages?”
Renee seemed to take a moment to ponder that. “Yes,” she said, speaking in a whisper. Her face showed she’d hadn’t thought of it until that moment. “I like production and development. I like layout and finding new ways of presenting the designs. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be about to launch a magazine.”
“But now you know what you want to do to make this one different from the crowd of bridal issues already on the newsstands.”
“I suppose I shouldn’t have admitted that to you. After all, we are going to be in competition with each other.”
“I promise to keep your secret.” He leaned forward as if they were conspirators. “And that’s only one idea. As much as I’d like to know more, I can’t get in your head and see what else is in there.”
Renee swallowed. He could tell she knew there was a double meaning in his words. Carter had fallen for her the moment Blair introduced them. He hadn’t understood the attraction. It was much too fast, and he’d never had any feelings as immediate as those before.
Resisting them seemed the natural thing to do. But he’d found himself taking more interest in the bridal division. His eyes were always on her when they were in a room together. He loved talking to her, sharing opinions. But then he’d had to leave, and making her play the waiting game would have been unfair.
A burst of song came from another room. Both of them glanced toward the door.
“It’s a wedding,” Renee said.
“Ever crash one?” Carter asked.
“I never needed to.”
She smiled and Carter felt the warmth of it. This was the first time she’d really smiled at him. The others had been imitations, put on at the right time, but not genuine. This one was, and he wished he could capture and hold it.
“Wanna crash this one?”
“You’re not serious?” she whispered as if the entire wedding party could hear her.
“Come on.” Carter stood, holding his hand out.
“We haven’t finished eating,” she told him.
“The food will wait.”
Renee put her hand in his. He wanted to hold her, and slow dancing at a wedding would give him an excuse.
“We’ll be right back,” he told the waiter as they headed for the reception.
“Hi, Renee, I didn’t know you were going to be here.”
“Hello,” she said to Roni, a wedding consultant from one of the New York companies. “We’re only here for a dance.” Renee looked at Carter. “Roni, this is Carter Hampshire. Carter meet Veronica Edmonson. She’s a wedding consultant for a company here. We met a couple of years ago.”
They shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.
“We won’t be long,” Renee said.
Carter turned Renee into his arms. They began slowly moving to the music. “Do you know everyone in the business?” he asked.
“Not everyone, but it helps to know people. You never know when you’ll need a favor.”
Her lips were close to his ear as she said that. A tremor went through him, and his arm around her waist tightened, pulling her intimately close to him. Taking a slow breath, he inhaled her scent, felt the softness of her body and forgot everything except how good it was to hold her again.
* * *
They stayed for three more dances. The last one was slow and Carter hummed the song in Renee’s ear. She couldn’t help closing her eyes and giving herself up to the moment. At the end of the dance, Carter kept his arm around her back as they returned to their dinner table. Renee missed dancing with him. She missed everything about Carter, although she wouldn’t admit it to anyone. She wanted to relax in his arms, melt into him and let the music take them away, but that was dangerous. And she was unsure of Carter’s goals. He obviously had a reason for insisting that she spend time with him. On the surface it was to get her back at Hampshire Publications, but while he had his arms wrapped around her, she wasn’t sure.
“That was fun,” Carter said, holding her chair as she sat.
Renee noticed his voice was deeper.
“We should do it more often,” he continued.
The promise of a future together was in his words. She suppressed the excitement that rippled in her heart, but she didn’t miss his tone. It was that midnight-in-the-dark sexy voice that once wrapped her in its sound. Only now they weren’t alone in the dark together, because Carter had dumped her. Without a reason. He’d only said it wasn’t working for him and he was moving on. So why was he here now? Why had he insisted that she have dinner with him? Was he trying to wear her down, hope they could pick up where they had left off three years ago?
She guessed he’d had plenty of women who had filled her position for longer than she had had it. She frowned, wondering what he could want. It had to be something. Renee wondered if it was the business. Did he not want her to succeed at her magazine? Could he be that petty? Quickly she dashed that idea. Carter was honorable. At least, in everything except his relationship with her.
They spent a couple more hours over dinner, talking and laughing, although she was careful of what she said. She didn’t want to reveal anything that could come back to haunt