“Look, I can’t help that I’ve led a life of privilege, but I can care about people who haven’t. I can be innovative about ways to solve their problems. I know a lot about business. Some of those principles can be applied to government as well,” he said, barely able to disguise his irritation. “Look, I don’t get this. If you think I’m such a lousy candidate, why do you want to work for me?”
She grinned. “So I can show you how to be a good candidate, maybe even a great one.”
He shook his head at her audacity. “Confident, aren’t you?”
“No more so than you are. You believe in yourself. I believe in myself. That could be the beginning of a great team.”
“Or a disaster waiting to happen,” he said, not convinced. “Two egos butting heads at every turn.”
“Maybe, but if we remember that we both have the same goal, I’m pretty sure that will get us through any rough patches.”
Richard considered her theory as he heated the fancy grill that was part of the restaurant-caliber stove he’d had installed once he’d taken up gourmet cooking to relax. He tossed on the steaks. “How do you want it?” he asked.
Melanie stared at him, looking puzzled. “Want what?”
He grinned. “Your steak.”
“Well-done,” she said at once.
“I should have guessed.”
“I suppose you eat yours raw,” she muttered.
“Rare,” he corrected.
“Same thing. It’s all very macho.”
“I suppose you think I should give up beef or something to appease the vegetarian voters.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. There must be a zillion very popular steak houses in the Washington area. There’s your constituency.”
“I like to think I can relate to people who prefer lobster, too.”
She laughed and shook her head. “My work is so cut out for me.”
“You don’t have the job,” he reminded her.
She stepped up beside him and snagged a slice of red pepper from the pan of vegetables he was sautéing. Then she grinned. “I will,” she said with total confidence.
Richard got that same odd sensation in the pit of his stomach, the one he used to get right before a roller coaster crested the top of the tracks and pitched down in a mad burst of speed. He looked at Melanie as she licked a trace of olive oil from the tip of her finger and felt that same mix of excitement and fear. He hadn’t been in waters this deep and dangerous in years. Maybe never.
Damn Destiny. She’d known exactly what she was doing by pushing this woman into his life, and it didn’t have a bloody thing to do with getting him elected to office or polishing the image of Carlton Industries around the globe. Melanie was to be the key player in Destiny’s latest skirmish to marry him off.
Well, he didn’t have to take the bait. He could keep his hormones under control and his hands to himself. No problem. At least, as long as Melanie stopped looking at him with those big, vulnerable brown eyes. Those eyes made him want to give her whatever she wanted, made him want to take whatever he wanted.
Yep, those eyes were trouble. Too bad she wasn’t one of those sophisticated women who wore sunglasses night and day as part of their fashion statement. Then he might have a shot at sticking to his resolve.
As it was, he was probably doomed.
Though he’d stopped scowling after his second glass of wine, Richard didn’t seem as if he was being won over, Melanie concluded reluctantly. He was being civil, not friendly. And he definitely wasn’t leaving her much of an opening to start pitching her PR plan. Drastic measures were called for. Destiny had seemed certain that food was the answer, so Melanie had added a touch of her own to the meal.
“I stopped and picked up ice cream for the pie,” she told him, hoping she’d guessed right that a man who loved cherry pie would prefer it à la mode.
He actually smiled for the first time—a totally unguarded reaction, for once. Just as Melanie had remembered, the effect was devastating. The smile made his blue eyes sparkle and emphasized that there really were laugh lines at the corners. It also eased the tension in his square jaw.
“Acting against Destiny’s warnings, no doubt,” he said. “She probably has the cardiologist on standby as it is.”
Melanie grinned back at him. “I have his name and number in my purse,” she joked, then added more truthfully, “along with cooking instructions and directions to this place. Destiny left very little to chance.”
He seemed uncertain whether to take her seriously. “Not that I would put it past her, but she didn’t actually give you the name of a doctor, did she?”
Melanie laughed. “Okay, no, but she does seem to be concerned that your particular nutritional habits combined with your workaholic tendencies will land you in an early grave. Do you ever relax?”
“Sure,” he said at once. “I’m here, aren’t I?”
Melanie gestured toward the computer that he’d been glancing at longingly ever since her arrival. “Unless you’re on there doing your Christmas shopping, I don’t think this qualifies.”
He regarded her with a vaguely puzzled expression. “When is Christmas?”
“Less than three weeks.”
He nodded, then reached for the pocket computer he’d tossed on the counter earlier, and made a note.
“Reminding your secretary to get your shopping done?” she asked him.
He looked only slightly chagrined at having been caught. “Winifred’s better at it than I am,” he said, not sounding the least bit defensive. “She has more time, too. I give her a few extra hours off to do her shopping, along with mine.”
Melanie nodded. “A successful man always knows how to delegate. Do you give her a budget? Suggestions? Does she tell you what’s in the packages, so you’re not as surprised as the recipients on Christmas morning? I’ve always wondered how that worked.”
He took the question seriously. “Most of the time she puts little sticky labels on the wrapped boxes so I can add my own gift card. She seems to think my handwriting ought to be on there.” His eyes glinted with sudden amusement. “Occasionally, though, she likes to go for the shock value, especially with my brothers. Last year I gave my brother Mack—”
“The former Washington football hero,” Melanie recalled.
“Exactly, and one of the city’s most sought after bachelors.” He grinned. “My secretary bought him a rather large, shapely, inflatable female. I’m pretty sure Destiny had a hand in that one. She’d been trying to convince Mack that he doesn’t have to make it his personal mission to date every woman in the entire Washington metropolitan area. She seemed to think he might be better able to commit to a woman with no expectations.”
“Your family has a very odd sense of humor, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
“Did it work?”
“Not so’s I’ve noticed,” he admitted. “Mack is still happily playing the field.”
“I see. And my job would be to see to it that no one else discovers these little family quirks?” Melanie asked, daring to broach the subject that had brought her to this cozy, out-of-the-way cottage. “If I get the job, that is.”