Page 26 of The Charmer's Gambit
“Was it, now?” The amusement in his voice only made me hotter. “If you thought ninety minutes was bad, wait until Friday.”
My jaw loosened. “What?”
He laughed. “Darlin’, you haven’t heard a word I’ve said since gettin’ in this car, have you?” He shook his head. “Well, to teach you a lesson, I’m going to make it a surprise. But don’t worry; I’ll make sure Janet is aware so you don’t get in trouble. You do have your passport, right?”
“Wait, no, I mean, yes. I mean . . .” Oh my dear God, I’d never been so tongue-tied in my life. I pulled the passport from my purse to wave at him because that was easier than speaking. “But I want to know where we’re going.”
“Then you should have paid attention.” His taunt, accompanied by those dimples, helped ground me a bit.
“I can refuse to get on the plane.”
“You most certainly could, but how would you explain that to Baker Brown?”
“I . . .” Well, crap. He had me there. I opted for a new route. “A gentleman would tell me where we’re going.”
“And a lady wouldn’t be caught checking out her client in the back seat of a town car, yet here we are, Miss Dawson.”
“I wasn’t . . .” Okay, yeah, no way around that. Any lie I could even consider would just get shot down. So I shrugged. “Fine. At least tell me what to pack.”
“No need. We’ll shop when we get there.”
“Excuse me?”
“You would understand, had you been listening.”
I shook my head. “My suits will have to do, then, and no way did I missthatmuch of the conversation.”
His chuckle was a velvet caress over my skin. “Perhaps not, but needling you is becoming one of my favorite pastimes. In addition to you checking me out, of course.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, I hope you enjoyed it, Mister Mershano, because it won’t be happening again.”
“Oh, we’ll see about that, Miss Dawson. I give it an hour.”
“Cocky.” I shifted my focus to the rolling landscapes outside the window. Apparently, we’d left the city.
“Confident,” he corrected.
“Uh-huh.” Taller mountains appeared in the distance as we continued our drive, stealing all my attention. Born and raised in the Midwest with a minimal budget left my travel experience rather lacking. Ryan took me on a few trips while we dated, but those always involved a beach and me in a bikini.
I knew from my research that Will’s headquarters was located north of Charlotte, closer to the Virginia border, but he owned vineyards throughout the southern states. “Why North Carolina?” I wondered out loud.
“What do you mean?” His voice warmed me in a way few voices could.
“What made you choose North Carolina for Mershano Vineyards?” I finally looked at him, and found his brow creased. “You own several other properties in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana, right?”
“I suppose that detail wouldn’t be in the corporate files I sent over.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Well, in short, my family is from here.”
I frowned. “I thought the Mershano ‘empire’ was headquartered in New Orleans?” I used finger quotes around “empire” since it was a term coined by the media.
“Sure, but that’s Evan’s family dynasty, not mine. A lot of people like to say we’re brothers since I essentially grew up with him, but we’re cousins. I was born here, where I lived with myparents until the car crash.” His gaze grew distant at the mention of what had to be a painful memory, and I reached for his hand on instinct.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, feeling like an idiot. Of course I knew that about his parents. Not necessarily that they were from here, but that they’d died. Sarah had mentioned it once when she explained his familial relation to Evan. Most would assume them to be brothers due to their similar eyes and statures.
He twisted his hand, palm up, and wrapped his fingers around mine to give a gentle squeeze. “It was a long time ago,” he murmured with a small smile as his thumb drew circles against my wrist. “But I always wanted to come back, and I did.”
I opened my mouth to reply, when my phone buzzed a familiar ringtone.Ryan. Dropping Will’s hand, I fiddled through my purse to silence the tone and then sent him a quick message.
With my client.
