Free Jane Millionaire by Janice Lynn Page B

The crisp white of his shirt gave an added glow to his golden skin and his whiskey eyes sparkled.
    God, he was magnificent. Benjamin Bratt eat your heart out.
    “May I?” He extended his hand to her. Quivers of anticipation shot through her.
    “Of course.” She turned to the bachelors she’d been talking to and excused herself in what she hoped was a princessly manner and not an I-shouldn’t-be-doing-this-but-I’m-going-to-anyway-nervous-bumbling like it really was.
    “You are absolutely breathtaking,” Rob whispered into her ear the moment she slipped into his arms. His warm breath tickled the inside of her ear, making the tiniest of hairs on her neck to prickle to attention.
    “Thank you. I was thinking the same thing about you.” Her face flamed. She wasn’t supposed to have said that out loud. And she’d forgotten to whisper, which meant good old mike had captured every word.
    “What is it about a man in a tux?” she laughed, another of those forced, fake ones. She’d spent the whole week with him, talking for hours on end, what was wrong with her that she suddenly couldn’t think? Oh yeah, now she remembered. She hadn’t been enveloped in his arms, hadn’t been snuggled against his hard frame, hadn’t been so close she breathed the same air as he did. That’s why she could barely string two words together, much less obtain coherency.
    “Actually, we guys look like a bunch of penguins and you look like a beautiful fairy princess.”
    Her insides melted. Oh, why, oh, why couldn’t he be one of the bachelors?
    “I didn’t realize I was allowed to dance with you.” If she had, she’d have found him earlier, bachelor or not.
    “You aren’t.” His voice was filled with frustration, rebellion and a hint of humor.
    “Oh.” She wrinkled her forehead in confusion.
    “Now that all the bachelors have held you in their arms, I decided one dance between the ‘host with the most’ and the ‘star of the show’ wouldn’t hurt.”
    She liked his reasoning. She liked him. Although liked seemed such a mild word for the sensations churning inside her at his closeness. “I’m glad you did.”
    His spicy masculine scent tickled her senses, dulled the reasons why she should resist this man. “You smell so good. Not overpowering or so strong it chokes a woman.” Not like Bachelor #9. Ugh.
    He chuckled and brushed his face against her hair. “You smell like flowers.”
    “I should. Gregory sprayed enough stuff on me I probably have a cloud of fumes hovering around me. I’ve never been so powdered and perfumed in my life.”
    “Gregory’s the best.”
    “Apparently. I couldn’t believe it was me when I looked in the mirror.”
    “Why not?” His feet slowed, his hand gently pressed into the small of her back, his gaze searched hers.
    “Because I looked…” she paused searching for the right word and trying not to read anything into the way his eyes seemed to delve right into her soul or the fact his body was noticeably hard.
    “Beautiful?”
    “Do you think so?” Her breath caught. Was that what he saw when he looked at her? When he looked beyond the physical?
    The sane, methodical cop in her poked her conscious with a reminder that she was a phony. Becoming emotionally involved with Rob Lancaster could only lead to trouble. Nevertheless, the woman in her craved what shimmered in his eyes.
    He swallowed, his eyes glittering with the truth. He wanted her. “You know I do, but it would be better if I didn’t.”
    She could barely hear his low words, but they touched her more than if someone else had screamed her praises over the intercom system at a Laker’s game.
    “Rob.” She didn’t say more. She couldn’t. Not when all the cameras focused on her. Not when everything said was recorded by the tiny microphone hidden between her breasts. They both knew it was there, although she wondered what Rob would say if technology didn’t capture every word, every look, every touch. Would he kiss