Free How To Host a Seduction by Jeanie London

who’d changed her travel plans at the last minute, arriving only in time for the rehearsal.
    A simple request he’d been happy to carry out. Since both made their homes in Manhattan and obviously shared the commonality of a busy schedule, Christopher had figured they would have something to talk about on the ride back into New Orleans.
    He hadn’t smelled a setup until Ellen emerged from the gate.
    She was one cool beauty with her almost waist-length dark hair and willowy body. Beautiful in a very classic way, creamy skin and elegant features that brought to mind a porcelain doll on a collector’s shelf. She had a smile that lit up the terminal like a spotlight and a mysterious self-possession that suggested she would remain unruffled in the middle of an avalanche.
    It was that quality that had first caught his attention.
    And continued alternately to fascinate and frustrate him. Shaking his head, Christopher left the garden suite and tucked the memory safely away. That image, along with others he’d collected during the time they’d dated, had been all he’d had of Ellen for three long months. He wasn’t about to let them go until he saw how his plans for the next few days transpired.
    Hence, he had to get about his business.
    The light shining through the glass office door surprised him. He gave a quick knock and entered, only to find Miss Q sitting behind a desk, a cup of tea at her elbow and stacks of papers in front of her.
    â€œJust the person I needed to see,” he said. “I was going to leave you a note. I thought you’d be sleeping.”
    Miss Q gazed over the rims of her reading glasses with bright eyes that the passage of time hadn’t dimmed. “I figure I’ll have plenty of time to sleep when I’m dead, dear. Right now, I’ve got things to do.”
    She stopped Christopher in his tracks with her easy reference to the inevitable, and he quickly understood that Miss Q planned to face death in the same manner she faced life. With an appreciation for a new experience. Christopher supposed when one looked at death that way it became another adventure.
    He filed that idea away for future reference, thinking he might like to handle matters with that same sort of aplomb.
    â€œI’m not disturbing you, am I?”
    â€œOf course not. But given that you and Ellen never showed up for the introduction, I was hoping you were engaged in something a little more exciting than talking to an old lady.”
    â€œNo comment.”
    â€œPlaying the gentleman, are you? Well, then, keep the details to yourself and just tell me how it went. You’re still vertical and I don’t see any blood, so I’ll assume you and Ellen worked out some sort of compromise for the training.”
    â€œIn a manner of speaking.”
    Technically he and Ellen hadn’t discussed the training. He wouldn’t have that pleasure until she awoke and realized they’d missed the introduction. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be a splatter trail to mark the occasion.
    â€œI see” was all Miss Q said.
    And Christopher knew she did. Miss Q was one of the few people who had understood the significance of his marriage proposal. Not only had she lived with the love of her life for well over fifty years—a man who’d been close friends with Christopher’s grandfather—but she’d also known him all his life. And she knew Ellen. Hell, she’d been the one to send him off to the airport to pick up the errant bridesmaid in the first place.
    And the ensuing months had been…well, awesome.
    For what seemed like the hundredth time since first meeting Ellen, Christopher thought that a man who made his living supervising client relations all over the globe should be more articulate. But Ellen had affected so many changes in him, this lack of articulation not the least among them.
    â€œAfter seeing Ellen tonight, I’m convinced I’ve got a