Free Revealing the Real Dr. Robinson by Dianne Drake

moment. Soft, gentle. The kind of hand that could stroke a woman into easy submission. “I’ll go, but only because it’s in ink on your calendar and, God only knows, you can’t change it once it’s in ink.”
    “I wrote it in ink because I didn’t want to find an excuse to get out of it.”
    “But an hour?” she asked, taking hold of his hand and tingling to everything she’d expected his touch to be. Tingling and goose bumps.
    “That gave you your out, Shanna. I’m not the most engaging person to be around so I figured an hour was time enough to eat and for you to make a polite exit once you realized that anything more than an hour with me would turn into misery. So, yes, an hour. But let’s add an option to that.”
    “An option for what?”
    “More. There’s nothing written in ink underneath that hour.”
    “So I get to negotiate for another hour if the first one goes well?” Normally, this was where she’d have simply shoved him out the door, by brute force if necessary, then locked it after him. But she did have those tingles and goose bumps to contend with, whatever they meant. Besides that, Ben fascinated her. His odd outlook on life could be her starting point.
    “If you want to negotiate. Not sure that’s going to happen, though.”
    “Pretty sure you’re that boring, are you, Doctor?” she asked, standing. “Do I feel another wager coming on? Because I like to dance, so it might involve a tango. Just thought I should warn you.”
    * * *
    What was it about her that intrigued him? She was pretty. Downright beautiful, actually. Red hair like he’d never known red could be. Sensual, soft. And green eyes the color of emeralds. So, in spite of his empty heart, there were so many reasons to look. He was human after all. But what else? Her infectious personality? Because Shanna had the ability to draw people in, and he wasn’t denying that he’d been drawn in, starting with that first morning in Tuscany when she’d approached him and he’d walked away.
    And too many stray thoughts long after that. Now, thinking about the two of them in a tango, specifically a sultry Argentine tango...he could almost feel her leg snaking up his, feel her thigh pressed to his.
    When he realized where his thoughts were taking him, Ben expelled a sharp breath. No way in hell that was going to happen. He wouldn’t allow it. And that was where his mind stayed for a good part of their walk to the village—on the things he wouldn’t allow.
    Except the list was provocative, because everything he forbade himself was everything he wanted, and the more he tried to force it away, the more it pummeled him. It was only when they were seated across from each other at the restaurante aéreo fresco and Shanna was studying the menu scribbled on a chalkboard hanging on the outside brick wall that he was able to force himself to relax a little. Otherwise he was well into his second chance at an evening he didn’t want to ruin, on the verge of ruining that, too.
    “If I could make a recommendation, bife a caballo is excellent. Beef is the traditional evening meal here, and a caballo means—”
    “On a horse?” she asked.
    “I forgot you speak the language.”
    “Some. It was the second language in my home when I was growing up.”
    “I’m guessing a Spanish-speaking nanny?” He smiled as he flagged down the server, a young girl who didn’t look to be more than fifteen or sixteen. Glancing back to acknowledge him, she was moving slowly, holding her back. Looked exhausted, so he gave her the okay sign and a smile, indicating he wasn’t in a hurry.
    “Best nanny in the world—one of the Brooks family perks.”
    “Spoken with a hint of disdain.”
    “Not disdain so much as disappointment. I love Asuncion. Would trust her with my own child, if I had children. The thing is, I would raise my own children and not leave that to the nanny. Her job would be as caregiver when I wasn’t there, not stand-in parent. But when I