Free Scent of a Woman by Joanne Rock Page A

asking Danielle Chevalier out for a drink to discuss Bast in more detail. Single women were all over the ship and there was no way he could ignore that fact for the whole season.

    Tuning out whatever Giorgio was saying now, Mike set down his glass abruptly.

    “I’m out of here.” It would be easy to find out which room Danielle was in since the woman at the purser’s desk liked him. Perhaps he’d see if Danielle wanted to explore one of the ports with him this week to provide a much needed distraction.

    “Don’t forget you have to meet our contact tomorrow to pick up new pieces.” Giorgio hovered over him like an old woman as he made his way toward the door.

    “I’m going to score tomorrow.” Shaking off Giorgio’s tense words, Mike stepped out into the corridor. “You can count on it.”

CHAPTER SIX

    “I S EVERYTHING ALL right back home?” Adam asked Danielle the next day as he rowed their boat through the water that would lead them to La Grotta Azzura , Capri’s famous blue grotto.
    She’d been quiet ever since returning from a phone call she’d had to her brother shortly after they’d arrived in Anacapri, a section of Capri that was so lush and beautiful he regretted not traveling more before now.

    Blue water surrounded them now as the hills of the island shrank slightly in the distance. Three other small boats rowed near them and larger vessels with tour groups drifted ahead and behind them, waiting to enter the grotto. Dozens of cruise passengers had chosen to tour Capri during the ship’s stay in Naples. Apparently the grotto was a major attraction even though Adam had never heard of it. Something about cruising the Mediterranean this week made him think he’d been living in too isolated a world. He knew he’d been busting his butt with work for years, but not until this trip had he realized he was also living with his head under a rock.

    “I am unsure.” Danielle shook her head as if trying to shake off a dark mood. “My brother didn’t say anything was wrong, but his voice—Marcel did not sound like himself. He even neglected to ask me about you, and I know for a fact he is worried about you and I seeing each other.”

    Adam leaned forward to dip the oars behind him and then pulled back hard, taking pleasure from the way the simple, clear-cut task propelled them through the water faster. There was something reassuring about being able to control an end result by how hard you worked to achieve it. Too often in business that wasn’t the case.

    “What is there to worry about?” He pulled the oars out of the water, pausing to let them drip.

    “I have…how shall we say? A poor track record when it comes to men.” She repositioned her legs to one side of the boat, her tanned shapely calves catching his eye.

    As always, she looked phenomenal in linen shorts and jacket, every inch the wealthy European businesswoman. Her narrow leather belt and small designer satchel probably cost as much as his whole outfit. A silk tank top hugged her curves beneath the jacket, the delicate white fabric allowing him tantalizing glimpses of some kind of lace thing underneath.

    “ You have a poor track record? I find that hard to believe.” Any man would want to claim a woman like Danielle for his own.

    She propped a pair of big sunglasses on her head, revealing her eyes.

    “The last man I grew attached to stole a valuable perfume formula before I went to market with the product.”

    “Bastard.” He wondered what had been more devastating for her—the knock to her business or the toll it must have taken on her heart.

    Not to mention her pride.

    “Precisely.” She peered around to see a small boat with tourists float into the grotto under a low rock wall.

    “But one jerk doesn’t make a bad track record. Everyone has lousy luck in romance now and then. Witness my relationship with Jessica, which she completely manipulated.” He turned around to judge the distance to the grotto. The