One Night with Prince Charming by Anna DePalo Page A

wet,” she retorted. “And for your information, I have a compact umbrella with me in my handbag.”
    Hawk sighed. “We can do this the hard way, and perhaps make a scene that Lucy will overhear, or we can retire to somewhere with a bit more privacy.”
    â€œYou leave me little choice,” Pia tossed back, her chin set at a mutinous angle.
    Without waiting for a further invitation, Hawk steered her into a room across the hall.
    As Hawk shut the door behind them, Pia noted that this room was unmistakably a library or study. It had built-in bookshelves, a marble mantel as impressive as the one in the parlor, and a large desk set in front of high windows. With plenty of dark, leather-upholstered furniture, the room was clearly Hawk’s domain.
    Pia turned back to confront Hawk. “I had no idea Lucy was related to you. She gave her name as Lucy Montgomery. Otherwise—”
    â€œâ€”you’d never have come?” he finished for her, his tone sardonic.
    â€œNaturally.”
    â€œMontgomery is the stage name that Lucy adopted. It is, however, also a surname that appears in our family tree.”
    Pia raised her eyebrows. “Do all you Carsdales operate under a variety of names?”
    â€œWhen it suits.”
    â€œAnd I suppose it suits when you’re intent on seduction?”
    She’d intended the comment as a sharp riposte, but he had the audacity to give her a slow, sensuous smile.
    â€œIs that what it was—seduction?” he murmured. “To which you fell victim?”
    â€œThrough foul means.”
    â€œBut still you were seduced by the man…not the title.”
    Pia detected a note of naked honesty in Hawk’s banter, but she didn’t let herself dwell on it. She didn’t let herself dwell on anything—including the fact that they were in his library alone together—except holding on to her outrage.
    â€œYou masterminded this,” she accused, looking around them. “You arranged to have me come here when you knew I was not suspecting…not ex-expecting…”
    Words deserted her.
    â€œIt’s not a charade, however,” Hawk countered. “How couldit be? My sister needs to move up her wedding date, and you’re a wedding consultant, last I heard.”
    â€œYou know what I mean!”
    â€œDoes it matter if you can use the business?” Hawk replied.
    Pia’s eyes widened. “I don’t know what you mean. In any case, I’m not that desperate.”
    â€œAren’t you?” Hawk said. “You’ve dropped hints that you’ve been less than busy lately.”
    Pia’s eyes widened further.
    â€œNever play poker.”
    â€œSeeking to make amends?”
    â€œIn a sense.”
    Pia placed her hands on her hips, contemplating him and his vague response. It couldn’t be that he was feeling guilty about his behavior toward her in the past. He was a seasoned player who had forgotten her easily. That much was clear from the three years it had taken for their paths to cross again.
    There was only one other possibility, then, for his motivation in linking her to Lucy.
    â€œI suppose you feel some sense of responsibility since it was your friend who torpedoed my professional standing by ruining Belinda’s wedding?” she asked.
    Hawk hesitated, and then inclined his head. “I suppose responsibility is as good a term as any.”
    Pia eyed him. He was holding out a lifeline to her business, and it was hard not to grasp hold of the opportunity that he was offering. What better way to signal to society that all was well than to be hired to organize the wedding of the sister of the man whom she’d bearded with baba ghanoush?
    She was being foolhardy.
    â€œLucy isn’t part of New York society, but her future husband’s family is,” Hawk cajoled, as if sensing her weakness. “This wedding could help establish you. And Lucy has manyties to the