her head.
"Not really." The waiter removed her salad and replaced it with consomm
began to stir it absently. "I suppose it just reminded me how much you're in the public eye. Does it ever bother you?"
"Off and on. Publicity's an intricate part of my profession. It can be a means to an end, or a basic nuisance." He wanted to see her smile. "Of course, I'm interested to get my father's reaction when he gets wind I was at the zoo with a Campbell." The faint tension in her shoulders relaxed when she laughed. "Do you fear for your inheritance, Alan?"
"My skin more," he countered. "My hearing at the least. I expect to pick up the phone any day and be bellowed at."
She grinned as she picked up her wine. "Do you let him think he intimidates you?"
"From time to time. It keeps him happy."
Shelby picked up a roll, broke it in two, and offered half to Alan "If you were smart, you'd give me a very wide berth. You really shouldn't risk a broken eardrum: it makes it difficult to hear what the opposition's plotting in the next room."
"I can deal with my father when the time comes."
Nibbling on the roll, she gave him a steady look. "Meaning after you've dealt with me." He lifted his glass in a small toast. "Precisely."
"Alan." She smiled again, more confident after food and wine. "You're not going to deal with me."
"We'll have to see, won't we?" he said easily. "Here's your lamb."
Chapter Seven
Shelby might have wished she hadn't enjoyed herself quite so much. She might have wished Alan hadn't been able to make her laugh quite so easily. Or that he hadn't been able to charm her into walking down M Street in the rain to window-shop and peoplewatch and to have one last glass of wine at a crowded little cafe.
Shelby might have wished it, but she didn't. For the first time in a week, she could laugh and relax and enjoy without effort. There'd be consequences there were always consequences. She'd think about them tomorrow.
More than once someone breezed by their table with a greeting for Shelby and a speculative look at Alan. It reminded her that smoky little clubs were her territory. Ballet openings were his. That was something else she'd think about tomorrow.
"Hello, gorgeous."
Shelby glanced up and around as hands dropped onto her shoulders. "Hello, David. Hi, Wendy."
"Hey, you were supposed to give us a call tonight," David reminded her. The piano player switched to something hot and pulsing. David glanced over automatically. "We caught the new play at Ford's without you."
Wendy, soft and graceful with hair rippling past her waist, grinned as she slipped an arm around David's waist. "You didn't miss anything."
"I got ...
"Nice to meet you." Alan gave the gangly man with the wisp of beard a slow smile.
"Would you like to join us?"
"Thanks, but we're just heading out." David ruffled Shelby's hair before he snitched her wine for a quick sip. "Got to play at a wedding tomorrow."
"David's still trying to figure out how he can play at ours next month. Hey, I've got to call you later about that Greek caterer you told me about." Wendy sent Alan a friendly grin. "Shelby says ouzo livens up a reception. Listen, we'll see you later," she added as she tugged on David's arm.
Alan watched them skirt around tables on their way to the door. "He works fast," Alan commented as he lifted his wine.
"David?" Shelby sent him a puzzled look. "Actually his fastest speed is crawl unless he's got a guitar in his hands."
"Really?" Alan's eyes met hers as he sipped, but she didn't understand the amusement in them. "You only stood him up tonight, and already he's planning his wedding to someone else."
"Stood him " she began on a laugh, then remembered. "Oh." Tom between annoyance and her own sense of the ridiculous, Shelby toyed with the stem of her glass. "Men are fickle creatures," she decided.
"Apparently." Reaching over, he lifted her chin with a fingertip. "You're holding up well."
"I don't like to wear my heart on my sleeve." Exasperated, amused, she muffled a laugh.
"Dammit, he would have to pick tonight to show up here."
"Of all the gin joints in all the towns...
This time the laugh escaped fully. "Well done," Shelby told him. "I should've thought of that line myself; I heard the movie not long ago."
"Heard it?"
" Mmm-hmm. Well?
...
"Or foolish lies?" Alan countered.
Shelby wrinkled her nose as she tapped her glass against his.