Sailing at Sunset - Cindi Madsen Page 0,19
glass of wine?”
The tour guide moved to another section of barrels. “Would your group like to try another red, or does anyone prefer white?”
Franco, Josh, Vanessa, and Mark all pointed at Danae, and muttered variations of “She does.”
“We have a lovely dry sauvignon blanc, or a dessert Moscato that pairs well with berries and pastries,” the tour guide said. “Which would you prefer?”
Danae ran her fingers along the edge of the table. “The Moscato, please.”
“You want me to ask if she’ll roll it in sugar?” Franco asked.
“Um, no,” she whispered. “I’m doing my best to appear as if I know what I’m doing. Pretty sure that’d give me away.”
Their tour guide handed Danae the first glass, and this time she remembered to swirl and sniff. The citrus and honeysuckle notes made her taste buds do a jig in anticipation. She sipped, relishing the sweet flavors as they coated her tongue. “Wow. This is really good.”
They tried a couple more options, and everyone shared one last toast with their favorite before they readied to move on to the restaurant.
“Yes?” Their tour guide asked, pointing at Josh, who had his hand up.
“Before we go, I was wondering if you could tell me how many grapes it takes to make each bottle of wine?”
Instead of looking at the tour guide as she answered, Josh’s gaze moved to Danae.
She perked up her ears, wanting to be right even though she’d merely taken a wild stab in the dark.
“A typical vine will produce about ten bottles. So forty grape clusters per vine, which produces approximately ten bottles, makes it four hundred. Give or take.”
Josh couldn’t help the smug expression on his face, and it took everything in him not to laugh and give himself away when Danae turned wide eyes on him.
“How did you know?”
Ever so casually, he rubbed his fingertips along his jaw. “Would you believe it was a lucky guess?”
“Didn’t you see the plaque up front? I took a picture.” Vanessa swiped a couple of times and then pivoted the screen toward Danae. “It says it right there in bronze, almost word for word.”
Danae’s mouth fell open. “You read the plaque?”
Josh hooked his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans and shrugged. “Let this be a lesson to you. It’s remarkable how many things you miss if you fail to live in the moment.”
A smile spread across Danae’s face, a charming little groove forming in her cheek, even as she shook her head at him. “Oh, I missed something all right. It’s called you cheating.”
Amusement radiated through her features, casting her in a whole new light. While he’d only caught hints of this version of her on the ship, her cheery side had come out more and more as they’d wandered through the vineyard.
Once she noticed everyone else was watching, a few of them with crinkled foreheads, it faded faster than he would’ve liked.
Mark, on the other hand, frowned as if he’d stepped in mud, or something worse than mud.
Danae rubbed the side of her neck, and the more serious businesswoman he’d met first thing this morning returned. “Time for dinner. Just remember, it’s a working meal, and we’re gonna need all hands on deck.”
The tour guide escorted their group to the farm-to-table restaurant, where she handed them over to the hostess and, with a wink, told her colleague to take good care of them.
Rustic light fixtures hung from the ceiling, which boasted wooden beams. Large windows overlooked the vineyard, giving it an open feel. More than the usual amount of wine glasses covered the tables, as jovial groups and couples sat around enjoying the food and drinks.
The hostess gestured to a table, but Danae pointed at one in the back corner of the room. “Actually, could we sit over there? We need to have a strategy session, and it’d be easier if we had some privacy.”
The hostess accommodated her request, and they settled at one of the few tables without a view. A waiter arrived and described the extensive list of wines, a handful of which they’d already tried, and they each ordered a glass to go with their meal.
After the waiter left to put in their order, Danae withdrew a notebook. “I jotted down the best ideas we had during this morning’s think tank session, and now I want to plot out how to implement them.”
“Oh, I forgot my notebook on the ship,” Paige said, and Mark and Vanessa echoed that they’d done the same.
“Fortunately for you, I’m prepared.” Danae