“I’m a lot less unlikely where I come from,” she said wearily. “I’m not even that unlikely here.”
She wasn’t sure what to make of the expression on his face, and before she managed to decipher it he threw her off balance again. “I can see that for myself. Your presence is...undeniable, Miss Heith-Benzan.”
His eyes on her robbed her of breath.
Luz was no ingenue. She’d been courted before and enjoyed a handsome man’s attention well enough. But in the past—even when she’d been drawn to a beau—she’d found the gains that came from a man’s attention to be sorely lacking if her independence was part of what was at stake. It was why she’d always felt in control in those situations: she’d accept the flurry of flattery and on occasion even allow a chaste kiss or two, then she’d walk away unaffected. Certain that what she’d left behind paled in comparison to her freedom. And now here she was, unbridled after merely minutes of this man’s attention. She did not care for it.
“I’m curious to see just where we can take these diplomatic efforts.” His voice jolted her out of her thoughts, and when she looked up at him, that devilish grin was fixed on his face again. “I’m positively brimming with ideas.”
“And I’m positively certain I don’t want to hear any of them,” she retorted, making him tip his head back and laugh.
She would certainly not be charmed, and she would absolutelynotdignify that with a comment. Since he seemed to be done with his observations on her parentage—and disturbing her bottles—she decided to take her leave while she was ahead.
“Good luck this evening. You’ll need it.”
And because, like her father always said, she could never just win, she had to trounce, she leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, “Caña Brava will most certainly win the overall selection, but there’s always the grains-spirits category.” Before he could get the final word, she turned and hurried off toward the doors that would lead her to the fairgrounds.
Just as she was about to step into the light of late-summer afternoon, she turned to glance back at the Scot and found him still looking at her. Except this time his eyes were sparkling in a completely different way, andthatlook was most certainly not what she’d come looking for in Paris.
Two
“Do you know who that woman is?” James Evanston Sinclair, Earl of Darnick, and the heir apparent to the Duke of Annan, asked his newly arrived friend and business partner, still watching after the force of nature as she swept out in a swirl of blue linen.
“What woman?” Raghav Kapadia asked in disbelief as he took in the remnants of Tropical Storm Luz Alana.
“The one who just walked off. She’s the proprietress of the distillery that produced the bottles which are now comingling with ours,” Evan clarified, but Raghav was not paying attention. He was much too distracted by the chaos on the display table.
“Didyoumove the bottles, Sinclair?”
“No,” Evan answered distractedly, eyes still fixed on those delectable hips swaying out of the pavilion. “She did. I’ve been informed we’ve disrupted the rum exhibit and possibly incited an informal diplomatic incident.”
Raghav made a noise of indignation, and from the clatter coming from behind him Evan assumed the man was rearranging things. Once Evan lost sight of her, he turned around to find his friend holding up one of the bottles of Caña Brava. “No, don’t move the rum,” he warned. “We’re sharing the space.”
“We’rewhat?” This time Raghav’s amazement was not feigned. “Sharing?I never knew you even understood the meaning of the word.” That wasn’t exactly true. Evan could be particular when it came to his whisky, but he wasn’t territorial. Although, he could admit to not being one to compromise when it came to his business. Other than when Caribbean beauties were involved, apparently. “Is this heat finally getting to you?” Raghav’s dark brown eyes twinkled.
“Someday you’ll learn that you’re not nearly as clever as you think you are,” Evan quipped.
“I wasn’t gone very long. How did our masculine and sober display get transformed into a tropical paradise?”
The wordparadiseevoked an image of loosening those mahogany curls draped lusciously over golden-brown shoulders. Evan required a moment to clear his head from that assault to his senses. “The owner of the artifacts we found on the stand this morning made an appearance. She suggested—” More likedemanded, and Evan was still feeling the effects of that.
“Yes?” Raghav coaxed with a wave of hand.
“She suggested we share the display.”
Raghav’s gobsmacked expression would’ve been humorous if it wasn’t Evan’s own dumbfounding behavior that had provoked it.
“Since when do you comply with anyone’s demands?” Raghav inquired, clearly astonished. “A complete stranger—” his business partner’s index finger was now up in the air as he recounted what Evan has just said “—acompetitormanaged to get you to relinquish our territory? I must find this heroine, this master negotiator, who has bested the Braeburn himself.” Raghav’s voice broke on the last couple of words, laughter rumbling under his supposed astonishment.
“Sod off, Kapadia,” he said without heat. “I don’t have time to explain myself.” The blasted man was still laughing. “We need a second table so that we each have space to display our bottles. Could you do that, please?” Evan held up a hand, knowing Raghav was probably thinking he’d lost his mind. “She seems to be here on her own.”
Shehadlooked exasperated. No, it was more than that. The woman seemed ready to crumble. She’d been close to tears, for God’s sake. It wouldn’t kill them to lend a hand, and besides, Evan had other things to worry about. “Apparently she’s had a rough time of it. Other distillers giving her trouble.” That last bit softened Raghav’s expression.
“The Earl of Darnick has been disarmed. I am devastated to have missed it,” the other man lamented, while Evan recalled the way she had stood her ground with him. He was a large man. His size alone usually had people treading with caution. But not Luz Alana Heith-Benzan. The woman was a firebrand.
“Now that I think about it, what are you doing here?” Raghav asked, finally realizing Evan was not where he was supposed to be. Which only helped to remind him why he’d been so cross before his encounter with the rum heiress.
“The meeting with the new buyers didn’t go very well.”
