Trust Me on This - Jennifer Crusie [6]
Watching the brunette now, Alec sympathized with Bond; it wouldn’t be hard faking disappointment if this woman walked away from you. Glossy dark brown curls bounced on her shoulders, and her smile heated the lobby. She walked past him to the registration desk, and he watched her hips move under her fluid red dress. She had a great swing to her.
Normally he’d wait until the con approached him; it was safer, less suspicious, but this was a woman any man would approach. In fact, he told himself, it would be more suspicious if he didn’t approach her, and the last thing he wanted was to be more suspicious. So when she handed her bag to the clerk and turned toward the restaurant next to the bar, he moved to meet her, just like any red-blooded American man in his right, if gullible, mind would do.
“Are you all right, ma’am?” he asked. “You hit that guy pretty hard.”
She smiled briefly and stepped away, turning toward the restaurant, her red skirt flaring around her very nice calves. “I’m fine, thank you.”
“You might want a brandy.” Alec eased himself alongside her. “It would be my privilege to buy you one. I’m a stranger here myself, but I do know how to buy a pretty lady a brandy.”
She stopped and her eyes got narrower. “Is there some kind of convention here besides pop literature? Some farm-boy thing?”
“I don’t know.” Alec tried to look open and eager to please. “I could sure find out. I’m all alone here, got plenty of time, and it would be a real act of kindness if you’d join me.” The woman opened her mouth to protest and he finished, “Now don’t you worry about a thing. I got plenty of money and I’d just love to spend it on you. Would you like—?”
“No,” she said, moving away from him again. “I wouldn’t like anything you could give me. Thank you anyway.”
She disappeared into the restaurant and Alec watched her go, still wincing a little from the “anything you could give me” line. Better marks than he were evidently having brunch. He gave her a couple of minutes and then trailed in after her, taking a table across the room where he could watch her without seeming to.
As soon as he sat down, he knew he was in trouble. She was there all right, but sitting in the booth next to her were his aunt Victoria and two of her friends, all of whom had known him since babyhood. All he needed was for one of them to spot him across the room and start yodeling hellos, and his cover would be history. He sidled out again, but not before he noticed the brunette was eavesdropping on them.
Five minutes later, Harry picked up the phone and said, “What?”
“Harry, that’s a lousy way to answer the phone,” Alec said. “You’ve still got seven years to go until retirement. Try a little polish, a little sophistication.”
“At two-thirty in the afternoon, when all hell is breaking loose, and you’re sitting on your butt in Ohio instead of here where you belong, you get ‘What?’,” Harry growled. “You want me polished and sophisticated, you call another time.”
“If I want you polished and sophisticated, I’ll have to call another planet.”
“You calling to resign?”
“Hell no,” Alec said cheerfully. “Somebody’s got to help you out, old man. Guess who I just saw?”
Harry snorted. “A blonde.”
“Yep. And this blond you’re interested in. Brian Bond.”
“You’re kidding.” Harry sounded dumbfounded. “He’s really there?”
“Oh, yes. The Shadow always knows, Harry. You never trust me.”
Harry snorted. “What about the woman?”
“Oh, she’s here too.” Alec grinned. “A very hot brunette. She blew me off when I tried to be the greatest mark God ever sent her. Not too swift obviously, but then she’s quite a looker. He probably doesn’t keep her around for her brains.”
“This is too good to be true,” Harry said. “I love it. Make your move on the brunette. Try to convince her to sell you something.”
Alec thought about making his move on the brunette, and his pulse kicked up. “The sacrifices I make for you. If necessary, I’ll even let her drag me to bed. Anything