Compromising Kessen (Vandenbrook #1)(9)

Kessen laughed groggily and held out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you—?”

“Duncan,” he said, shaking her hand. “Duncan Dickerson.”

“Aw, really?” she teased, squinting her nose.

“Unfortunately, yes.” He shook his head and led her out to the baggage claim. “How many bags do you have?”

“Do you want me to lie or tell the truth?”

“Lie,” he answered quickly.

“One.”

He laughed heartily, and then turned to look at her again, this time quizzically. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but you are not at all what I expected.”

Kessen could only imagine what he expected; probably something akin to a Paris Hilton poster child primed for reality TV on HBO. Looking at Duncan, she realized it wasn’t just her who had misconceptions. Actually, he wasn’t what she expected either.

“Do you want to further explain, or should I go with the assumptions I already have?”

Duncan smiled again, and this time it lit up his whole face. He was quite attractive, a tad short and not as stocky as she liked her men, but attractive. In fact, he reminded her a little bit of Nick, which caused a tug on her heart. She missed him dreadfully.

“Let’s go with what’s in your head.”

“Crazy spoiled American who used Daddy’s connections to get into Harvard. Sound pretty close?”

“Deathly.”

“Perfect,” she said turning back towards the carousel. There was an uncomfortable pause before she turned to face him again. She thought he would be staring; instead—wonder of all wonders—he was texting.

“Updating your status online?” she asked knowingly.

“How did you guess?”

She smiled tightly, and then answered, “Technology and men—it’s like crack.”

He seemed to enjoy that answer and beamed even more. His smile could light up a black hole.





Chapter Four


By the time they reached the waiting car, she had successfully learned all of Duncan’s favorite places to go in London. Naturally, he had assumed she wanted to know all the shopping destinations, but she was actually more interested in the architecture. Go figure. Men usually took one look at her and deemed her stupid, cursed with a life fit for the runway and credit cards with no limit. This was obviously how Duncan had viewed her; except he now knew she had a personality, which she should be grateful for.

“Where are we going first?” she asked once she was seated comfortably beside him.

He seemed to be hiding something because his eyes were positively twinkling. “Um, I have a meeting with Newberry and Co. managers. Do you mind stopping by with me? We could get you some tea or something while you wait. It will only be a few minutes.”

She wasn’t given a choice in the matter, mainly because he was driving and didn’t look like a person who was easily bossed around. “Sure, that’s great,” she heard herself saying. “Stupid tea,” she muttered under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Oh, nothing,” she said breathlessly, fitting the part of stupid blonde with no goals in life.

He chuckled to himself all the way to the store, which wasn’t all that far away. They were inside within minutes. Duncan dragged her to the counter for her order, while simultaneously introducing her as the daughter of Lord Newberry.

His announcement was followed by dead silence, including from the customers. Upon looking around, she also noticed a painfully large number of them had their mouths gaping open.

“This is fun,” she said sarcastically to Duncan. He laughed and hit her on the back like they were old friends.

Duncan didn’t seem to care if she was uncomfortable. Instead he cleared his throat. “Christian wouldn’t happen to be, um, working today, would he?”

The girl at the till gave him an odd look, then shrugged her shoulders and called for Christian. A tall man dressed in designer jeans and a black blazer approached. Kessen nearly choked on her gum when she looked into his icy blue eyes.

His penetrating gaze took her in, appearing to assess her in an instant, in all her American glory. His demeanor immediately changed, and he appeared as though he wanted to kill her, and she had no idea why. After all, she was a paying customer, wasn’t she?

She looked for Duncan, but he had walked away. Where was the little traitor?

“May I help you?” the man named Christian asked. He had unruly chestnut hair, which went past his ears in an unprofessional way. He more than likely needed the job to stay in the boy band that wasn’t taking off like he had hoped. She smiled at her private joke, and then winced when she looked into his face.

He lifted his eyebrow as if to say, “Are you as stupid as you look?”

She swallowed and looked at the menu, which had never happened before in her life. Having been raised in the company, she had it memorized. For crying out loud, she helped design it. Yet the way Christian was looking at her made it difficult to even remember her name.

From a marketing standpoint, his face was perfect for the company posters. Her mother would have loved watching Kessen in this uncomfortable situation, considering she was normally so sure of herself. The wistful memory jolted Kessen out of her confused fog.

“I’ll have a large coffee with cream.”