Read Desperate Measures for Free Online

wouldhave to correct any mistaken impression he might have about her. Okay, so his mouth had created a firestorm in her, and his arms had felt so right around her. She was an adult who could control her reactions. She’d help him this one time, and that was it.
    No more Ms. Nice Guy, Ellen sternly told herself. She’d been Ms. Nice Guy in Europe. She decided she’d better tell her grandmother about her “date” this evening.
    Now that, she thought, groaning silently, would be interesting.
    As he steered his Mercedes through the heavy afternoon traffic on the Atlantic City expressway, Joe sneaked yet another glance at the woman sitting in the passenger seat.
    Ellen Kitteridge looked as if she were made for his car. She had an elegance that suited the butter-rich tan leather interior. She wore a cream silk shirt and matching skirt. Her only jewelry was gold button earrings and a single, delicate gold chain nestled under the shirt’s lapels. Yet he could easily believe she was once a princess.
    “When I was a kid,” he said, wanting to dispel the tense silence between them, “we always used to go down the shore. Mostly to Wildwood. What about you?”
    “Mostly to Ocean City.”
    It figured, he thought. Ocean City was the premier shore point on the Jersey coast.
    Suddenly she chuckled. “You said ‘down the shore.’ That’s a local term. Everywhere else peoplesay, ‘We’re going to the beach or to the shore,’ but not ‘down the shore.’ ”
    “How do you know that?” he asked.
    “I studied modern language at college.” She shook her head and laughed. “There’s a real call for that with the job recruiters. I also have an appreciation for things Philadelphian.”
    He nodded, while thinking that her appreciation certainly hadn’t included Philadelphian men. Nope, she had had to marry a prince from northern Italy, when there were plenty of Italians right here at home. Philadelphian Italians.
    “I asked around about you,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind.”
    “It all depends on what was said,” he answered, giving her a smile.
    She smiled back. “That Carlini Foods was smart to make you CEO.”
    “Too bad they can’t see me now,” he quipped.
    She laughed. “Does anyone know about your penchant for playing I Spy ?”
    “No, I’m happy to say. So who do you want to be? Alexander Scott or Kelly Robinson?”
    “Scotty.”
    “Very smart. He had all the great lines, and he went on to be Bill Cosby. That leaves me as Kelly.” He paused for a minute. “I wouldn’t have thought you knew about that show.”
    “Even the Kitteridges have been known to watch TV upon occasion,” she said dryly. “Anyway, it’s still an extremely popular show in Europe. And very American. I was desperate for things American.”
    “Each country has a different mind-set,” Joe said, thinking of his own experiences traveling inEurope. When she didn’t say anything more, he decided to prod her. “Was it that tough being a princess?”
    She shrugged. “I was supposed to be the next Grace Kelly. You know, the little Philadelphia girl who married the prince of her dreams. Well, after I met Florian, my … husband, I discovered I literally couldn’t breathe without making all the tabloids. And Florian had the idea that he was the playboy prince of Lombardy. The problem was, he forgot to tell me that before the wedding. He also forgot to tell me that he needed my money for his crumbling estates in northern Italy. He was too busy skiing to run them properly.”
    “One of those, eh?” Although he felt bad for her, Joe had to admit to himself a certain satisfaction knowing that the prince was a bastard underneath.
    She nodded. “One of those. And the family mansion outside Parma was falling down faster than it could be fixed. Truthfully, I’m to blame, too, since I didn’t want to notice. Not really. Anyway, he liked to flaunt conventions, to put it mildly, and his countrymen loved him for it. I wound up taking