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you’re quite a horse trader, not only brutal when striking a bargain but particular about whom you’ll sell to. I’ve made it my business to learn everything I can about you.”
    Which meant he would have seen the Glasgow pictures.
    Well, so what? She’d done what she’d done. She’d gone over the top and she’d suffered for it. She was tired of being ashamed. “You know all about me? That sounds vaguely stalkerish.”
    He shrugged, his muscular shoulder lifting and then settling under her hand. “You could look at it that way, I suppose. Or you could admit that it’s just good sense to find out what you can about the people you’ll be dealing with.”
    “So of course you won’t mind if I track you down online the next chance I get.”
    “I would expect nothing less.” And he smiled, rueful. And somehow hopeful, too. He was way too charming when he smiled. “And when you find out I’ve told the truth, do I get another chance with you?”
    All at once she was too sharply aware of his hand holding hers, his warm fingers and firm palm at her back, his big body brushing hers. Little arrows of sensation seemed to zip around beneath her skin. “A chance with me? I thought we were talking about your buying Orion.”
    He eased her closer. His breath touched her hair and his body burned into hers. Her skin felt electrified. And he whispered, “You know we’re talking about more than the horse. Who’s lying now? Ma’am?”
    She liked it too much, dancing so close to him. She liked him too much. “Please don’t hold me so tightly.”
    He instantly obeyed, loosening his hold so he embraced her easily, lightly, again. “Better?”
    She nodded, thinking that this particular Noah, self-assured and sophisticated in evening dress, was every bit as brash and manly as the one she’d assumed was a groom. And smooth, too. She hadn’t planned to forgive him for pretending to be a penniless stable hand—but somehow she already had.
    And not only had she forgiven him, she was actually considering letting him have Orion after all. Because she did like him and she’d seen him with her horses. Orion would thrive in Noah’s care.
    He pulled her closer again. She allowed that. It felt good and she wasn’t really afraid of him. She was afraid of herself, of her too-powerful response to him. And then there was her basic problem: it had always been so easy for her to get carried away. She would have to watch herself.
    Then again, her goal tonight had been to get out and have a little fun.
    So all right. It shouldn’t be too difficult to do both—to have a little fun and yet not get carried away.
    They danced the rest of that dance without talking. When it ended, they swayed together until the next dance began and then danced some more.
    “Walk in the garden with me,” he said when that song was over.
    “Yes. I would like that.”
    He took her hand and led her from the dance floor.
    * * *
    It was going pretty well, Noah thought as he walked with her down the stone stairway that led to the big tent and the palace gardens beyond. She seemed to have gotten past her fury with him for pretending to be someone he wasn’t. But he sensed a certain residual wariness in her. Which was fine. Few things worth winning came easily.
    “Something to drink?” he asked.
    “I would like that.”
    So they stopped in the tent, where waiters offered wine and cocktails and soft drinks, too. They both took flutes of champagne and went out the back exit behind the dais into the moonlit garden strung with party lights.
    She said, “You implied when we talked in the stables that you were staying in Montedoro indefinitely....”
    “Not anymore. It turns out there are a couple of meetings I have to get back for. I’ll be leaving Thursday.”
    “Is your sister visiting with you?”
    “No, she’s at home in California.”
    “I assume Dami has you staying here at the palace?”
    He shook his head. “Lots of guests at the palace this weekend.