10Chapter Eight: Dinner Date
"Maybe I can guess who Lady Simms was with when she left the tea room," Joy Benton told Grant Callahan over the telephone. "But I'm not sure I should tell you. In fact, I'm really not sure it's any of your business!"
"Have you had dinner yet?"
"What?" Lying in bed with the telephone receiver close to her ear, Joy's flushed face was a study in sleepy confusion. Of all the impertinent questions the arrogant American might have chosen to throw at her, that was the last one she would have anticipated!
"Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?" Grant bit out the words impatiently, but with crisp precision, as though speaking to a very small child or to someone with limited mental capacities.
"Why . . . on earth . . . would I want to go out to dinner with you?" Joy knew she was being rude, but she fully intended to show no mercy. She meant to deliver an absolute and crushing rejection.
"Boredom, perhaps. You've been cooped up at Foxwood for days, taking French and history lessons with Lady Simms. Hardly the type of life to keep a lively young girl on her toes." Grant chuckled.
"I love Lady Simms. I love living at Foxwood Manor!" Joy had no idea why she felt so flustered and defensive all of a sudden. Her heart was pounding. Grant Callahan just triggered something inside her. He was the most exasperating man she'd ever met!
"Right. But you were obviously asleep when I rang up just now. I'd call that a hint that life at Foxwood isn't too exciting. In any case, if we have dinner together there's a chance we can poke about afterwards, and maybe discover what's happened to Lady Simms. Or you can stay at home like a good little girl, and wait for her till bedtime. Isn't that how a proper young lady behaves?"
"It's not how I behave," Joy growled, feeling like a trapped animal. Somehow she'd been both outsmarted and outmaneuvered. It didn't matter how she felt about the rich and arrogant American. Joy had already decided that she detested everything about him, right down to his sleepy green eyes and thick, wavy brown hair. But her instincts told her Lady Simms was in danger. And that meant only one thing. Joy was going to have to break the rules.
She was going to have to dine with Grant Callahan.
"My word, doesn't that gray gown look stunning on you! Miss Joy, with that low neckline and your knockout figure . . . I mean the gentleman won't be able to keep his eyes off your beautiful body!"
"Thank you, Alice." The breathless excitement of the little blonde lady's maid gave Joy a warm surge of much-needed confidence. The gray satin gown and sparkling jewels borrowed from Lady Simms' wardrobe were more daring than her schoolgirl frocks. Joy hadn't really expected to pull it off, but with Alice's eager help she'd achieved just the right look of feminine allure. It was vital to make Grant Callahan realize he was dealing with a woman and not a child. Joy pictured the hungry way his eyes would devour her when they met for dinner at the fancy restaurant.