Lovers by Judith Krantz Page B

even thinking about TV … say twelve million the first year.” She held her breath.
    “I’d say … eight. Until the metamorphosis is complete, the ads will be less than full-throttle.”
    “But, Ben, it pays to advertise.”
    “At the end of the year, I’ll reevaluate.”
    “I don’t know,” said Gigi, and stopped.
    “Go on, say what’s on your mind,” he urged, laughing. “It’s not as if you won’t eventually.”
    “I don’t know, as the saying goes, whether to shit or go blind.
YIPPEE!”
She collapsed on the sofa, hugging herself in delight waving her boots in the air. “Wait a minute,” she said in the middle of her transports. “You won’t change your mind, will you? Is this a done deal or isn’t it? Shake hands on it,” she demanded.
    “It’s a deal, here, let’s shake.” She might still ask for a percentage of the profit, since it was her idea, even after they shook on the deal, Ben Winthrop thought, or Billy or Spider might advise her to ask for it, and he’d be obligated to go along. But why worry now? After all, he could be wrong and The Enchanted Attic might not pan out. Worst case, he’d have a loss against his pre-tax profits.
    “Let’s have a drink to celebrate,” he suggested.
    “Oh. No, I really have to get home. I had no idea it was so late.”
    “I’ll walk you to the valet parker.”
    Ben’s suite was at a good distance from the entrance to the hotel, and they walked through dimly lit pathways bordered by the lavish displays of flowers for which the hotel was famous, which linked a series of mysterious dark courtyards in which fountains played. As they entered the last courtyard, both lost in thought, Ben stopped and drew Gigi close to him. She looked up in surprise and saw him smiling down at her.
    “Sweet cousin-once-removed, you’re quite a revelation,” he said, and bent over and kissed her hand, his long mouth, even in that quick moment, quickly possessive, his lips pressing hers with an unmistakable potential for passion. Gigi’s entire body stiffened in instant resistance. He released her immediately so that she didn’t need to draw away.
Mistake
, he thought, furious at himself,
big mistake
. What had come over him to make such an obviously premature misjudgment? She had entranced him tonight, but that was no excuse for his stupidity. He never jumped the gun, damn it! It wouldn’t happen again, he promised himself in a cold rage of pride.
    “I’d like to see the agency,” Ben said, in an impersonal tone, as if nothing had happened. “When’s a good time?”
    “I’ll have to tell them first.” Gigi matched his cool. “I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
    “Will you call tomorrow and let me know? I’ll be back here by six.”
    “Absolutely,” she said, moving as quickly as she could toward the lobby lights, where the darkness of the pathways of the hotel disappeared.
    As Gigi drove off, Ben walked slowly back to his suite, still thinking about Gigi’s reaction to his kiss. Yes, of course he had chosen an inappropriate moment, but her reaction seemed excessive. Was she gun-shy? Was she taken? One thing he was sure of, there was nothing specifically personal about it. He was sure she liked him, or he would never have touched her. She was a puzzle, Miss Gigi Orsini, and one day he would solve that puzzle, he promised himself. But he would do it with such patience, with such cunning, with such invisible planning, that she would come to him of her own accord. He owed himself that for her resistance, for her stiffening at the touch of his mouth. No woman had ever reacted in that way before.
    One kiss, Gigi thought, as she drove home, just one perfectly natural kiss, from a man who knows nothing about Zach, and you act like a teenager. Why did she feel so … shaken … guilty … no, as if she’d just escaped … 
danger?
Well, that was totally ridiculous. She wouldn’t allow herself to be irrational. As she ran up the stairs to her