“Do you play tennis, Senator?""Now and then," he said with a ghost of a smile. He didn't add he'd lettered i the sport at Harvard."I'd imagine chess would be your game-plotting,long-term strategy."His smile remained enigmatic as he reached for his wine. "We'll have to have a game."Shelby's low laugh drifted over him. "I believe we already have."His hand brushed lightly over hers. "Want a rematch?"Shelby gave him a look that made his blood spring hotly. "No.You might not outmaneuver me a second time.”

“I'd remind you of that restaurant around the corner except..." His gaze flicked over the robe that dipped deep at her breasts and skimmed her thighs. "You'd have to get dressed."Shelby smiled, a slow invitation, but when he took a step toward her, she dunked bread into the batter. "Get a plate."He reached into the cupboard she indicated, then drew two plates out before he came to stand behind her. Leaning over, he brushed his lips below her ear, pleased with the quick tremor of response."The ones I burn," Shelby warned, "are all yours.”

“We'll have a sauna first.""Oh,will we?""Yeah." He hooked a hand in the waistband of her trousers and drew her closer. "Open the pores a bit." In a quick move, he unhooked them, then drew them over her hips."Since you insist." Shelby began undoing his tie. "Have you noticed, Senator, that most of the time you wear a great many more clothes than I?""As a matter of fact..." He slipped his hands under her blouse and found her. "I have.”

“Do you swim,girl?""Yes." Shelby set down her cards. "But I didn't bring a suit.""There's a closetful in the bathhouse," Serena told her. "You won't have any trouble finding one to fit.""Really?" She shot Alan a look. "Isn't that handy? A closetful of suits."He gave her an easy smile. "Didn't I mention it? A swim sounds good," he added as he dropped his hands to her shoulders. "I've never seen Shelby in a bathing suit.”

“Well,I appreciate the offer, Senator, but I'll drive myself.See you over the canapes.""Then, I'll ride with you," he said amiably. "We don't want to put any more carbon monoxide in the air than necessary. Shall I put that in the car for you?"Shelby took a firmer grip on the box as her hold in other areas started to slip. It was the damn serious smile and those thoughtful eyes,she decided. They made a woman feel as though she were the only one he'd ever looked at in quite that way."Alan," she began,a bit amused by his persistance. "What is this?""This..." He leaned over and captured her mouth with his, lingering until her fingers threatened to dig holes in the stif cardboard she held. "Is what our ancestors would have called a siege," he finished softly. "And MacGregors are notoriously successful at laying siege."Her breath shuddered out to merge with his. "You don't do badly at hand-to-hand combat either." He chuckled and would have kissed her again if she hadn't managed to step back. "All right." Shelby thrust the box into his arms, considering it a strategic move. "We'll carpool.I don't want to be condemned as an air-polluter.”

“Can I tell you something without it going to your head?" Shelby murmured as she ran her fingers down his chest, over his ribs."Probably not." His voice had thickened from the pleasure of being touched. "I'm reasily flattered.""In my workroom..." Shelby pressed her lips to his chest and felt his heartbeat thud faster against them. "When I messed up your shirt and you took it off to rinse it? I turned around and saw you-I wanted to get my hands on you like this." She ran her palms up,then down again to where his waist narrowed. "Just like this,I nearly did."Alan felt his blood start to pound-in his head, his heart,his loins. "I wouldn't have put up much of a fight.""If I'd decided to have you, Senator," she murmured on a sultry laugh, "you wouldn't have had a chance.""Is that so?"Shelby ran her tongue down his rib cage. "Mmm," she said when she heard the small, quick intake of breath. "Just so.A MacGregor will always buckle under to a Campbell."Alan started to form a retort, then her fingers skimmed his thigh. As a politician, he knew the value of a debate-but sometimes they didn't require words.She could have the floor first.”

“He works fast," Alan commented as he lifted his wine."David?" Shelby sent him a puzzled look. "Actually his fastest sped is crawl unless he's got a guitar in his hands.""Really?" Alan's eyes met hers as he sipped, but she didn't understand the amusement in them. "You only stood him up tonight, and already he's planning his wedding to someone else.""Stood him-" she began on a laugh, then remembered. "Oh." Torn between annoyance and her own sense of te ridiculous, Shelby toyed with the stem of her glass. "Men are fickle creatures," she decided."Apparently." Reaching over, he lifted her chin with a fingertip. "You're holding up well.""I don't like to wear my heart on my sleeve" Exasperated, amused, she muffled a laugh. "Dammit, he would have to pick tonight to show up here.""Of all the gin joints in all the towns..."This time the laugh escaped fully. "Well done," Shelby told him. "I should've thought of that line myself; I heard the movie not long ago.""Heard it?""Mmm-hmmm. Well..." She lifted her glass in a toast. "To broken hearts?""Or foolish lies?" Alan countered.Shelby wrinkled her nose as she tapped her glass against his. "I usually tell very good ones. Besides, I did date David.Once.Tree years ago." She finished off her wine. "Maybe four.You can stop grinning in that smug, masculine way any time, Senator.""Was I?" Rising, he offered Shelby her damp jacket. "How rude of me.""It would've been more polite not to acknowledge that you'd caught me in a lie," she commented as they worked their way through the crowd and back into the rain. "Which you wouldn't have done if you hadn't made me so mad that I couldn't think of a handier name to give you in the first place.""If I work my way through the morass of that sentence it seems to be my fault." Alan slipped an arm around her shoulders in so casually friendly a manner she didn't protest. "Suppose I apologize for not giving you time to think of a lie that would hold up?""It seems fair.”