“Verene tells me she needs you for an urgent fitting,” Mr. Benz said. “It’s my hope that after that, you and I could discuss the protocol associated with the wedding.”

“But then I get her!” Gabby said to Mr. Benz. “I haven’t seen her for months!”

“Well,” said Mr. Benz, with a twinkle in his eye that only Gabby seemed to be able to inspire, “I have taken the liberty of having some lunch delivered to the wardrobe room, and I thought you might show Dr. Martinez your dress, too, Miss Ricci, if that suits.”

“Yes!” Gabby said.

“And when do I ‘get her,’ Mr. Benz?” Leo asked with a wink at Dani. “She is, after all, here to be my wedding attendant.”

Mr. Benz sniffed, but there wasn’t any real rancor in it. The stuffy Mr. Benz and the freewheeling Leo had come to a détente last year, and it seemed now that they were genuinely friendly. “You, Mr. Ricci,” said Mr. Benz, doing a poor job stifling a smile, “will have to fend for yourself. I have a royal wedding to put on. That it is yours is immaterial.”

Dani met Max’s gaze as she let herself be swept away. He wondered if she was thinking what he was. No more late-night tête-à-têtes, no more ridiculous 1980s choreography.

It was just as well. He had to nip this infatuation in the bud. Dani wasn’t looking for a relationship. And even if she was, he had seen that list. Things I Will Never Again Do for a Man. While he was fairly confident he could pass muster on a few of the items—she would never have to pretend to like something she didn’t around him, and he flattered himself that in the extremely hypothetical situation in which orgasms were relevant, they would be real—most of her list items ruled Max out entirely.

And it wasn’t as if her list was the only thing keeping them apart. She didn’t think of him that way. He didn’t think of her that way. Mostly. Or at least he hadn’t until . . . Well, damn it. He didn’t even know when he’d started thinking of her that way. When Lavinia had prodded him on the matter? Perhaps it dated from when Dani had held his hand and listened to his fears in the sauna. Or even all the way back to when they’d made snow angels in Central Park.

“I believe you will find your brother in his room, Lord Laudon,” Mr. Benz said, rousing Max from his thoughts, “if you would like to say hello.”