She should have known that playing into this man’s nonsense was a mistake. The moment the challenge left her lips, he turned to her with a lift to his brow. That debonair arch was all that was needed to take his tuxedo from attractive to full-on devastating. “Are you sure about that? I can be very persuasive when I put my mind to it.”

She didn’t doubt it. She also had no plans to stick around and find out for herself. Even if she was in the habit of picking up strange men and their daughters—which she wasn’t—there was the small matter of work to get back to.

“Well, I don’t know The Chicken Dance, so it’s no good asking me to join you,” Lila said primly. “And before you ask, I don’t know Gangnam Style or the Macarena, either.”

Ford gave a gentle tsk and shook his head. “You seem sadly unprepared for a dance party like this one. What do you know?”

She thought quickly. “The waltz.”

“How very princessy of you,” he murmured with an appreciative twinkle in his eyes. As if suddenly realizing he was still holding a child in his arms, he gave Emily a light shake and added, “Isn’t that right, moppet? All royalty should waltz.”

Emily’s only response was a giggle and a request for her father to put her down. “I’m okay now, Daddy,” she said as she began wriggling out of his grasp. “I promise.”

He allowed Emily to slide down his side until she was planted on her own two feet. That, apparently, was yet another mistake, because she immediately bounced over to Lila and grabbed her by the hand. She gave a strong tug, which meant that unless Lila was willing to wrench a child’s arm out of its socket, she had to take a liberal step in Ford’s direction.

If Ford Ford looked good, he smelled even better. He wasn’t, like so many of the other men upstairs, doused in expensive cologne. Instead, he carried the light scent of aftershave and what she could have sworn was peanut butter.

She was so distracted by this bizarre yet compelling combination that she missed it when Emily took her father by her other hand. Without waiting for either of them to guess what she was up to, she took herself out of the equation. That left only the pair of them, standing much closer than was appropriate, their fingers lightly touching. Every instinct Lila had warned her to jump back, but something about Emily’s wistful expression gave her pause.

“Pretty please will you waltz with my daddy?” she asked. “I never saw a princess dance in real life a’fore.”