How To Succeed At Love. Susan Connell

on both her professional world and her personal world. She had major decisions to make. The last thing she should be thinking about was taking candy from a stranger.

      “No, thank you.”

      “Spence. Spencer Madison,” he said, peeling back the foil and popping the candy in his mouth. “Remember?”

      Nodding, she watched him lick dark chocolate from his thumb. How could she forget his name when he’d introduced himself shortly after claiming the seat next to hers three hours ago? Since they’d left Washington, he’d succeeded in telling her a dozen other facts about himself, too. None of which she’d asked for. All of which, surprisingly, she remembered. Especially that he would be around Follett River for the next few weeks working on his novel.

      She dropped her head back on the seat. She had phone calls to make, a résumé to update and a letter of recommendation to look forward to. But right now all she wanted was to arrive quietly in the small New Jersey town, slip into the safety of her family home and lick her wounded pride until she figured out what else she had to do about the mess she was in. The last thing she needed was a distraction like Spencer Madison.

      “Going home for Christmas?”

      “Yes, and my ten-year high school reunion,” she answered before she thought to stop herself. She slowly slid her gaze toward him. How was he managing to catch her off guard like this?

      “I went to mine a few years back,” he said, shaking his head and chuckling. “You’re going to have a great time.”

      Wrong. The thought of showing up at her reunion without a date was as appealing as facing an IRS audit alone. Of course, she had no intention of dating anyone anytime soon anyway. Being dumped by her boyfriend yesterday was almost as humiliating as being fired from her Capitol Hill job the day before. Almost.

      She wrapped her arms tightly around her midriff. Had she really been voted The Girl Most Likely To Succeed by her graduating class or was that just a nightmare she had last night? She winced when she thought about the disgraceful reality of her life. Nothing like this was supposed to happen. Not to Jade Macleod, the planner, the prioritizer, the achiever. The class president. Pressing back against her seat, she gave into a weary sigh.

      “Hey, are you okay?” he asked, leaning close again.

      She could smell orange-flavored chocolate on his breath, the expensive leather of his bomber jacket tucked between them and, most enticing of all, his clean, male scent. Her heart was pounding hard enough to make her skin tingle. For one heavenly moment she closed her eyes and escaped into the sensual haze his presence created.

      What was it about this audacious stranger that she found so compelling? His voice? His scent? She squirmed in her seat. His taste in chocolate? Her growing smile suddenly froze. He was pressing his knee against her thigh with all the familiarity and intensity of a concerned lover.

      Stiffening her spine she sat straight up. A lover? Who said anything about a lover? The man was a stranger. Granted, a good-looking, chocolate-scented one, but for all she knew there were other words that could describe him better. Slippery. Unstable. Dangerous.

      She looked up for the emergency brake then winced when she realized what she was considering. She was on a train to Follett River, not in a lost episode of “I Love Lucy.” There was no call for histrionics.

      “I’m perfectly fine,” she said, hoping her cool tone and hard stare would make him move back.

      He didn’t move.

      Honestly, he was close enough for her to count his eyelashes if they weren’t so thick. She uncrossed her legs and looked away. His warm breath continued playing against her neck as subtly as a sweet caress. Shifting her weight to one hip, she adjusted the hem of her skirt then crossed her legs in the opposite direction.

      “Are you sure you’re fine?”

      “Yes.” No! The next two weeks of her life were going to be an endurance test for her nervous system. She was about to attend her high school reunion without a date. On top of that she was going to have to deal with all those questions about her illustrious career on Capitol Hill. A career that no longer existed. And just to make things interesting, this would all take place over the Christmas holidays. She squeezed her eyes shut. Maybe she should have pressed for an emergency appointment with that psychotherapist instead of tucking her tail between her legs and hurrying home.

      Candy, even chocolate candy, couldn’t fix her problems. Nor could brawny, breezy Spencer Madison. Stealing a glance at him, she suddenly felt a flicker of self-doubt tickling beneath her breastbone. Before she could figure out a logical reason for the sensation, the door at the end of the car rattled open.

      “Follett River. Next stop, Follett River.”

      Turning away from Spencer, she pressed both hands against the window as the train crossed the bridge over Follett River. Then a stand of snow-laden pines whisked by and the college bell tower came into view. She was already picturing herself climbing into a taxi and telling the driver to take her to Red Oak Road...the back way. The last thing she needed right now was to run into a chatty friend.

      “Looks like something off of a church calendar out there.”

      So what if he was leaning over her shoulder? This was the happiest she’d felt in a long time. “Yes, it does,” she said, not caring if he heard the rush of excitement in her voice or saw her beaming.

      After a second he backed off, leaving her to bask in the special moment. But not for long. As the train pulled into the station, the brakes grabbed and half the contents of her purse spilled onto the floor.

      “No,” she said, blocking him with her arm when he reached to help her. “I’ll get it.”

      As she scrambled to pick up her things, Spencer Madison let out a heartfelt “What have we here?” followed by an amused laugh.

      Jade fought feminine instinct to defend the scattered contents of her purse. What business was it of his anyway? Besides, in a matter of seconds, she would be escaping this newest distracting bid by him to engage her in conversation. She tossed a tube of lipstick back in her purse, followed by her day planner notebook and flip phone. What made him think talking would work when that smile of his hadn’t? That smile...

      Before she could help herself, she twisted around to look up at him. He had the whitest, most even teeth she’d ever seen. And those dimples were incredibly charming on a man she suspected was approaching his mid-thirties.

      “Check that out.” Jutting his thumb toward the window on the opposite side of the train car, he said, “Looks like we arrived right on time for the celebration...” He gave her a comical frown. “You never did tell me your name.”

      “No, I didn’t,” she said, purposely giving him her most sincere smile to confuse him before turning away. She didn’t care to know what he was talking about. Reaching for a pen that had rolled beneath her seat, she shoved it in her purse, grabbed her coat and started up from her seat.

      Outside, a band began playing “Hello, Dolly.” There was something eerily familiar about the enthusiastic though amateurish rendition. Jade eased back onto her seat. Leaning across Spencer Madison’s lap, she felt her eyes widening as her heart contracted. “Oh, no.”

      “They’re a little heavy on the drums, but that kind of energy sure catches your attention, doesn’t it?” Standing, Spencer Madison purposely blocked her view as he shrugged into his jacket. “I wonder who rates this kind of welcome.”

      She pressed back in the seat for another look, her gaze darting around him like a hummingbird. When she didn’t answer him, Spencer reached to the rack above them for their luggage.

      “You’re getting out here, right?” he asked as several people squeezed by him on their way off the train.

      Jade Macleod gave him the kind of blank look reserved for startled deer trapped in car headlights. In the three weeks Spencer Madison had been following her, she had always appeared in complete control of herself. The sight