A Cinderella Seduction. Karen Booth

since Emma had time for neither this morning. She was going to be late if she didn’t get out the door. Putting her hair up in a ponytail, she bothered only with sunscreen, a light coat of mascara and lip balm, and dressed in her usual work attire—black trousers and a silk blouse. To mix things up, the blouse was royal-blue. She also decided to stick with the sky-high pumps she planned to wear that night. Twice daring counted for something, right?

      Out in the hall, she waited for the elevator, mentally running through the workday ahead. She’d been at Eden’s for three months now, and the days weren’t getting any easier. It was a bizarre situation to begin with—in late December, Emma had been called to the reading of Victoria Eden’s will. Emma had known Victoria Eden only as her cousins’ grandmother, and the owner of Eden’s, the largest department store in the city. Turned out that Victoria Eden was also Emma’s grandma. Emma’s mom had had an affair twenty-seven years ago with her sister’s husband. Everyone kept it a secret, especially from Emma. But Victoria Eden blew the top off this powder keg when she left one-third of her empire to the third granddaughter nobody knew about—Emma. The other two-thirds of the store went to Sophie and Mindy Eden, women Emma had always believed were her cousins. In truth, they were her half sisters. Emma still wasn’t sure what to make of that. She’d grown up an only child. She’d always wanted siblings, but this was a lot to grapple with at once.

      Finally, the elevator dinged. Emma glanced down at her pumps as the door slid open, but then her sights landed on someone else’s shoes. A man’s shiny black wingtips to be exact, leading to charcoal dress pants on ridiculously long legs. The hem of a suit coat led to a trim waist, under which was a crisp white shirt over a broad chest and shoulders, all topped off with a tousled head of thick brown hair swept back from the forehead of a man she’d never before had the good fortune to run into.

      Icy blue eyes connected with hers. The man didn’t say a word. He merely cleared his throat and pressed his hand against the elevator door as it threatened to close.

      Emma hopped on board while a flush of heat washed over her. “I’m sorry. Morning. On my way to work. Too much on my mind.” She added a casual laugh for good measure.

      The towering man said nothing in response, folding his hands in front of him and staring straight ahead at the doors.

      “Are you on your way to work, too?” she asked.

      The man glanced over at her and nodded. “Yes.”

      Ooh. A British accent. “Have you lived in the building long?” She’d been in the building for nearly two months now and had made friends with almost none of her neighbors. Not that she hadn’t tried. She brought pumpkin muffins to the couple who moved in down the hall from her. They seemed...bemused. Emma realized her tragic mistake as soon as the wife said, “How sweet. Homemade and everything.” She should have brought something from Dean & Deluca or Zabar’s at the very least. Next time, it’d be chocolate truffles and a bottle of champagne. Emma was capable of faking her way through this world if she simply put a little thought into it.

      The man shook his head. “No.” He raked his fingers through his hair.

      Emma had another four or five questions queued up in her head, one of which was whether she could smell him some more. His cologne was intriguing—warm and woodsy. Unfortunately, the doors slid open and he stepped aside. “Please,” he said. If he was that good with single-syllable words, Emma could only imagine what might happen to her if he chose to utter an entire sentence in her presence.

      Emma scurried off the elevator to the right and the main lobby, but the British mystery man strode left through the entrance to the parking garage. She looked longingly as he disappeared from view. Maybe she could get her driver to meet her in there next time. She might be missing out on a whole slew of handsome men.

      Or perhaps she should just get to work and stop thinking about handsome men. Eden’s was her entire future, one she’d never dreamed she could have. There was no room for distractions now.

      After twenty minutes of stop-and-go Manhattan rush-hour traffic, Emma’s driver dropped her at Eden’s. Lizzie, the receptionist in the administrative offices, hardly let her step off the elevator before speaking. “Mindy and Sophie are waiting for you in Sophie’s office. They want to talk about Empire State.”

      Emma forced a smile. “Thanks. I’ll head in.” Simply hearing the name of the big charity fashion show made her nervous again. Their grandmother had apparently attended the event every year. Tonight would be the debut of the three sisters, Mindy, Sophie and Emma, as the new faces of Eden’s department store.

      “Emma. Good morning.” Sophie sprang up from her desk, swung her long, strawberry blond hair over her shoulder and gave Emma a hug. She was wearing a gorgeous navy blue dress and killer red heels. Sophie was the epitome of put-together, and quite frankly, everything Emma hoped to be someday.

      “Hey, Em,” Mindy offered, unsubtly eyeing Emma from head to toe. Mindy was wearing a plum-colored pencil skirt and short peplum jacket. She didn’t have a wardrobe as funky as Sophie, but she always looked impeccable. “I see we went with black pants again.”

      “I was in a rush. I just grabbed what I knew would look good.” Emma stood next to Sophie’s desk rather than sitting. She didn’t want to be here for long.

      “Is that your dress for tonight?” Mindy asked, pointing to the garment bag Emma was still toting.

      “Oh. Uh. Yes.”

      “Sophie and I would like to see it, please. No more keeping it a secret.”

      Emma walked over to Sophie’s coat tree and hung up the dress, unzipping it from its bag. She pressed her lips together tightly, preparing herself for what these two might say. Anything was fair game. They worked in an industry built on first impressions and style, and she wasn’t doing great on either front. But, and this was a big but, Sophie and Mindy had grown up in a household where money was never an issue, where they were encouraged to dress in any way they saw fit. Emma, however, had grown up buying her clothes at discount stores, and had been preached the value of blending in.

      “Well?” Emma stood a little straighter, holding the dress up and steeling herself for the onslaught.

      “No way,” Mindy said. “It’s terrible.”

      Sophie shot Mindy a look and got up from her desk again, rushing over to where Emma was standing. “Oh, I don’t know. Gray is a hot color this season.” She took the hem of the dress in her hand. “I think the problem is that this isn’t really an evening dress. And it’s not very fun. This is a fun night. It’s a night for standing out.”

      Emma had been afraid of that. “It’s not my fault that I’m not up to speed on the fashion world. Up until three months ago, I was working in an accountant’s office and had no money.”

      “You know you can’t tell anyone about that,” Sophie said, holding her finger to her lips.

      Oh, right. The family fable. Soon after Emma’s inheritance was announced, Mindy and Sophie had concocted a story to explain Emma’s absence from the public lives of the Eden family. They owned up to the poor behavior of their father, but not the fact that the truth had been hidden from Emma for her entire life and she’d lived with very little money. They felt it might reflect badly on their grandmother, and in turn, the store. Emma was to tell everyone that she’d spent her formative years with a private tutor in France, then moved back to the States to quietly pursue her education in finance. It wasn’t that far from the truth, except that she’d lived in New Jersey and been home-schooled. Emma would have fought the lie, but it made it easier to exist in this world of money and power. It was a shred of a pedigree, and she’d take what she could get.

      “Don’t worry. I won’t say anything.”

      “Anyway, that dress is a snooze fest. You need to find something else.” Mindy crossed her legs and bobbed her foot impatiently.

      “I’ll go down to jewelry and find a necklace to brighten it up,” Emma said.

      Sophie