Her Crown Jewel (Hygge Royal Romance Series, Book 1)

The Dinner

The concierge rang her at seven O three and informed her that a Daniel Carter was going up to her floor. Kajsa smoothed out the skirt of her favourite floral Erdem dress and waited for him in the hall. They greeted each other, and Kajsa watched him toe off his shoes. He was dressed in a different shirt, light blue and more casual, and dark denim - and held a large bouquet in a bulky vase in his hands. She wondered if he'd googled 'what to bring to her place for a dinner date.' The vase was endlessly ugly, but the bouquet, of different shades of yellow and green - with its alstroemeria, chrysanthemums, asclepias, and green bell - didn't lack charm. She appreciated that he hadn't chosen pink roses.

"Thank you," she said sincerely.

"The vase is ugly, but it was too late to change my order," he grumbled.

"And if you'd taken them out, the flowers would be dripping water," Kajsa added and laughed. "I absolutely love the flowers, Danny. Thank you." She shifted and almost rose on tip-toes to kiss his cheek - but stopped herself. "I have just a vase for them, and yellow is my–"

She choked on her words, because he quickly pressed his lips to her cheek. Kajsa tingled from head to toe. He withdrew, and she continued gawking at him.

"Ms. Larsson?"

"Kajsa," she corrected him, and cleared her throat. "Shall we go in?" She swirled on one spot and hurried to the sitting room. "The dinner is served in the kitchen, on the island. I decided that taking a dinner table and chairs from the storage would look like I was trying too hard," she joked. "You didn't insist on a restaurant, so I assumed you wouldn't oppose to such lack of formalities."

"Not at all," he said and left for the bathroom.

Kajsa arranged the flowers in a vase and carefully placed them on the end of the island. She was pleased to see how well it went with her navy blue Royal Doulton Pacific dinner set. He stepped in the kitchen and halted near his chair. Previously, he'd always gotten up when she'd entered the room during their meetings, but she'd assumed he'd been following John Holyoake's example. The publisher had posh, somewhat old-fashioned manners. Apparently, so did Danny Carter.

"Please, sit down," Kajsa said softly.

She took out their plates from the warming drawer and placed them on the counter. His eyebrows jumped up.

"Beef Stroganoff," Kajsa announced. "It's my favourite comfort food. Not the most romantic dish, I concede, but I'm afraid I'm too practical to suffer through three dissatisfying slices of duck breast on a hill of greens just for the sake of a vibe."

He chuckled and picked up the fork.

"It's an authentic Russian recipe, traditionally eaten with pickled cucumber slices," Kajsa said. "I grew up eating lots of pickled vegetables."

"I do like pickles," he said.

"Then we should definitely have some," she said and rose.

He looked up at her, seemingly in surprise again. She took out a bowl with the cucumbers from the fridge, placed it in the centre of the island, and plated three slices on the side of her beef and mash.

"What did you eat as a child?" she asked.

He pensively chewed his food and swallowed. Kajsa favourably noted his manners - courteous but not put-on or pretentious.

"Anything that was quick and filling," he said and picked up a slice of cucumber. "My mother passed away when I was five. My dad brought us up, my brother and me. And I'm, what's called, a military brat. So, we often ate in the cookhouse at the base as well."