Pleasure by Adrianna Dane (an excerpt)

Chapter 1

Now that was an intriguing idea, Helen thought as she browsed through the Las Vegas newspaper. She couldn't help staring at the ad for the Acme Escort Service, fantasizing about the too-good-to-be-true young male companion outlined in the advertisement.

What she wouldn't give to have someone like that just for one night, attuned to her every desire.

At your service. She liked the sound of that. And young. Even better. Anonymous passion. Dangerous to be sure. But Las Vegas was a good hundred miles away from the small town she lived in. Who would know?

Sin City. People went there to get lost, to have an adventure, to shed their inhibitions.

Sighing, she looked up as her assistant walked in carrying a pile of papers.

"You need to look these over and sign them, Mayor. And that meeting with the Task Force has been changed to three o'clock. I checked your calendar and that will work for you." She set the files on her desk and then looked over at her, a frown on her face. "You look tired, Helen, you should get away for a few days. You've been working too hard."

Closing the newspaper and folding it, she set it aside. "Too much to do, Margaret. This isn't a good time for me to take a trip."

Margaret stepped away from the desk, hands on hips. "So, when? The kids are on their own, it's summer, and things are as quiet as they're ever going to get." She leaned forward, placed both hands on the desk, and looked pointedly at Helen. "They take advantage of you. Everyone depends on you for the answers. You need to get away, get some fresh perspective. Get Todd Jennings or Arthur Thompson to go with you. You seem to like their company."

Helen made a face. Todd and Arthur were great as escorts to the various social functions in the county when she needed a date. But there was certainly no passion there. It was more a duty, and their desire to be seen and get exposure with the press, accompanying her provided them. But that's as far as it went.

She looked at Margaret. "I'll think about it. It might be nice to get away for a weekend."

Margaret nodded. "Shall I get one of them on the phone for you?"

"No, no. If I go, I'm going alone. I don't want one of them fluttering about."

"I thought you liked them."

"Well enough. But not that well."

"Too bad. I don't like thinking of you all alone in that big house of yours. You deserve to be with someone who will make you happy."

Helen laughed. She'd rather be alone than with either of those two under foot all the time. When Allen had asked for a divorce ten years ago in order to marry one of his students, she'd been devastated. He'd been a university professor and she was working as a public defender at the time. She hadn't seen it coming, had thought they had a perfect life. But it all went sour.

She gave him the divorce he wanted, but not the kids. Some young bimbo wasn't raising her children. It was one of those times when being a lawyer came in very handy. He'd since divorced his second wife and gone on to a third. He liked them young and apparently wore them out fast.

She chose not to remarry. Not that there were that many eligible men in Ferris that she was attracted to, so it hadn't been all that difficult to remain single. Besides, she had the children to think about. She'd kept her pride and her reputation and gone on to run for mayor, winning by a landslide. That was five years ago, and she really hadn't had time to stop and think much about her situation. The house hadn't seemed quite so large when the children were at home.

But Sarah and Thomas were both now in college--Sarah a junior and Tom a senior. Both decided to take summer jobs away from their sleepy little town. So she was all alone, with a whole summer stretched out before her.

"So where will you go?" Margaret demanded to know.

Helen thought of the newspaper ad and the glitz and anonymity of Las Vegas.

"I'm not sure." She looked at Margaret. "But make sure my calendar is clear for the weekend, will you? I do think I'll get away."

Margaret nodded. "You bet. It's about time. Being mayor is all good and dandy, but you need a life beyond that. Everyone knows you're dedicated, but you deserve a little personal time to yourself." She turned and strode toward the door of Helen's office. "I'll make sure you're clear."

Helen watched her leave, then ignoring the sheaf of papers Margaret had dropped on her desk, picked up the paper and opened to the page with the intriguing ad.

Allow us to make you feel like the world revolves around you... She really did like the sound of that. She tore the ad out of the paper, folded it, and placed it inside her purse.

Margaret had no idea what thoughts ran through her head right now. A night out in Vegas accompanied by a handsome young man eager to cater to her every whim and make her feel desirable as a woman again seemed like exactly what she needed. Even if he was paid to do so. She could shed the mantle of mayor and icon of the community. She could pretend she didn't have a care in the world--at least for the weekend. It was really very tempting.

If she picked one of the lesser known hotel casinos, something not on the well-traveled strip, she was less likely to run into someone she knew. And she wanted to be someone else, just for a little while. Someone daring and adventurous. Someone who didn't need to hide the passion seething inside her in order to maintain her rock solid reputation in their small community. She wouldn't have to maintain a nice polite façade because everyone she encountered was someone she knew and a potential voter in the next election. She needed something to bring back the spark.

She might seem over the hill to the lukewarm available bachelors in Ferris, but there was much more to Helen Dawson than the matronly figure everyone respected and looked up to for the running of their little town.

Not so little really, but compared to somewhere like Las Vegas, it certainly didn't compete.

She'd wait to phone the agency listed in the ad until she arrived in Vegas. It was going to take courage to make that call--and daring. She needed a new dress or two and she didn't dare buy here the sort of attire she envisioned--people would ask too many questions.

Again, she thought about what a young, good-looking escort would be like. What exactly did an escort do? The ad offered some very interesting possibilities. Outside of her own little county she really was just a tiny cog, and in a large metropolis with such a transient population she could get away without being noticed.

Right now she just wanted to be a woman without all the other various and sundry titles attached--like mayor, mother, icon, and pillar of the community. Just a woman. Who needed a man.

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