A lock of hair wound with a gold ribbon.
She rolled her eyes and laughed at herself.
Imagination's in gear, Megan,
she
murmured.
Too bad it's so farfetched.
What is?
She jumped like a rabbit, her glasses sliding down to her chin.
Damn. Nathaniel.
He was grinning as he closed and locked the terrace doors at his back.
I thought
you'd be happy to see me.
I am. But you didn't have to sneak up on me that way.
When a man comes through a woman's window at night, he's supposed to sneak.
She shoved her glasses back in place.
They're doors.
And you're too literal.
He leaned over the back of the chair where she sat and
kissed her like a starving man.
I'm glad you talk to yourself.
I do not.
You were, just now. That's why I decided to stop watching you and come in.
He
strolled to the hallway door, locked it.
You looked incredibly sexy sitting there at your neat little desk, your hair scooped up, your glasses sliding down your nose. In that cute, no-nonsense robe.
She wished heartily that the practical terry cloth could transform into silk and lace.
But she had nothing seductive to adorn herself in, and had settled for the robe and Coco's perfume.
I didn't think you were coming after all. It's getting late.
I figured there'd be some hoopla over yesterday, and that you'd need to settle Kevin for the night. He didn't get wind of it, did he?
No.
It touched her that he would ask, that it would matter to him.
None of the
children know. Everyone else has been wonderful. It's like thinking you're alone in a battle and then finding yourself surrounded by a circle of shields.
She smiled, tilted
her head.
Are you holding something behind your back?
His brows rose, as if in surprise.
Apparently I am.
He drew out a peony, a twin to
the one he'd given her before.
'A rose,'
he said,
'without a thorn.'
He crossed to her as he spoke, and all she could think for one awed moment was that this man, this fascinating man, wanted her. He started to take its faded twin from the bud vase on her desk.
Don't.
She felt foolish, but stayed his hand.
Don't throw it out.
Sentimental, Meg?
Moved that she had kept his token, he slipped the new bud in with the old.