“What on earth do you mean?”
“Going to university.Applying to the civil service.”Adam’s mouth quirked into a hint of a roguish smile.“Stealing a map to an ancient lost city.”
“I didn’tmeanto steal it,” Ellie cut in defensively, blushing.
“Not getting married,” Adam finished firmly.
Ellie remembered her conversation with Constance in the tonga and felt a guilty pang.How much integrity could there be in pretending to go along with an institution she opposed?But what other choice did she have if she and Adam wanted to be together?
She didn’t have an answer to either of those questions.
Adam brushed his knuckles gently over her cheek.“You’ve got more integrity in your little finger than anyone else I’ve ever known.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Ellie grumbled guiltily.
“I am.And it still never ceases to amaze me that out of all the guys in the world, you’ve settled for me.”
“You have a great deal to recommend you!”
“Unemployment?”Adam suggested wryly.
“How about bravery?Principle.Compassion.Strength.Intelligence.”She punctuated each remark with a poke at his solid chest.
“Now you’re just buttering me up,” Adam protested.
“I am listing objective facts.”
“Not gonna put anything in there about my manly physique?”Adam’s mouth quirked wickedly.
“I think you are quite aware of my opinion of your physique.”
Adam took a step closer—which brought them into a very intimate proximity.“Doesn’t hurt to have a reminder every now and then.”
Ellie’s mind bloomed with all the things she might do to appreciate Adam’s physique, were Mr.Mahjoud not reading the rail timetables on the other side of the glass doors.“I think rather than a reminder, I might prefer an uninterrupted hour in a broom closet,” she grumbled.
Adam laughed.
“Don’t tell me you weren’t thinking of it as well,” Ellie accused.
The night burst with noise and color as chrysanthemums of pink, orange, yellow, and purple bloomed to life against the night sky.A triumphant roar rose from the distant festival.
Adam’s body was etched in dancing hues of blue and gold.His scent filled her senses, salt and forest and animal heat mingling with the tang of cordite from the display overhead.
“You don’t wanna know what I was thinking, Princess,” Adam warned darkly.
Elle’s desire warred with her common sense.“Why not?”
Adam leaned in close, the heat of his breath brushing against the skin of her cheek as the colors continued to crack and shimmer overhead.“Because we’re on a balcony.”
“What’s wrong with balconies?”Ellie’s hands twitched at her sides with the urge to reach up and tear open the buttons of his shirt.
Adam’s hand glided over the small of her back, the callouses on his fingers catching lightly against the delicate silk.“Gravity.”
“Who needs gravity anyway?”Ellie protested breathlessly, tilting up her face.Adam was so close to her now that the gesture made the subtle roughness of his cheek glide against her jaw.
Adam’s hand flexed against her back with barely contained power.“Can’t say I care to mind it much at the moment,” he muttered, eyes darkening with wicked determination.
The French doors flew open.Constance plowed through them in her dressing gown, arms spread wide and happily toward the sky.“Fireworks!”
