Then the joy broke across his face like sunrise.
With a laugh of pure delight, he swept her off her feet and spun her around.
The porch lights blurred into streaks of gold as she clung to his shoulders, laughing breathlessly.
He set her down, eyes shining.
“You hear that, Sylva?” he called to the quiet street. “She’s crazy over me!”
Just then, footsteps sounded on the walk below.
Deck O’Rourke appeared, climbing toward the porch with his usual brisk stride, eyebrows raised high over his glasses, a to-go cup in one hand.
“Saints preserve us,” Deck muttered, arms folded. “If I’d known there’d be public displays of lunacy, I’d have brought the camera crew.”
Eleanor, cheeks flushed, tried to regain her dignity.
“Deck, what are you doing here?”
“Supposed to be discussing work,” he grumbled, “not watching you two carry on like a pair of teenagers.”
Reid, still holding Eleanor’s hand, grinned shamelessly.
“What can I say, O’Rourke? She’s struggling, but it’s a losing battle. My boyish charm is a matter of public record, and she’s finally stopped fighting the evidence.”
Deck snorted.
“God help her, so she is. And God help the rest of us when you start quotin’ case law about it.”
Reid winked at Eleanor as he headed down the steps, still grinning.
“I’ll leave you to your business, Counselor. Try not to miss me too much.”
She rolled her eyes—but her smile lingered as she watched him go, her heart lighter than it had been in years.
Deck lingered at the foot of the porch a moment, quieter now, watching the taillights of the Jaguar disappear into the mountain mist.
Then he looked back at her.
“So, Romeo declared his love to the whole neighborhood,” he said dryly. “I heard him halfway down the block.”
Eleanor narrowed her eyes and looked directly at Deck.
“Before you say a word?—”
Deck crossed the last few steps to her. Up close, his expression was softer than she’d ever seen it.
“Ah, lass,” he said.
He lifted a hand and rested his palm against her cheek, his thumb brushing once, gentle.
“At last I see it—the look in your eye, the spring in your step, and love in your heart.” His voice roughened a fraction. “Makes me very happy.”
Her throat tightened.
“Deck…”
“You’ve had more than your share of storms,” he went on. “You deserve a bit of sunlight.”
