She lifted her hand and gently cupped his cheek, the soft scratch of his evening stubble abrasive against her palm. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Morgan. You’ve been donating to Brookhaven for years. That was helpful. I’ve always appreciated it.”
He scoffed roughly but pressed his face a little more into her hand, as though he enjoyed the connection as well. “I guess all that matters is that my eyes are open now. I really do plan to do everything I can to change the lives of these children for the better.”
“I know you do,” she assured him.
They stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment, so long that she became hyper-aware that she was still touching him. All the small intimacies they’d shared over the past weeks stretched between them, and the urge to kiss him again was so strong that it shook her to the core. Before she could act on it, she let her hand drop and stepped away. “Did you finish theMoby Dickroom?”
He shook his head. “No, but I’ll be done tomorrow, and then, I’ll be working onAlice in Wonderland.” He grinned. “I’m really looking forward to that one.”
“I’m sure it will be magnificent.” A motion in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she turned to see that Ginny had quit playing with the puppies and seemed to have shrunk in on herself, her gaze haunted as she carefully avoided looking at Morgan.
He must have noticed as well, because he made a rough, lost sound in the back of his throat. “She’s terrified of me, isn’t she?”
“I’m afraid so,” she answered, wishing it wasn’t so.
“Have you had a chance to talk to her about Prometheus?” he murmured. “Does she have any idea who he is?”
Fear pooled in the pit of her stomach at the thought that one of the girls might say something that would give her away. She knew she’d have to tell Morgan eventually, but it already seemed as though the time to do that had passed. Now, she’d just look dishonest, and the last thing she wanted was to lose his regard. “Neither of them is ready to be questioned,” she said testily. “Your need to know Prometheus’s identity is not important when it comes to these girls’ recovery.”
“I’ll go,” he told her, chastened. “I just wanted to say goodnight.”
She could tell that she’d hurt him, and she wanted to apologize but wasn’t quite sure how to do it without making things even more complicated. She never should have kissed him, never should have let things between them become anything more than friendly. She feared she’d already come to care for him far more than was good for either of them.
“Good-night, Morgan.”
He gazed at her for another long moment and then turned and went back in the house, leaving her feeling lonelier than she’d ever been and promising herself she’d try to keep things strictly professional between them from now on.
Chapter Ten
Over the next few days, Morgan spent most of his time at Brookhaven working on the murals, finishing the one based onAlice in Wonderlandand also one for another pair of boys based on the legend of Camelot. His young assistant, Henry, had proven to be even more talented than he’d imagined, and he’d been able to assign him whole sections of the murals, which the boy had completed with little supervision.
But something had changed with Fiona. Although she’d been polite and appreciative, she’d shut down in some way. She seemed to have her guard up again, and he wasn’t exactly sure what he’d done to make her once again erect those walls that she used to keep the world at bay. He feared he’d pushed her too much, had taken too many liberties with their intimacies.
The loss of her kind regard and gentle companionship had hurt more than he ever could have imagined. He wanted to get back to when things had been easy between them, but he wasn’t quite sure how to manage it.
In the past, it seemed that every time he’d done something nice for the children, she’d let him in a little, but he was hesitant to do something with that particular goal in mind. He felt it had worked in the past because his intentions had been pure, and he didn’t want to do anything that seemed inauthentic in any way.
