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As the carpenter got to work, Darcy toyed with the possibility that Griffin was sending all the help to please her rather than merely to maintain his property, but she quickly dismissed the view as delusional. She stayed out in the nursery rather than mope in her office, but the pretty sunshine failed to raise her spirits.
The day crept by and while she hadn’t been dating before she met Griffin, spending a Saturday night alone now was a discouraging prospect. She had a couple of frozen entrées in her freezer, but neither held any appeal. She made some microwave popcorn instead, and sorted through her collection of DVDs for something humorous and grabbed “Galaxy Quest”, a hilarious Star Trek spoof staring Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver.
She’d just settled down on her sofa with the bowl of popcorn balanced on her stomach when the doorbell rang. Annoyed by the interruption, she turned down the sound on her television, set the popcorn aside and answered the door.
Griffin was standing on the steps, dressed in gray slacks and navy blue blazer. His maroon tie matched the narrow stripe in his white shirt. A mere hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I thought I’d stop by before leaving for Paris.”
Darcy stepped aside to invite him in, but decided for once to keep her mouth shut and let him bury himself. That she looked frazzled after a day of work while he looked so damn cool was unfair, but then nothing had ever been equal between them.
Griffin studied her implacable expression a long moment and then reached into his coat pocket and withdrew a passport. “If you’ll promise to remain at the hotel while I play the private concert, then you’ll need this.”
Darcy quickly brushed her salty hands on her overalls, took the passport and opened it to find the photograph she’d submitted. “This should have been sent to me. How did you get hold of it?”
Griffin walked over to the coffee table and grabbed a handful of popcorn. “Does it matter? I have to be at the airport in San Francisco by midnight, and you either want to go with me or you don’t.”
Darcy understood why he would insist upon her remaining in the hotel, but she was disappointed he couldn’t trust her to behave herself around Lyman Vaughn. “You can’t treat me like a pet Yorkie and toss me a dog toy when you go out.”
“Of course not. I didn’t plan to lock you in our suite. You could go shopping, tour the Louvre, entertain yourself however you please. Just don’t argue with me about attending the concert, and don’t say what I want to hear now, if you intend to do exactly as you please once we’ve arrived in Paris.”
She licked her lips and glanced up at him. “Why do you want me to go along? As I recall, you take sedatives for a flight, so you won’t need my company on the plane. If we won’t be together in Paris either, then what’s the point?”
“The flight’s in the middle of the night, so you’ll probably be sound asleep too,” he stressed. “As for Paris, I didn’t plan to just fly over and then catch the return flight home. It won’t take more than a few hours to plan and give a concert for Monsieur Jordan, whether or not he turns out to be Lyman Vaughn. Then we can do whatever we please together.”
“Would you recognize Vaughn on sight, or does he frequently change his appearance?”
“I’ve not met the man, but
he looks the same in all the surveillance photos I’ve seen. He’s in his fifties, five foot ten, one hundred seventy pounds, silver hair, green eyes. He favors finely tailored suits, and if he passed by you on the street, you’d probably assume he was an attorney or businessman on his way to an important meeting.”
“He has no distinguishing marks, no mole on his cheek, or a tarantula tattooed on his neck?”
“No, what did you expect, that he’d be seven feet tall with flaming red hair?”
“No, I suppose it’s only movie villains whose looks are extraordinary.” Darcy focused on her pink socks. “Still, you don’t really need me along when you could find agreeable company in Paris without much effort.”
“Without any effort at all,” he countered smoothly, “but she wouldn’t be you.”
Darcy risked a peek at his smile, and her knees turned to butter cream. “Would that matter?”
“Yes. I’m sorry about the way I blew up at you yesterday. I know you meant well, and we’ll just have to hope no harm was done.”
The threat of unexpected tears stung her eyes, and she quickly blinked them away and turned her passport in her hands. She hadn’t had time to go shopping, but she might be able to get by with the few good things she already owned and add to her wardrobe in Paris.
Of course, when Griffin planned to walk into a lion’s den, being concerned about her clothes was ludicrous. Then again, if she somehow managed to stay with him, he might be injured protecting her. She would never forgive herself if he suffered even the slightest harm because of her.
“Okay,” she agreed softly. “Give me a minute to call Christy Joy. Then I’ll toss a few things in a bag and be ready to go.”
“You might want to shower.”
She looked down at her rumpled overalls. “Do you honestly believe I’m too great an idiot to come up with that on my own?”
“No, I was teasing you, Darcy.”
Unconvinced of that, she left the room without responding, but she’d meant to take a shower and wash her hair right after calling her partner. Only Christy Joy didn’t answer. She might be out with Jeremy, or the pair could be having too good a time to come to the telephone. Either way, Darcy was forced to record a hastily conceived message, but she was amazed not to feel a crushing guilt for leaving the country on such short notice.
When had her priorities taken this alarming shift? No answer appeared while she showered and, once out, she hurriedly towel-dried her hair and dressed in her black Levi’s, boots and black sweater. While she usually went without earrings, she put on small gold hoops which went nicely with her diamond note. She returned to the living room pulling a wheeled travel bag filled with lacy lingerie and little else.
Griffin was watching Galaxy Quest and laughing between bites of popcorn. She was surprised a man as sophisticated as he would enjoy it as much as she did.
