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“Just stop the movie and we can watch it when we get home,” she suggested.
“Great, I don’t want to guess how it ends.” Griffin rose from the sofa with an easy stretch, carried the now empty popcorn bowl into the kitchen, and set it in the sink. “You ought to leave a few lights on to discourage burglars.”
“Right, like I’ve got any valuables to steal,” Darcy shot right back at him.
He came forward to take her bag. “All right, I know you’re capable of running your own life. Just tell me to shut up if you like.”
“I think I just did.” Darcy grabbed her trench coat from the closet and caught a quick glimpse of herself in the mirror by the door. With her gamin hairstyle and black apparel, she might pass for a French girl. If she just kept her mouth shut, which, as always, would be the greatest challenge.
She nearly snorted on that one, and had to quickly take a deep breath. She checked to make certain her passport and keys were in her coat pocket, and then with a few lights burning, she followed Griffin out the door.
Darcy had flown since childhood with her parents, but they’d never traveled first class. She was surprised to discover there was so much room between the wide seats that a man of Griffin’s size could stretch out and be comfortable. She would be able to curl up as though she were still on her own couch.
While the plane was taxiing out on the runway, Griffin pulled a vial of pills from his pants pocket and asked the stewardess for a glass of water. “I hate to do this, but the alternative is too ugly to contemplate.”
“You couldn’t be ugly if you tried,” Darcy scolded.
“That’s just it, I refuse to try.” He swallowed a couple of pills, finished the water, then requested pillows and blankets for them both.
He was already yawning by the time they had the pillows comfortably tucked beneath their heads and the blankets stretched across their laps. He reached for Darcy’s hand, laced her fingers in his, then brought them to his lips.
“You know what I love best about you?” he murmured.
“I didn’t think you loved me at all,” she responded, but she sat forward eager to hear it. Unfortunately, before he could answer, his lashes fluttered, his eyes closed, and he was sound asleep.
“It’s Sleeping Beauty who’s supposed to be lost in dreamland,” she whispered, “not the handsome prince.”
She closed her eyes as the engines roared in take-off, but once the flight was underway, the couple seated across the aisle kept her awake. Their voices were low and teasing and, while she couldn’t catch their exact words, it was plain they were lovers bent on enjoying every minute of their trip. She envied them and patted Griffin’s hand.
She wondered if he’d been about to say that he loved her eyes, or maybe just her lacy lingerie. She refused to push the thought any further, however, when by the time he awoke, he’d undoubtedly have forgotten he ever mentioned the word love.
He’d raised the armrest between their seats and pulled her hand into his lap the way he had the one time they’d gone to the movies. The first time, she corrected mentally. Then afterwards she’d seen him almost jump the poor clerk from the Song and Dance music store. Now she understood why he’d been so quick to not only expect, but ward off an assault. She shook her head. What else was he hiding? She’d expected so damn little of him then, and yet amazingly he’d kept pursuing her.
Maybe beauty really was in the eye of the beholder. Either that, or the pumpkin pie spice, which she’d packed, was even more potent than George had promised. Whatever the reason, Griffin really cared for her, and she was scared to death she might lose him.
The stewardess paused beside Griffin. “May I bring you anything?” she whispered.
It was a long flight, and Darcy wished she could sleep too. “Some hot tea?”
The stewardess returned with a small silver teapot filled with hot water and a fancy assortment of teas. Darcy thanked her, slid her hand from Griffin’s to select orange spice and took several of the delicate sugar cookies being offered.
The couple across the aisle was sipping wine and now snuggled so close they occupied a single seat. Darcy drank her tea and slid closer to Griffin’s comforting warmth. The evening had begun on such a lonely note, but with an enticing invitation from Griffin, it had become surreal.
After saying no to her first love, a man she’d adored but simply couldn’t follow around the globe, she’d shoved all thought of men from her mind and dived headfirst into her career. Then Griffin had strolled into Defy the World Tomatoes, under what now appeared to be false pretenses, and she’d felt such an intense attraction there’d been no time to warn her heart.
Now look what had happened, she mused. Prior to meeting him, she hadn’t missed a single day of work for Defy the World, but she’d just blown her perfect attendance record and was still precisely where she wanted to be. Maybe it was possible to have it all, she thought sleepily, but so much depended on Griffin that she dared not dream past Paris alone.
She set her empty cup on the tray, this time pulled his hand into her own lap, and fell asleep.
After speaking with Twin
k by telephone, Christy Joy and Jeremy had gone out for a walk. They had strolled around town, marveling at how quickly merchants had cleared away the storm damage, then stopped for ice cream. Because her bed was so much more comfortable than his bunk, they’d returned to her apartment to continue where they’d left off that morning, but Christy Joy checked her messages first.
She had to replay Darcy’s breathless farewell three times to make certain she understood it before she sat back and looked up at Jeremy. “She didn’t say when they’re coming back, did she?”
“No, she sure didn’t, but you know they will.”
“This isn’t like her at all.” Christy Joy remained on the sofa, picked up one of the throw pillows and gave it a playful punch.
