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He nodded. “I’ve always felt a pull to that spot,” he explained. “So, I think it’s time to take my family there and introduce them to Poseidon.”
Eirene didn’t respond immediately and Simon was worried that he’d upset or offended her. “Eirene?”
She looked up, and there was something in her eyes that made him feel as if she was his home. “You are the most remarkable man I’ve ever known,” she told him. “I’ll get my coat.”
Simon watched her climb the stairs, his heart more full than he had ever thought possible. How had he been so fortunate? How had a foolish wastrel like himself become a decent man?
There were no real answers, he supposed, so no reason to search too hard. For now, it was enough to thank the universe for his good fortune, and promise to be a better man with every opportunity he was given.
Before they left, Simon went down to the wine cellar and snagged a bottle of champagne to share with the sea.
Accidentally Yours
Norah Quinn drained the last her coffee and waved a goodbye to the very patient barista who had opened the coffeehouse for her a half hour early.
“Interview,” she had croaked, putting on her most beguiling expression. Geoff had rolled his eyes and opened the door.
“Only for you, Quinn.”
“I’ll give you my first born. Instant is fine.”
Geoff looked her up and down, taking in the dark gray power suit that was only a little creased from where Norah had dragged it from the back of her wardrobe. Norah’s dark, tumbling hair was pulled into a messy bun at the nape of her neck and was already escaping its clip.
“You’re unusually smart this morning, Miss Quinn.”
Norah sighed and checked her watch. “Like, I said, interview.” She named the media company and Geoff whistled. “Very nice.”
Norah swallowed a too hot sip of coffee and coughed violently. “I had to beg and scrape to get it. According to the very uppity woman I spoke to, Mr. Harrington isn’t in town much longer so it’s in a half hour or never. Also, he’s all about experience so my Summa Cum Laude from Harvard means nothing to him.”
Geoff pushed another cup of coffee to her. “You’ll do fine.” He didn’t think he ought to mention the large spot of coffee that had landed on her shirt. You couldn’t see it unless she moved. Norah waved the coffee away.
“Only got enough for one.”
Geoff pushed it back. “On the house — can I get you something to eat?”
Norah smiled at him gratefully. “Thank you but no. I need to get across town — and it’s the bike race thing today so I need all the time I can get.”
“You go get ‘em, killer.”
Ten minutes later and seventeen blocks later, Norah skidded to a halt, breathless. Somewhere, somehow she’d taken a wrong turn. She pulled out her phone to check the directions, cursing softly under her breath. She turned and then the world went haywire. Screeching brakes, screeching tires and all the air in her lungs seemed to disappear. The Mercedes that had almost hit her seemed like it had grown out of all proportion, towered above her until she realized she was lying on the ground. Her head spun as a man, a very tall, dark man sprung from the car and bent over her. He was talking but she couldn’t quite understand what he was saying. All she could see was the vivid green of his eyes, ringed with the darkest lashes, the beautiful classical angles of his man, his maleness. She must be dead. Damn, and she wasn’t even a believer but if this was what angels looked like then…
“Hey, space cakes? I don’t think she can understand me. Let’s just get to a doctor.”
Not an angel then. Norah fought the dark spots that were crowding in at the corners of her eyes.
“No…I’m fine, just let me down.” He had her in his arms by them and was moving towards the death car.
“No way, baby girl. I’m not having a million dollar lawsuit on my hands.”
Norah felt a jolt of anger. “I’m fine, I just got shocked, is all. Let me down, I’m all good, I have to go.”
The angel — no, definitely not an angel, more like a pain in the butt — ignored her and Norah thought up a million ways to kick and bite her way free, or to cuss him out. Instead, she did the most humiliating thing possible.
She fainted.
***
Norah opened her eyes and stared up an unfamiliar ceiling. By the smell filling her nostrils and the mechanical beep and the irritating i.v. line in her arm, she guessed the angel/ass had brought her to the hospital. She raised her head and groaned. Yep, this wasn’t the local emergency room. A private room and nurses in exquisitely fitted uniforms, the hushed, serene atmosphere.
