planners.’
The eye crinkles deepened. ‘That’s because you’re too smart for your own good.’
‘Mmm. So does that mean you actually believe in the stuff you’re spouting? Inner health, inner happiness and all that.’
His eye crinkles faded as he gave her questionconsideration. The guy listened, seriously listened, to what she had to say. Most men in his position patted her on the head as if she were a clever puppy before deferring to her brothers, not caring that she might be a woman with ideas and opinions and more street smarts than they had in their little fingers. No wonder she was finding it harder and harder to pull herself away from this one.
He said, ‘I believe that what you put into your life is what you get out of it. Treat it well, it’ll treat you well. Surround yourself only with positive people and they’ll affect your life positively. Fill your body and your mind with rubbish and rubbish is all you can ever hope to be.’
Meg let those pearls sink in and then kind of wished she hadn’t asked. Because it shed a new light on how she must have appeared to others. And to him.
She attended parties to keep her profile current, so that meant she was a party girl. Nothing deeper. Nothing more. And it was entirely her own doing.
She kept hush-hush the best parts of herself; the truth about the number of women at the Valley Women’s Shelter she’d secretly helped over the years. That way nobody knew the real her. Not her family. Not even her friends.
For years she’d thought she had the best of both worlds—public affection and private fulfilment. But Zach’s words made her wish someone knew.They made her wish he knew. The urge to just blurt it all out then and there was a powerful thing.
But then what? He was too perceptive. He’d wonder why she needed to spend time with battered women and displaced children in particular, and why she’d even hidden the fact in the first place.
Nah. Better to keep things as they were. Best not to discover people might only be attracted to the light, bright, amusing, easily palatable version of herself. Zach included. She wasn’t sure she was prepared to know the answer to that one.
Realising the silence was stretching on far too long, she forced a dazzling party-girl smile and said, ‘So you are what you eat?’
His cheek lifted. ‘In not so many words.’
‘By that logic if I go home right now and marinate myself in chocolate and red wine, then at the very least I’ll die tasty.’
He laughed softly, before saying, ‘You can’t argue with logic.’
Meg’s breath caught in her throat. He’d just had to go and use the last words she’d said to him before they’d kissed, hadn’t he? Her heart beat double time. She breathed deep to control it before she keeled over.
Perhaps he hadn’t realised what he’d said, because he just turned and followed the group. Or perhaps the kiss hadn’t affected him nearly as much as it had affected her.
Good , she thought. Fantastic even. Fan-bloody-tastic.
Now they were descending again. Single file. Meg was caught behind Zach, so naturally while she ought to have been watching her feet she watched him instead. The spring of curls against his tanned neck. The athletic ease with which he strode the trail.
Surely he’d felt something when they’d kissed. She’d felt magic.
When her foot half missed a stepping stone, she stumbled and caught hold of his backpack for support.
‘You okay back there?’ he asked, snapping a hand behind him to cradle her hip.
She closed her eyes against the flow of feeling rushing through her that felt more tangible and immediate than mere magic. ‘Mostly.’
‘Take my shoulders.’
‘Why?’ she asked.
He glanced up at her, his dark eyes shadowed beneath his cap. And she was certain his voice dropped a note or two when he said, ‘Because it only gets riskier from here.’
‘I’ll be fine,’ she said, her voice husky.
‘Meg—’
‘I’m not completely
The eye crinkles deepened. ‘That’s because you’re too smart for your own good.’
‘Mmm. So does that mean you actually believe in the stuff you’re spouting? Inner health, inner happiness and all that.’
His eye crinkles faded as he gave her questionconsideration. The guy listened, seriously listened, to what she had to say. Most men in his position patted her on the head as if she were a clever puppy before deferring to her brothers, not caring that she might be a woman with ideas and opinions and more street smarts than they had in their little fingers. No wonder she was finding it harder and harder to pull herself away from this one.
He said, ‘I believe that what you put into your life is what you get out of it. Treat it well, it’ll treat you well. Surround yourself only with positive people and they’ll affect your life positively. Fill your body and your mind with rubbish and rubbish is all you can ever hope to be.’
Meg let those pearls sink in and then kind of wished she hadn’t asked. Because it shed a new light on how she must have appeared to others. And to him.
She attended parties to keep her profile current, so that meant she was a party girl. Nothing deeper. Nothing more. And it was entirely her own doing.
She kept hush-hush the best parts of herself; the truth about the number of women at the Valley Women’s Shelter she’d secretly helped over the years. That way nobody knew the real her. Not her family. Not even her friends.
For years she’d thought she had the best of both worlds—public affection and private fulfilment. But Zach’s words made her wish someone knew.They made her wish he knew. The urge to just blurt it all out then and there was a powerful thing.
But then what? He was too perceptive. He’d wonder why she needed to spend time with battered women and displaced children in particular, and why she’d even hidden the fact in the first place.
Nah. Better to keep things as they were. Best not to discover people might only be attracted to the light, bright, amusing, easily palatable version of herself. Zach included. She wasn’t sure she was prepared to know the answer to that one.
Realising the silence was stretching on far too long, she forced a dazzling party-girl smile and said, ‘So you are what you eat?’
His cheek lifted. ‘In not so many words.’
‘By that logic if I go home right now and marinate myself in chocolate and red wine, then at the very least I’ll die tasty.’
He laughed softly, before saying, ‘You can’t argue with logic.’
Meg’s breath caught in her throat. He’d just had to go and use the last words she’d said to him before they’d kissed, hadn’t he? Her heart beat double time. She breathed deep to control it before she keeled over.
Perhaps he hadn’t realised what he’d said, because he just turned and followed the group. Or perhaps the kiss hadn’t affected him nearly as much as it had affected her.
Good , she thought. Fantastic even. Fan-bloody-tastic.
Now they were descending again. Single file. Meg was caught behind Zach, so naturally while she ought to have been watching her feet she watched him instead. The spring of curls against his tanned neck. The athletic ease with which he strode the trail.
Surely he’d felt something when they’d kissed. She’d felt magic.
When her foot half missed a stepping stone, she stumbled and caught hold of his backpack for support.
‘You okay back there?’ he asked, snapping a hand behind him to cradle her hip.
She closed her eyes against the flow of feeling rushing through her that felt more tangible and immediate than mere magic. ‘Mostly.’
‘Take my shoulders.’
‘Why?’ she asked.
He glanced up at her, his dark eyes shadowed beneath his cap. And she was certain his voice dropped a note or two when he said, ‘Because it only gets riskier from here.’
‘I’ll be fine,’ she said, her voice husky.
‘Meg—’
‘I’m not completely
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