One Night by Debbie Macomber

was back on his side of the mattress.
    If everything went according to schedule, they should arrive in Dallas in plenty of time for the cocktail party that evening. Although Carrie had complained her new clothes came straight from a convent, Kyle had no objection to her dressing like a nun. He’d prefer it if other men assumed she was broadcasting for one of the religious networks. He was far more comfortable having her wear a habit to the partythan those shortie pajamas of hers. Those things would tempt a monk.
    “Good morning,” Carrie whispered.
    “Morning. You ready to hit the road?” He couldn’t think of anything better to say.
    The words were followed by a short silence. “Not quite. I just woke up.”
    “I’ll get dressed and get us some coffee,” he suggested. “Want some?”
    “Please.”
    He waited until her head was turned before climbing out of bed and quickly dressing. By the time he returned with the coffee, she was dressed and moving around the room. He noticed that her eyes didn’t quite meet his when he handed her the steaming cup.
    “I should be ready to leave in just a few minutes,” she told him softly.
    “Take your time.”
    She shot him a look as if she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly, which wasn’t unreasonable since he’d been keen to be on the road as quickly as possible.
    It took her less than ten minutes to collect her things. Kyle turned in their keys at the front office, and without another delay they were off.
    Not until they’d left town did he think about breakfast. “You hungry?” he asked, hoping she wasn’t.
    “No, thanks.”
    “Okay, then our next stop is Dallas.” That should get a rise out of her, and it did.
    “You’re joking, right?”
    He glanced her way and grinned. “Destination Dallas, with a stop or two along the way.”
    “That’s more like it,” she said, smiling.
    There should be a way to package that smile of hers, Kyle mused. Funny, he’d never realized how appealing it was before, but then he regretfully acknowledged there hadn’t been much chance to get to see it. Not with them snapping at each other at every opportunity.
    He glanced over at her and noticed she was picking at her nails. She only did that when she was uptight about something. He didn’t need a crystal ball to figure out what it was.
    “I guess we should probably talk about what happened last night.” He wasn’t getting any awards for diplomacy. He just wished to hell he knew what she was thinking.
    “Last night?”
    “I don’t think we need to make a federal case over a kiss,” he commented, then glanced in her direction. “Do you?”
    “No, of course we don’t. As you said, it was just a kiss.”
    “Right.” He seemed satisfied, but Carrie was unwilling to drop the subject.
    “It’s understandable, really.”
    “How’s that?” Kyle wanted to know.
    “You have to admit we’ve been through a good deal of emotional trauma in the last forty-eight hours.”
    “Exactly.” He appeared to be in full enthusiastic agreement.
    “It isn’t every day you meet up with an escapedfelon and get held at gunpoint, kidnapped, and then subjected to an interrogation by the Secret Service.”
    “Or spend the night in jail,” he added.
    She sighed and gestured feebly with her hands. “So it all makes a crazy kind of sense that you and I…that the two of us, being thrown together this way, would…bond in ways we hadn’t previously.”
    “You’re absolutely right,” he said, and nodded once for emphasis.
    “So we should ignore something as trivial as a kiss?” She made it a question because despite every excuse she’d offered. Carrie wasn’t sure what to think herself. Kyle’s kiss had meant something, only she wasn’t sure what.
    “Ignoring it seems the best option,” he said. “It isn’t likely to happen again.”
    So she was right. Kyle wanted to dismiss it, pretend it didn’t happen, disregard the sensual explosion. If that was the case, she