had no idea you’d be so pretty.”
She blushed at this bit of flattery, then stopped herself from returning a bit of her own. He was too cute to flirt with casually, and if he was going to persist in charming her this way, they might never get to Loudon. Besides, she reminded herself guiltily, there was Claire. “Scott,” she said, giving him what she hoped was just a friendly smile. “Where we’re going, you’ve got two angry ex-girlfriends waiting for you. Don’t make your life any more complicated.”
Was it her imagination or was his own smile just a little tinged with regret? He picked up a duffel bag at the claim area, and she followed him out the door.
“Where’s your car?” he asked.
“Right there,” she said, pointing. Pointing, she realized, at empty space. “It was right there. My car’s been stolen.” She flagged down a nearby security guard. “My car. It was right there. My car’s been stolen.”
“Been towed,” he said. “This is a restricted area. Can’t leave your car there all day.”
“It is a zone for loading and unloading of passengers. It’s not my fault if his airline was so irresponsibly late.”
She turned to Scott, and allowing just the tiniest note of heartbreak to slip into her voice, asked him, “What’ll we do now?”
He put his duffel bag on the sidewalk and sat down on it before saying, “Lissa, honey, I don’t have a clue.”
6
S HE WAS GOING TO HAVE to get rid of that distracting dress, Alec concluded. Put on something befitting a responsible and serious adult, and shed the provocative, playful look she’d tried out today. He would tell her it didn’t suit her. Just as soon as he could make himself stop staring at her.
Claire scrambled to a sitting position on the bed and scooted away from him on the bed. “What are you staring at?”
You, he wanted to say, but he didn’t.
She flipped her hair back over her shoulders with her typical self-conscious gesture, then moved from the bed to the room’s sofa. “You can have the bed,” she said. “I don’t sleep anyway.”
Seeing her there, so distant from him, he became unaccountably irritated. He knew it was unreasonable, but the experience of Claire walking away from him made him feel like a bridegroom whose newly beloved had locked herself in the bathroom for the night. He sat up on the bed, and when he spoke, his voice was harsh.
“You know, statistics show that most of the people who claim to be total insomniacs are actually getting plenty of rest every night. They just like to complain about how tired they are. I bet you’ll sleep plenty tonight.”
He remembered the good old days of a few days ago, when his diatribes left her all aflutter. It was an endearing trait, he thought. Now she looked at him with amusement. “Alec,” she said, “we are not in a competition tosee who can down the most sleeping pills in one night’s stay. I only meant that where I sleep isn’t that big a deal to me, so feel free to take the bed. I was just trying to annoy you when I said I wanted it earlier, but now I see I’ve annoyed you even more by not wanting it.” She shrugged, as if to say, What’s a sensible girl like me to do, locked in the room with a maniac like this?
The bed no longer held its appeal for him, since he wasn’t fighting Claire for it. He got up and looked around the room, flicking the light on in the roomy bathroom, opening the empty dresser drawers. He slid the closet doors open and was greeted by a stack of fresh bed linens and a row of empty hangers. “This is the first guest room I’ve ever stayed in where the hosts weren’t using the closets and dressers to store junk.”
“I guess if you had a jillion guest rooms, you’d probably run out of junk on the first few,” Claire said.
“No. I wouldn’t have any junk to store. You, though, would probably stick something in all jillion.”
She sat up on the couch. “You saw my house. It was clean.”
“Clean, yeah, but I
She blushed at this bit of flattery, then stopped herself from returning a bit of her own. He was too cute to flirt with casually, and if he was going to persist in charming her this way, they might never get to Loudon. Besides, she reminded herself guiltily, there was Claire. “Scott,” she said, giving him what she hoped was just a friendly smile. “Where we’re going, you’ve got two angry ex-girlfriends waiting for you. Don’t make your life any more complicated.”
Was it her imagination or was his own smile just a little tinged with regret? He picked up a duffel bag at the claim area, and she followed him out the door.
“Where’s your car?” he asked.
“Right there,” she said, pointing. Pointing, she realized, at empty space. “It was right there. My car’s been stolen.” She flagged down a nearby security guard. “My car. It was right there. My car’s been stolen.”
“Been towed,” he said. “This is a restricted area. Can’t leave your car there all day.”
“It is a zone for loading and unloading of passengers. It’s not my fault if his airline was so irresponsibly late.”
She turned to Scott, and allowing just the tiniest note of heartbreak to slip into her voice, asked him, “What’ll we do now?”
He put his duffel bag on the sidewalk and sat down on it before saying, “Lissa, honey, I don’t have a clue.”
6
S HE WAS GOING TO HAVE to get rid of that distracting dress, Alec concluded. Put on something befitting a responsible and serious adult, and shed the provocative, playful look she’d tried out today. He would tell her it didn’t suit her. Just as soon as he could make himself stop staring at her.
Claire scrambled to a sitting position on the bed and scooted away from him on the bed. “What are you staring at?”
You, he wanted to say, but he didn’t.
She flipped her hair back over her shoulders with her typical self-conscious gesture, then moved from the bed to the room’s sofa. “You can have the bed,” she said. “I don’t sleep anyway.”
Seeing her there, so distant from him, he became unaccountably irritated. He knew it was unreasonable, but the experience of Claire walking away from him made him feel like a bridegroom whose newly beloved had locked herself in the bathroom for the night. He sat up on the bed, and when he spoke, his voice was harsh.
“You know, statistics show that most of the people who claim to be total insomniacs are actually getting plenty of rest every night. They just like to complain about how tired they are. I bet you’ll sleep plenty tonight.”
He remembered the good old days of a few days ago, when his diatribes left her all aflutter. It was an endearing trait, he thought. Now she looked at him with amusement. “Alec,” she said, “we are not in a competition tosee who can down the most sleeping pills in one night’s stay. I only meant that where I sleep isn’t that big a deal to me, so feel free to take the bed. I was just trying to annoy you when I said I wanted it earlier, but now I see I’ve annoyed you even more by not wanting it.” She shrugged, as if to say, What’s a sensible girl like me to do, locked in the room with a maniac like this?
The bed no longer held its appeal for him, since he wasn’t fighting Claire for it. He got up and looked around the room, flicking the light on in the roomy bathroom, opening the empty dresser drawers. He slid the closet doors open and was greeted by a stack of fresh bed linens and a row of empty hangers. “This is the first guest room I’ve ever stayed in where the hosts weren’t using the closets and dressers to store junk.”
“I guess if you had a jillion guest rooms, you’d probably run out of junk on the first few,” Claire said.
“No. I wouldn’t have any junk to store. You, though, would probably stick something in all jillion.”
She sat up on the couch. “You saw my house. It was clean.”
“Clean, yeah, but I
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