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forgot her name.
Instead, he stood, backed toward the door.  You look tired. I ll let you get some
rest.
 You re leaving?
 Yes. Before he ruined everything by giving into his impulses.  As long as you re
feeling steadier.
She blinked. Something he couldn t identify sparked in her eyes.  You never asked
your question.
 It ll keep, he assured her, turning the lock.
 Noah. She rose, walked the few steps to where he stood and put her hand on his
forearm.
Her fingers were chilled.
The jolt that arced through his system was red hot.
 You don t need an excuse to come here, Noah.
Emotion swamped him. He managed to turn and leave, but once on the sidewalk,
he stopped, tipped his head to the sky, and checked the alignment of the stars.
Chapter Five
It wasn t what he expected.
Noah stood in Isabeau s doorway, having come up the back steps, as instructed by
Clint. Her door was wide open. She was nowhere in sight.
He could see pretty much the entire upper level of the building that housed her
bar. It had an open floor plan and wooden floors with a long rag-rug runner that
started at his feet and ran down the center of the space.  Isabeau?
He stepped onto the rug, into her home.
Directly to his left, on the other side of the bar-style counter, was a galley kitchen.
The kitchen segued into the dining area, where a long, scarred table sat surrounded
by mismatched wooden chairs of varying color. In the center of the table was an
oversized vase filled with wildflowers.
An entire wall of bookshelves started just past the kitchen and continued around
the end wall to stop opposite him, at a large set of windows. The shelves were covered
in books, photos, and whimsical knickknacks. At the far left corner of the room,
surrounded by those shelves, was a large, wooden-based bed.
An old brick fireplace occupied the center of the wall to his right. More flowers, red
this time, filled the hearth, artistically spilling out into the room. Before the fireplace
a brown leather couch with a low back and rolled arms faced a tan fabric couch of
modern design. He d never seen anything quite like it tan walls and mismatched
neutral furniture tied together with deep, red accents. It was warm, comfortable.
Like Isabeau.
At the far right end of the room, near the windows, a grouping of three theater
chairs caught his interest. He started down the rug for a closer look.
 Noah?
She stood behind him, where he d just been. Turning around, he faced her,
prepared to ask how she d suddenly appeared.
His brain went soft.
The rest of him went rock hard.
Isabeau was wearing a bikini. Two bright white triangles covered her breasts,
attached with a string that tied around her neck and around her back. Large amounts
of sun-kissed golden skin lay between her tiny top and her equally tiny bottoms. They
weren t much in the way of bottoms. Slung low on her hips and tied at the sides, he
had the feeling that the suit required grooming in an area he probably shouldn t think
about.
 I didn t hear you come in, she said, oblivious to her effect on him.
 Clint sent me up. He couldn t take his eyes off her. Petite, yet curved in all the
right places, she took his breath away. His loins gave a painful lurch, and all he could
do was stand there and absorb the shock.
 Does he need something?
 Ah&  He kept his eyes on her face, away from all that smooth skin.  Who?
 Clint.
He cleared his throat.  Right. Clint. And then because he had to know, he asked,
 How can you be darker? The sun s only been up for 
 Hours, she supplied, her eyes bright with amusement.  Of course, with your
work schedule as unconventional as mine, perhaps you didn t know that.
She smiled at him with an ease she d never shown around him before.  It s the
Mohican in me, she explained.  Did it work?
 Work?
 To conceal the bruise.
 I can still see it.
 Yes, but you know it s there.
She turned and studied her arm in the trio of large, decorative mirrors that hung
on the wall and his stomach tightened. He was staring again, and suddenly as
uncomfortable as a horny teenager. No doubt about it, Isabeau had a great ass.
She was trim, toned, a runner; she jogged past his hotel every morning. He d never [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]