She smiled absently and set a coffee pot on to percolate. ‘You’re popular.’
He didn’t respond and she sat down and served his dessert in silence.
‘What about you? Of course,’ he said, ‘you don’t have a sweet tooth.’
She nodded and he ate in silence until he said, ‘You know, you haven’t tripped or spilled anything tonight, which means you must be feeling more at ease so—can I put a proposition to you?’
Harriet blinked several times. ‘What?’
‘That we at least agree we have a rather devastating effect on each other.’ He paused as Harriet looked away at the same time as she coloured.
‘Yes,’ she said after a long moment, and started as the coffee began to perk.
‘I’ll get it.’ He got up and, without much fuss, found mugs and milk and sugar. ‘However,’ he continued, ‘for reasons best known only to us, we’re not keen to—start anything.’ He looked briefly amused. ‘Sounds a bit juvenile, doesn’t it, but you probably get my drift.’
Harriet nodded.
‘Incidentally, why did you,’ he said as he began to pour the coffee, ‘ask me to dinner tonight?’
Harriet hesitated. ‘I...I felt I owed you some explanation.’
He sat down. ‘You don’t “owe” me anything,’ he said abruptly.
‘Mr...Damien,’ Harriet said sternly, ‘you told me once you didn’t appreciate being told what you should or should not feel, didn’t you?’
He grimaced. ‘Did I?’
‘Yes! Well, I’m telling you I feel as if I owe you an explanation and that’s that—damn!’ she said with great feeling. ‘Now you’ve got me all...’ She trailed off frustratedly.
‘Het up about nothing?’ he suggested mildly.
She cast him a speaking look. ‘Do you want to hear this or not?’ she asked acerbically.
‘Go ahead.’
‘I fell in love. I...’ She paused. ‘I guess you could say I gave it my all. And we had...we did have some wonderful times. But then he noticed another woman and I could literally feel him slipping away from me. That’s why...’ She stopped.
‘That’s a fairly common thing to happen,’ he said slowly. ‘How long ago was this?’
‘A year or so ago.’ She shrugged.
‘That’s all?’ he queried with a frown.
No, it’s not all, Damien Wyatt, Harriet thought, but that’s all you’re getting, well...
‘Well, I’ve wondered ever since whether I brought it on myself. I guess...’ she twined her fingers together ‘...I may have been looking for someone to take over my life. No...’ she frowned ‘...not that exactly, but someone I could depend on to make the right decisions for us. Rather than me having to, as I seemed to have grown up doing.
‘But when it started to fall apart I couldn’t help thinking I may have come across as too “needy” and it was probably a relief for him to get away,’ she said with a wave of her hand. ‘I still don’t know the answer to that but, whatever, I’m not prepared to go through all that again. I thought...I should explain, though.’ She hesitated because, of course, there was more but telling anyone was something she’d never been able to do yet...