“Good morning,” she said softly, her eyes still heavy with sleep and her hair mussed. “I’m sorry to wake you, but I have to get to the house.”
He nodded. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Sorry.” He motioned to his hotel room. “I know it wouldn’t do for someone to see you sneaking out of my room in the middle of the morning.”
“There would be talk,” she agreed with a smile. “I have to go home and work on my article, but why don’t you try and get some sleep? You start your lecture series tonight.”
“I just might do that.”
He watched as she pulled on clothes. When she was dressed, she crossed to the bed and kissed his cheek. “I’ll see you tonight.”
He grabbed her hand. “Dinner? After the lecture?”
“I’d like that. Thank you.”
He squeezed her fingers. When she pulled away, he didn’t want to let her go. He wanted to tell her something, but the words eluded him.
Don’t go.
Was that it? Did he want to keep her with him? But before he could figure it out, she’d stepped into the hall and quietly closed the door behind her. He rolled onto her side of the bed. The sheets were still warm from her body and they smelled of their lovemaking. But it wasn’t enough. The room had grown cold and empty without her presence. As perhaps, he thought grimly, had his life.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHLOE STARED AT the pile of notes sitting on the corner of her desk. She had too much material. It was, she supposed, the problem to have. After all, too much to work with meant she would only be using the very best of what she had instead of scrambling for things to fill the pages. Unfortunately, she was having trouble figuring out what to cut and what to keep. She wanted to keep it all. The article was about Arizona and she thought he was pretty wonderful.
“Not that I’m biased in the least,” she said aloud, then shifted in her seat. Her insides still felt a little squishy from their lovemaking the previous night. What a way to go to sleep. If only they could do that every night.
She smiled at the thought and had a bad feeling that she was glowing with happiness. As long as the glow wasn’t the least bit magnetic, she wouldn’t hurt her computer. Unfortunately, she also wasn’t in the mood to get any work done, either.
On a whim, she closed her word-processing program and logged onto the Internet. She found her way to Arizona’s fan club. She’d noticed an icon for a bulletin board. Feeling more than a little foolish, she wrote a quick post saying that while the man was completely brilliant, he was also a hunk and wasn’t that just as important as his work?
Giggling softly, she posted the message, then went to check her E-mail. After responding to her mail, she returned to the bulletin board to see if anyone had read her comments. She was stunned to see several replies. Two women agreed completely and went on to describe him in such detail that Chloe wondered if she should feel jealous. Then a third message appeared, this one berating Chloe for her shallowness. That the wonder of Arizona Smith wasn’t in his physical appearance, but in the magic of his work. He was more than just a man. He was a symbol for the mystic world. He was a true hero.
She logged off the Internet. She didn’t want to talk about Arizona with people who had never met him. She wanted to talk about who he really was and how he made her feel.
He was amazing—she could concede that with no problem. He was intelligent, gifted, motivated, kind. But like everyone else, he had his faults. He was a little self-centered and he could be stubborn. He wasn’t perfect, but he was someone she could…
He was someone she could love. Someone she did love.
Chloe placed her elbows on the desk and rested her head in her hands. Love? No, that wasn’t part of the plan. She wasn’t supposed to love him. She was supposed to find him interesting and entertaining, nothing more. Not love. That was too dangerous. She’d learned her lesson. She didn’t want to go there again. Because of her past, she’d been avoiding love for a long time. This situation with Arizona had pain written all over it.
“Why me? Why now?”
But there weren’t any answers. Maybe it was the luck of the draw, or just her time. She thought she’d been so careful to hide her heart away. But she hadn’t. At least not this time. She’d been so stunned when she’d first met him. Because of the dream, she reminded herself.
“So much for the magic nightgown,” she said as she straightened in her chair. Didn’t the family legend promise a lifetime of happiness? But that wasn’t possible with Arizona. He wasn’t a man who would be content to stay in one place for very long, and she was the kind of woman who needed a home. There would be no happily-ever-after for her. The only guarantee she had was that he would leave in just a few days and she would be heartbroken.