Which was probably just as well, Magenta reflected as she stroked the delicate panels of her new silk dress. Tonight belonged to their colleagues, and their cheers still rang in her ears. She would never have been able to join in the celebrations if she and Quinn had got any deeper into a discussion about dreams. But there was nothing to stop her doing a little probing now. 'What made you buy the dress for me?'
He glanced across. 'Intuition told me it might come in useful.'
And, as his lips curved in a grin, she pressed, 'Intuition? Do you often get presentiments about the future?'
'I get hunches,' he admitted. 'Am I psychic? I wouldn't have taken so long to get where I am today if I were.'
'Thirty-two is rather ancient,' Magenta agreed wryly.
'Your place or mine?'
A bolt of arousal hit her. Quinn as always had come right to the point. Reluctantly, she put her sensible head on. 'Wherever we can talk.' Quinn wasn't getting off the hook so easily this time.
'Mine's closer.'
'Sounds good to me.'
This time when they went inside she made the coffee and laid her cards out on the table right away. 'Quinn-discussion first.'
'Hmm, this sounds serious.' He reached past her for the mugs and, while her guard was down, he swung his arm around her waist. 'I'll issue any timetables we have around here.' Quinn stared her in the eyes, leaving Magenta in no doubt as to his agenda.
The click of the coffee machine was Quinn's cue to release her. 'Boy, do I need this,' he said, pouring them both a generous slug.
While he was distracted she led the way into his orangerie where they could see the stars as they talked. She trembled with awareness when Quinn came up behind her. She put her hands over his and rested back against his chest as she gazed up at the waxing moon. 'So, Quinn, do you dream?'
Quinn took the coffee mug out of her hands and put it on a small glass-topped table. 'Maybe,' he admitted. 'I'm usually asleep, so I can't be sure.'
'Quinn.' She turned to face him. 'I'm being serious.'
'Oh, really?' His faint smile was softly mocking. 'How can that be, when all you want is for me to admit that we meet up in our dreams? Crazy woman,' he murmured, drawing her close.
Quinn's eyes were warm and amused and his lips were close. It would be the easiest thing in the world to sink into his embrace and to forget about everything, but she was determined to discover the truth. 'I'm not asking you to believe in magic-and, I can assure you, I'm not crazy.'
Quinn held his gaze. 'What do you want me to say, Magenta?'
'I just want you to admit that there's more to life than what we can see and touch, hear and feel.'
Now he was grinning. 'Do you want me to lose my hard-ass reputation altogether?'
'I didn't think it bothered you what people thought.'
'It does if it impacts on the business.'
For a moment she had a flashback, and that flashback included a baby …
'Magenta?' Seeing the wistfulness in her face, Quinn drew her with him to a chair and sat her down on his knee. 'What's happened?' he murmured, drawing her close. 'Never mind all your questions, don't you think it's time you came clean with me?'
She rested still for a moment, knowing she had to tell him. She had to.
'How bad can it be?' Quinn prompted.
The dream? Apart from the baby-if it were possible to leave that aside, which it wasn't-the dream was not bad at all, especially with some careful editing.
So she told him, leaving nothing out-other than the fact that Quinn had told her that he loved her. She concentrated more on the fascinating detail of the sixties, including Quinn's appalling behaviour at the start.
'But you won me round in the end, apparently,' he said wryly.
'I tamed you and trained you.'
'Proves it was a dream.'
'You're impossible.'
'You're repeating yourself.'
Now she was smiling. Quinn's humour did it for her every time. Plus, he was intuitive and compassionate-not forgetting hot. She still shook her head at him as if he were an impossible case, before going on to recount all the incredible events from the dream. But when she came to the part about the baby she couldn't go on.
'There's no need to put yourself through this, Magenta. You want a baby-that's not so unusual.'
'But it felt so real.' She dashed tears from her eyes. 'And now I feel like I've lost it.'
'That's an anxiety dream,' Quinn told her, bringing her close to drop a kiss on the top of her head. 'You haven't lost your baby, because you haven't been pregnant-not yet.'
'Not yet?' Magenta shook her head at Quinn. 'You are definitely impossible.'
Quinn's answer was to throw her a sexy smile. 'Who knows what the future holds?'
She tried to pull away. The pang of loss and longing was still too strong to make a joke of it.
'Don't stop me getting close,' Quinn said, pulling her back onto his knee again. 'Don't shut everyone out so the only way you have to experience the things you wish for is in your dreams. Don't do that, Magenta, you'll miss out on so much-too much.'
'Says the expert.'
'My hopes and dreams have all been centred around the business-who knows what I dream about at night? I can only hope it isn't balance sheets.' He grinned.
'How do you explain my dream?'
'Maybe you worry you can't have children-or maybe you think you won't meet someone you'd like to have a baby with.' Quinn's beautiful eyes narrowed consideringly. 'Whatever. It's common knowledge you have the best imagination in the business, Magenta Steele-so am I surprised you have colourful dreams?' Quinn's lips pressed down. 'What do you think?'
Magenta wrapped her arms around her waist and remained silent.
'I'm going to tell you what I think,' he said, making her look at him. 'I think we should get to know each other outside the bedroom.' That caught her attention. 'Starting tomorrow night with a proper date.'
And, when for once she didn't argue, he added, 'I know this really cool jazz club … '
Life could be even better than a dream you could manipulate, Magenta had discovered, thanks to Quinn. She had no time for daydreaming in the weeks and months that followed; he took up all her time. Winter juddered reluctantly into spring, and then another year passed. With the first warm days of that new year the bulbs began to flower, carpeting the London parks with drifts of sunny, yellow daffodils and spikes of vivid purple, white and yellow crocuses. They took time off from work-lunch hours, coffee breaks-whenever the weather permitted. Muffled up in scarves and heavy jackets, they walked hand in hand, fingers intertwined as they talked business and pleasure, finishing each other's sentences and sparking ideas off each other-whether those ideas related to some new advertising campaign, or to the colour of the sitting room in their new apartment. Magenta always won when it came to colour schemes, though she had to fight Quinn tooth and nail over business-just the way she liked it.
But today was a special day. Today was a day for skimming pebbles across a pool.
'I have something to tell you,' she said, drawing to a halt in front of a familiar bench.
Quinn grimaced. 'Just so long as it has nothing to do with a dream.'
'No, this is real enough.' Picking up the flattest stone she could find, she angled her wrist and sent it skimming across the water.
'One … two … three … four!' Quinn was behind her with his arms looped loosely around her waist, counting the times the stone flipped up in the air as it travelled over the surface of the water. His breath warmed the top of her head.
'Does that mean we're expecting quadruplets?'
'Quinn?' Magenta swung round to face him.
'How did I guess? I can't live with you every day and fill my eyes with you without noticing those secret smiles you've been smiling, and the excitement you've been trying so hard to hide. Also, since we're pretty close,' he added wryly, 'I've noticed that you're late. So, Magenta Steele, I believe you have something to tell me?'
'Gray Quinn, you're a spoiler.' Pressing her hands against his chest, she threatened to push him in the water. Quinn didn't move an inch.
'This isn't what you want?'
'Of course it is!' Magenta exclaimed as Quinn swung her round in the air. 'And you?'
'I thought loving you made my life complete-you just proved me wrong.'
'So I'm second best now?' she teased him, snuggling her head into Quinn's hard chest.
'I think my heart's big enough to hold you and a whole football team of children safe inside it. You should know by now that you're the only woman I'll ever love, Magenta. And now you're the mother of my child,' Quinn murmured, staring straight into her eyes.
'I love you, Gray Quinn.'
'I love you too-and you just reminded me why.'
'What did you say?'
'What I've been saying to you for months now: I love you.'
Grabbing hold of the edges of Quinn's jacket, she shook them imperatively. 'No, not that-I'm talking about the actual words you said, about me being the mother of your child.'