‘No, they met at a birthday party. Clea was in the cake. I try not to think about it.’
‘Size eight, I think,’ said the saleswoman after turning an assessing eye on Hallie.
‘Ten,’ said Hallie.
‘In this shop, darling, you’re an eight.’
Hallie liked the woman better already.
‘Do you have any colour preferences?’ the woman asked.
‘I like them all.’
The saleswoman barely suppressed a shudder. ‘Yes, dear. But do they all like you? Let’s start with grey.’
Surely she could resist his considerable charms for one lousy week.
All she needed was a more professional approach.‘So how do you want to approach this business of being married?’ she said crisply. ‘Are we aiming for warm and fuzzy or a fiery attraction of opposites?’
‘Think of yourself as a cross between a personal assistant and a German Shepherd,’ he said. ‘Supportive, loyal, and, when necessary, extremely protective.’
A German Shepherd? Ugh. This new approach worked fast. ‘Anything else?’
‘Are you sure you couldn’t manage a simper?’
‘Only if there was a bucket handy. Because I’d probably have to throw up immediately afterwards.’
Nick sighed. ‘Just be yourself, then. That’ll work too.’
‘Oh.’ And after a moment’s reflection. ‘That was a nice thing to say.’
‘You realize that was almost a simper.’
‘It was not!’
Nick’s answering smile was suspiciously gleeful as he flicked on his overhead light, reached for the in-flight paper and snapped it open, effectively ending the discussion.
Hallie glared at the back page of the paper. It was shaking ever so slightly. He was laughing at her, dammit. ‘That was not a simper.’
‘If you say so, dearest.’
‘You can’t take the floor. The floor is too hard. Anyway, I have a plan.’
Hallie strode over to the bed and began stacking cushions straight down the middle of it.‘This is your plan?’ he asked, somewhat sceptically.
‘This,’ she said, busily stacking cushions, ‘is the Great Wall of China. You are the Mongol horde and I am the Emperor’s finest troops.’
He looked as if he wanted to laugh, caught her glare, and must have decided against it.‘Well, that hardly seems fair,’ he said finally.
‘Why can’t I be the Emperor’s finest and you be the barbarians?’
‘Fine. Just stay on your side of the wall, okay?’
‘I will defend this wall with my very life.’
‘Whatever.’ That’d teach her to mix metaphors with a computer games master.
She slipped beneath the covers and lay down. Moments later Nick approached the bed and the mattress dipped as he lay down. Her plan was working. And then Nick’s head and torso appeared above the cushions, his elbow skewing them haphazardly.
‘The Emperor’s troops are allowed on the wall, right? I feel like I should be patrolling it.’
‘Trust me, you don’t have to patrol the wall. There is nothing happening on your northern border tonight. Get some sleep.’
He disappeared behind the wall of pillows only to return again almost immediately.
‘No raiding party?’
‘No. There is nothing on your side of the wall that the barbarians want.’
This was a lie. She knew for a fact that there were enormous treasures to be found just a cushion’s length away.
‘Here’s the problem,’ said Nick. ‘I’ve never slept in the same bed with a woman and not slept with her, if you get my meaning. I feel like I should be doing something.’
‘Go to sleep. Think of the wall.’
She jerked up on one elbow, looked around wildly, and her knee connected with his crotch. ‘Oomf!’ His eyes crossed. His breath left his body. So much for his wake-up sex fantasy.
‘Sorry,’ she muttered, removing her knee and patting him better abstractedly.
‘What happened to the pillows?’‘Try the floor,’ he wheezed as the patting continued. Was this heaven or hell? He couldn’t decide.
He levered himself up on his elbow and looked over the side of the bed. ‘Yep. There they are.’
‘Oh.’ She stared at him and all of a sudden the hand on his crotch stilled.‘You’re leaning on your elbows,’ she said.
‘So?’
‘So if your arms are there, my hand is—’
He watched her eyes grow round and her cheeks grow rosy with no little satisfaction.‘That’s not your arm I’m patting, is it?’
‘Nope.’ Nick settled back against the headboard, amused, aroused and altogether curious as to what she’d do next. ‘It’s not.’
I forgot how much fun this book was. Perhaps I will re-read and then glom the rest of the series on my summer vacation.
@Liz Mc2 It is a lot of fun. I've been saving these books for when I need a bit of a lift. 🙂