Magnificent Folly - Iris Johansen [57]
“That was no reason to inflict the ‘irresistible force’ on my hapless head.” He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss on the palm. “But I promise I’ll eat every one of my vegetables at your command. Gunner tells me I owe you.”
“Gunner’s right,” she said crisply. “And I intend to collect.”
Surprise crossed his face. “With what kind of exchange?”
“Exchange is the right term. This is a two-way street, you know. I don’t want any more of this nonsense with creeps like Kalom. It’s bad enough that you risk your life with people who have essential worth. I won’t have you—” She found her voice was shaking, and was forced to stop to steady it. “I’d like to say, ‘Don’t ever do anything like that again,’ but I won’t. I know your work is too important to stop. All I ask is that you not take unnecessary risks. Okay?”
“Okay.” His long fingers traced the line of her cheekbone with infinite tenderness. “But you’re wrong about not trying to save people like Kalom, Lily. They need help more than the others.” His expression became wistful. “Can’t you see how tragic they are? We all start out the same, clean and shining and new, but then ugly things twist and corrode some people until all that wonderful shining is buried.”
She gazed at him in helpless exasperation. She was back at square one. “And you have to be the one to scrape off the corrosion.”
He frowned. “I hoped you’d understand.”
“Oh, I understand. I wish I didn’t. I wish I could say, ‘Sorry, Andrew, this is going to be too much of a hassle. I think I’ll bow out.’” She shook her head. “But it doesn’t work that way.”
He stiffened warily. “Are you trying to tell me something?”
“I’m trying to tell you that I was probably better off with a five-star louse like Tait than with a man who’s single-handedly trying to save the whole bloody world.” She blinked hard to keep the tears from falling. “You’re not practical or sensible, and you believe in dreams and people that shine inside and—”
“People do shine,” Andrew interrupted. “You shine, Lily. Years ago, when I first saw you, I thought you shone like silver, but now it’s more like burnished copper. Warm and deep and rich with—”
“See? You don’t even think like anyone else. You’d let me hurt you. You’d let anyone hurt you if you thought it would help that person.” She took a step back. “Well, no one will do it,” she said fiercely. “I won’t let that happen. Do you hear me? You’re not going to be a damn martyr. You’re going to live a long, long life, and you’re going to be happy. You’re going to be so damn happy—Stop laughing. I mean it.”
“I know.” He smiled at her, his eyes still sparkling with amusement. “That’s why I’m laughing. Pure, unadulterated relief. You had me scared for a minute, but, if I’m not mistaken, I do believe you’re trying to make a declaration.”
“A declaration? You want a declaration?” She took his hand and pulled him through the French doors leading to the bedroom, and then toward the door to the hall. “I’ll show you a declaration.”
TEN
“MAY I ASK where we’re going?” Andrew asked as she ushered him swiftly down the steps. “Merely as a point of curiosity, you understand. I’m quite willing to follow you to the ends of the earth.”
“The terrace,” Lily said tersely.
“And what awaits us on the terrace? A candlelight supper with a gypsy violinist? Or perhaps a single red rose lying beside my plate?”
“No.” She pulled him with her toward the terrace.
“What a disappointment. I was hoping for a romantic gesture at last from my pragmatic Lily.”
“You’re taking this all wrong. I’m very serious.”
He stopped her with a hand on her arm as she reached for the knob of the French door. She glanced up to meet his gaze and caught her breath. His eyes were glowing with a radiant joy. “I have to joke. I don’t know what else to do. This means too much to me, and I’ve wanted it for too long. I feel like soaring up to the sky like a bird or banging out ‘Chopsticks’ on Cassie’s piano or—”
“I think you’ve made yourself clear.” She smiled tremendously as she threw open the door. “Behold the declaration.”
On a large