Page 32 of An Heir For Her Enemy

Logan woke the next morning relieved. It had been beyond difficult to get to sleep last night. He’d lain awake, tossing and turning, wishing that Delaney were in his bed with him. He missed the soft feeling of her skin and her beautiful curves. He missed her smile, even though he’d seen it only hours ago.

He had eventually drifted into an uneasy sleep that was broken by the grating beep of his phone alarm. He shut it off and sat up — and that’s when the relief came.

Thank goodness things hadn’t gone further with Delaney last night. The kiss had been a mistake — a beautiful moment, but a mistake. Nothing had changed. Logan still didn’t have time for a relationship. It still wouldn’t be fair to Delaney to try and probably fail. And if they’d slept together again last night, Logan wasn’t sure he’d have been able to hold himself back from wanting to be with her. It would only have ended in heartbreak.

This trip had been wonderful, Logan thought as he stepped into the shower. He was beyond pleased that he and Delaney were on good terms again and he wanted to keep it that way. The bestway to remain on even footing was to keep things friendly and professional between them. Nothing like last night could happen again.

At breakfast, he would speak to Delaney. Hopefully, she’d be on the same page — and Logan was almost certain she would be. After all, she valued her work highly, too, and was standing on the edge of an exciting career move. She didn’t have time for a relationship either. For all they enjoyed their time together, they were just too different. And Delaney had been the one to pull away from their kiss the night before. Hopefully, he hadn’t made her uncomfortable. She’d probably be relieved when he requested that they keep things professional.

Logan stepped out of the shower and grabbed a fluffy towel from the rack beside him. He was making the right choice. He knew it. The only option was to talk to Delaney and make sure they both understood that there was no future for them together.

So, why wasn’t his heart completely in it? He was relieved, yes. Yet he also wished that Delaney hadn’t pulled away from their kiss. He wished that he’d asked if everything was all right and that they’d talked instead of going straight to their rooms. He wished that they could have a relationship.

It just wasn’t possible.

Logan dressed in his suit and tidied his hair in the mirror. At least they could still enjoy the last day in Rome. A celebratory meal after the authentication would certainly raise their spirits and make it easier to forget about the kiss and about his doubts.

Logan arrived a few minutes early at the breakfast buffet. Delaney wasn’t there yet, so he loaded his plate with bread, cream cheese, vegetables, and a few slices of meat. He smiled atthe memory of Delaney’s comment on European breakfast fare as he carried his plate to the table by the window where they’d sat the last few days. He prepared a coffee and poured a tea for Delaney using her favorite of the herbal varieties, the one she’d been drinking each morning. He returned to the table and glanced at his phone. Strange. She was a few minutes late.

Logan sipped his coffee and waited for her. Perhaps she was just a little slower than usual this morning as she prepared for the appointment. Yet as the minutes ticked by, he began to feel uneasy. Maybe Delaney had been more upset by the kiss than he’d thought. She’d pulled away, after all. Logan watched her tea grow cold, his worry increasing.

After about fifteen minutes, annoyance joined the swirl of Logan’s worries. Even if Delaney was upset by the kiss, she still needed to come to the authentication appointment.

Twenty minutes after Delaney was supposed to arrive for breakfast, and only ten minutes before they needed to leave for the appointment, Logan couldn’t wait any longer. Whether she was upset or had overslept, he needed to go and get her.

Even more than the possibility of being late, the idea that Delaney might have been upset by the kiss gnawed at him. It had seemed that she’d wanted to kiss him, and she’d certainly returned his kiss enthusiastically, but he hated the thought that he’d misread her signs. There was a chance that she’d been so uncomfortable that she’d just gone home. Guilt swirled in Logan’s stomach. He couldn’t blame Delaney for being upset if she hadn’t wanted to kiss him, even though she might be leaving him in the lurch.

Logan got up and made a beeline for the elevator. If Delaney was still here, he needed to find her and apologize. As he rode up inthe elevator, doubts swirled in his mind. It was important that the painting was authenticated, but it was more important that Delaney felt comfortable. He didn’t know what he would do if she’d left.

For the first time, Logan truly felt that he could understand how it must have been for Delaney when he’d walked out on her with barely a goodbye.

Logan knocked on Delaney’s door, his heart beating quickly and apologies dancing with admonitions on his lips. There was a pause and he started to worry that she was really gone. Then the door swung slowly open, revealing a pale-faced Delaney still in her pajamas. She looked at him with wide, worried blue eyes.

CHAPTER 14

DELANEY

Delaney woke early on the morning of the authentication appointment. She yawned, stretched, and rolled out of bed, only to be hit with a wave of nausea so overpowering that it took all her power to dash to the bathroom before she was sick. She knelt on the cool tile floor and moaned. She’d been feeling a little under the weather the past few days, especially in the mornings, when she’d only been able to manage herbal tea instead of her usual coffee, and she’d been tired. But this was much, much worse.

She pushed herself to her feet and went the sink, where she cupped water in her hand and swished it in her mouth. She must have gotten some kind of food poisoning, although that was surprising. The last restaurant where she’d eaten had been the beautiful Basilico e Formaggio by the Colosseum, and Delaney sincerely doubted that she’d eaten something dodgy there.

Perhaps Logan was also having a bad morning with the stomach flu. At least she had gotten up early enough to be ready in time.

She took a shower and dried off, but before she could get dressed, another wave of nausea hit, and she rushed to the toilet.This was going to be a difficult day. Delaney washed her face and mouth again, then went to the bed and lay down on her side, taking deep, calming breaths. It was incredibly annoying to have the stomach flu on her one and only trip to Rome. It would make the authentication appointment much more challenging — and probably put a damper on their celebratory meal.

Delaney waited for another wave of nausea to come, but surprisingly, she felt a little better. Maybe there had just been something she’d needed to get out of her system. She cautiously drank a glass of water and nibbled on a few of the crackers she’d brought as airplane snacks. Things seemed to be coming together.

With time to spare before the appointment, she put her pajamas back on instead of dressing in her formal clothes. She planned to relax on her bed until it was time to go and didn’t want to get anything wrinkled. Then she crawled back into bed with her e-reader, determined to take it easy until she needed to get ready for breakfast with Logan.

She wasn’t sure she wanted to eat, but some tea would do her good, at least.

Delaney did her best to focus on her book, but her mind kept wandering. She wasn’t sure what she’d eaten that could have gotten her so sick. Since she was feeling better now, she wouldn’t bring it up with Logan. There was nothing less attractive than the stomach flu.

Although in the past, when Delaney had had the stomach flu, nothing had made it better for at least a few hours, and she felt surprisingly good now. Strange.

That wasn’t the only strange thing, either. The last few days, Delaney had felt woozy in the mornings more than once, though she’d always felt better after tea and a little food. She’d also been tired. Until now, it had been easy to blame both the light nausea in the mornings and the tiredness on jet lag and new food, but today’s bout of illness didn’t match with that.

Delaney looked up from her book, her eyes widening. There was another explanation, although it was so ridiculous as to be almost unbelievable. After all, she and Logan had only spent one night together, and it had been weeks ago…

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