Page 29 of Leon

"I've not finished with my hair!"

"For tonight, you have." He kissed her until she was melting in his arms, rational thoughts draining from her head along with the blood. Wrapping her hands around his neck, she sank into the kiss with a murmur and a sigh.

*****

Making sure her door was locked, Kadian hurried over to sit on the edge of the bed as she answered the call.

"Hi." Her voice sounded breathless, but she did not give a damn. She had not heard from him the entire day, but she had been busy as well.

"Hi baby." His deep voice soothed her ragged nerves and made her feel weepy. "How are you?"

"Better now. Always better when I hear from you. How was dinner?"

"Tumultuous and not something I would like to talk about. How was your day?"

Kicking off her shoes, she leaned back against the pillows, intent on spending all night if necessary, talking to him. She started by telling him about the plans leading up to the Thanksgiving holidays. "Treats for the children and a book signing by a local author."

"Sounds interesting. You have made a fan."

"Who?"

"My sister has become your advocate and admirer."

Her eyes brightened. "I like her a lot. She bought several items."

"And will be purchasing more. I have a proposition."

"I'm listening."

"There's a delightful cottage in Dublin that belonged to my mother's grandmother. It's in the middle of wide-open fields, so green it hurts the eyes. I have some business in Scotland and thought we could slip away for a week."

She felt her heart starting to beat hard with the hope springing in her breast. "When?"

"It will have to be after the holiday. I have a few things to clear up, but I would say the first week of December. Is that something you see yourself agreeing to?"

She thought of the Christmas rush and the demands on her time as well as the way her father would react to her taking a week off. And decided that it was time to take a stand. She had not taken time off since she started.

"Yes. Yes!" She added emphatically. "I would love to."

"I will see to the arrangements." The pleasure in his voice assured her more than ever that she was doing the right thing.

Chapter 8

"What do you think, Kadian? You've been unusually quiet during the discussion. We need your valuable input." The leader of the twice-monthly book club was a woman in her sixties. Margaret Stanhope had been a customer at the bookstore for the past ten years and a faithful one. She also took her duty as leader seriously and would rally the other women to participate. As a former literature teacher, she was also a fount of information and a great lover of written words.

"I'm just listening." Kadian shifted in her chair and stretched her legs out. She could not tell the women gathered in the area she had designated for the event that the story was too close to what she was going through.

"You must have something to say." Margaret insisted. "Here we have a young woman, brilliant, beautiful, and highly educated. She decides to marry a man she only just met because the passion was burning so bright. A man, mark you, that her mother did not approve of. A man whose parents had been feuding with hers for years. Some of the women are conflicted about it. Should passion be an excuse for disobeying or disregarding loyalty?"

Placing a finger between the pages so she would not lose her place, she pretended to consider the question as the rest of the women stared at her eagerly.

"She's in love with him."

"And that's it? That's all that matters?" Another woman, younger by a few years, spoke up, her expression intent. "Honey, we know where this is going. When I met my Ian, my dad was hellbent on disliking him. I told myself that it did not matter one bit. He was not marrying my old man. But he told me something very profound. My father was my father and would always be. And he went about trying to change his mind."

"Did he?" Another woman piped up.

Mary laughed. "My Ian is nothing if not determined."

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