“Then let’s go. I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”
Was that all he was going to say? Was he embarrassed? Relieved? Damn the man!
He started for the door. “Hurry it up,” he said. “I’m hungry.”
She barely had time to grab her purse.
They went down the stairs. In the lobby she started toward the door that led to the patio restaurant, but he took her hand and pulled her toward the door.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Out.”
He led her to the motorcycle. She said, “I’m dressed! I’m wearing heels. I can’t ride on that.”
“Get on.”
Hands on her hips, Lisa frowned. But he didn’t seem to notice. He swept her up off the ground and plunked her down on the bike, then swung a leg over his seat and gunned the motor.
“Wait a minute...” she started to say, but he’d already roared out of the driveway and onto the road. His open white dinner jacket blew back in the breeze; her skirt was hiked up over her thighs.
She yelled at him to stop and take her back to the hotel. Either he didn’t hear because of the wind whipping past them or he simply wasn’t inclined to answer. She boiled. She seethed. He’d paid no attention to her carefully thought out speech and careened around the mountains as if all Montoya’s bad guys were still after them.
Finally he zoomed off the highway onto the road that led to the restaurant he’d taken her to before. He pulled into the parking lot, turned off the motor, and after he got off offered his hand to help her.
She was windblown, frazzled and mad as a peahen. “Look at me,” she said. “I’m all wrinkled.”
He looked her up and down. “Hair’s a mess, too.” He grabbed her hand again.
Deuteronomy met them at the door. “Gentleman and pretty lady,” he said. “It be so nice to see you again. You would like a table by the window, yes?”
They followed him. He held the chair out for Lisa. She loosened up enough to smile at him and say, “Thank you, Deuteronomy.”
“You remember my name.”
“Of course.”
“And I remember you liked the planter’s punch.” His smile showed perfect white teeth. “One of sour, two of sweet...”
“Three of strong, four of weak,” Lisa finished.
“Bring the damn drinks,” Sam muttered.
“Of course.” Deuteronomy winked at Lisa. “Anything for the pretty lady.”
“You were flirting with him,” Sam said when the Jamaican turned away.
“Was I?”
“Yes, dammit. And I don’t like it.”
“Oh?” She fluttered her lashes.
Deuteronomy returned with their drinks and a gardenia for Lisa. “It’s beautiful,” she said when he laid it beside her drink.
“Its beauty pales next to yours.”
Sam shoved his chair back. Facing the other man he said, “Let’s get one thing clear before I wipe the floor up with you, Deud. This is my woman so keep your fancy words to yourself. As for your gardenia...” He plucked it off the table and stuck it, none too gently, behind Deuteronomy’s ear. “Now bring us a couple of steaks. Okay?”
Deuteronomy swallowed so hard his Adam’s apple bounced. “Right away, boss. Yes, sir. Comin’ right up.”
“Let’s dance,” Sam said to Lisa, and without waiting for a reply took her hand and pulled her up beside him.
“Now,” he said, “let’s cut the crap. I meant what I said, you’re my woman. Understand?”
“Oh, yeah?” Putting up a brave front.
“Yeah. You know I’m nuts about you.”
She looked up at him. “Exactly what does that mean?”
“You know.”
“No, I don’t know. You made it clear back at the hotel that the way we felt about each other only happened because of the excitement and—”
“You didn’t let me finish.”
“Oh.”
“I love you. Okay?”
She swallowed hard. “Okay.”
“Is that all you’ve got to say?”
“At the moment.”
He danced her over to an alcove almost hidden by small palms and a hanging fern. He took a small blue box out of his pocket. “This is for you,” he said, and handed it to her.
Lisa held her breath. She opened the box, and a pear-shaped diamond winked up at her.
“I’m not very good at this,” Sam said. “I don’t have a lot of fancy words. But if you want to we could...well, you know.”
“Put the ring on my finger, Sam.”
His hands were clammy, but he did it.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Now ask me.”
He took a deep breath. “Will you marry me?”
“You bet.”
He let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and grinned down at her. His little pint of cider. To have and to hold and to love forever.
“I was so afraid you didn’t love me,” she said.
“I fell in love with you the first time I kissed you. But I was scared.”
“I know.”
“I’m going to work for DEA. I’ll be stationed in Washington. I’ll find a place for us in Virginia. Is that okay?”
“Anywhere with you is okay.”
He urged her closer. “Listen, if I don’t kiss you pretty soon I’m going to bust a gut.”
“Oh, but you’re a sweet talkin’ devil.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him, kissed him till his eyes glazed, his ears burned and his breathing grew ragged. And when she stepped back, she said, “Think about that while you’re having your steak.”
He took a deep breath to try to steady himself. He had a good mind to sweep her up in his arms and haul her out of there. If he remembered correctly there was a stand of trees over to one side of the restaurant. He could...
“After dinner,” she said, reading his mind.
His eyes widened. “How did you...?”
“Too bad we have the Harley,” she went on. “But we can probably find a secluded part of the beach. That ought to do until we get back to the hotel.”
Sam put his arms around her. “Don’t ever change,” he said. “Don’t ever stop loving me.”
“Not a chance.”
He took her face between his hands and kissed her. “My moonlight lady,” he whispered. “From this moment on.”
* * * * *
ISBN: 978-1-4592-8712-9
Moonlight Lady
Copyright © 1995 by Barbara Faith
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark
Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com
Moonlight Lady Page 21