take me to a waterfall, because Iâll scream when I hear the water?â She laughed shakily. âRight after it happened, I couldnât take a bath, do you know, becausethe water soundedâ¦God, I canât! I canât think about it, pleaseâ¦please, letâs get to work, pleaseâ¦â
He drew her gently against him, his arms swallowing her up, warm and powerful and almost tender. âTell me about it. Tell me everything you remember.â
âIâ¦I canâtâ¦bear to remember!â she wept, shuddering.
âUntil you let it out,â he said quietly, âitâs going to haunt you like a ghost. Meredith, you donât face problems by running from them, havenât you learned that in your young life?â
She lifted her face to his. âI donât run from much, Mr. Devereaux,â she reminded him proudly.
A wisp of a smile curved his broad, hard mouth. âDonât you, Persephone?â
âIf I have to qualify it, only from devils,â she replied.
âDeh-vuls, did you say?â he asked, his eyes dark and laughing.
âYou neednât make fun of my accent,â she returned. âYou have one of your own!â
âMe?â He scoffed at that. âNot a trace.â
âSay card. Go ahead, I dare you,â she challenged, the flood forgotten in the business of arguing with her dark enemy.
âCard,â he said, lifting his head arrogantly.
âAha, you see?!â she burst out, her eyes gleaming with laughter, her small hands pressing quickly against his broad chest.
âSee what?â he asked.
âYou say âcahdâ,â she explained impatiently.
He chuckled softly. His dark eyes traced the lines of her cheeks, her mouth, her nose. âYouâd rather fight me than eat, wouldnât you?â he asked deeply. âI liked that about you three years ago, I recognized a kindred spirit. Do you believe in reincarnation, Meredith? That we take an instant like, or dislike, to a stranger because we knew him or her in another lifetime?â
âI donât know,â she admitted. âSomepeopleâ¦some placesâ¦itâs like going home when youâre around them.â
âIsnât it, though?â he asked in a soft, low tone.
She felt her pulse race at the look in his dark eyes and abruptly turned away. âIâll get my pad.â
âDo that,â he said with a lightning change back to his normal curtness. âI could use a few hours sleep. These damned cross-country jaunts are getting to me.â
âOld age creeping up?â She couldnât resist it, darting a glance at him from under her lashes.
His bold, slow eyes touched her from head to toe.
âCome upstairs with me, you impudent little taffy cat, and Iâll show you how old I am,â he replied in a tone that brought the blood burning into her cheeks.
âUhâ¦Iâm ready when you are,â she said, side-stepping the innuendo as she dropped into the chair at his desk with her steno pad in her lap and her pen ready.
âOh?â Both dark eyebrows went upand she felt herself cringing in the chair as what sheâd said echoed in her mind. âA Freudian slip?â
With a glimmer of the old Dana Meredith, she peeked under the hem of her skirt and shook her head. âNylon,â she corrected.
He threw back his head and laughed like the devil he was, and she couldnât bite back a giggle of her own. The years and arguments and bitterness fell away, and she was his secretary and he was her boss, and it was like the sun coming up in the morning.
âShut up and write, you little monster,â he chuckled. âReady? Production figures on the cutting roomâ¦â
Â
She lay awake for a long time, watching the moon-washed pattern of leaves dance on the coverlet of her bed. If sheâd had anything to make her sleep, sheâd have taken it. The movie
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