Podstrony
|
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
She ducked her head, her cold nervous hands resting momentarily against his gray suitcoat while
she got her balance back.
He laughed softly, taking one of her soft hands in his big one to squeeze it. “Come on, little
witch,” he murmured deeply. “I’m starving.”
She followed him into the cozy little creperie, with its wooden tables and benches and exquisite
art prints on the walls, her hand still held tightly in his.
She tugged half-heartedly at the warm clasp, but he wouldn’t let go.
“Adrian, what will people think?” she asked anxiously.
A short, harsh chuckle burst from his mouth as he seated her. “Probably,” he said with
unmistakable bitterness, “that I’m taking my daughter to lunch.”
She met his cynical gaze squarely as he stood beside her, and the look on that dark face made her
throw caution to the winds.
“I’ve never known a man I felt less daughterly toward,” she said softly.
He drew a sharp breath. As he sat down, his face hardened to stone, his eyes became fierce and
blackly burning as they met hers. “God, what a place to pick to tell me about it!” he whispered in a
voice thick with feeling. “Damn you…!”
She flinched at the fury in his voice, puzzled by it, frightened by it. She averted her eyes to the
waitress as a menu was handed to her. Adrian ordered coffee first, in a voice that was curt even for
him. She didn’t speak, giving him time to cool off, wondering vaguely what she’d done to create that
terrible fury in him.
“What do you see that you like?” Adrian asked in a deep, taut voice.
“This chicken and broccoli crepe looks good,” she replied, “and the one with two kinds of
cheeses. And, oh, the strawberry crepe with cream…!”
The waitress came back with two steaming mugs of coffee and Adrian gave her the order and the
menus. Then she was gone, and the full force of those stormy, angry eyes was on Dana’s face again.
Without a word, he took a small package from his pocket and placed it in front of her.
It was a jeweler’s box, and she stared at it numbly, her lips parted on questions she couldn’t ask.
“Will you open it?” he asked impatiently.
With trembling fingers she picked it up and lifted the lid. There, against the soft white satin, was
a gemburst of emeralds and diamonds exquisitely mounted in a thin gold bracelet. “Oh…my
goodness…for…not for me?” she stammered, her eyes stunned as they met his.
“Happy birthday, Dana,” he said softly.
Tears filled her soft brown eyes, washing over the reddening rims, trickling down her flushed
cheeks in a flood of emotion, her mouth trembling with the intensity of her feelings. He’d remembered
her birthday!
Eight
I t had been so long since anyone had wished her a happy birthday, or given her a present…
His big hand reached across the table and grasped hers in a warm, strong clasp, his fingers
gently caressing. With his free hand, he reached in his pocket and handed her a handkerchief.
“Dry your eyes, Persephone,” he said gently. “You’ll water down that good coffee.”
She nodded, wiping her face with the handkerchief with one hand while the other held on to
Adrian’s as if it were a lifeline.
“Thank you, Adrian, it’s beautiful,” she murmured with a watery smile. “It’s the most beautiful
present I’ve ever had. How did you know?”
“You told me when we were talking the other night,” he said. His eyes probed hers. “Seventeen
years between us now, Persephone. Too many.”
He let her hand go and reached for his coffee. “I hope you’re hungry,” he said casually, as the
waitress approached with plates of steaming crepes. Dana spent the rest of the lunch alternately eating
and staring at the bracelet. But as she considered the expense it must have entailed, her conscience
began to nag her.
In the car, she fiddled with the jeweler’s box nervously. “Adrian?”
“What?” he asked curtly, his eyes on some distant point outside the window.
“I can’t accept this.”
His dark eyes jerked back to her face, pinning her. “Why not? I hadn’t planned on asking you to
pay for it, little girl,” he growled.
She flinched at his tone. “That’s not what I meant,” she said weakly. “It’s just that it’s so
expensive…”
“How the hell do you know it isn’t costume jewelry?” he demanded. His eyes studied her
insolently. “What makes you think I’d consider you worth the real thing?”
She closed her eyes against the pain that those careless words had caused. For a little while, all
the old angers had been put aside. But he was bringing them back with a vengeance.
With trembling fingers, she lifted the box and handed it to him, without looking up. “You’d better
have it back,” she said in a voice like shattered glass.
He took it from her and casually stuck it in his pocket. “I’ll give it to Fayre,” he said carelessly.
“She likes trinkets.”
She turned her attention to the landscape passing by the window, tears brimming over in her hurt
eyes. It had started out to be such a nice birthday…
“Are you trying to drive me out of my mind?” he asked in a silky, cold voice. “Why the hell are
you crying?”
She blinked back the tears, anger coming to her rescue. She threw a sparkling, furious glance in
his general direction.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pldoc.pisz.plpdf.pisz.plkskarol.keep.pl
|
