floor, but Mac snagged her hand and tugged her up again.
“What are you doing?”
“I was going to clean up the—”
“Stop.” His temper was still on the end of a straining leash, and the order snapped out. “You don’t belong here,” he muttered, and began to pull her away from the tables and the still-gawking crowd. “It isn’t all fun and games. It isn’t a damn castle. There are people like that in every corner.”
“Yes, but—” He was striding so quickly through the breezeway to the hotel area that she had to trot to keep up.
“You ought to be back in Kansas, tucked away in your library.”
“I don’t want to go back to Kansas.”
He pulled her into the elevator and jammed in his master card for her suite. “They’ll gobble you up in one tasty bite. I damn near did it myself.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Exactly.” He rounded on her, frustration, fury, self-disgust punching inside his gut. Her eyes wereas big as saucers, that delectably curved top lip just beginning to tremble. “Exactly,” he said again, struggling for calm. “I have to go down and take care of this. Stay up here.”
“But—”
“Stay up here,” he repeated, pausing between each word, then giving her a nudge out of the elevator and into her suite before he did something insane. Like clamping his mouth on hers. “You worry me,” he muttered as she stared at him. “You’re really starting to worry me.”
They continued to stare at each other until the doors shut.
Chapter 4
Darcy kept her spa appointments the next morning because she thought it would be rude not to. But her heart wasn’t in it. Even being scrubbed with exotic sea salts, massaged with oils that made her think of some Egyptian handmaiden and having her face packed with thick cool goo the color of ripe pomegranates didn’t lift her mood.
He wanted her to leave, and she really had nowhere to go.
It didn’t seem to matter that as soon as the documents came through she’d be able to travel to all the dazzling places she’d read and dreamed about. She wanted to stay here, in this wonderful, exciting place, with all the lights and the sounds and the crowds and the seamy edges.
She wanted to gamble again, to drink champagne, to buy more sparkling earrings. She wanted just a little more time in a world where men with faces that should be sculpted in copper paid attention to her as if she were worthy of their interest.
She wanted, more than anything, a few more magical days with Mac before her coach turned into a pumpkin and the glass slipper no longer fit.
She wanted him to smile at her again in the way that transformed his face into one glorious piece of art.
He was so lovely, not just to look at, she thought, but to be with. He had a way of turning those wonderful blue eyes on her and making her think he really cared about what she thought, how she felt, what she had to say.
She’d never been able to talk to another man the way she could talk to him. Without feelinginadequate and foolish. Or simple, she supposed.
But she’d taken up too much of his time, gotten in the way. She’d always been better off fading into a corner and watching other people live. Once you stepped out too far, into those lights, you ended up doing something silly or foolish that made those who knew …
things
wish you’d slip away again.
The money wasn’t going to change who she was. A pretty dress, a new haircut—it was only gloss. Under it, she was still awkward and average.
“You’re going to love this.”
Shaking off the blue mood, Darcy looked over at the technician. She’d already forgotten the woman’s name, which was, in Darcy’s opinion, as rude as not keeping the appointment in the first place. Flat on her back on the padded table, she focused on the nameplate pinned to the breast of the soft pink uniform.
“Am I, Angie?”
“Absolutely.”
To Darcy’s shock, Angie tugged down the thin blanket and began to
“What are you doing?”
“I was going to clean up the—”
“Stop.” His temper was still on the end of a straining leash, and the order snapped out. “You don’t belong here,” he muttered, and began to pull her away from the tables and the still-gawking crowd. “It isn’t all fun and games. It isn’t a damn castle. There are people like that in every corner.”
“Yes, but—” He was striding so quickly through the breezeway to the hotel area that she had to trot to keep up.
“You ought to be back in Kansas, tucked away in your library.”
“I don’t want to go back to Kansas.”
He pulled her into the elevator and jammed in his master card for her suite. “They’ll gobble you up in one tasty bite. I damn near did it myself.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Exactly.” He rounded on her, frustration, fury, self-disgust punching inside his gut. Her eyes wereas big as saucers, that delectably curved top lip just beginning to tremble. “Exactly,” he said again, struggling for calm. “I have to go down and take care of this. Stay up here.”
“But—”
“Stay up here,” he repeated, pausing between each word, then giving her a nudge out of the elevator and into her suite before he did something insane. Like clamping his mouth on hers. “You worry me,” he muttered as she stared at him. “You’re really starting to worry me.”
They continued to stare at each other until the doors shut.
Chapter 4
Darcy kept her spa appointments the next morning because she thought it would be rude not to. But her heart wasn’t in it. Even being scrubbed with exotic sea salts, massaged with oils that made her think of some Egyptian handmaiden and having her face packed with thick cool goo the color of ripe pomegranates didn’t lift her mood.
He wanted her to leave, and she really had nowhere to go.
It didn’t seem to matter that as soon as the documents came through she’d be able to travel to all the dazzling places she’d read and dreamed about. She wanted to stay here, in this wonderful, exciting place, with all the lights and the sounds and the crowds and the seamy edges.
She wanted to gamble again, to drink champagne, to buy more sparkling earrings. She wanted just a little more time in a world where men with faces that should be sculpted in copper paid attention to her as if she were worthy of their interest.
She wanted, more than anything, a few more magical days with Mac before her coach turned into a pumpkin and the glass slipper no longer fit.
She wanted him to smile at her again in the way that transformed his face into one glorious piece of art.
He was so lovely, not just to look at, she thought, but to be with. He had a way of turning those wonderful blue eyes on her and making her think he really cared about what she thought, how she felt, what she had to say.
She’d never been able to talk to another man the way she could talk to him. Without feelinginadequate and foolish. Or simple, she supposed.
But she’d taken up too much of his time, gotten in the way. She’d always been better off fading into a corner and watching other people live. Once you stepped out too far, into those lights, you ended up doing something silly or foolish that made those who knew …
things
wish you’d slip away again.
The money wasn’t going to change who she was. A pretty dress, a new haircut—it was only gloss. Under it, she was still awkward and average.
“You’re going to love this.”
Shaking off the blue mood, Darcy looked over at the technician. She’d already forgotten the woman’s name, which was, in Darcy’s opinion, as rude as not keeping the appointment in the first place. Flat on her back on the padded table, she focused on the nameplate pinned to the breast of the soft pink uniform.
“Am I, Angie?”
“Absolutely.”
To Darcy’s shock, Angie tugged down the thin blanket and began to
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