Christmas in the City - Jill Barnett Page 0,51

the door.

He was angry, and his face showed it. "You need a goddamn keeper. If you even think about climbing on one more piece of furniture or get near that roof for any reason, I swear I'll—" He cut himself off and drove a hand through his hair. He jerked open the door, then scowled back at her. "I don't know what I'll do, but if I were you I wouldn't test me."

He slammed the door behind him.

She stared at the door for a moment, then raised her fingers to her lips. She crossed the room to her sofa and plopped down on it. She grinned, then gave a short joyous laugh that on anyone younger would have been called a giggle.

"Oh, my," she sighed. "Oh, my, oh, my, oh, my. Be still my heart."

And then she began to really laugh.

Someone knocked on Conn's door that night. He was still trying to decipher his accounts. He shoved back the chair and threw open the door.

Nellie stood there holding a plate. "Here." She held out the plate. "It's fudge."

He stepped back from the door. "Come inside."

She crossed the threshold as if she were stepping into hell.

"I'm not going to eat you."

"You're still angry."

"I'd like to wring your neck. How the hell did you get on the roof. And why?"

"I was saving one of my cats."

"The little black one?"

She nodded.

"That damn cat goes up there all the time."

"I didn't know that. I thought he was stuck and scared."

She was such a softy. "Why didn't you come to me?"

"I didn't even think to go to you. I just reacted."

He turned to keep from grabbing her and kissing the breath out of her. "We're friends, too, Nellie. We became friends first. Just because you have some idiotic idea about our age difference doesn't mean I have stopped loving you. It doesn't mean I'm not still your friend."

"I'd like to be your friend."

"I'd like you to be more."

"How much more?"

"I already asked you once. I won't ask again."

"Oh." She stared at her hands. "You don't want to marry me anymore. I understand."

"That's not true. I do want to marry you. I just won't be the one who asks."

She stood there a long time. When she raised her head, there were tears streaming down her cheeks.

"You know pride is a crazy thing. It can actually make something completely unimportant seem to be the most important thing in the entire world." He pulled her into his arms and buried his face in her hair, knowing he was lying, knowing that he would ask her to marry him every single day of his life if that's what it took.

She muttered something against his chest, but he couldn't understand her. She tilted her head up and looked at him. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Will you marry me?"

He stood there for a moment. "What about our ages?"

"I was wrong. I was very wrong. I think I was just so scared, too scared of what I was feeling." She tightened her arms around him. "I used our age difference as an excuse."

He kissed her long and hard and with every ounce of passion and love he felt. "God, how I love you, Nellie."

Chapter 9

They were married Christmas Eve morning at a small neighborhood Presbyterian church. Since he was Catholic and she was Methodist, they settled on Presbyterian. It was also the first place Conn found that would marry them in less than twenty-four hours.

Tony was his witness and Mrs. Edna Waverly stood up for Eleanor. The wedding was small and fast, but it was the happiest moment in his life. His friends gave them a luncheon. Cuba passed out his finest cigars, and Tony made a toast, then Pete said a few words: "Das ist the happiest day for my friends. Vhat God meets, let nein people bury us."

No one understood what he meant until Cuba stood up. "What the Lord had brought together, let no man put asunder."

"Ja. Das ist vhat I said."

They spent the evening having Christmas dinner with Tony's family, then left to come home. For now, they were going to live on the third floor, where the rooms and furniture worked better for a man Conn's size.

Nellie had been puttering around from room to room.

Conn had a feeling she would just keep on doing so all night unless he said something. "Why don't you go on and get ready for bed."

She just stood there, looking lost and frozen. It was almost as if she had grown roots.

"Nellie?"

She blinked once, then