Real Romance - By Ginny Baird Page 0,14

by Grassy Creek.

David placed two plastic cups on the blanket and filled each halfway before looking up. "I mean, I know you're committed to someone else and I'd never—"

"Never what, David? Ask out a woman who was engaged? Pursue her relentlessly in her place of business? Fall all over the floor of her store?"

David hoped that the elongating shadows from the pines hid his slight frown. She was supposed to be impressed by his gentlemanly reserve. Not, as was apparent, ticked off.

"I couldn't help myself," he said, handing her some wine, then holding his own in her direction.

She accepted the cup and took a long swallow without making a toast.

"Marie, you've got to listen to me," he said, desperate for the words that would bring her back to bicycle mode. "I'm not the cad you think I am. I'm a gentleman, really."

She arched both eyebrows over her turquoise wire frames and downed another sip of wine before speaking.

"Well, well," she said, her eyes showing a dangerous amount of emotion. "Prove it."

Uh-oh, this was a trap and David knew it. "Ah sure, anything. What can I do?"

"It's what you can say, David."

A trick! He knew it. Holy cow. David held his breath and counted to ten, before exhaling slowly. "All right then, so what is it you want me to say?"

Marie put down her wine and stared out at the sun that was sinking below the shadowy mountains."What I'd like, what I'd really like, is for you to give me something no other man has."

David sat at attention, liking the sound of this.

"The truth."

It was David's turn to drink some wine. And he did, emptying his entire cup. "Okay," he began cautiously. "I'll give you the truth. What kind of truth are you looking for?"

Marie turned her deep brown eyes upon his and David could've sworn he was falling off a cliff.

"I've got to know why, David. Why me? Or is it just me—and not a whole slew of others?"

David shifted his position just slightly, feeling cornered. Of course, it was just her! She'd tortured him, turned him inside out. He'd been so far gone he was actually reading wedding planners and literary fiction, for crying out loud! Still, David couldn't deny the feminine names that took up so much space on his contact list any more than he could ignore the pounding in his chest.

"Nobody's ever done for me what you do," he said, settling on a truth that wouldn't give too much away.

"Ah, but," she said, shaking a scolding finger in his direction, "are there others out there still doing it for you?"

That seemed like a mighty personal question from a woman who was supposedly engaged.

"And what if there were?" David asked. "What precisely would it be to you?"

"Nothing," she said, her face expressionless in the near darkness.

"Nothing?" he asked, riveted to his soul.

Marie was startled by the pain she saw in his eyes. He'd wanted her to care. Wanted her to say she hoped he'd be her one and only, with eyes for no one else.

David pulled a couple of submarine sandwiches from his backpack.

"Might as well eat," he said, handing her a paper package. "Never good to drink on an empty stomach."

Marie had to agree. The one cup of wine she'd had was going to her head. She felt dizzy and depressed, and very much as if she'd made a mess of things.

David turned away and devoured his sandwich before talking again. And when he spoke, his words were bitter.

"What gives you the right to press me about my love life, when you're the one who's engaged?"

"Oh, David," Marie said, bringing her coat sleeve to her mouth and feeling as if she were going to burst into tears. "I have no fiancé. Not anymore."

David balled up his napkin and spun to face her in the moonless night.

Her eyes looked moist behind her glasses and her lower lip was trembling.

"No fiancé?" he asked, his voice a low vibrato.

She removed her glasses and shook her head.

And, with an overwhelming certainty, David knew he would have to kiss her—and kiss her as no man had before.

Chapter Six

"I think I need to go home," Marie said, getting abruptly to her feet as David leaned toward her.

"Why?" David asked, springing off the blanket, his head still spinning from the wine.

She feigned a shiver. "It's getting cold out and I..."

Cold? At the moment, David felt anything but.

"...have to be at work early."

"But Marie," David said, putting his hands on her shoulders. "We were