acting so insane. Even though he made her mad for intruding on her privacy, she found it difficult to dislike him now.
“I’d better get you home,” Thomas said standing up.
“Are you hungry?” Morgan asked. “I can make us something, if you’d like.”
Thomas smiled and touched her face. “I’d like that, but are you sure you wouldn’t rather go out to eat?”
“No, you are tired. I’m sure I can find something in your kitchen to cook.” Morgan pulled out of her pocket his keys and handed it to him.
As he took the keys, he kept a hold of her hand and kissed her fingers again. Her heart softened for him. Why did he have to be so incredibly sweet?
“I suppose I owe you an explanation,” he said as they walked to his car, “about your picture.”
Sighing, she nodded. “Why did you buy it?”
Once they were both in the car, he rested his wrists on the steering wheel. “As I was preparing this surprise for you, my father saw the picture and said it would look great in his office. He bought it, not me. I wanted to buy it, really, I did, but I knew how upset you’d be.”
Hope climbed in her chest a notch. “Why was the picture sent to you instead of him?” Morgan shrugged. “Sorry, I happened to glance at your mail that was sitting there. The name of the gallery caught my eye.”
“My name is what they had on file, so I told them to just send it to me.”
Shame washed over her, and she covered her hands over her face. “I feel so stupid for over-reacting. You had wanted to explain, but my hot temper –”
“Morgan.” He removed her hands from her face, and when she met his gaze, he smiled tenderly, caressing her cheek. “I don’t blame you for getting upset. I would have reacted that way if it had happened to me.”
She wanted to cry all over again. He was so kind and loving. But... now it was her turn to confess, and her twisting stomach warned her that he wasn’t going to like it.
“Thomas, I need to apologize.”
He quickly placed his fingers to her mouth and shook his head. “Didn’t you hear what I said? I don’t blame you.”
She removed his hand and attempted to smile. “I’m not talking about that. I mean, well... maybe I am talking about that, but it’s different.”
He arched an eyebrow. “I don’t understand.”
“What happened at the winery is... my fault.” Her voice tightened as tears stung her eyes. “If I hadn’t flew off the handle after seeing that picture, then you wouldn’t have come after me – because I knew you would – and if you wouldn’t have come after me, you would have been at the winery when the fire first started. Instead, you were miles away.”
“Oh, Morgan.” He wrapped his arms around her, although it was awkward because of the small space they had. “You are not to blame, I promise. Nobody blames you at all.” He pulled away slightly and kissed her forehead.
“But... the fire—”
“Wasn’t your fault. And we will find out who did this.”
She nodded, but was afraid to speak.
“I have security cameras everywhere, remember?”
This time when she smiled, her lips trembled.
“Now, what do you say we go back to my place and find something to eat?”
She chuckled softly. “I’d say – how fast can you drive?”
For some reason, the drive back to Thomas’ place didn’t take that long. Of course, they held hands the whole time and listened to soft rock on the Bluetooth speakers. She briefly told him about the call she’d received about her money, and Thomas assured her that it was all right to give them the wire transfer information. The rest of the drive went smoothly. They didn’t speak much after that, but it didn’t matter. Her heart was growing stronger for this man, and just being with him was enough for her.
Once inside his luxurious house, he took her in his arms. He looked tired, and she felt the drain of today’s events, too.
“Why don’t you go take a shower while I make dinner?” she told him.
He grinned. “Why don’t we both take showers? I’ll use the one in my room and you can use the guest shower.”
Gasping, she lifted a hand to her hair. Dirty... ratty! She didn’t want to look at her face yet, but she knew it was probably streaked with the soot from the fire. “Oh, good grief. I never even thought...” She