The window was on Daniel's side of the bed. As she tried to walk past
him, he reached out and took hold of her hand.
'I thought I'd open the window.' He gently pulled her down onto his
lap. She was caught off guard and put her hands around his neck before
she realized what she was doing.
Then she pulled back.
'You don't want me to open the window? ' 'I want you to sit here with
me.'
'It probably isn't very proper.'
'And you're always proper, aren't you? ' The yearning in his eyes was
her undoing. She gently stroked his cheek with her fingertips. 'I try
to be, ' she whispered.
'May I ask you something? ' 'Anything at all.' He wanted to wrap her
in his arms and hold her for the rest of the night. He didn't know
what had come over him, but maybe it was all the talk about Kathleen
that made him melancholy and lonely. No, that wasn't true, he
admitted.
Grace made him feel this way. He had been wanting to hold her from the
moment he'd walked into Tilly MacGuire's kitchen and seen her standing
at the counter.
He was tired of fighting the attraction.
'Grace, what I said to you on the train . . . about wanting you. Does
that offend you? ' [ She didn't answer him. He cupped her chin with
his hand and leisurely ran his thumb back and forth across her lower
lip.
'Does it? ' he asked again.
She studied him. His eyes were captivating, and she wondered if he had
any idea how amazingly handsome and virile he was.
'I'm sorry . . . What did you ask me? ' He laughed softly. 'What
were you thinking about? ' 'How handsome you are, ' she admitted.
'I'm glad you want me, ' she blurted out. 'But I'm not Kathleen. '
'No, you're not.'
'I can't replace her.'
'I don't want you to replace her. I just want . . . ' 'Yes? ' 'You,
