For His Little Girl

'Yes, Mom?'

'Come here.'

Obediently he went to stand in front of his mother, looking down at her, smiling. The next moment he was reeling back from the sharpest box on the ears she had ever given him.

'Hey, Mom!'

'That's for not telling us! Ten years of our grandchild we've missed. You should be ashamed.'

'I am, Mom. Promise.' He backed hastily from the martial light in his mother's eye.

He got hastily into the car, rubbing his ear. As they pulled away from the curb he complained to Pippa, 'If I'm not being bullied by her, I'm being bullied by you. If I'm not being bullied by you, I'm being bullied by Claudia. If I'm not being bullied by Claudia, I'm being bullied by my daughter. That guy who talked about the monstrous regiment of women sure knew what he was talking about.' There was a giggle from the back seat. 'And you can hush up!'

Josie made no answer, but after a few minutes Luke became aware of a strange sound coming from the back seat.

'Josie? You're not crying, are you?''

'Not really, it's just-we came all this way, and we don't have much time together, and…and you had to get mad at me…and-' She choked into silence.

Luke slammed the car into the side of the road. He was out in a moment, pulling open the rear door, flinging himself inside, taking his daughter in his arms.

'Honey, I'm sorry, I'm not really mad at you. Please…please darling, don't cry. There baby… please…I can't stand it…just tell me what you want, Daddy will make it right.'

'Luke,' Pippa said patiently, 'it's like taking candy from a baby. Mind you, I fell for it the first few times, too.'

'She's upset-' Another suspicious sound made him look sharply at Josie. The tears had magically vanished, and the child was making unconvincing efforts to control her laughter. 'Why you…!'

'Oh, Daddy, if you could see your face!'

'You…?'

'I learned how to do it in drama class at school.'

'You little wretch-come here!' He swept her up into a hug so fierce that she gasped. She returned it plus interest, her arms tight about his neck until he almost choked. Pippa rested her arm on the back of her seat and her chin on her arm, watching them with deep satisfaction.

She had all she'd asked for when she came here, including a return of the dream, for just one day. And now that the day was over, she had no complaints. She was far richer than she had been this morning.

Chapter Eight

By the time they reached home, Josie was fast asleep on the back seat. Luke carried her inside and laid her gently on the bed. Josie awoke just enough for Pippa to help her undress, then nodded off again at once. They crept out.

Pippa yawned. 'I'll just have some tea, and then I'll turn in, too.'

'Not yet,' Luke begged, sliding his arms around her and trying to kiss her.

'Luke, no,' she said, pressing a hand against his chest.

'What is it?'

'Today was lovely, but we were on vacation-'

'Well, we still are.' He tightened his arms and this time managed to touch her mouth with his own. She was shaken by the temptation to yield. It had been a lovely day. Couldn't it last just a little longer?

'Pippa, things have been very strange between us since you arrived, and I suppose they were bound to be. But today-it was different-something happened between us.'

'Something happened between the boy and girl we were pretending to be, but that doesn't really count.'

'It could if we wanted it to,' he murmured, brushing her forehead with his lips. 'Don't you want to?'

'No, I…I don't-'

His lips were caressing her cheek, her jaw. 'Do you really mean that?''

'I don't know, but you're not being fair. Please, Luke, let me go. It's been lovely, but now we have to be sensible.'

'Sensible?' he whispered against her mouth. 'Us?'

'Yes-us,' she whispered back. She couldn't resist softly touching his hair, wanting him even as she denied him. And the yearning little voice inside cried, 'Just this once.'

'No!' she said in alarm, pulling herself free of him. Trembling she turned to face him, seeing his shocked face, fighting not to let her feelings run away with her.

'I'm sorry, Luke, but can't you see it's too late? We can't put the clock back. We pretended for a day, and it was wonderful, but it's over now, and this is reality.'

'Reality.' Luke gave a grunt of mirthless laughter. 'How I always hated that word.'

'Yes, me, too, sometimes. And this is one of them.'

'Then-'

'Darling, please. Everything's different. I'm different.' She gave a wan smile. 'I grew up and became sensible. I'm afraid there's no getting rid of it now.'

'No,' he said heavily. 'I guess not. I'm sorry, Pippa, I guess I misunderstood-a lot of things.' He seemed to pull himself together. 'You're right of course. We can't put the clock back. I was out of line. Forget it. I'll make you that tea. I'm famous for my English tea.'

He was smiling, almost clowning again, declaring the subject closed. She matched his smile with her own, and the dangerous moment passed. As soon as she could she took the tea he made her, bade him good-night and went to her room. Luckily Josie was asleep, and she was free to lie silently in bed, aching with longing and sadness. She would have been a fool to yield to Luke and her own heart, but as she stared into the darkness she was calling herself all kinds of a fool for not being a fool.

Luke didn't go to bed. He did what he often did, went to lie stretched out on the sofa, watching the darkness. Sometimes he would stay there all night, waiting for the first touch of gray in the sky, the first glint on the sea. And it was here that he embarked on the process that passed, with him, for thinking.

It had alarmed and disconcerted him to discover that he wanted Pippa as much as he ever had. This had simply never happened before. 'There's nothing so dead as a dead love,' ran the saying, and while he had sometimes returned to the bed of a previous lover, it had always been an exercise in nostalgia. What he felt now wasn't nostalgia but the sharp edge of desire. As badly as he'd ever wanted anything in his life he wanted to take Pippa to his room, undress her and himself and make love to her until they were both exhausted. And then he wanted to make love to her again.

He remembered some of the little teasing enticements she'd known by instinct and used without mercy. How he'd loved them then and how he ached for them now. He smiled, but in the same moment his body began to respond to the memories, and he forced himself to suppress them. A man couldn't afford to think like that about a woman who'd rejected him. It made life too difficult.

Pippa had rejected him.

But this was a new and unknown woman whose mystery still held promise.

Not the Pippa of the past, but a different person, part known, part stranger, wholly tantalizing. Young Pippa had been joined by grown-up Pippa, sensible Pippa and even sad Pippa. He didn't know what had made him think of that, but he saw her in his mind, looking pensive, as though she concealed some inner pain. And now he realized how often her face wore that look.

He dozed for a while, was awakened by a noise from the kitchen and went to investigate.

'It's only me, Daddy. I'm getting some milk.'

'It's four in the morning. You ought to be out like a light after the day you had. Want something to eat?'