“I don't know. Someone I'd never met before. Someone who could fly.” Meeting his eyes she saw an understanding that disconcerted her. It was as though he knew everything she would say before she'd thought of it herself. It made her laugh self-consciously. “Whoever she was, it's time she went her way and let me go mine.”
“Was she the one who kissed me?”
“She didn't,” Dottie said, trying to be firm. “It was you… Oh, I don't know anything anymore.”
“I've been a bit confused myself,” he admitted. “But I think it was something like this.”
He leaned swiftly down and laid his mouth over hers. He knew there was danger in it, because springtime was always dangerous to a man who'd never known it before. But his caution had deserted him. He must kiss this one woman or regret the loss all his life.
He'd moved too swiftly for Dottie to prevent him. She instinctively put her hand up, but it merely fell on his shoulder. He almost seemed to be hypnotizing her so that her will died away, and she could do only what he was telling her. Obeying those silent instructions, she failed to protest when he put his hands gently on either side of her face.
She hadn't known that a man's lips against hers could feel like this, tender and coaxing, yet impossible to deny. She had a strange feeling that she was kissing him with all of her, not just her mouth. Certainly all of her was responding, from the top of her head, down the length of her suddenly tingling body, right to her curling toes.
Her hands had become rebellious. They wanted to rove over his body, across the hard muscles of his arms and chest and discover the flatness of his stomach, the power of his thighs. She knew that these things were true about him because the movements of his mouth against hers were silently telling her.
Somewhere in her consciousness doors and windows opened wide, showing vistas of far horizons, stormy seas, endless blue skies. The world was so much bigger than she'd dreamed, and was full of so many unsuspected things. There was exploring to do, and it would take her far beyond the comfortable little world in which she'd planned to contain herself and Mike-
The word was like a thunderclap in Dottie's brain. Shocked at herself, she drew sharply back and stared at him. Then she wrenched herself out of Randolph's arms and ran deeper into the wood.
“Dottie!” he called and ran after her. “Don't go, please. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you.”
“No,” she said, turning back to him and managing a shaky laugh. “This is so silly. It's just…just…”
“Spring makes people do silly things,” he said hastily. “I got carried away.”
“You?” she echoed with such naГЇve astonishment that he had no doubt how he looked to her: a man who couldn't let himself be spontaneous. And she was right. When had it last happened? Never before he met her.
“Perhaps it's because I'm a tourist,” he improvised. “People go mad when they travel abroad-”
“And they make other people mad too,” she agreed, frantically rewriting history. She was in love with Mike, so she hadn't kissed this man. At least, she
“I have to go now,” she said. “It was nice seeing you again but-” suddenly the words came out in a gabble, “I really must go.”
She rushed away without a backward glance, eager to find Mike and the safe, cozy world she knew with him. There was nothing safe or cozy about this stranger. He made her think of lightning and fire, and she needed to get away from him.
Just beyond the trees she found Mike sitting on a wooden bench, munching a sandwich. He was startled out of his contented reverie by Dottie's arms about his neck as she flung herself down beside him.
“Careful, Dot,” he protested. “You'll get peanut butter over me.”
The last words were lost in the most fervent kiss she'd ever given him. He abandoned the sandwich and embraced her back, despite his surprise.
“Have you been taking something?” he demanded when he could breathe.
“Yes, I'm drunk with spring,” she said idiotically. “And I wanted-” she took a deep breath, “the most wonderful kiss in the world.”
“And you reckoned I could give you that?” Mike asked, awed. “Eee, Dot!”
“Of course. Who else? You're the one I love.”
She said this so fiercely that Mike stared at her in alarm. Randolph, a short distance away, behind a tree, couldn't see him clearly, but he could sense the reaction. What did Mike understand of a woman like this? In the few moments it had taken him to brush his mouth against Dottie's he had discovered the banked fires of passion waiting for the one man to bring it forth. And that man wasn't this well meaning oaf, whatever she believed.
Her next words gave him a nasty shock.
“Mike, when are we going to set the date?”
“Whenever you like, Dot. But I thought we decided to wait until we had the deposit for the garage.”
“I've changed my mind. I'm going to snap you up fast, before Bren gets her claws into you.”
“Aw, c'mon. You know I love you Dot. I couldn't care about anyone else, any more than you could.”
Dottie's voice was suddenly high and breathless. “Of course we couldn't, but let's not take chances. You-you never know what's going to happen.”
“All right. Whatever you say.”
“No, it shouldn't be just what I say. It should be what
“Course I do. I said yes when you proposed, didn't I? All right, don't hit me.”
From behind the tree Randolph could hear a scuffle and laughter that ended very suddenly. He resisted the impulse to lean out and see what was happening, but the silence went on longer than he liked.
“Are we going to have a honeymoon?” Mike asked at last.
“Sure. How about a Caribbean cruise?”
“Yeah, I'd like one of them.”
“Price no object,” Dottie said grandiloquently.
“Three thousand, four thousand, or there's a top flight cruise at seven thousand.”
“Let's have that,” Mike said. “Only the best for us.”
“Luxury class.”
“Money to burn.”
“Our every whim catered for,” she cried to the blue sky.
“We'll eat off gold plates.”
Hand in hand, they considered this for a moment.
“Unless you'd prefer a month in Hawaii,” Dottie offered.
“Is that the one where you get sexy maidens meeting you on the beach with garlands?”
“On second thought, forget Hawaii.”
Mike gave his easygoing chuckle. “Anything you say, Dot.” He squeezed her hand as they left the brightly colored dreams behind. “Mind you, if you go off the cruise idea, Uncle Joe's always said we could borrow his caravan for a long weekend.”
“That would be lovely,” Dottie said.
She sounded as enthusiastic about the cheap caravan as the luxury cruise that existed only in her lively imagination, and Randolph had to admire her spirit. It might be nice for a man to share his life with such a funny, gutsy lady. It was the same spirit that he admired in Sophie, he reminded himself. Not that Sophie's lofty mind would have indulged in that crazy fantasy.
With regret he remembered that Dottie's fantasies too, must be dispelled. He had lingered as long as he dared. Now it was time to claim her for his country, and her duty. He stepped out from behind the tree, treading on a twig, its snap making Dottie look up quickly.
“Are you following me?” she demanded.
Then Randolph, the severe and practical man, was truly inspired.
“Yes,” he said. “I am following you-both of you. I had to be sure that you were suitable for the prize. A stay in a luxury hotel as guests of the Ellurian gov-tourist authority.”
“Elluria?” Dottie echoed, wrinkling her brow. “That's the place you were telling me about.”
“We're trying to promote it as somewhere to take the vacation of a lifetime,” Randolph said. “It's never been
