"Not well." Laura traced a fingertip around the rim of her wine glass. "Actually, that's an understatement. She completely fell apart."
"That must have been hard for you."
Laura nodded. "It was hard, but I think it was good for us in a way, too—me and my brother, I mean. It made us close. We still are. We had to do everything that needed doing for quite a while, and we learned pretty quickly. Fixing the flush on the toilet, changing the light bulbs, looking for special offers at the supermarket—you name it, we had to learn how to do it."
He raised an eyebrow. "That's impressive."
She shook her head. "We just did what had to be done."
Daniel saw the determination on her face. He had to admire her for it, but he did feel sorry for the teenager who had been through such a hard time. And if he allowed his amateur psychologist out of its box, it would be easy to imagine her experience had played more than a small part in creating the practical woman she was now.
"How old is your brother?" he asked her.
"Twenty-nine—two years older than me."
"Married?"
Laura laughed. "No, absolutely not. I think we both had too big a dose of reality to fall into that trap, thanks to my father."
"Do you still see him? Your dad?"
She shifted uncomfortably, and Daniel realised he may have gone one question too far as her face shuttered down again. "He keeps in touch, but he has a new family now."
Sensing it was time to quit, Daniel gestured at the waiter for coffee and smoothly changed the subject.
When they were ready to leave, he insisted on paying and led her outside. It was colder now and Laura shivered. Daniel threw his jacket around her shoulders, and they walked slowly back up the path. Away from the lights of the restaurant it was pitch black, so he pulled a small, powerful travel torch from his pocket and switched it on, playing the beam over the path ahead. Laura laughed—a gutsy, wholehearted guffaw that made his stomach flip.
"I was in the Boy Scouts," he told her sheepishly, adding softly, "You should laugh more. It lights up your whole face."
Laura snorted. "How can you tell in the dark?"
"I can tell."
He thought he saw her blush in that lovely way she did when she was cross, but the torchlight could have been playing tricks on his imagination.
It was a perfect evening, the stars were bright in a clear black sky, and Daniel was acutely aware of Laura's proximity as they walked along the path, her fresh summery scent drifting over to him on the breeze. When they reached the hotel and were walking across the gardens towards their rooms, he was reluctant for the evening to end. Playing for time, he silently indicated the bench outside her window. Surprised when she obediently sat beside him, they simply watched the stars and listened to the night sounds around them.
Daniel rarely sat still for more than a minute at a time. He could get used to this, he realised with a start. Sitting side by side in companionable silence with a woman who had glossy hair, hypnotic eyes . . . and an extremely kissable mouth.
"Did you notice we haven't argued once all evening?" His voice was soft and seductive.
Laura shook her head, but he sensed an immediate return of her earlier nerves. When she made a move to rise, he was ready for it and shot out his arm to gently halt her. Even as he told himself he shouldn't be doing this, shouldn't be complicating this, he acted on the desire he'd had all evening—to reach out and finger long strands of her silky hair. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she didn't pull away.
His next step was still undecided—something along the lines of a good-night kiss, maybe—when a light clicked on in a room further down the row.
Like a spooked deer caught in headlights, she broke the gentle hold he had on her arm, grappled in her bag for the key, shot into her room, and slammed the door shut.
Perplexed by her reaction—it would be fair to say he'd never had a woman actually run from him before—Daniel remained seated on the bench for a moment, staring out across the dark gardens. What on earth had just happened?
He stood and stared at her door, wondering if he should knock to see if she was all right, but he didn't want to make things worse. Reaching into his pocket for his room key, he shook his head at his own stupidity. The idea was to take her out to dinner to mend relations and pump her for information, not to try and seduce her.
Not that he would consider touching someone's hair and an anticipated-but-not-actual kiss an attempt at seduction. Still, he'd broken his golden rule—and he was furious with himself.
"Never mix business with pleasure, you idiot!" he muttered. "Didn't you learn your lesson the last time?"
****
Laura leaned against her door, willing her pulse to slow down. She waited for Daniel to knock or call after her but only heard silence, then the soft fall of his footsteps and a click as his own door closed.
Not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed, she sank onto the bed. What had happened to that cool control she was so proud of? It wasn't like her to be nervous on a date, yet she had been tonight. Daniel had been polite, even charming, and they'd got on surprisingly well considering the shaky start to their acquaintance. She'd allowed herself to relax, to enjoy herself; after all, that was what an evening with a handsome man was all about, wasn't it? But when he'd reached out to take her hair in his fingers . . . that hadn't been on her agenda at all.
What Daniel must think of her charging off like that, she dreaded to think! When she'd agreed to have dinner with him, she'd
