Rumor Has It (15 page)

“Did I hear you mention something about breakfast?” she asked sweetly.

He knelt down beside the tub and ran a finger coated with tiny bubbles down her nose. “Yeah, but now that I see you in this tub I think I've changed my mind about French toast. I'm hungrier for you.”

He tried to kiss her and got a mouthful of bubbles for his trouble. Katie laughed. “You'd better wait until the suds die down, Romeo.”

“How long will that take?”

“About as long as it takes to make and eat French toast.”

While Nick was in the kitchen, Katie put her hair up with pins she kept on the table next to the tub. She leaned back in the steaming water and closed her eyes as the stiffness seeped out of her muscles and joints. It was nice to feel lazy and decadent for a change. It would be easy to get used to having Nick pamper her.

Too easy, a little voice deep inside her warned.

Katie ignored it. Hadn't she decided practically from the start to take one day at a time with Nick and let the chips fall where they might? So far things were working out. There was no sense worrying about some day in the future. Nick loved her. He made her feel special, made her forget about her scars. She loved him.

“Breakfast is now being served in the bathtub,” Nick announced. The tray he carried in bore a single plate piled with French toast dripping in maple syrup, two glasses of orange juice, and a
bud vase with flowers Katie recognized from her garden. He dragged the little vanity chair up next to the tub and sat down, balancing the tray on his legs.

“This is heavenly,” Katie said with a groan of appreciation after Nick had presented her with the first bite. “I taste apples.”

“I found a couple that hadn't petrified in the back of the refrigerator.”

“And I taste spices.”

He shrugged. “A little cinnamon, a little nutmeg.”

“This beats the heck out of a toaster waffle.”

“I should hope so.”

Nick ate, but mostly he watched Katie. She was glowing, smiling at the least provocation. There was rosy color in her cheeks. Making love all night agreed with her. He was glad, because he planned to make a habit of it.

“Shouldn't you be at the restaurant?” she asked, brushing back a strand of hair that had escaped her haphazard topknot. “I thought today was the day they were putting in the much bally-hooed curb and gutter.”

“It is, but not until later on. We have plenty of time to get there.”

“We?” Katie arched a brow at him.

Nick bit his lip and gave her his most hopeful look. “I was hoping you might be persuaded to help me sort through the plates and utensils I bought at that auction in Richmond last week.”

“Is that what this breakfast in the bath business is all about?” Katie asked with amusement showing plainly through the stern expression she was trying to maintain.

“No, I—”

“It's going to take more than a little French toast, Mr. Leone.”

“Really? What did you have in mind?” he asked, setting the tray on the floor and leaning over the tub. He dabbed at the corner of Katie's mouth with a napkin. “You have syrup on you.”

“I can think of a more imaginative way to get it off,” she said suggestively.

A wicked grin spread across his face. He leaned toward her, his tongue working at the dot of syrup, then probing the corner of Katie's mouth. She let her hands wander over his chest as they kissed, tracing wet patterns over his bare skin
down to the waistband of his jeans. One finger dipped inside the denim to tickle him.

Nick cleared his throat, lifting his mouth from hers just enough to speak. “Katie, what are you doing?”

“Seducing you. Am I doing it right?”

Doing it right? he wondered. If she got any better at it, he was going to be in a lot of trouble. “We shouldn't make love again.” Even as he said the words he was hoping she would disagree with him.

“Shouldn't we?” She looked so innocent—too innocent to be believed, he told himself. “Okay, but would you give me another kiss?”

He obliged her without hesitation. The heat was instantaneous, burning away any good intentions he'd had. She tasted too sweet, was too willing. Without taking his mouth from hers, Nick shucked his pants. He was sliding down into the tub behind Katie before she knew what was happening.

“Nick! What are you doing?” She squealed as water sloshed and lapped at the rim of the tub. She had enjoyed teasing him a little, but she had
thought he would wait until she'd gotten out of the tub to further their amorous activities.

“It's part of the breakfast- in- the- tub special,” he said, sliding his arms around her as his long legs stretched out on either side of her. His hands found her soap- slick breasts and began massaging them. He nipped at her earlobe. “The cook gets to have his way with you after the main course.”

“Is that an old Italian custom?” she asked, gasping as he lifted her, then closing her eyes and sighing as he eased her down on him. She leaned back into him, loving the feel of having him deep inside her.

“No.” He grazed her shoulder with his teeth. “It's a new Nick and Katie custom.”

Breathlessly she said, “There's nothing quite as exciting as a new custom.”

“Hear, hear.”

A
S SPRING WARMED
into summer, Katie found her days pleasantly filled to capacity. She and Maggie had more than enough business to keep them busy. What spare time she had was devoted to helping Nick around the restaurant or helping out at the Drewes mansion, where the renovation was nearing completion. Evenings were spent with Nick, when he wasn't working at Hepplewhite's.

Katie was surprised and pleased to find they had many common interests. Even though he had spent his entire life in cities that were fast paced and exciting, Nick seemed to enjoy quieter pursuits.
He liked movies—especially murder mysteries spiced with romance—and popcorn with no butter but lots of salt. He liked relaxing with a good book, a glass of wine, and soft music in the background. He liked lying in bed with Katie in his arms, sharing quiet talk and gentle love-making.

She found herself more and more in love with Nick. It was a fascinating experience, one she never had had or expected to have. The world seemed a bright and wonderful place. Her senses seemed more acute—colors were more vibrant, sounds clearer, tastes more delightful. She never had really believed love could change a person's perceptions so, but she believed it now. She had to laugh at herself for behaving as if she were a star-struck girl. It was very unlike her, but she reveled in every minute of it.

There were moments when she caught herself thinking it was too good to be true. Every so often questions about the future would creep into her mind. Where was her romance with Nick headed? She had stepped off the cautious path she had guided her life along for the last few years. Where
was she now—on the road to happiness or heart ache?

How long would it take before Nick realized she was holding him back from having everything he wanted? While he seemed content with the quiet evenings they were spending together, how long would it be before he grew restless and began longing for a woman who could be as active as he was capable of being, a woman he could go dancing with, a woman he could wrestle with in bed instead of one he had to be careful with? How long would it be before he would want a woman he could plan a family with?

More often than not Katie pushed the questions away without even attempting to answer them. It made her furious to have doubts infringe on her happiness with Nick. She deserved to have this time with him. She deserved to have him love her. And she refused to let black thoughts about the future ruin her mood.

Katie felt herself blossom as her friendship with Nick deepened and strengthened with their love. She felt relaxed and happy with him. They talked about everything from Broadway musicals to the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains. And they
teased each other constantly about their respective accents and regional differences.

Many evenings they took slow, relaxing walks, admiring people's gardens, enjoying small talk and the warm weather. They often stopped to chat with people who were out tending their lawns or sitting on their porches. He had an insatiable curiosity about his new neighbors.

“I like to talk to everybody I meet here just so I can listen to their accent,” Nick commented as they strolled one evening. On his right side he held Watch's leash. His left hand held Katie's, but he dropped it often so he could express himself more fully.

“Accent?” Katie arched a brow. “Isn't that exactly what a Yankee would say. Does it ever occur to Northerners that y'all are the ones with the accent?”

“Yawl, yawl,” Nick said in an exaggerated drawl. He shot Katie a teasing grin. “What's
yawl?”

Katie gave him a saccharine smile. “It's a two-masted sailing vessel, but why would you ask? Oh, forgive me, I forgot, there isn't anything you people from New Jersey don't find fascinating to
talk about. It's no wonder y'all talk so fast; you never run out of things to say.”

“Are you saying I talk too much?” he questioned indignantly, stopping on the sidewalk and turning to face Katie with a fierce expression that was as phony as a three- dollar bill. He held one hand on his hip and gestured with the other. “Is that what you're saying to me—that I talk too much?”

Grabbing Nick's hands, Katie raised up on tiptoe. Holding his hands still was almost as effective in getting him to stop talking as taping his mouth shut. “Shut up and kiss me, Yankee,” she said in a smoky tone of voice that drove Nick wild.

He pressed his lips to hers for a quick kiss that turned into a leisurely kiss, as hot and slow as a Southern summer night. She brushed against him, her fingers playing with his hair where it curled against the back of his neck as his tongue curled around hers. Their bodies lingered against each other as their lips broke contact reluctantly.

Katie's voice was a low, seductive purr when she spoke. “By chance, we happen to be right outside my house. Shall we go in and discuss our regional dissimilarities further?”

“I think I'd rather discuss our anatomical dissimilarities, if it's all the same to you.”

“It's not all the same,” she pointed out with a saucy grin, more than a little aroused by the smoldering fires in his dark eyes. “That's what makes it fun.”

With a devilish chuckle, he started to turn toward the house but stopped. Standing stock-still on the sidewalk no more than three feet from Watch were two little girls. The older was perhaps five. She wore a gingham sundress and held the hand of a chubby toddler dressed in a sunsuit. Both had bright red hair, and blue eyes that were opened wide as they stared at the panting wolf hound.

They were adorable, Nick thought as he knelt down, but then, he was a sucker for little girls. If he ever had daughters of his own, they were going to get away with murder. He stroked the dog absently and smiled at the little girls. “Hi there. Are you ladies lost?”

The older girl shook her head. She pointed to the house next door to Katie's. “Our grandma lives there. That sure is a big dog.”

“He's big all right,” Nick said. As if on cue,
Watch turned and licked his cheek. “But he's real friendly.”

The baby's face split into a cherubic grin. She giggled and pointed at the dog. “Puppy.”

Nick laughed. They were priceless. The older one had her hair up in an off- center ponytail and carried a big green purse she undoubtedly had borrowed from her grandmother. The little one wore yellow rabbit barrettes in her fine hair and pink Popsicle stains on her face.

“He's a nice puppy. Would you like to pet him?” he asked. As they nodded hesitantly, Nick glanced over his shoulder to get Katie's permission. He had expected to see her smiling, as delighted by the two urchins as he was. What he saw was a pale face and a pair of gray eyes so filled with despair, it was like taking a punch in the gut to see them. “Katie?” he asked gently, “is it okay for them to pet the dog?”

Willing her lips to turn up in a smile, Katie choked down the lump in her throat and tried to sound normal. “Of course. Watch loves children.”

And so did Nick. He looked so natural with the little girls, so at ease. She envied him. It was a trait
she had never possessed, because she had never spent any time around small children. It was a trait she would never cultivate now, because to give herself that freely to other people's children was like tearing out bits of her heart and giving them away. Obviously it wasn't the same for Nick. What a wonderful father he would make someday—someday, for some other woman's children, she thought.

It wasn't difficult for Katie to hold her tears out of sight behind her eyes. She had done it many times before. The mask of polite interest slipped into place automatically, if a little late.

She knelt down beside Nick and helped him show the little girls all of Watch's favorite places to get scratched. Then she excused herself and went to the house, hoping Nick would linger outside long enough for her to push her feelings into the little box she usually kept them locked in deep inside her. If she was very, very lucky, he wouldn't ask any questions.

She was in the kitchen pouring lemonade from a sweating pitcher into iced glasses when he came in. She heard the door close, heard his footsteps on the heart- pine floor of the living room. He
stopped at the entrance to the kitchen. She could feel his gaze on her.

“Is it really so difficult for you?” he asked.

The urge to cry crashed into her like a tidal wave. Katie swore under her breath. She never dissolved into tears in front of people—never. The problem was, the scene on the sidewalk had taken her by surprise. Old feelings of hurt had surged to the surface before she'd had a chance to stop them. Now Nick was offering her an outlet for those feelings, but one of her greatest fears had been that once she started to let those feelings out, they would never stop, they would pour out in a flood tide and drown her.

Very deliberately she raised her glass to her lips and took a sip of the cold drink, letting it wash down her hot, dry throat. When she spoke she sounded in control. “Sometimes.”