“Of course. It will probably take a couple of hours. I’ll call on you the minute I return.”
“I’ll wait in my rooms,” she began, then remembered. “Blast it, I can’t. I won’t be here. I’ve got the Farthingtons’ dinner party tonight, and I promised Jo I’d be there. She’s sweet on Lord Farthington’s son, I think, and she wants me to meet him. It would be a good match for her. She’ll be terribly disappointed if I miss it, but—”
“Don’t miss it. We can talk tomorrow morning. The Calais-Méditerranée express doesn’t even leave from Dover until the afternoon, so we have plenty of time to…” He stopped and took a deep breath. “To say goodbye.”
Don’t make it harder for him than it needs to be, she told herself firmly.He doesn’t need that now.
“Come to my office first thing,” she said. “I’m always at my desk by nine. Now, go,” she urged when he hesitated. “You won’t be able to arrange anything standing here.”
He nodded and turned away, and as she watched him go, she felt a strange, unmistakable foreboding about his departure for Cairo.
What if he doesn’t come back?
At once, she tried to shove the question aside, but no matterhow she tried, she couldn’t, because she knew, better than anyone, that nothing in life was sure. She also knew, as she watched him walk away, that she loved him, too. And now, just as she was figuring that out, he was leaving, walking out of her life again before she even had the chance to tell him how she felt, and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.
Or was there?
Kay considered the question as she watched him exit the front doors of the hotel and vanish. She’d decided to take charge of her own life, hadn’t she? She’d resolved to start going after what she really wanted, hadn’t she? Well, perhaps it was time to put those fine resolutions to the test. Her mind made up, Kay turned and marched toward the lift.
Devlin returned to the Mayfair at midnight. He’d spent most of his evening sending cables to Cairo and waiting for replies, but it wasn’t until an hour ago that he had gotten any definitive news from his secretary.
Fire out but hotel and dock total loss. No one dead. Some boats may be salvageable. Insurance company notified. Need you here posthaste.
—Morse
Devlin set the cables on his dressing table, staring at the top one, both relieved and worried. Mercifully, no one had been killed,because in June, the hotel was nearly empty. In January, it would have been different. Every room would have been occupied, and the death toll could have been catastrophic.
The investors would be worried, nervous. He knew he had to get home as quickly as possible and take charge. Morse was a good man, but a secretary couldn’t pacify a group of skittish businessmen. He’d have to assess the damage, meet the insurance agent, make a plan of how to rebuild…
Naked, he fell into bed, his body tired, his mind still reeling. Cook’s had made his travel arrangements by the quickest route possible. He’d be home in a week.
But what about Kay?
He rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. He hated to leave her now, just when he felt as if their future together had a chance. She hadn’t said she loved him, and that hurt, he had to admit. He’d wondered in that moment if she’d ever fall back in love with him the way he had with her. But he had shut that pessimistic fear down at once, refusing to indulge it, reminding himself that all he could do was hope that, given time and a patient, gradual courtship, she’d come to feel as he did. But now, there was no time.
He gave a groan and rolled onto his stomach, burying his face in his folded arms. Was Fate ever going to give them a chance? he wondered in despair.
The soft tap on the sitting room door lifted his head.Kay, he thought, and though he knew it was more likely to be additional news from Cairo, his heart gave a leap of joy and he was out of bed like a shot.
He’d only taken three steps, however, before he remembered he didn’t have any clothes on. Cursing, he stepped back, and grabbed adressing robe, sliding into it and tying the sash as he crossed to the sitting room door and opened it.
His first guess had been right, for it was indeed Kay who was standing in the corridor, her glorious hair loose around her shoulders, a lamp in her hand. She was also, he noted, looking down, wearing nothing but a nightgown and robe.
He didn’t know if he was ecstatic or dismayed, but he did know one thing.
“God, woman,” he muttered, hauling her inside before some other hotel guest decided to use the corridor bathroom in the middle of the night, came out of their room, and saw her hovering at his door in a state of undress. “This is becoming quite a habit with you,” he added as he shut the door behind her. “What are you doing here at this hour?”
She set the lamp on the table beside the door. “Is there any news?”
He stared, nonplussed. “You came to my room at this hour to ask me that?”
“Yes.” She paused, touching her tongue to her lips as if they were dry, making his desire for her, the desire he’d been desperately banking all day, flicker to dangerous life. “Among other things.”
He met her eyes, resolving he would not look at her luscious mouth again, or anything below it either. “The fire’s out,” he said, keeping his gaze firmly locked with hers. “No one died.”
“That’s good. When… when do you go?”
“I’m not leaving until noon tomorrow, so we’ll have plenty of time to see each other in the morning and say goodbye. Now,” he added, taking her by the elbow and reaching for the doorknob, “if that’s all…”
