Diamonds and Deceptions by Marie Ferrarella

Author:Marie Ferrarella
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2004-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

The small coffee shop he took her to was doing brisk business, despite the hour and the fact that it was a weekday and the next morning stood waiting in the wings with all that that entailed. It took a while before they finally got their order.

Brooke didn’t mind standing in line with Mark, didn’t mind waiting on the side until the order was filled. She wouldn’t have minded standing anywhere, as long as it was with him.

The day had been hot. Evening brought with it a slight lessening in the sticky humidity, but the air still moved as if it had been soaked in warm molasses.

She thrilled to the feel of his hand against the small of her back as he guided her to a table for two just outside the coffee shop’s front doors.

“I’d have thought there wouldn’t be so many people drinking coffee this time of night.” She could feel her heart all but jumping at his touch and tried very hard to keep her voice steady. “I guess it’s never too late for trendy coffee.”

He nodded his head in response, and she wondered if perhaps he was regretting agreeing to come out like this. She should have gone with her first instincts and just made coffee at the shop.

Sitting down, she looked at him, waiting until he took his seat. She didn’t want to lose the moment, didn’t care what he talked about, as long as he talked.

“So,” she began, leaning forward, “what did you think of Holden?”

The hazy air had shifted, moving in his direction. He could just detect a whiff of her perfume. Didn’t things like that have a time limit? Weren’t they supposed to fade after a few hours? He could swear that he’d been breathing in the light scent all day, and at this point, he was dangerously on overload.

Dangerously at the point where reason was slipping into the shadows, deserting him.

He picked up his cup with both hands and concentrated on her questions, not on what he wanted to do. “It was entertaining.”

She laughed and he looked at her. “You hated him, didn’t you?”

For an innocent she could be very intuitive. “Hate is a little strong.”

She cocked her head, her hair sweeping along her shoulder. He held on to his cup a little tighter. “Disliked a lot?”

He shrugged and took a sip. Bypassing the trendy coffee, he’d ordered espresso. As if sitting beside her wasn’t enough of an adrenaline kick. “He wasn’t worth the effort for emotion.”

She liked the sound of that. Liked what it said. In a way he’d succeeded in neatly putting the author in his place.

“I guess you’re right. Although I’m sure he thinks so.”

He had a hunch that she knew that for a firsthand fact, but said nothing on the subject. Instead he took another sip of his coffee, then said, “And he seems to have a lot of the audience buying into it, as well.”

Almost all of the audience had been comprised of women, a good many over the age of forty.

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