Holiday Man by Brant Marilyn

Author:Brant, Marilyn [Brant, Marilyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: romance
Publisher: Twelfth Night Books
Published: 2012-11-10T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Columbus Day

“Did the birthday girl get my present?” Bram asked Shannon, long distance, of course, on October seventh.

“It’s absolutely lovely,” she said over a line so clear she might have been only across the courtyard. But she wasn’t.

Despite his original plans to return to Holiday Quinn for Columbus Day, he’d been called away to Italy on business. Venice this time, but the city’s romantic beauty was killing him this morning.

He stared out his hotel window overlooking San Marco’s Square, his gaze swinging toward the incomparable Grand Canal. Everywhere he looked, couples walked hand-in-hand through the bird-filled piazza or sat together in the distinctive black gondolas, which swept them off on an amorous ride. Venice was a city for pigeons and lovers.

Today, unfortunately, he was neither.

“I thought you might be able to wear it with that stunning cream-colored gown of yours, the one that has the golden straps,” he said, recalling the dress she’d dazzled him with on the night of the Valentine’s dance. “Every beautiful woman should have a Murano necklace to wear at least once a year.”

She chuckled. “Oh, I think I’ll have it on a lot more often than that. The beads are gorgeous. I can’t believe someone can make something this delicate out of glass and gold.” She paused. “Bram, thank you. It was the best gift.”

“You’re welcome. Wish I could’ve been able to give it to you in person.”

And he did. Ever since their September weekend getaway had ended on such an unsettling note, he’d craved an opportunity to be with her again—and at a place where they had a history of everything going well.

Holiday Quinn.

“I know,” she said, her voice wistful. “Me, too. But work is work, and at least yours takes you somewhere exotic.” She sighed. “I have almost two hundred guests coming this weekend, all of them expecting ‘The Voyage of Discovery’ that the Holiday Quinn brochure promises for Columbus Day, and I’m nowhere near ready.”

“Going to have little boat races with folded-paper Ninas, Pintas and Santa Marias?”

A laugh erupted from her on the other end of the line. “Yes, in fact. How did you guess? Of course, this’ll be for the Age Twelve and Under set, but still.” After a moment’s silence, she added, “When might you be able to come back?”

He heard the question beyond the question in her voice. He sensed she was really asking not merely when he was coming back but to what degree did he want to return.

In the weeks since Labor Day, their phone conversations, while sounding aloud almost as they had during the summer, now held an edge of carefulness. Maybe both of them had been out of their element when they were together in Madison. Maybe that accounted for this subtle discomfort between them…and her new questions within questions for him. Maybe that explained why, though he wanted her with a desire unmatched by what he’d ever experienced with another woman, he felt he needed to be a little more perceptive when it came to her reactions now, a little less certain of her responses.

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