In Defiance of Duty by Caitlin Crews

Author:Caitlin Crews
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-05-04T12:29:30.243143+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

SHE had everything to lose, Kiara thought some time later. But that wasn’t something she could tell him, not without admitting how lost he made her feel, or how easily he could have made her stay with him in Washington, had he only pressed the issue.

They sat together out on the wide stone terrace that overlooked the gardens and the winery’s busy cellar door, watching the summer tourists come in flocks and buses and even on foot to sample the Frederick wines and the food they served in the small, adjacent restaurant.

The day was impossibly perfect all around them, as if it was colluding with Kiara to show off the beauty of the valley to Azrin, to demand he take notice. They had debated Azrin’s absurd idea in the sitting room for a long time, until Kiara had been sure her head was going to break into pieces, and they’d agreed, finally, to take a break from it. A small negotiated oasis of peace.

“Surely,” Azrin had drawled in that sardonic way of his, “we are not so lost to each other that we cannot enjoy each other’s company. If only for a little while.”

“Surely,” Azrin had drawled in that sardonic way of his, “we are not so lost to each other that we cannot enjoy each other’s company. If only for a little while.” There had been no particular reason for that remark to set her teeth on edge, and yet it had.

Nevertheless, Kiara had taken Azrin on a tour of the vineyards, showing him all the ways Frederick Winery had changed since he’d last been here for any serious length of time, back when they’d started dating. She couldn’t pretend that there wasn’t a huge part of her that was trying to prove something to him as she did it.

Look at the scale of our operation, perhaps. Pay attention to how I’m needed here, and why, she’d said without using the words, with every single vine and barrel she’d pointed out to him.

Azrin, of course, had said nothing. He’d only watched and listened, had seemed to consider the things she’d showed him, with that intense focus of his that made her heart seem to work harder in her chest.

After the impromptu tour, they’d sat down for a simple lunch full of local flavor that Kiara had pulled together from the usual reserves in the chateau’s kitchen.

She’d put thick slices of freshly baked bread, a few German sausages and a selection of local cheeses on a platter. Then she’d fished a bit of pear chutney from the pantry and, after a moment’s thought, a particularly spicy beetroot relish, as well. She’d added small bowls of almonds and olives, and a dish of salted olive oil to dip the bread in.

Neither one of them wanted wine despite the fact there was so much of it available; a necessary precaution in her case, Kiara reasoned, given Azrin’s historic ability to run roughshod right over her even without any wine involved.

Or was

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