Through the Looking Glass by Kay Hooper

Author:Kay Hooper
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-11-09T04:50:32+00:00

"It was much pleasanter at home," thought poor Alice,

"when one wasn't always growing larger and smaller,

I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole—

and yet—and yet—it's rather curious, you know,

this sort of life!"

Six

Gideon didn't know what to say. He gazed down into her face, and it was the face that had in so short a time become so fascinating to him, the face that haunted even his dreams. The face that was, now, serene and nakedly vulnerable, unmasked, unguarded.

Innocent.

My God, he thought, she can't be—"You've never been in love before?" he asked slowly.

"No."

"Then . . . that is ... you've never—?"

"No," she answered steadily.

As he'd told her earlier, he hadn't really thought much beyond today. To become her lover—yes, he wanted that. He wanted that so badly that his first impulse was to ignore her warning. But in his life, professional and personal, every risk tended to be weighed carefully before an action was taken. And even though he had decided to play by her lack of rules, he couldn't ignore his basic intellectual way of viewing and dealing with the world.

To be her first lover . . . He'd heard it said that a woman never forgot her first lover; was that what she meant? They would both be marked by the taking of innocence? No, he thought. Nothing so simple.

"You're saying 111 hurt you," he said. The music stopped then. Appropriate, Gideon thought.

"No, that isn't what I'm saying." Maggie stepped back and away from him, then turned and preceded him from the dance floor. When they were sitting at their table again, she reached over to pat Leo's drowsy head. "He's half asleep. The milk, I guess."

"Maggie, look at me."

She did, smiling. "I'm not saying you'll hurt me, Gideon. At least not intentionally. I'm just saying that, for me, you're forever. And despite my flaky appearance, I'm quite conventional about some things. Romantic, I suppose. I've waited this long because no man was forever. You are. There won't be anyone else for me."

"You can't know that."

"Of course I can. I told you. We only love once. Like wolves and hawks, we mate for life. If you consider that a burden, then you'd better go back to San Francisco now."

"You're just trying to get me away from the carnival for a while," he said, hoping that was it.

Her smile faded, and she shook her head slightly. "No. And I don't want you to think it. Gideon, finding Merlin's killer is important to me, but you're more important. I don't want you to leave, even though I don't like the fact that somebody's watching you, and I'd probably have an easier job of it if you did go. But I'm talking about the two of us, not what's going on around us. And I'm not playing a game, with or without rules. I'm simply telling you the truth."

"That you love me."

She nodded. "That I love you."

He eyed her. "Will I sleep in your wagon tonight?"

^'If you want to."

"In your bed?"

"I'd like that," she said simply, with all the trusting anticipation of innocent longing.

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