Winning Her Love by Harmony Evans

Author:Harmony Evans
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-08-15T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Thirty minutes later, Gregory and Vanessa walked out of city hall and past his car. Most people had driven to the meeting and had already gone home. The streets were deserted, and the shops were closed.

He and Vanessa were alone again, and that was just fine with him.

The dark gray concrete sidewalks appeared slick and black. Mists of fog huddled around the old-fashioned streetlamps that curled over Ocean and Magnolia Avenues, lending an eerie glow.

“It’s like a ghost town around here at night,” Gregory commented.

Vanessa stuck her hand out, checking for more rain, but there was nary a drop.

“You get used to it,” she said with a shrug.

Her independence was appealing, even sexy. Yet ever since he’d started working with her, he’d felt a strong need to protect her. From what, he didn’t know. Bay Point was incredibly safe. Petty vandalism, traffic violations and old-timers getting hit with identity theft were the only occasional crimes.

He sensed she’d been hurt, in some way, by someone.

They strolled past the carousel. Shadows clustered in the love seats and between the tarnished copper poles. Even the jewels on the horses seemed dull in the darkness.

Gregory hoped that Vanessa wouldn’t launch into her “save the carousel” spiel. The hulking structure was a minefield between them that Gregory did not want to touch right now, or ever if he could help it.

He’d promised he wouldn’t tear it down if she could find a way to make it work. So far she hadn’t, and he wasn’t going to bring it up and remind her.

“I’ll walk you home,” he announced suddenly, breaking the silence. “I still want to get your impressions of the meeting.”

Vanessa stopped and stared at him a moment. “But your car is right here,” she said, pointing to where it was parked in front of the building.

“I’d rather walk.” He cocked his fedora low on his head. “These puddles make me feel like tap-dancing. All I need is a black umbrella.”

“And a soundtrack,” she added with a laugh. It was low and gentle, like an invisible breeze tickling a wind chime.

Gregory wanted to offer her the crook of his arm and twirl her around, slow and easy into the night.

“Your laugh is music enough to dance to. I don’t need anything else.”

Except you.

She eyed him cautiously, and rightly so. He was lying to her again, and to himself. He knew he wanted more than just to hear her laugh, much more than he was willing to express.

“Are you sure you don’t need anything else? What about votes?”

Gregory started to reply, then hesitated. It was difficult to tell from the tone of her voice whether she was teasing him or accusing him.

“I don’t know,” he finally admitted. “You tell me.”

She adjusted her purse and started walking. He allowed himself a moment to watch the gentle sway of her behind and then followed, easily catching up to her.

“Billingsly’s little show tonight didn’t help,” she said.

Gregory figured that, but deep down, what really mattered was Vanessa’s confidence in him.

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