“Well, I would obviously take you in a fistfight.” His lips twitched when she rolled her eyes. “But there’s something about the way you approach life. You even turn the bad things that happen into an opportunity. I haven’t seen that kind of pure, unadulterated zest for life in a long time. So yes, it intimidates me.”
“You’ve taken me by surprise. If anything, I’m intimidated by your golden life.” She warmed to the topic, listing items on her fingers. “You live on First Hill, you own an automobile, you do whatever you want, and no one judges you for it, and you have a job for life.”
He raised his eyebrows at the last one. “You really shouldn’t be jealous of things I don’t even want.”
Disbelief boiled over, and she sliced her hand through the air. “Don’t do that. Do you know how hard I’ve worked to haveanyof those things? My whole life, my dreams have been met with nothing but disapproval. First my father, then my husband. And now that I’m on my own, I’mstillheld back by a society ruled by men. Have you completely forgotten that I cannot even write an article about women without a man’s approval?Yourapproval? Sodon’t do that.”
He stared at her with a look she couldn’t quite decipher. “You’re right, I’m sorry. My life isn’t as perfect as you assume, but I shouldn’t complain to you about what’s fair or unfair. Itismore difficult for women to accomplish anything outside the expectations of their gender, and I am proof of your difficulty.”
Rattled by his quick apology, her jaw unclenched. “Thank you. I appreciate you saying that.”
“Say, how do you know I live on First Hill?” A smile hovered on his lips. “Have you been asking about me?”
“Hardly.” Even as she scoffed, she wondered at his ability to joke right after being metaphorically eviscerated. Well, if he was a glutton for punishment, then so was she. The beach had become a dream-world, where anything could be said without consequences, where anything was possible—and she didn’t want to leave. “It’s common knowledge.”
“Is it?” He leaned back on an elbow. “What else do you know about me? My shoe size?”
“You’re daft.”
“Well?”
“Be careful what you wish for. I have an eye for details.”
“Impress me, then.”
She rearranged her hands in her lap and plunged forward. “You’re in the office most nights past the leaving hour, but you struggle to arrive on time. You keep a neat office except for one corner of your desk that has a perpetual stack of paper, and you use aMontaguefountain pen for your correspondence.”
“True enough.” He rubbed his chin. “But any secretary could learn that.”
Damn him, how did he know exactly what button to push to make her want to prove him wrong? “You prefer tweed suits, and your ties are most often a shade of blue. You write with your right hand, but you do every other task with your left. When you concentrate, a little ridge appears between your brows, and you lean forward when you listen, like you don’t want to miss a word. There, you’re doing it now.”
He glanced at his own posture and gave her a lopsided grin. “I was right. You’re terribly intimidating.”
Before she could reply, he rolled to his feet and moved to wash out the bucket in the surf. Winnie released a slow breath and dug a small hole in the sand with her finger. When Mack said things like that, her chest tightened with terrifying hope. No man ever listened to her like her opinions mattered, never apologized like her feelings were worth protecting, never complimented her beyond her appearance. Mack had praised hermind, and it was intoxicating.
Maybe he wasn’t like the rest, after all.
CHAPTER14
Mack finished scrubbing out the bucket and took a moment to appreciate the cold sea water and sand between his toes. He hadn’t expected to fall back into old habits so easily, especially since he hadn’t left the city much in the last few years. Seattle was growing so fast that there was always a new distraction, which was much preferable to visiting old haunts with painful memories of his father. But here he was, dredging up wilderness abilities as if they had never left.
He turned to find Winnie reclining against a tangle of driftwood, chewing idly on her fingernail while she contemplated the notebook in her lap. His blood stirred at the pretty picture—a fantasy he hadn’t known he had—and he was tempted to cover the short distance and suck her finger into his mouth. He shook his head ruefully.
After last night’s debacle, he needed to show more restraint. Winnie had revealed enough about her late husband to know her marriage hadn’t been very pleasant. It galled him to be compared to a past disappointment, and he was already thinking of ways he could distance himself from that image.
Starting with the surprise he’d brought from Seattle.
He sauntered to her side. “Want some dessert?”
“Ha, don’t I wish.”
“Seriously. Look what’s under my coat.”
Tossing him a curious look, she flipped his coat over and gasped when she found a rumpled, but intact blue box. “You went to Henri’s Patisserie?”
“Do you know it?” He kept his voice as nonchalant as possible, as if he hadn’t followed her to the pastry shop that day after the fire. He’d just wanted to make sure she got home safely, but witnessing her love of macarons had made the trip worth double.
“I recently discovered it. The macarons are to die for, but I’m sure whatever you brought will be equally delicious.”
