“Well, yes,” he said, humor in his tone. “That happens when a gentleman finds a woman most attractive…”
“No, notthat,” she snorted, leaning back and looking at him. “On the back of my calf.” She blinked again. “Something sharp…”
Stepping back with a frown, Max pulled her away with him, only to see a large chunk of bark sticking out from the bottom of the trunk, along with others in the area. He bent down, putting his hand on the tree to steady himself.
Which, given the immediate creaking sound, was an unwise idea.
“Oh no,” Kitty stared. “Max, getback…” She grabbed his jacket and pulled him toward her.
As she did so, the sturdy little tree against which she had leaned while enjoying an amazingly erotic interlude, sighed, cracked, and finally fell down with a sad whispery thud.
“We killed it,” she said. “We killed a tree.”
“Only a little one, thank God,” Max blew out a breath. “If it had been any bigger, it might have taken out half the windows in here. That would not have been healthy for the plants or us.”
“Still…” She couldn’t drag her eyes away from the sight of the once upright tree, now prone on the tiled floor and surrounded by a mess of leaves and twigs.
“It paid the price for your pleasure, Kitty. A great gift.”
She gathered her wits. “Oh good Lord,” she sniffed. “Don’t be nonsensical, Max. It must have had some sort of rot around the roots.”
“I know a few people of whom I could say the same,” he answered.
She looked at him then, really looked at him, his lips curved into a wry smile, humor alight in his gaze. This was the man who had touched her so intimately, had given her pleasure like nothing she could have imagined, and yet here he was, so nonchalant, as if he’d just uttered abon motin front of a roomful of dowagers.
“You amaze me,” she murmured.
“You must tell me why,” he grinned, taking her arm and putting it through his own. “In great detail, of course. Don’t leave out a thing.”
“We must go back,” she sighed.
“I know.” He walked her away from the deforestation. “But make no mistake, Kitty. This is a beginning, not an end. Not for us.”
She detected a note of iron in his tone and wondered at it. But the music grew in volume and the sounds of the world insinuated themselves back into her consciousness as they approached the ballroom. There was no chance for her to think, to consider her next words.
So she merely nodded. Once.
It was suddenly the most important thing in the world for her to believe in what he said.
