“Of course. Should we sit?”
“If you like, but this won’t take long.”
“Then I’ll stand.” With his back to the wall. Preferably wearing a blindfold. He gave himself good marks for not inviting her to see through his expression to his thoughts.
Lily folded her hands in front of her and took a deep breath. “I’ve been thinking about our conversation with Clay, specifically what I told him about you sleeping here tonight.”
“You’ve changed your mind. I understand.”
“No,” she said quickly. “That’s just it. I fully intend that you’ll sleep here.”
“And you’ll take the sofa.”
A vertical crease appeared between her eyebrows. “No. That won’t do; I realize that now.”
“Then we’ll both be here.” Roen tilted his head toward the bed. “There.”
“Not exactly,” she said. “I was thinking we would flip a coin for the bed. The loser gets the floor. There are plenty of blankets. It won’t be uncomfortable for whoever that is.”
“Hmm.” His eyes darted warily toward the floor. “Have you spent a night there?”
“No.”
“Then we should forgo the coin toss. I’ll take the floor. I have experience sleeping on the ground. This will be an improvement over doing it out of doors.”
Lily’s eyes were apologetic. “I know it’s not an ideal arrangement.”
Ideal? It was barely satisfactory. Again, Roen did not allow her to guess at what he was thinking. “It will work,” is what he said.
“Thank you. I had no idea that Clay and Hannah had notions that would complicate the terms of our agreement.”
“Truly? I seem to recollect mentioning that Hannah at least would expect there to be kissing.”
“You did, and reminding me you told me so is not an attractive feature.”
“So my sisters tell me.”
“It’s not really possible to stay angry with you.”
“So my sisters tell me.”
Lily rolled her lips inward to keep her amusement in check. Roen Shepard required no encouragement.
“It’s probably only a matter of time,” he said, “before someone mentions the absence of a ring.”
“Perhaps. Let us just agree for now that it will present another opportunity for you to say you told me so.”
He smiled a trifle crookedly. “So there is a silver lining.”
Lily turned to go.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” he asked.
“We arenotgoing to discuss the marital bed.”
“I was thinking about the instrument case. You offered to take it.”
“Oh.” Her cheeks warmed. “Yes, of course.”
