Page 49 of Storm of Bells
He cleared his throat. ‘Yes. My thoughtsexactly.’
I nodded at him, earnestly. ‘What does itmatter if you smash years of cherished, long-held dreams in oneinstant and forever tarnish the memory of this supposedly happyevent? After all, we both know all that matters is the bottomline.’
‘Um. Indeed. I am gratified to hear that ourthoughts on the subject coincide, Miss Linton.’
‘So am I, so am I.’
‘So…if that is not the problem, why exactlydid you pull me in here?’
‘Well…’ I gazed at him fondly. ‘Just a littlematter that has occurred to me. I’d like to discuss it with you ifyou do not mind.’
‘Does it involve expenditures?’
‘None whatsoever.’
‘Then by all means, go ahead.’
‘Well…’ Smiling sweetly, I stepped towardshim. ‘It occurred to me that, since our wedding is fastapproaching, and we will soon be living together, we should startcalling each other by our first names.’
‘Hm. First names?’ He regarded me intently.‘Are you sure that’s all you wanted?’
‘Oh yes. It would not only be moreappropriate, but also more time-saving, especially if we useshortened versions. So, what do you say?’
‘Well…’ Considering, he stroked his chin. Thesight of his long, elegant finger stroking along that chiselled jawmade me want to reach out, but I kept myself tightly reined in.
Stay focused, Lilly. Think of Lady Samantha.This is important!
‘Hm.’ Once again, that finger stroked alonghis chiselled chin—then, he abruptly nodded. ‘As you wish. No onecan say I am an unreasonable person.’
Yes. Because you’d send Karim to take themout before they could manage to get a single word out.
I pounced. ‘So you agree? We’re on afirst-name basis now?’
‘Affirmative.’
A grin spread over my face. A grin of pure,delicious, devilish delight. ‘I’m so glad youagree…Dick.’
He froze.
‘Whatdid you say?’
Standing up on my tiptoes, I gave him a kisson the cheek. ‘Just your name, Dicky-Wicky.’
‘Miss Linton?’
‘Yes?’
‘Call me that one more time and…and…’
Silence.
More silence.
‘Damn!’
‘What is it?’ I asked innocently, although ofcourse I knew perfectly well what it was. He’d just realized theworst thing that could happen to a man about to enter a marriagehad befallen him: he had run out of threats.
Ice-cold eyes bored into me, seeing straightto the core of my devilish little soul.
