Page 58 of Christmas at Black Cherry Retreat
‘Hey, because I live in the backwoods of Tennessee doesn’t mean I’m an ignorant redneck.’ Tom’s effort to sound offended was belied byhis cheeky smile. ‘I do get out of Pine Ridge occasionally and even own a passport.’
‘Wow, I’m impressed,’ Fee teased, knowing they’d strayed away from the difficult topic of love and she was happy to keep it that way a while longer.
‘You’re changin’ the subject, pretty lady.’ Tom’s voice turned serious and his deep-set eyes bored into her. ‘You’ve got a lot of love to share, Fee,we both do. Are you willing to give it a go and see what happens? I am if you are.’ The wobble in his voice betrayed the fact he wasn’t as assured as he might seem. A slow smile crept across Tom’s face when she nodded. ‘I promise you won’t regret it.’
Pressing her fingers against his lips Fee shook her head. ‘Don’t promise me anything, that way I…’
‘Stop right there,’ he ordered,pulling back to glare at her again. ‘If I want to make you a promise I will and you can like it or lump it. I hope I’m an honourable man, Fee, and if you haven’t come across many of them before it’s not my fault.’
Tears pricked at her eyes and she quickly apologised.
‘Oh, sweetheart, I didn’t mean to yell.’
‘You didn’t. I…’
He looked so contrite she could’ve kissedhim. ‘All I was trying to say was that I promise never to deliberately hurt you.’ Uncertainty crept into his voice. ‘Is that enough for you?’
Fee nodded. ‘I’m happy to promise the same, if that’s enough for you?’
‘Sure is.’ Tom beamed and seized hold of her, drawing them into a passionate kiss and sending tingles all through her body. He let go and glanced at his watch with a ruefulsigh. ‘Darn. We need to go to the gate.’
Everything slammed back and she remembered what they were doing and all the other things she’d been worried about before spotting Tom lounged against the wall and scanning the crowd for her.
‘What’s wrong? ’
‘It’s not you. Honestly. I suppose it’s thinking about meeting Allain…’ She stopped right there. Beginning with another liewasn’t any way to make progress with Tom. ‘That’s not the complete truth. I rang my mother yesterday and we talked about Allain. She sounded worried about something. I’m not sure…’
‘They’re calling our flight,’ Tom interrupted as an announcement came over the loudspeakers. ‘We’d better go.’ He squeezed her hand. ‘I’m not putting you off, sweetheart. We don’t have long in Charlotte tocatch our connecting flight and we may not get the chance to talk properly until we get there.’ He frowned. ‘Is Dupre meeting you at the airport?’
Fee nodded, and hitched her backpack on again. ‘It’s okay. We’ll talk later.’ It wasn’t okay really but she’d left it too late to start the discussion. ‘Come on.’ By his hesitation she knew it wouldn’t take long for Tom to sit her back downand insist on talking and to hell with the flight. But if she didn’t go now she might lose her nerve completely.
