French Silk(150)

"I don't know," she said airily. "The last thing I need is another adoptee. What would I do with you?"

"You could acquaint me with the Vieux Carré, which you love, which is as much a part of you as your heartbeat. Teach me French. Talk over ideas for French Silk. Discuss my more interesting cases. Listen to me gripe. Go out for ice cream. Neck in public places."

"In other words be your companion and lover."

"Exactly."

They kissed in the balmy twilight. Several blocks away, a saxophone bleated out the blues. Someone living nearby was cooking with filé and cayenne pepper. The spicy aromas permeated the air.

Cassidy opened her suit jacket and covered her breast with a possessive hand. Their kiss deepened. Claire rubbed her bent knee against his fly, and he murmured her name with arousal.

When they paused for breath, he said, "You're a fascinating woman, Claire Louise Laurent. The most intriguing. The most mystifying."

"Not any longer, Cassidy." She took his face between her hands. "You know all my secrets now. Everything. I hope that you can understand and appreciate why I lied to you so many times. I had to. I had to protect Mama from any more pain."

He assumed that darkly intense expression that she associated with him and had come to love. "I've never known a woman—or a man, for that matter—who had such a capacity to love that she would sacrifice her life. I know that's the way it's supposed to be, but until I met you I thought it was an unattainable ideal. What I want to know is, does that love extend to me?"

She kissed him softly. "I've loved you from the day I met you, Cassidy. I was afraid of you and contemptuous of the system you represented, but I loved you."

"I haven't got much to offer you," he said ruefully. "What I mean is, I'm not as wealthy as you. I love my work. I'm good at it, but I'm not an entrepreneur. As long as I'm in public service, there'll be a ceiling on my earning capacity." His eyes moved over her face, scanning every feature. Then he whispered, "But I love you, Claire. God knows I do. Will you marry me?"

"How unfair," she said breathlessly, when he bent his head to her breasts. "You're asking me at a weak moment."

"Will you?"

"Yes."

Anxiously and clumsily, they grappled with clothing until she was astride his lap. When she sank upon his hard shaft, their sighs rose into the evening air.

* * *

The saxophone began another soulful song. Someone named Desiree was called to supper. A blue jay flew into the courtyard, perched on the basin of the fountain, and drank from the puddle of rainwater. On a breath of breeze, the leaves of the clinging wisteria rustled against the ancient brick wall and startled the chameleon into taking cover.

And the glider's rhythmic squeaking escalated until, with a shudder and a sweet sigh, it fell silent and settled into repose.