Three Wishes(59)

He faced her. “We’re done talking through solicitors,” he informed her.

“Alistair says –” she started, her body going rigid as if girding for attack.

“I don’t care what Alistair says,” Nate cut her off.

“Well I do.”

“We need to talk,” Nate patiently repeated himself.

“We’ve nothing to say,” Lily retorted, breaking out of her statue-like stance and starting for the couch to retrieve the albums.

As she passed him Nate caught her by the elbow and halted her. She tilted her head to look at him, her eyes beginning to fire.

“Nate, take your hand off me.”

He ignored her and kept his hand where it was. He was not about to let this opportunity pass.

Suddenly he said quietly, “Thank you for naming Natasha after me.”

She blinked at him. Then she blinked again.

He took advantage of her momentary confusion. “Thank you for making her so lovely,” he murmured softly.

Her mouth dropped open.

Then he said what he’d been wanting to say for twenty hours.

“I thought you left me.”

Her mouth snapped shut, her eyes closed down and she pulled her arm free.

“We’re not talking about this,” she stated flatly.

Nate went on. “I came home and you were gone, everything was gone. I thought you’d left me.”

“Why on earth would I leave you?” she snapped, obviously not wanting an answer and her body noted she’d dismissed the subject. It did this by moving toward the sofa but he caught her again and gently pulled her back toward him.

Her eyes moved to his hand on her arm. “Nate, I asked you not to touch me.”

She was trying to twist her arm free but he kept his hand there, just above her elbow, far away from the bruises.

“I thought you left me,” he said again, needing her to hear it, needing her to understand it.

“You said that already,” she clipped, tilting her head back and there was definitely fire there now, it was mingled with weariness, but it was there.

This pleased Nate. It pleased him very much.

“Jeff must have taken the note, if I’d known –”

She interrupted him, making a sharp, frustrated noise in her throat. Giving up on freeing her arm, she decided simply to move her body away from him and took a step back.

He didn’t allow this either. His hand slid down her arm and before she knew what he was doing, his fingers laced in hers and her drew her closer.

She shook her head, her hand pulling at his saying, “It doesn’t matter now, it was a long time ago. It’s over.”

She was staring at the couch, staring at the albums, clearly wanting to carry on with her task.

Nate continued, determined. “My secretary was ill, I had a temp. She lost messages.”

Lily shook her head again, equally determined to ignore him.

“I moved, we were moving, I’d bought a new flat. I hadn’t mentioned it because we were too busy with…” he paused and went on, “other things. I was going to tell you that night I came home, that night you left.”

She tried to tug her hand free, her head no longer shaking from side to side but jerking. If she put her hands to her ears at that moment, he wouldn’t have been surprised.

He tightened his hand in hers. “If I’d known I wouldn’t have returned your calls.”

At this announcement, her eyes flew to his, her head stopped swinging and his other hand went to her waist.

Nate finished. “I would have flown to Indiana to be with you. Lily, I’m sorry about your parents.”

She looked into his eyes and he saw the sorrow flash in hers, whether it was at his desertion or her parents loss or both, he did not know but at the sight of it, the strength of it, he felt it settle somewhere deep within him.

Then her eyes cleared and the shutters came down.

“Thank you, Nate,” she said carefully, with studied politeness. “Now, are you finished?”

“No,” he said calmly, watching her closely.

The shutters flew open again.

“Well I am,” she snapped, “no more talking!”

She again tried to jerk her hand free but he tugged it gently but forcefully and at this unexpected pull, she came forward on her toes falling into him. Her hand went to his chest to break her fall. He felt it where it touched him, searing through his shirt like a brand and his other arm immediately closed around her waist.

“No more talking?” he asked, his tone, as well, deceptively polite.

“That’s right. No more talking,” she agreed, struggling to pull fee.

In a flash, he decided to play a dangerous game, to take a risk, to move ten steps forward before the door in front of him was even opened the barest crack. He could, he knew, slam right into it. Or it could open at the last minute and let him enter.

He weighed his options in mere seconds and took the risk

“All right, Lily,” he replied gently, “we were never very good at talking.”

And then his head began to descend slowly toward hers.

As he came closer, she arched her back against his arm to get away from him, her eyes wide with disbelief.

“What are you doing?” Lily asked.

His hand released hers and stole around her, creeping up her back to press between her shoulder blades and bring her back to him.