Night's Touch. Amanda Ashley

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СКАЧАТЬ he closed his eyes and took his rest.

      Cara woke the next morning with a smile on her face and a fluttery feeling in the pit of her stomach. Tonight, she would see Vince. She giggled at the thought. Was this what it was like to be in love? She bounded out of bed and then, arms outstretched, she twirled around and around, then fell back on the bed again. She was going to see Vince in…she glanced at the clock and groaned. It was only ten-thirty! Eleven hours until she would see him. If she knew where he worked, she could stop in and surprise him, she thought, and then sighed. He might not like that. Some men didn’t like to be bothered at work, so it was probably just as well that she didn’t know where his shop was.

      She took a quick shower, dressed, and went downstairs to fix breakfast. As usual, the house was quiet. The words “quiet as a tomb” whispered through the back of her mind. Frowning, she wondered where that thought had come from.

      She read the paper while she ate a leisurely breakfast, then lingered over a cup of coffee. After putting her dishes in the dishwasher, she went upstairs to brush her teeth and put on her makeup.

      Di Giorgio was waiting for her when she went out to the garage. He nodded at her, then got into his car and followed her to the library.

      She had often wondered what her parents paid him to be her bodyguard. He rarely got a day off. It had to be the most boring job in the world, following her around, sitting in the library when she was at work, sitting outside her house on her days off. She doubted he had much of a social life. He certainly wasn’t married. After all, what woman would be content with a husband that was hardly ever home? She suddenly felt ashamed of herself. Di Giorgio had been her bodyguard since she was twelve years old and she didn’t know a thing about him except that he had come to the United States from Sicily when he was in his mid-twenties. She had always thought of him as a necessary evil, like going to the dentist.

      She pulled into her parking space, waved at Di Giorgio as she got out of the car, and almost laughed out loud at the surprised look on his face. She vowed then and there to be nicer to him in the future.

      She nodded at the other workers as she moved through the library. They were a nice bunch of ladies. Most of them were in their forties or fifties and they all mothered her. A couple of them flirted with Frank. They grilled her about his private life and asked her to give Frank their phone numbers. Cara found it amusing. Secretly, she wished that Frank would call Mary Garfield, but Frank didn’t seem interested in Mary or any of the other women.

      Cara spent the better part of the afternoon returning books to the proper shelves. As the day wore on, she caught herself constantly looking at the clock.

      “You must have a big date tonight,” Sarah Beth Coleman remarked with a smile. Sarah Beth was Cara’s best friend. She was married to a police officer and pregnant with their first child.

      “Why do you say that?”

      “I’ve never known you to be a clock-watcher before. Have you met someone new?”

      The ladies in the library were always asking her that, hoping she would find a “nice young man” and settle down.

      “I have,” Cara said, unable to keep from smiling at the mere thought of him.

      Sarah Beth took her by the hand and drew her deeper into the stacks. “What’s his name? What’s he like? When do I get to meet him?

      Cara laughed. “I really don’t know anything about him. I just met him last night, but he seems wonderful. He’s so nice, and so handsome…”

      “Sounds like love at first sight to me,” Sarah Beth said with a teasing grin.

      “Was that how it was with you and Dean?”

      Sarah Beth nodded. “Yes. I took one look at him and I knew he was the one.”

      “I’m meeting Vince tonight after work. I can hardly wait.”

      Sarah Beth gave her a quick hug. “I’ll expect a full report tomorrow.”

      Around eight-thirty, things slowed down. Cara sat at her desk, idly drawing hearts and writing her name and Vince’s inside. It was such a high-school kind of thing to do, but she couldn’t seem to stop, couldn’t help noticing how well their names looked together. She drew a new heart and wrote Mr. and Mrs. Cordova inside.

      Vince. She didn’t know anything about him except how he made her feel.

      At five minutes to nine, she cleared her desk and grabbed her coat, told the ladies good night, and practically bolted out the door. Frank Di Giorgio wasn’t far behind.

      It was nine-thirteen when she pulled up in front of The Nocturne. No doubt she would get a serious lecture from Di Giorgio about the dangers of speeding sometime in the near future, but she’d worry about that later.

      Looking in the rearview mirror, she applied fresh lipstick, ran a brush through her hair, took a deep breath, and then got out of the car.

      Di Giorgio followed her as she walked under the black canopy and down the stairs. The man in the hooded black cloak looked her over carefully, then murmured, “Welcome back, mistress.”

      Cara smiled faintly, thinking his raspy voice sounded like it belonged to someone who had been dead for a hundred years.

      She stopped inside the entrance, letting her eyes adjust to the dim light, then walked around the edge of the dance floor to the bar. There was a vacant stool at the end and she sat down, her gaze moving around the room.

      What if he didn’t show up?

      “Hey, it’s about time you got here.”

      Startled, she almost fell off the bar stool. “Vince! Where did you come from?”

      “My mama?”

      “Very funny. How did you sneak up on me like that?”

      “Dunno. Just quiet on my feet, I guess.” He smiled a roguish smile. “You’re early.”

      “So are you.”

      “I know. I couldn’t wait.” His gaze moved over her from head to foot. She looked good enough to eat, he thought. Literally. She smelled good, too, like a fragrant breeze on a warm summer day.

      “Me, either.”

      “How was your day?” he asked.

      “Not very productive. I kept returning books to the wrong shelf.”

      “Why is that?”

      Her gaze slid away from his. “I couldn’t concentrate. All I could think about was meeting you.”

      “Ah, Cara.”

      She looked up at him, her eyes wide and innocent. Damn, he wanted to take her home and make love to her all night long, and that was just wrong, because she wasn’t the kind of girl to settle for a one-night stand and he couldn’t offer her any more than that.

      Damn! What was he doing here? There was no way they could have any kind of relationship. She was everything that was good and pure and he…he should be staked for what he was СКАЧАТЬ