LITMIR.BIZ

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would have run the first car out of the drive. She hated visitors.

      The whispering crowd hushed, parting like the Dead Sea as I approached Allie.

      She hadn’t noticed the decrescendo of voices, as she gestured and nodded.

      The women’s thoughts were almost synonymous.

      She’s so sweet; you can’t hate her for having it all.

      We’ll be great friends. I can tell.

      I can’t believe I thought she’d be snooty.

      She’s gorgeous. Doesn’t even need that makeup. Pay attention to what she’s saying. Quit lusting, Bill. The guy’s thoughts were considerably more troubling, but this was something I’d have to contend with in loving a woman as strikingly beautiful as Allie was, inside and out. So tonight I wouldn’t kick anyone in the throat.

      Who could blame them? Hadn’t I responded the same way?

      I stood five feet behind Allie as she continued in light, happy conversation. She rarely wore her hair up. It was the fashion when we’d first met in the late 1860s, and though it was appealing, tonight, loose curls fell down her back.

      Why is everyone looking behind me? Her heart rate steepened and an instant swell of pheromones thickened the air. Is he here? Allie straightened and glanced around.

      She turned and my breath caught between my throat and my amazement that she could become even more beautiful in a few weeks’ time.

      Two-inch silver stilettos.

      Long, toned, tanned legs.

      A black dress that cupped every curve as if it had been painted onto her with intimate strokes.

      A simple diamond necklace led my gaze straight into the swell of the two most perfectly formed—

      In through the nose. Out through the mouth.

      Curls framed a look of intrigue tempting me more than she ever had. My imagination had placed her in an infinitely more provocative eveningwear, but her black dress enticed me more than any deep-bodice dress. At twenty-one, she was even more voluptuous and curvy.

      Her circle opened and accepted me in. The women, gladly, and the men, a little less eager.

      “Is this your fiancé?” One of the ladies gave me a warm but speculative smile and poked out a hand.

      Allie’s heart stuttered. The weight of her gaze pressed against me. She stared down at the clear contents of her wineglass.

      Fiancé? This was news. I’d planned some elaborate proposal, but this would do just as well. My only concern was whether she’d still want to go through with it after she learned—

      “I was beginning to worry he wouldn’t make it back in time for the ceremony. Tina Ari. Pleased to make your acquaintance,” another lady said. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity. Why do all the hot men have to be either gay or off the market? Or serial killers?

      A hint of a grin adorned Allie’s face, but a flash of wrath sparked in her eyes. When we’re alone, I was sure to experience the flame of her anger.

      I searched for her thoughts to prepare myself, but I was somehow blocked. She narrowed her gaze as she considered me.

      A lady’s elegant hand poked out before me. “I’m Christie Kelly Tutherow. I own the neighboring plantation.”

      “Cole Kinsley. Nice to meet you.” I shook her hand. I’d heard of her. The Kellys had married into the Tutherow family, and without an heir to their fortune the family name had changed.

      With my gaze darting between the people, I tried my damnedest to dig even further into Allie’s mind. Nothing. Intensifying the pressure of my mind into hers, she was all that existed in my line of view or my depth of hearing.

      Allie batted her eyelashes in my direction. Her tone was slightly resentful, yet pleasant. “Hello.”

      I was verbally paralyzed. So I leaned in to kiss her cheek.

      Her sun-kissed skin was hot under my lips.

      Whew. The sky was blue. The grass was green.

      I breathed the way I’d practiced at the hotel and focused on the light behind her. The ache in my joints subsided.

      “I hate to be rude, but would you excuse us?” Allie took my arm.

      The group raised their glasses and gave excusing nods. Whispers began again, and the volume of the crowd increased to the same previous dull roar as they sent us curious, amused glances.

      I stood there dumbly. What had I been about to do? Had she said something?

      Her skin glowed, and her eyes sparkled as she stepped up beside me.

      “We need to go someplace private. It’s time I yell at you.” She squeezed my hand almost painfully tight and pulled me through the crowd.

      Here it came.

      “You didn’t answer my calls.” She kept her voice so no one else could hear.

      I tugged at my collar. “I couldn’t.”

      Every corner of the patio was filled with people.

      “You could have called me, texted me, used old-fashioned post.” Her voice was a tender whisper of ache.

      “I couldn’t do that, either.” I couldn’t look at her. Her full pouty lips would have undone all I’d worked on the past few weeks. And when I wrote, I tended to get very emotional and sometimes explicit in conveying my thoughts when it came to her. That wouldn’t have helped in trying to stave off the shift.

      I gave a few little ladies by the window of the east wing a warm smile as we stepped inside. “If I spoke to you, I would have been back here in your arms, and that would not have been good for you, my dear.”

      “You shouldn’t make my decisions for me. That’s one of the main things we fought over the last few weeks.” She let my hand go and walked in front of me, searching every room.

      I snorted drily. That was one of the things we’d fought about a hundred years ago too. Me making decisions for us. Maybe one day she’d see that I’d carried over a hundred years of wisdom with me, which qualified me as a better decision maker.

      The lighting sent sparkles through her dangly diamond earrings. They landed on her neck. Oh, to kiss that neck. Spikes of need impaled me. “Trust me, if I’d been home, you’d have been in danger. It was a terrible battle with only thoughts of you in my head to keep me company. If I’d been here, alone with you, you wouldn’t have been able to stop me from touching you. And then, I couldn’t be sure of what would happen.”

      People were clumped by the empty recess under the stairwell.

      “Damn. The ballroom. Surely, it’s not full.” Allie’s stubborn jaw was set.

      Great. Now she wouldn’t look at me at all.

      The ballroom was full.

      She tugged me into the library and into her office, a closet-sized room with a computer and screens showing enhanced views of all the areas of the property that could be easily breached by intruders. A security system update. Good call. I liked it. But that was a subject for later.

      The light perfume of Allie’s skin found me in the small enclosure. I trembled.

      Maybe ten television screens full of people all over the house and beyond would give me the illusion of being chaperoned.

      Allie turned on me, her eyes full of raw fury. “Where were you?”

      I undid my coat buttons. It was hotter in the security room. “Two towns over, a safe distance away.”

      Allie placed a finely manicured hand on her hip. “Where did you sleep?”

      “A motel.” Okay the jacket had to

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