LITMIR.BIZ

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having her here, not telling her about his project.

      “Has the architect finished the plans?” Amanda asked as they walked toward the old farmhouse again.

      “Almost.” Nick grinned. “I keep thinking of new things I’d like to add.”

      “When will the factory open?”

      “Early next year,” Nick said. “I’m projecting it will turn a profit within two years.”

      “Two years?” she asked, her eyes wide.

      He grinned. “I like to think long-term.”

      “I guess you do.”

      “Hungry?” Nick asked as they reached the shade of the oak tree. He gestured to the hamper. “I had the cooks prepare something for us. No easy task, with all the wedding preparations under way.”

      Amanda spread the blanket on the soft grass and sat down. Nick joined her, the hamper separating them.

      A light breeze stirred the wisps of hair at Amanda’s temples and her cheeks glowed a pale pink as she looked off across the field. Nick couldn’t keep his gaze away. It was the first time he’d been to the old Whitney farm and found anything more interesting than the land itself.

      Amanda turned back to him and saw that he’d been watching her. She flushed slightly and dropped her gaze. Nick thought her the most lovely woman he’d ever seen.

      “Let’s see what we have here,” he said, briskly opening the hamper.

      Inside was cheese and bread, some cold meat, fruit and a bottle of wine. Amanda set out the plates and cutlery while Nick filled their glasses.

      “Do you intend to employ women in your factory?” Amanda asked.

      Nick bit off a chunk of bread. “Men and women working alongside each other? I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

      “That sounds a bit old-fashioned for a man building a factory meant to take us into the next century,” Amanda said, sipping the wine.

      He shrugged. “Yes, I suppose it does.”

      “Well?”

      Nick shook his head. “I don’t know…”

      “At least say you’ll think about it.”

      “I’ll think about it,” he promised. “For you.”

      Amanda smiled, and Nick couldn’t help smiling back.

      “So,” he said, helping himself to the fruit, “what made you decide to build this women’s refuge?”

      “I saw a need and wanted to fill it.” She gestured toward the open field. “Sort of like your factory.”

      He sensed her evasiveness and again found himself desperate to know what thoughts lay in Amanda’s mind.

      He sipped his wine. “I think there’s more to it than that.”

      Amanda paused. “Do you?”

      “Yes. And I’d like to know the whole story.” Nick grinned. “Besides, you trust me, remember? And I’m your new best friend.”

      Amanda set her plate aside and studied him. At first, it irked Nick a bit that she wouldn’t simply tell him what he wanted to know. Did she not trust him? Could she believe he wasn’t genuinely interested?

      “All right, I’ll tell you,” Amanda finally said, leaving him feeling that he’d accomplished something with her. “You arranged my escape from the house today. I suppose I owe you.”

      Nick pushed the hamper aside and scooted a little closer to her on the blanket. But she gazed off across the field again, and for a moment he wondered if she really would tell him.

      Finally, she looked back at him. “My father died when I was eleven years old. Mother was quite devastated, of course. She was also quite unprepared to make a life for us. She’d never worked. She had no skills, no training. Nothing that would allow her to get any sort of decent job.”

      Nick shifted on the blanket. What Amanda was telling him was something highly personal and surely painful. Maybe he’d have been better off letting it alone, not insisting she tell him. Then, just as quickly, he disregarded the notion. He wanted to know everything there was to know about Amanda.

      “It didn’t take long before the little money my father left us was gone,” Amanda said. “We lost our home. Mother didn’t want to accept charity.”

      “But what about your uncle? The man’s worth a fortune.”

      “Yes, but Uncle Philip was a distant relative of my father’s, and Mother didn’t know him,” Amanda said. “Finally, though, when things got really bad, she sent me to live there.”

      “Why didn’t she come herself?”

      “As I said, Mother wouldn’t take charity,” Amanda told him. “For me, yes. But not for herself.”

      “But still…”

      Amanda thought for a moment. “I think Mother was intimidated by them. Their money, their lifestyle. She knew she wouldn’t fit in.”

      “But she sent you?”

      “She never intended for me to stay with them. She simply wanted them to take care of me until she could get on her feet and make a home for the two of us.”

      “But that never happened?”

      Amanda glanced away. “No. She died.”

      “I’m so sorry,” Nick whispered, and had never meant anything more in his life. Instinctively, he covered her hand with his. She felt fragile and small, her fingers warm against his skin. Amanda gave him a wan smile, then withdrew her hand, seemingly not comfortable with too much sympathy directed at her.

      Nick wondered why he’d never heard about Amanda’s background when she’d first come to live with the Van Pattons. Their families had been close. Why had he not known these things about her?

      Amanda drew in a deep breath, as if pushing the old memories to the recesses of her mind, where they belonged. “So, if Mother could have found decent work and a place to live, things would have turned out very differently for us.”

      “And you think you can right that wrong by building your refuge?”

      “Yes.”

      Nick studied her for a long moment, absorbing the determined spark in her eyes, the set of her jaw. He nodded. “I think you can, too.”

      “You do?” she asked, and seemed a little surprised. “You hardly know me.”

      “I know you well enough to see that once you put your mind to something, Amanda, you’ll see it through. Which,” Nick said, “is a quality I very much admire.”

      Another shy smile tugged at her lips, pulling him even closer to her. Something about this woman called to him, intrigued him, lured him. He leaned forward, his gaze locked with hers, and kissed her.

      Nick’s heart thundered in his chest as he pressed his mouth against Amanda’s. He hadn’t known he was going to kiss her, hadn’t meant to do it. Yet it seemed the most natural thing in the world.

      Sweet. Oh, she tasted sweet. Slowly, Nick blended his lips with hers, savoring the feel of her, then pulled away.

      It was a chaste kiss. Nothing hot or sweaty or passionate. But heat pumped through Nick with an intensity he hadn’t expected.

      He looked at her face, inches from his. He felt her hot breath on his skin, and knew he wanted to kiss her again. More than that, he wanted to devour her. Smother her with the passion suddenly boiling inside him.

      Nick drew back from her. Her pink lips were wet, her cheeks flushed and her blue eyes wide. Everything about Amanda summoned him, beckoned him to lean forward again,

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