If he did any more thinking, his head was going to fall off.
Getting behind the wheel of his car, Chad had every intention of just going home and calling it a day.
But the prospect of facing another night tossing and turning, staring at his ceiling, had him heading his car east, instead of west. Before he could finish calling himself several kinds of fool, he was pulling into her driveway.
The instant he shut off the engine, the front door opened.
He expected to see Angela, but it wasn"t the housekeeper who walked out. It was Veronica.
He couldn"t read her expression.
For the first time in a week, her heart felt as if it was thawing out. He was here. Finally. "Took your time getting here."
He didn"t follow her. "You were expecting me?"
She shook her head as she threaded an arm through his and began to draw him inside. She"d been pa.s.sing the window when she"d seen his car pull up. It had felt like Christmas. "Not so much expecting as hoping."
Stopping at the front doorstep, he stood his ground, not knowing exactly what that ground was. Only that he needed to be honest with her. "Look, Veronica, I came here because I can"t seem to get you out of my mind."
She studied his expression. "You"re saying that as if it"s a bad thing."
"Well, isn"t it?" After all, thinking about her was only driving him crazy.
So was that it? she wondered. Was he trying to get her out of his mind? To forget about her? The thought hurt. "You tell me."
A note of recrimination crept into his voice. "Isn"t it wrong to torture yourself, wanting something you know you can"t have?"
The wind whipped her hair into her face, and she pushed it back, never taking her eyes off Chad. "You"re making a.s.sumptions, aren"t you?"
"a.s.sumptions?" He wasn"t a.s.suming anything. It was all true.
"About wanting something you can"t have." She saw she wasn"t getting through to him. For a smart man, he could be awfully dense. "Who said anything about "can"t?"
I don"t recall any offers being turned down." She looked at him significantly. "Or being made."
"They weren"t made because they"d be turned down." Wouldn"t they? he began to wonder. No, he was just setting himself up to be disappointed. Guys like him didn"t get to live happily ever after with the woman of their choice. Not when that woman was born with a silver spoon in her mouth.
She didn"t know whether to hug him or kick him. "Just because you"re my hero doesn"t give you the right to play G.o.d."
"G.o.d?"
"G.o.d," she repeated, then added, "All knowing-because you"re not. You just proved it."
Was she saying what he thought she was saying? It seemed too incredible. And yet...
"So if I asked if I could come by sometime, you"d say yes?"
"Yes." The word burst through the sudden bright smile on her lips.
Refusing to allow himself to get carried away, he proceeded slowly. But hope began to build in the hollow spot in his chest. "And if I said I wanted to make love with you again..."
Her eyes were bright. "Yes, again."
He went for broke. "And if I told you I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you..."
Unable to hold back any longer, Veronica threw her arms around his neck. "Yes, oh, yes!"
His arms closed around her. She felt so good like this. "Do you know what you"re getting into?"
"Yes." Her eyes spoke volumes as she looked up at him. And suddenly he understood, "Into a relationship with a man I not only respect, but lo-"
Chad pressed his finger to her lips, silencing her. She looked at him, confused.
"I get to say it first."
""It"?" she teased as a lighthearted feeling slipped over her.
"It," he echoed. "The L-word." He grew serious. More serious than he had ever been. "I love you, Veronica. I didn"t know what loving someone was until I met you.
It"s this incredible ache you want to nurture because it makes you feel more alive than you"ve ever felt before. I stayed away because I didn"t think I had a prayer of your feeling the same for me."
She could only smile at him as she shook her head. "I guess that means you"re not the perfect investigator, after all. Because I do."
A warmth surged through him. He indicated her front door. "Want to go inside?
It"s chilly out here for you."
She didn"t feel cold at all, not anymore. "That all depends on which side of your arms I"m standing on."
He tightened his arms around her. "The right side. Finally, the right side."
She couldn"t argue with that. Especially not when her mouth was otherwise occupied.
It didn"t feel cold anymore.
Look for AN UNCOMMON HERO,
the next installment in Marie Ferrarella"s popular miniseries,
CHILDFINDERS, INC.,.
available in January 2001 from Silhouette Books.