Her Man Friday(83)
Author: Elizabeth Bevarly

Later, he promised himself. But not much later.

"You look absolutely edible… uh, incredible," he said by way of a greeting. "Well, you know what I mean."

She smiled at him, and those few little bits of uncertainty that were still settled in his belly dissolved. Just like that. "You don’t look so bad yourself," she said, nodding toward his tuxedo.

"Well, that goes without saying," he agreed.

She took a step forward, almost reluctantly, then another, and another. Schuyler crooked an elbow when she was still a foot away, and the gesture was evidently enough to encourage her to take that final step. Looping her arm through his, Caroline paused for a moment beside him, and it was all Schuyler could do not to scoop her into his arms and carry her upstairs and make dinner out of her.

"I was afraid that you wouldn’t come," he said, not sure when he’d decided to reveal such a thing.

"Were you?" she asked.

He nodded. "And then I was afraid that you would."

She parted her lips slightly, as if she couldn’t quite get enough air. "And now?" she asked. "How do you feel now?"

He gave that some thought before answering, and was surprised by what he discovered. "Now," he said, "I think everything—everything—is going to work out exactly as it should."

She smiled again, but this time the gesture was one of understanding. She said nothing to comment on his remark, but then, no comment was really necessary. So Schuyler covered her hand with his and tugged her forward, and together they entered the dining room.

He was still focused entirely on her face when he slowed his pace, urging them both to a standstill at the center of the room. "Everyone," he said in a voice of urgent announcement. "I’d like for you to meet Caroline. Caroline," he added, still looking into her eyes, "I’d like for you to meet everyone." And then, just to make sure everyone—including Caroline—knew what was what, he forced his gaze away from hers and to the audience that had gathered. And then he added, in a surprisingly carefree voice, "Everybody be nice to her. She doesn’t realize it quite yet, but she’s going to be my wife. Oh, and let’s not hold dinner for darling Lily and Leo," he hastened on before she could correct his assumption—not that she would correct it, because it was in no way erroneous. "Something tells me they’re not going to make it. Not for dinner, at any rate."

In the library, Lily rose to follow Schuyler as he fairly raced out the door—honestly, what was his hurry?—but Leo’s soft voice halted her from making a clean escape.

"What’s your hurry?" he asked.

She narrowed her eyes at him, suspicious of his ability to read her mind. It was more than a little unnerving. Nevertheless, she supposed there was still far too much left unsettled between them to let it go just yet.

In spite of that, "I’m hungry," she told him.

He smiled, a very predatory smile, but there was a lingering uncertainty darkening his eyes. Good, she thought. He should feel uncertain. The sneaky little fink. Call her a liar, would he? He was the one who had manufactured a completely false persona from the start. Call her thief, would he? He was the one who’d stolen something. Her heart. Damn him. Call her greedy, would he? He was the one who consumed something whole. Her love. Good thing for him she had such a charitable nature. She was willing to forgive him. Eventually. But not until she had him exactly where she wanted him.

On his knees. Begging for forgiveness. Among other things.

"Hungry huh?" he asked. "What a coincidence. I’m hungry, too."

Yes, but were they hungry for the same thing? she wondered. Experimentally, she suggested, "Then it would probably be a good idea to join the others in the dining room, don’t you think?"

"Oh, you’re hungry for food, are you? That’s too bad. I had something else in mind myself."

Ah-hah, she thought. So they were hungry for the same thing. That was going to make the rest of the evening infinitely easier to plan. After she finished with that business of bringing him to his knees, of course. But all she said in response to his assertion was, "Oh?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I’m in the mood for a veritable feast, myself. A real smorgasbord, as a matter of fact. All-you-can-eat."

"I see."

He rose from his seat, too, unbuttoning his tuxedo jacket with much nonchalance. "Not as much as you’re going to."

Lily’s heart began to hammer, and her very skin began to hum. "Why, Mr. Friday. I do believe you may be making a sexual overture toward me."

He nodded. "You got that right, boss lady."

Ooo. She did like the sound of that.

"And if you think the overture is good," he added, "just wait until you see the first act."

"Mmm," she murmured noncommittally. "I hope there will be lots of gratuitous sex."

"Oh, you can count on that."

"Then I think I’ll like the first act very much indeed. And the second. And the third. Of course, that’s assuming that you are the one playing opposite me in that act, something that, right now, is very much in question."

His smile fell. "Oh."

"You see," she began mildly, "I don’t normally make it a practice to have sex with a man who’s accused me of lying, and stealing, and being greedy."

He winced, flinching visibly at her charges.

"Did I do that?" he asked.

Lily feigned consideration. "Mm, yes, I believe you did. I distinctly recall you resorting to name calling at one point. A thief, you called me. A liar. Kind of interesting, seeing as how you were the one who lied about his identity—"

"That wasn’t lying," he interjected with an almost convincing look of surprise. "That was practice. I was planning on being a bookkeeper named Leonard Freiberger for Halloween, and I was just trying out my costume on you. Pretty convincing, huh?"

Lily eyed him with much skepticism, then continued, "You lied and then violated the privacy of my bedroom—"

"Oh, now see, there you go, making assumptions again," he interrupted once more. "I just went up to your bedroom to fondle your underwear, that’s all. Your computer was making a funny noise, so I decided to see if I could fix it, then suddenly… boom… all this information just sort of appeared, and I made the perfectly innocent mistake of thinking you were, you know, stealing money from your employer. It could have happened to anybody."

"Mm."

He inhaled a deep breath and released it slowly. For a long moment, he said nothing, clearly struggling to find something to excuse, or at least explain, his actions. Then, evidently deciding there were no words to accomplish such a thing, he simply told her, "I don’t know that I will ever be able to apologize enough for thinking the worst of you the way I did."