Page 151 of Shame the Devil

He probably shouldn’t say that last part, either.

He was thinking about that, because he was nervous.

He wasn’t a nervous guy. He was acoolguy. He was a guy who ran his pattern the same in the fourth quarter as he did in the first. Perfectly.

Yeah, big shot. But you’re nervous now.Heart pounding. Breath coming too shallow. The works.

No time for second thoughts. He opened the front door and ushered her inside.

Kickoff.

63

How Forever Feels

It was anemptyhouse,at least from what she could see. As in, no furniture.

The front door opened into an entry hall, around the edges of which twined a graceful curved staircase. Ah. The tower was for the stairway. All righty, then. It seemed like a lot of trouble to go to just for a fancy staircase, but whatever.

She said, “I guess you’d call this decorating style “minimalist.” She nearly whispered it, but it still echoed.

He didn’t answer. He had her hand and was nearly pulling her through the entry and into the living room. Where the party was.

Well, if the party was being held in a very large but totally empty house. And if it was Owen and Dyma and Annabelle and Blake and Dakota and … hergrandfather.

She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what tothink.So she just stood there, rooted to the floor.

“It’s not my birthday,” she finally managed, after she’d recovered enough to kiss Grandpa Oscar, who grinned and patted her on the shoulder and looked pleased as punch.

“No,” Harlan said. “We’re doing it now because I just bought it. The house.”

“The …house.”

“Yeah. The one we’re in is all right, but it’s not good for the baby. The railings on the galleries don’t work for a baby, and nothing’s carpeted. Plus, it’s not cozy. And let’s face it, it’s weird. It also doesn’t belong to me. Rented. I figured—family house, right? It took a while to find it, and I just signed the papers today, but I wanted you to see it right away.”

“Oh,” she said. “Well … it’s great. Really, uh, pretty.”

“I like having more rooms,” he said. “A little separation instead of that museum look. Also, the view’s nice, don’t you think? Here, I’ll show you outside.” He took her through a dining room with beamed ceilings and a wall of windows, a kitchen with every single convenience, out sliding doors, and onto a covered patio. “Outdoor kitchen, living room, all that. These guys are the caterers. The table isn’t mine. We’re doing dinner out here in a little bit. See, I told you I’d take you out to dinner.”

“You did. It’s a great surprise. I’mreallysurprised.” Her face hurt from smiling.

“You could use this even if it’s raining,” he said, “because there are heaters, and misters for summer. Another thing I really liked was that it has a full-size lap pool. I’ll have to get that fenced off, but there’s nothing like swimming outside.”

“Also a basketball court,” she said. “Putting green. Tennis. Et cetera.”

“Yeah. But come on.” Around the corner and back into the house at Harlan-speed—in other words, fast enough to make her have to hustle to keep up—and he started opening doors. “Media room. Game room with enough room for a ping-pong tableanda pool table. Gym. Gym’s big, which is always good. Oh, and another staircase over here, so you don’t have to go all the way through the house to the curved one in order to get up to the bedrooms. Come up, and I’ll show you.”

She followed after him, and the rest of them trooped along behind. Four bedrooms up here, and three bathrooms. In an L shape, because the house had wings. “The viewsarebeautiful,” she said. “The bedrooms are a nice size, too.”

He wanted her to say something more, she could tell, but she couldn’t think what to add.

Also, she was having trouble controlling her face, because she needed to cry. She’d thought, when she’d seen Blake and Dakota and hergrandfather,that this was … something else. That it was a proposal.

Harlan always knew how she was feeling. He wassensitive.How could he have done this? How could he have gotten it so wrong? Didn’t he know how she felt about him?

Focus on the moment,she told herself, but it didn’t work. Because in this moment, all she felt was …

Devastated.