Page 84 of The Other Lady Vanishes

“Because it didn’t matter, not to me. Did it matter to you?”

“Yes. No. I probably would have gone about things more slowly if I had known.”

Then again, maybe not, he thought. The realization that she wanted him had made him ravenous.

“I thought it all went quite well,” Adelaide said.

She sounded so smug, so pleased with herself. He smiled.

“I thought it went rather well, too,” he said.

“Don’t worry, I won’t read too much into what just happened,” she added quickly.

He stopped smiling. Straightening, he gripped the mantel and concentrated on the flames.

“What the hell does that mean?” he asked.

She exhaled softly. “I’m just trying to get things back on track between us.”

“We are not a couple of trains passing in the night, Adelaide.”

“I didn’t mean to imply that. The thing is, we’re partners. Two people caught up in a dangerous situation. We were thrown together by circumstances. You mustn’t worry that I will now think of us as... as lovers, simply because of what happened tonight.”

He had told himself that he would be patient. Sensitive. She had been through a lot lately. But a man could only take so much.

He turned around to face her. “We are partners. We are in a dangerous situation. And we were thrown together by circumstances. But like it or not, as of tonight, we are also lovers. Even if we never sleep together again for the rest of our lives, you cannot claim that we are not lovers.”

She watched him with a startled expression. “Are you angry?”

He thought about it. “‘Angry’ may be too strong a word. I’m irritated. Annoyed. Exasperated. If we pursue this argument much longer, I may get angry.”

“What argument?” She got to her feet, clutching the blanket at herthroat. “For your information, I wasn’t arguing. I merely made what I consider to be a very reasonable observation. I thought describing what happened as ‘awkward’ was a lot more genteel than some other terms that spring to mind. After all, it’s not as if we’re in love and planning to marry. We’re a couple of people who are stuck together until we figure out who is trying to murder us.”

“You can call our relationship whatever you want—just don’t call it awkward.” He crossed the room in three long strides and gripped her shoulders. “Because it doesn’t feel awkward to me.”

“Really?” She paused, frowning a little. “How would you describe it?”

“Damned if I know. And damned if I care. Just remember that whatever happens in the future, we are now lovers.”

She started to separate her hands in a gesture of exasperation. At the last second, evidently remembering that she was nude, she tightened her grip on the blanket instead.

“This is ridiculous,” she said. “I can’t believe we’re arguing about something as trivial as how to label our relationship when we’ve got much bigger problems.”

“You’re absolutely right.” He raised his hands from her shoulders and cupped her face. “Our heated discussion sounds a lot like a lovers’ quarrel to me.”

Her eyes widened. For a few beats he thought he had pushed her too far and that she was really going to explode. Instead she grimaced. She followed that with a rueful smile.

“I refuse to admit that it was a lovers’ quarrel,” she said. “However, I do appreciate your attempt to lighten the mood.”

“I was dead serious, but never mind. As you said, we’ve got other problems. As soon as the fog starts to lift we’re going to have to hike back to that gas station and explain my wrecked car to the owner and, no doubt, the local cops. Not that they’ll be able to do anything.”

“Why not?”

“Whoever tossed that stick of dynamite under my convertible will be gone at first light, assuming he decided not to risk the fog last night. Meanwhile, we need to figure out how to get back to Burning Cove.”

“I suppose we could always hitchhike,” Adelaide said.

“That would take hours, maybe the rest of the day. I’ve got some cash. With luck the proprietor of the gas station will know one of the locals who will be happy to sell us a used car.”