All Night Long

candlelight. You know the routine.”
    She looked thoughtful. “Actually, I don’t think of romance as a
routine
, exactly.”
    He ignored the interruption, determined to finish what he had started. “I asked Katy to go away wit e for a long weekend at a secluded inn on the coast.”
    “Something went wrong?”
    “Almost immediately, I realized that we had made a major mistake. Katy agreed. We went home an old everyone that we had called off the engagement.”
    “Sad but not exactly a disaster. Where’s the problem?”
    “The problem,” he said evenly “is that everyone, including y assumes that the reason I called off the engagement is because I was unable to perform my duties in the bedroom.”
    Irene stared at him, clearly torn between shock and laughter.
    “Oh, dear,” she whispered.
    “You think being slapped with a diagnosis of PTSD is hard to overcome? Try getting stuck with the Erectile Dysfunction label.”

Twenty-Three
    Luke brought the SUV to a halt in front of Irene’s well-lit cabin, switched off the engine and got out.
    Irene watched him walk around the front of the vehicle to open her door. Scary anticipation and an unfamiliar excitement fizzed through her. Would he kiss her again tonight?
    This was ridiculous. She was acting like a teenager on her first big date. Except that she’d never fel ike this on any date in her life, she reminded herself.
    The door opened. Before she could negotiate her way out of the front seat, Luke’s hands settled around her waist, snug, secure and powerful. He lifted her out and set her lightly on the ground as though she were weightless.
    He walked her toward the front porch, not saying a word. The suspense was threatening to steal her breath. He took her key and opened the front door.
    “The drive to Santa Elena takes about an hour,” he said. “Well need time to check into the inn, mee he family and get dressed for the big event. What do you say we leave here at fifteen hundred hours?”
    She stepped over the threshold and turned to face him. “What is that in real time?”
    His mouth kicked up wryly at one corner. “Three o’clock in the afternoon.”
    She folded her arms and propped one shoulder against the door frame. “Got news for you, we’re goin o have to leave here a lot earlier than that.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I need to do some shopping. A couple of friends at the paper packed up some clothes and overnighted them to me. But there’s nothing in the box that will work for a fancy evening. We’ll hav o leave around noon, I think. There’s bound to be some nice shops in the vicinity of Santa Elena.”
    “Shopping time, huh?” He nodded agreeably. “Okay, you got it. We’ll take off right after lunch. Speaking of food and since we’re both into breakfast, can I interest you in my very special French toast tomorrow morning?”
    His smile was so slow and so wickedly inviting that she was amazed she did not dissolve into a puddle right there in the cramped little entranceway of the cabin.
    A whole bunch of butterflies took flight in her stomach. Was this his way of announcing that he wante o spend the night? If so, she would have to make a decision. Right now. Oh, Lord, she wasn’t read or this. It was too soon.
    “Yes,” she heard herself say before she could rationalize her way out of it.
    “Breakfast sounds good.”
    Luke nodded, looking satisfied, leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the mouth.
    He raised his head almost immediately. “My place. Zero seven-thirty. That’s plain old seven-thirty a.m. to you.”
    “Somehow I think I would have figured that out.”
    And then he was walking away across the porch and down the steps. She stood in the doorway, nonplussed and more than a little chagrined. So much for her making the big decision, she thought.
    He paused at the foot of the steps. “Lock your door.”
    There was a suspicious gleam in his eyes, she decided. He knew full well that he had left her off-balance.
    “Okay,” she said sweetly, “but I’m not sure why I’m bothering. There certainly doesn’t seem to be much of a threat around here tonight.”
    He grinned. “You never know.”
    She closed the door and locked it. Eye to the peephole, she watched Luke climb into the SU he vehicle’s lights came up, slicing into the darkness. The heavy engine rumbled to life. The SUV moved slowly, ponderously, out of the drive, heading toward Cabin Number One.
    Damn. He really was going to leave.
    “Son of