All Night Long

seen the room. It looked like a damned wedding cake. All pale blue and white wit ots of gold touches everywhere. The bed was round and there was this stupid lacy thing draped ove he top. The bathroom was marble with gold fixtures.”
    “Gosh. Doesn’t sound quite like the honeymoon suite at the Sunrise on the Lake Lodge.”
    He slanted her a dangerous look. “You want to hear this story or not?”
    She drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. “I can’t wait for the rest.
    What happened next?”
    “I went into the bathroom to get undressed, that’s what happened next.”
    “And?” she prompted.
    He cleared his throat. “I looked at myself in the mirror, realized that I was way too old for Katy an ad my little epiphany.”
    She clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the giggles that were rushing up inside her. “I think I’ve got the visuals.”
    “You’ve heard about the bride who is too nervous to come out of the bathroom on her wedding night?”
    “Yes.”
    “Gotta tell you, it’s a heck of a lot less amusing when the one hiding in the bathroom is the groom. Or,
    in this case, the fiance.”
    She buried her face in her hands.
    “You’re laughing, aren’t you?” He sounded grimly resigned. “I knew this would happen.”
    “I can’t help it. I’m sorry. It must have been awful for both of you.”
    “You’ve got a warped sense of humor, woman.”
    She raised her head. “What on earth did you do?”

    “What the hell do you think I did? I finally opened the bathroom door and told Katy it wasn’t going to work. I got the feeling that she was secretly relieved. But she leaped to the conclusion that the rea eason I was ending things was that I had this little physical problem due to my presumed case of PTSD .”
    “And the conversation went downhill from there?”
    “It certainly did.”
    “You let the impression that you had an erectile dysfunction problem stand?”
    He cocked a brow. “That’s just it, there wasn’t anything standing.”
    “Oh. Right.”
    “How was I supposed to prove that I didn’t have a problem in that department?”
    “I see what you mean.”
    “I told her that 1 wasn’t ready for an intimate relationship with any woman. Said I needed my space,
    that I wanted time to get my act together, blah, blah, blah and so on and so forth.
    She told me she understood, and we agreed to call the whole thing off.”
    Irene recalled her impressions of Katy that evening. “She doesn’t seem to be carrying a torch for you.”
    “I told you, she was privately very relieved to be off the hook.” He sighed. “I should have realized a lot sooner that she was acting out of guilt and concern, but I was too obsessed with my strategy.”
    She studied him intently. “How do you feel about her?”
    “Katy is like a kid sister to me. Actually, that was probably the main problem, come to think of it.” He shrugged. “Be that as it may, when we got home and announced that we had called off the engagement,
    it was clear that something had gone very wrong and that it was my fault. Then I quit my job at the winery, moved to Dunsley and went into the innkeeping business. Next thing I know I’m ducking calls from Dr. Van Dyke.”
    “Who is she?”
    “A shrink who happens to be an old family friend. My father took me to see her a few times in the months following my mother’s death. After the weekend disaster, Vicki and the Old Man contacted her and asked her to consult.”
    “You can’t blame your family for jumping to conclusions,” Irene said gently.
    “Maybe not, but this particular conclusion has proven to be damned irritating.”
    “Okay, I can understand your point of view.”
    He smiled slowly, put an arm around her waist and tumbled her down across his chest. “The goo ews, however, is that I can say with great certainty that at least one of my symptoms has improve ince that fiasco in the honeymoon suite.”
    “I couldn’t help but notice.” She slid her hand beneath the edge of the sheet and found the hard, satisfyingly rigid length of him with her fingers. “But I suppose it’s not exactly the sort of misunderstanding you can clear up in the course of casual conversation with your nearest and dearest,
    is it?”
    “It happens to be the last thing on earth that I want to discuss with my family, a shrink or anyone else,
    for that matter. As far as I’m concerned, the less said on the subject, the better.”
    “Got it.” She brushed her mouth