Lessons Learned

one’s health.”
    “I couldn’t agree more,” she told him as his shirt joined her skirt and jacket.
    She was laughing as they tumbled onto the bed.
    He liked her this way. Free, easy, enthusiastic. Just as he liked her cooler, more enigmatic moods. He could enjoy her in a hundred different ways because she wasn’t always the same woman. Yet she was always the same.
    Soft, as she was now. Warm wherever he touched, luxurious wherever he tasted. She might be submissive one moment, aggressive the next, and he never tired of the swings.
    They made love in laughter now, something he knew more than most was precious and rare. Even when the passion began to dominate, there was an underlying sense of enjoyment that didn’t cloud the fire. She gave him more in a moment than he’d thought he’d ever find with a woman in a lifetime.
    She’d never known she could be this way—laughing, churning, happy, desperate. There were so many things she hadn’t known. Every time he touched her it was something new, though it was somehow as if his touch was all she’d ever known. He made her feel fresh and desirable, wild and weepy all at once. In the space of minutes, he could bring her a sense of contentment and a frantic range of excitements.
    The more he brought, the more he gave, and the easier it became for her to give. She wasn’t aware yet, nor was he, that every time they made love, the intimacy grew and spread. It was gaining a strength and weight that wouldn’t break withsimply walking away. Perhaps if they’d known, they would have fought it.
    Instead, they loved each other through the morning with the verve of youth and the depth of familiarity.

Chapter Ten
    J uliet hung up the phone, dragged a hand through her hair and swore. Rising, she swore again then moved toward the wide spread of window in Carlo’s suite. For a few moments she muttered at nothing and no one in particular. Across the room, Carlo lay sprawled on the sofa. Wisely, he waited until she’d lapsed into silence.
    “Problems?”
    “We’re fogged in.” Swearing again, she stared out the window. She could see the mist, thick and still hanging outside the glass. Detroit was obliterated. “All flights are cancelled. The only way we’re going to get to Boston is to stick out our thumbs.”
    “Thumbs?”
    “Never mind.” She turned and paced around the suite.
    Detroit had been a solid round of media and events, and theRenaissance Center a beautiful place to stay, but now it was time to move on. Boston was just a hop away by air, so that the evening could be devoted to drafting out reports and a good night’s sleep. Except for the fact that fog had driven in from the lake and put the whole city under wraps.
    Stuck, Juliet thought as she glared out the window again. Stuck when they had an 8:00 A.M. live demonstration on a well-established morning show in Boston.
    He shifted a bit, but didn’t sit up. If it hadn’t been too much trouble, he could’ve counted off the number of times he’d been grounded for one reason or another. One, he recalled, had been a flamenco dancer in Madrid who’d distracted him into missing the last flight out. Better not to mention it. Still, when such things happened, Carlo reflected, it was best to relax and enjoy the moment. He knew Juliet better.
    “You’re worried about the TV in the morning.”
    “Of course I am.” As she paced, she went over every possibility. Rent a car and drive—no, even in clear weather it was simply too far. They could charter a plane and hope the fog cleared by dawn. She took another glance outside. They were sixty-five floors up, but they might as well have been sixty-five feet under. No, she decided, no television spot was worth the risk. They’d have to cancel. That was that.
    She dropped down on a chair and stuck her stockinged feet up by Carlo’s. “I’m sorry, Carlo, there’s no way around it. We’ll have to scrub Boston.”
    “Scrub Boston?” Lazily he folded his arms behind his head. “Juliet, Franconi scrubs nothing. Cook, yes, scrub, no.”
    It took her a moment to realize he was serious. “I mean cancel.”
    “You didn’t say cancel.”
    She heaved out a long breath. “I’m saying it now.” She wiggled her toes, finding them a bit stiff after a ten-hour day. “There’s no way we can make the television spot, and that’s the biggest thing we have going in Boston. There’re a couple of print interviews and an autographing. We didn’t expect much to