Midnight Bayou

now.”
    “So, you’re planning on going to have brain tests all by yourself? That’s not the way we do things around here, cher. You don’t want Remy to know, all right. But you tell me when this is set up for, and I’ll go with you.”
    “Lena, I’m a big boy.”
    “You’re not going by yourself. So I go with you, or I tell Remy and we gang up on you.”
    “Okay. I’ll let you know when it’s scheduled and you can hold my hand. In the meantime, I’m going to put my money on your reincarnation theory. It’s weird, but it’s a lot less messy than brain surgery.”
    “They say Lucian Manet was a handsome man, like a young golden god.” She trailed her fingers through Declan’s disordered hair. It was a dark blond, she mused, thick, lush, and she bet it would streak up sexily with thesummer sun. “I think you’ve improved on him this time around.”
    “Oh yeah?” He hooked his arms around her waist. “Tell me more.”
    “I never much cared for the golden-god type. Usually too pretty for my taste.” She cocked her head, eased forward to kiss him. “You suit my taste, cher. ”
    He brought her closer and, sitting on the wooden crate, rested his chin on her shoulder as he looked out over the gallery railings. “I love you, Lena.”
    “If you’re trying to sweet-talk me into bed before you feed me—”
    He drew her back, and the grin faded from her face as she saw his. “I love you,” he repeated. “I never understood what that meant before, and I didn’t think I could.”
    He held her in place when she tried to scramble up and away. “You need to settle down now,” she told him.
    “Yeah, I do—but I don’t think you mean it the same way. I need to settle down, right here, with you. I don’t care if it’s the first time or the fiftieth time we’ve gone around. You’re what I’ve been waiting for.”
    “Declan, you’re making more out of this than you should.” Her voice wanted to shake. God knew, her stomach already was. “We went out to dinner. We went to bed. We’ve seen each other a handful of times.”
    “It only took one look at you.”
    His eyes were so deep, she thought, so clear. Like the surface of a lake at twilight. “You don’t even know me.”
    He pulled her back a second time, reminding her that there was steel in him, and an edge to it. “You’re wrong. I know you’re smart, and you’re strong. Enough to carve out your own place from almost nothing. I know you pay your debts. I know you’re loyal and you’re loving. I know somebody hurt you, and it wouldn’t take much to knock the scab off. And I know I’m scaring you right nowbecause you don’t think you’re ready to hear what I’m saying to you.”
    The beat of her heart was painful, like the strike of a fist on a raw wound. “I’m not looking for love, Declan. I’m sorry.”
    “Neither was I, but there you go. We don’t have to rush it. I wasn’t going to say anything to you yet but . . . I needed to.”
    “ Cher, people, they fall in and out of love all the time. It’s just a dazzle of chemicals.”
    “He really hurt you.”
    Frustrated, she pushed away, and this time he let her go. “You’re wrong. There’s no man, no ghost of some lover who broke my heart. I look like a cliché to you?”
    “You look like everything to me.”
    “Mon Dieu.” The man made her throat fill up, then snap shut. Deliberately she fought back the sensation and spoke clearly. “I like you, Declan, and I enjoy your company. I want you in bed. If that’s not enough for you, I walk now and save us both a lot of trouble and disappointment.”
    “Do you always get so pissed off when somebody tells you he loves you?”
    No one ever had, she nearly said. No one ever had who meant it. “I don’t like being pushed, and when I am, I make a point of not going in that direction.”
    “I have to admire that.” His grin was easy as he got to his feet. “I like you, too, Lena. And I enjoy your company, want you in bed. That’s enough for now. Are you hungry? I think I’ll heat up the grill.”
    I f it was a trick, Lena thought, or some sort of strategy to keep her off balance, it was well done.
    She just couldn’t quite puzzle the man out, and hisseamless shift of moods was a surefire way to push her to keep trying.
    He cooked like a man who didn’t trust himself in an actual kitchen. Jacketed potatoes on the grill, the steaks. And he sweet-talked her into making the salad.
    He didn’t say another