Summer Desserts

and perfect. “Would you like some time off to spend with your mother while she’s in town?”
    “No, it’s not necessary. Mother’ll divide her time between shopping and the health spa during the day. She tells me she’s about to begin a new film.”
    “Really.” It only took him a minute to put things together. “Morrison—the director?”
    “You’re very quick,” Summer acknowledged, toasting him.
    “Summer.” He laid a hand over hers. “Do you object?”
    She opened her mouth to answer quickly, then thought it over. “No. No, object isn’t the word. Her life’s her own. I simply can’t understand how or why she continually plunges into relationships, tying herself up into marriages which on the average have lasted 5.2 years apiece. Is the word optimism, I wonder, or gullibility?”
    “Monique doesn’t strike me as a gullible woman.”
    “Perhaps it’s a synonym for romantic.”
    “No, but romantic might be synonymous with hope. Her way isn’t yours.”
    Yet we both chose lovers from the same bloodline, Summer reminded herself. Just what would Blake’s reaction be to that little gem? Keep the past in the past, Summer advised herself. And concentrate on the moment. She smiled at him. “No, it’s not. And how do you find my cooking?”
    Perhaps it was best to let the subject die, for a time. He needed to ease her over that block gently. “As I find everything about you,” Blake told her. “Magnificent.”
    She laughed as she began to eat again. “It wouldn’t be advisable for you to become too used to it. I rarely prepare meals for only compliments.”
    “That had occured to me. So I brought what I thought was the proper token.”
    Summer tasted the wine again. “Yes, the champagne is excellent.”
    “But an inadequate token for a Summer Lyndon meal.”
    When she shot him a puzzled look, he reached in his inside pocket and drew out a small thin box.
    “Ah, presents.” Amused, she accepted the box.
    “You mentioned a fondness for them.” Blake saw the amusement fade as she opened the box.
    Inside were diamonds—elegant, even delicate in the form of a slender bracelet. They lay white and regal against the dark velvet of the box.
    She wasn’t often overwhelmed. Now, she found herself struggling through waves of astonishment. “The meal’s too simple for a token like this,” she managed. “If I’d known, I’d’ve prepared something spectacular.”
    “I wouldn’t have thought art ever simple.”
    “Perhaps not, but…” She looked up, telling herself she wasn’t supposed to be moved by such things. They were only pretty stones after all. But her heart was full. “Blake, it’s lovely, exquisite. I think you’ve taken me too seriously when I talk of payments and gifts. I didn’t do this tonight for any reason more than I wanted to do it.”
    “This made me think of you,” he said as if she hadn’t spoken. “See how cool and haughty the stones are? But…” He slipped the bracelet out of the box. “If you look closely, if you hold itto light, there’s warmth, even fire.” As he spoke, he let the bracelet dangle from his fingers so that it caught and glittered with the flames from the candles. At that moment, it might have been alive.
    “So many dimensions, from every angle you can see something different. A strong stone, and more elegant than any other.” Laying the bracelet over her wrist, he clasped it. His gaze lifted and locked on hers. “I didn’t do this tonight for any reason other than I wanted to do it.”
    She was breathless, vulnerable. Would it be like this every time he looked at her? “You begin to worry me,” Summer whispered.
    The one quiet statement had the need whipping through him almost out of control. He rose, then, drawing her to her feet, crushed her against him before she could agree or protest. “Good.”
    His mouth wasn’t patient this time. There seemed to be a desperate need to hurry, take all, take everything. Hunger that had nothing to do with the meal still unfinished on the table sped through him. She was every desire, and every answer. Biting off an oath, he pulled her to the floor.
    This was the whirlwind. She’d never been here before, trapped, exhilarated. Elated by the speed, trembling from the power, Summer moved with him. There was no patience with clothes this time. They were tugged and pulled and tossed aside until flesh could meet flesh. Hot and eager, her body arched against his. She wanted the wind and the