“My aunts are old enough to be your grandmothers. And they are harmless.”
“I disagree. And you are young enough to be my daughter.”
“For goodness’ sake, I am not. You can be so stuffy, Michael. We talk about death and murder and beheading, and we have just escaped a harrowing situation, yet you are too nervous to be near me.”
“I’m not stuffy,” he argued, sounding very stodgy indeed. He kicked off his shoes and lay down on the bed, arms folded over his chest, but he left the lamp burning.
“You don’t have to worry. I will not throw myself at you again. I promise. I am embarrassed too, you know,” she said, her voice small.
That surprised him.
“I kissed you,” he grunted. “You didn’t throw yourself at me.”
“You kissed me because you were angry . . . and then because you were half asleep. I kissed you because I wanted to. Both times.” She looked away as she confessed the last bit, thank God. He hadn’t had time to school his expression. “But I won’t kiss you again. I promise. We will just be . . . friends. We are friends, aren’t we, Michael?”
He couldn’t think of a single woman that he’d ever been friends with, beyond his sister, Molly. The way he felt about Dani was hardly sisterly . . . or even . . . friendly.
“Have you had many male friends?” he asked, stiff. “Suitors?”
“There have been a few,” she replied.
“A few?”
“Karl Raus grew up next door. He pursued me for a while. We went to the local dances together, and we both liked the pictures. I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t, though.”
She sounded weary, and he knew it wasn’t any of his business. But he couldn’t help himself from pressing. “You said there had been a few.”
“There was another gentleman last year. He was a widower with a passel of children. I didn’t mind the idea on its face. Having children from the get-go, I mean. But it was more a business arrangement for him. I think he found me pretty. But if it’s just a transaction, I’m not interested in making it. I have my aunts. I have my home. I have my work.”
“You have your dead.”
“You aren’t a man who says much.”
“Not usually. No.”
“Yet . . . you are very opinionated where I am concerned.”
He was. He couldn’t help himself, and he still wasn’t ready to let the conversation rest. “How old was this . . . gentleman?”
“About your age. He was surprised when I turned him down. He told me I wouldn’t get a better offer.”
The thought made him instantly angry, and he fought the urge to get up from the bed and pace the room. “Shame on him,” he growled.
“Why shame?” she gasped.
“Asking a beautiful girl to come take care of his children and warm his bed and then being angry when she declines? I ought to find him in a dark alley one of these nights and take him down a few pegs.”
“I was flattered, and I told him so. Then I told him no, and that was that.”
He scowled. “And the Raus kid? What did you tell him?”
“He’s hardly a kid. He’s a year older than I am. He never asked, but I would have refused him. He’s married now with a child on the way.”
“Why didn’t you want him?”
“Because I felt nothing, absolutely nothing, when I was with him. When he kissed me, I might as well have been kissing the back of my hand. In fact, I enjoy kissing the back of my hand much more.” She yawned widely.
Suddenly, he wanted to kiss her hand more than he’d wanted anything else in the whole world. He gritted his teeth and thought about dark alleys and bringing wisdom and justice to fools. He must have radiated tension because Dani resumed her pleading, not realizing he had absolutely no desire to oust her.
“Just let me stay until the sun comes up. Please, Michael?” she coaxed wearily. “I’ll be gone when you wake.”
He wondered if he would ever be able to tell her no again. “All right, Dani.”
He sat up and turned out the lamp. Charlie bounded up and settled at his feet like it was a slumber party. Malone nudged him over with his foot just to remind the old boy whose bed he was in, but he didn’t oust him.
“Michael?” Dani murmured as he stretched out beside her.
“Yes?”
“Will you hold my hand? I keep seeing poor Jacob Bartunek, crying over his medical books.”
He huffed like it was a bother but reached out immediately, wrapping her slim fingers in his. “No snooping,” he grumbled.