She hurried to help him with the heavy bags. “You didn’t have to do this.”
“You said you have to study this weekend. When would you have gone for yourself?”
“I’d have managed. Eventually.”
“Now you don’t have to.” Smiling over his shoulder, he moved toward the kitchen.
He wasn’t wearing his contacts again this morning. She’d always teased him about looking like Clark Kent when he wore his glasses. Deceptively mild-mannered and average. All it would take was a quick whip of his hand to remove both the glasses and the ordinary persona, turning him back into the daring, reckless superhero who had captured plenty of female hearts from the covers of travel magazines. He’d always laughed, but she could tell the comparison secretly pleased him.
They worked together to unload and put away the groceries he’d purchased. Now her pantry and fridge were better stocked than they had been in almost longer than she could remember. It amused her to think of Liam pushing a cart down the aisles of the g
rocery store, tossing items haphazardly into the cart. Still, his choices had been good ones, giving her plenty of options for quick, nutritious meals.
While they ate breakfast, he entertained her with stories about his most recent excursion to a politically unstable country in Africa, about some of the people he had met there, some of the adventures he’d had. She knew he didn’t tell her everything; he was careful not to worry her about how dangerous his life could be, even though she was all too aware of the risks he took in pursuit of a story.
Liam had become moderately famous as a human interest reporter during the five years since they’d broken up in college. He was even the host of a weekly adventure-travel show on a popular cable channel, journeying all over the world to show settled-in-place couch potatoes what lay beyond their own familiar boundaries. The program had been renewed for another season, but as of the middle of December, he was on a three-month hiatus from filming during which he was concentrating on other work projects.
He was known as a daredevil and an adventurer, one who had the inside scoop on worldwide politics and cultures because he wasn’t afraid to immerse himself in those foreign lands. She’d seen him eat fried scorpions in Beijing, ride a camel through the Gobi desert, dance with Aborigines in Australia, tramp through South American rain forests and dive from a cliff in Hawaii. He’d accompanied African game wardens in their never-ending battles against wildlife poachers, interviewed extremists who would have killed him without hesitation if they’d thought they had anything to gain and covered a deadly raid on a Mexican drug cartel.
He’d been named by a popular gossip magazine as one of their most beautiful people, and was considered one of the country’s most eligible bachelors. Refusing to answer questions about his personal life had only added to his mystique and popularity.
It had been suggested frequently that Liam led a charmed life. Anne couldn’t help dreading the day when his luck ran out—another one of those things she tried not to think about too much. She was getting pretty good at sticking her head in the sand.
“You still haven’t told me why you’re here,” she said as they cleared away the dishes after their meal.
“Yes, I did. I said I missed my wife.”
She looked at him over her shoulder. “Now, how about telling me the whole truth?”
He laughed and shook his head. “I never could pull the wool over your eyes.”
He leaned against the laminate countertop in the small, white-on-white kitchen, and she saw the glint of excitement in his eyes. Something big was up, she realized, slowly closing the dishwasher door. She braced herself.
“I have a book deal, Annie. That idea I pitched about a book of the stories I’ve been told by people I’ve met during my travels? I sold it.”
Her eyes went wide. “Liam, that’s wonderful!”
She stood and rounded the table to throw her arms around his neck. “Congratulations.”
Returning the hug, he grinned. “The publisher is really enthused about the sample chapters I sent in. They like the angle I’ve given it—the way I interviewed senior members of so many different cultures and societies to get their take on world history as they saw it unfold. They think it’s a sure bet to hit the nonfiction bestseller lists, and they think I’m a strong enough pitchman to make the publicity circuits and pitch both the book and my future projects.”
She took his face between her hands and planted a kiss on his smiling mouth, her nose bumping his glasses. Laughing, he reached up to adjust them.
“I’m so proud of you. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I had other things on my mind last night,” he said, stroking a hand down her back and making her shiver in remembrance.
“This is so exciting. Is the book finished?”
“Mostly. I have to do some revisions. Quite a few, actually. First book mistakes, I guess. There will probably be more revisions to come.”
“But still, they liked what they saw enough to buy it.”
“Yeah.” He looked a little dazed. “They did.”
She kissed him again. “It’s going to be a blockbuster. I just know it.”
He’d already written several well-received magazine articles about his adventures during the past five years, but she knew he had always wanted to publish a book. She was thrilled for him that his dream was coming true. She was glad he’d told her in person rather than over the telephone.