She was probably more than ready to get back to her real life, especially after today. But, damn it, as much as it galled him to admit it, it wasn’t going to be easy for him to let her go.
Chapter Thirteen
As ridiculous as it was to think of a four-year-old as a chaperone, Adrienne was intensely aware of being alone with Gideon. She certainly had no fear of him, not after spending the past week with him, even in his worst moods.
Gideon, she had decided, was like one of those quiet little dogs that growled when they felt threatened. For some reason her friendship with Dylan bothered him enough to make him growl.
Understanding his bad behavior did not, of course, excuse it.
Straightening her shoulders, she adopted a briskly professional manner when she turned back to him. “I’ll need to make some travel arrangements this afternoon—airline reservations, transportation to the airport—”
“I’ll take you to the airport,” he broke in to say.
She nodded. “Thank you. Since I’ll probably need to leave early tomorrow, I suggest we spend the rest of today talking business. I need your decision on several options, and we need to discuss what I should say to your editor when I talk to her next. If you think you’ll need more time for your current book, I’ll arrange for an extension on your deadline so we won’t have any contractual problems.”
He nodded. “Fine. Let’s go to my office and talk business. I’d hate for you to leave feeling like you wasted a trip.”
She certainly didn’t feel as though the time had been wasted, she mused, following him to his office. But she wouldn’t know until later whether it had been a big mistake.
That all depended on how long it took her to get over the foolish infatuation she had developed for this thoroughly exasperating man.
They talked about business for two full hours, Adrienne making copious notes as Gideon efficiently dispensed with the pending matters. She didn’t agree with all his decisions, and she felt it was her job to give her opinions. But in the end his wishes prevailed.
Satisfied that they had accomplished all they could, Adrienne packed away her papers. “I suppose that takes care of everything until after I speak with your editor next week.”
“Everything business related,” he agreed, movin
g toward her.
She took a half step backward. “I should start packing my—”
Her words faded when his hands fell on her shoulders. “We’ve gotten our business out of the way, but we still have some personal issues we need to discuss.”
She made herself meet his eyes. “What personal issues?”
“Well, for starters, there’s this.” He pressed his mouth to hers.
Her hands rested on his chest when he finally lifted his head. “There is that,” she agreed huskily.
“You’re not still mad at me?”
“I was never—” She stopped, then made a face. “Okay, I was annoyed with you earlier. But this is your home and I had no right to invite someone in when I knew you wouldn’t approve. You had every right to be angry.”
“Okay, we’ve both apologized for anything we might have done wrong. Can we put it behind us now?”
She motioned toward the desk and the neat stack of paperwork they had worked on together. “I thought we’d already done that.”
He nodded. “Professionally, of course. I have no doubt we’ll work together as well as we ever did. But I don’t want to spend our last night together talking business or glowering at each other.”
“I don’t want that, either.”
“So how about if we go out? We’ve spent the past week sitting here in the house with Isabelle. We deserve an adult night out, don’t you think?”
Even though she suspected she was just asking for more achingly bittersweet memories, she nodded. “I’d like that.”
“Okay, then.” He stepped back. “I guess I’d better change.”
“Yes, so will I.”