“And he made you sneak around, huh? Doesn’t sound like a southern gentleman to me.”
“Oh, I liked the sneaking-around part.” She grinned. “Hey, I was a teenager! But the southern-gentleman thing? Trust me. He wasn’t.”
Nick gave a mock growl. “I ever stumble across old Jeff, he’ll be in trouble.”
“He already is.” Lissa giggled. “He’s on wife number three.”
“I guess he likes that number.”
She giggled again. He smiled.
“You have a great laugh, Duchess.”
“When we were kids, my brother Jake used to say that I sounded like a donkey braying.”
“I’ll have to add him to that guys-who-are-in-trouble list.”
Lissa smiled. “Actually, you’d like each other.”
“Jake. Didn’t you mention him before?”
“Yes.” She hesitated. “I told you that he’d been wounded.”
She could almost feel Nick’s quick mood change.
“In Afghanistan, right? Doing something heroic.”
“He’d never say it was heroic, but yes, it was.”
“Most of the guys who are heroes don’t think of themselves that way.” He cleared his throat. “What did you say happened to him?”
“He lost an eye. He piloted a Black Hawk and he was trying to rescue some men who’d been trapped in a firefight. His chopper went down and—and he was lucky he got out alive.”
Nick stepped away from her and tucked his hands into the back pockets of his jeans.
“I’m glad he made it home.”
“Yes. We are, too.”
An owl cried out from somewhere in the gathering darkness. The sound was mournful, eerie, and it made Lissa shudder. Deliberately, she searched for something that would bridge the sudden silence.
“So,” she said brightly, “what about that ginger ale?”
The silence stretched on. Then Nick cleared his throat.
“It’s Coke tonight. We’re all out of ginger ale.” He brought her hands to his lips and kissed them both. “And I’m sorry.”
“There’s no need,” she said, deliberately misunderstanding him. “I like Coke.”
He laughed, exactly as she’d hoped he would, and the mood lightened.
“I keep forgetting all that fancy training of yours. But we’ll have to hurry. It’s almost time for us to head out.”
“Out?”
“We have a seven-thirty reservation at the dining room at Clearwater Pass. It’s about an hour’s drive from here.”
The swift look of delight on her face was everything he’d hoped for.