Savannah jerked out of Kit’s arms, then cursed herself for reacting to the interruption as if she was still a teenager, caught doing something she shouldn’t. Savannah glanced at her mother, who was looking quickly from Savannah to Kit, her expression a combination of surprise and disapproval.
“I’ll walk Kit out,” Savannah said with hard-won composure. “And then I really must go upstairs and talk to Michael.”
“Good night, Mrs. McBride.” Kit flashed Ernestine another of his winning smiles. Had it been directed at Savannah, her knees might have buckled.
If Ernestine had any reaction at all, she concealed it well. She merely nodded. “Good night, Mr. Pace.”
“I don’t think your mother will be joining the Christopher Pace fan club any time soon,” Kit murmured to Savannah as they stood at her open front door.
Savannah shrugged. “Mother tends to be suspicious of strangers.”
“And so does Savannah, I think,” Kit observed, watching her expression.
Savannah grimaced. “Maybe a little,” she agreed.
“I’m not a threat to you, Savannah. I didn’t look you up to hurt you or embarrass you, though it probably didn’t seem that way this evening. I only wanted to spend more time with you. I said it earlier, and I’ll repeat it—if you want me to disappear, just say so.”
She knew she should ask him to go away. There was no way anything permanent could happen between them. And she wasn’t interested in a fling. Even if she didn’t care about her own reputation, she had her children to consider.
But she didn’t want him to go. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since he’d left her at the door of her cottage. Now that he was here with her again, she didn’t have the willpower to send him away.
“I don’t want you to disappear, Kit. But—”
He smiled and covered her mouth with his fingertips. “That’s all I wanted to hear. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She sighed faintly and nodded. “I can meet you for lunch, if you’d like,” she said from behind his muffling fingers.
He removed his hand to brush his mouth across hers. “Fine. I’ll call you in the morning to set something up.”
“Call early. I leave for work at 7:45.”
“Then I’ll call at 7:30,” he said, apparently undaunted by the early hour.
“Don’t you need my number?”
His.pirate smile flashed in the dim light. “I already have it.”
Of course he did.
“You,” Savannah told him, “are dangerous.”
“Not to you,” he promised. “Good night, Savannah. This time, I really will see you tomorrow, yes?”
She managed not to wince at the little dig. “Yes.”
He kissed her briefly, but thoroughly enough to make her heart pound in her chest. And then he turned and sauntered away.
He whistled the tune to “Star Dust” as he walked toward his car, and she knew he’d chosen that particular song as a deliberate reminder of their magical evening on the beach. As if she needed reminding, she thought as she closed the door behind him.
“What,” Ernestine asked from behind her, “was that all about?”
Savannah drew a deep breath and turned. “As Kit has already explained, I met him while I was on vacation. He wanted to see me again.”
“I knew it was a bad idea for you to go off to that island by yourself,” Ernestine muttered. “Now you’ve gone and gotten involved with some slick Hollywood type who’ll break your heart and make us the talk of the town.”
Savannah was tempted to argue, even though she was aware that there might be a grain of truth in her mother’s pessimistic prediction. But for now, she had other things to attend to.
“I have to go up and talk to Michael now, Mother. Good night—and try not to worry about Kit, all right?”