“You look tense.”
“I’m fine.”
Though he didn’t look convinced by her breezy denial, he let it go.
“Michael and I had a good time yesterday,” he said instead, making casual conversation as he guided the car away from her neighborhood.
“Yes, he’s been talking about it ever since. Apparently, you made him feel much better about his ballplaying.”
“He’s not bad, really. He just hasn’t had any coaching.”
Savannah shrugged. “The coach tends to concentrate on the boys with more natural ability, I suppose. His own son seemed to have been born knowing how to pitch. It doesn’t come as easily for Michael.”
Vince Hankins hadn’t even given his son his athletic ability, Savannah thought with a trace of old bitterness.
But she didn’t want to think about the past now. And she didn’t want to talk about her family. She looked out the window beside her. “Where are we going?”
“I thought I would surprise you.”
Savannah wasn’t at all sure she liked the sound of that. She’d been dealing with one surprise after another since Kit had arrived in town. She wasn’t sure how many more jolts she could handle.
They drove for almost half an hour without saying much, both pretending to listen to the soft music from the radio while they pursued their own thoughts. When Kit turned onto a county road that led toward Lake Sidney Lanier, Savannah assumed he was taking her to a fishing resort restaurant. Instead, he drove toward a secluded cabin at the end of a winding gravel road. Lights burned in the windows, making the little A-frame look welcoming in the deepening dusk.
“This is where we’re having dinner?” she asked, her voice breaking a bit with nerves.
He parked the car and nodded. “If it’s all right with you,” he assured her. “I have a meal waiting inside for us. It will give us a chance to be alone, without interruptions.”
She bit her lower lip. While she liked the idea of not worrying about prying eyes, she wasn’t so sure she was ready to be this much alone with Kit.
“Savannah, relax,” he said, touching her hand. “I promise, I won’t ask for anything more than you want to give. Surely you know by now that you can trust me.”
She could have told him that she trusted him implicitly. He’d given her no reason not to.
It was herself she didn’t trust tonight.
But she couldn’t tell him that. Nodding, she reached for the handle of the car door. She would take the evening as it came, she decided. And she would try very hard to keep her feet on firm, level ground.
9
“IS THIS WHERE you’ve been staying?” Savannah asked, as Kit led her up the gravel pathway to the cabin’s doorstep.
“Since Friday. I stayed in a motel Thursday night, but I didn’t care for it So I called a Realtor Friday morning and she directed me to this place. It’s quite nice, really.”
Savannah suspected that it was also quite expensive. It looked like one of those places wealthy businessmen used to get away from their high-stress jobs on fishing weekends. Sometimes she forgot that Kit was one of the rich and famous. He acted like such an average guy, she thought wistfully.
She wished selfishly that he really was an insurance salesman. That it would make it so much easier to imagine a future with him.
The cabin was rustically decorated, as Savannah had imagined it would be, but the furnishings had obviously been selected by a professional. Comfortably overstuffed sofas and chairs, colorful throw rugs on the polished wood floor, appealing artwork on the panelled walls. A doorway at the back of the living room probably opened into a kitchen. A wooden staircase on the other side led upward to the single sleeping loft.
Savannah refused to look at those stairs.
A small round table flanked by four bow-back chairs sat at the back of the airy living area, but Savannah saw no evidence that Kit was prepared to serve dinner there. Instead, he led her to the glass doors behind the table.
Stepping outside, he flipped a switch.
And Savannah was instantly reminded that Kit was the most romantic man she’d ever known.
The glass doors had led to a large flagstone patio. Tiny white lights had been strung overhead to illuminate the blooming flower boxes and the wrought-iron patio furniture—a round table, four chairs, a clever little serving cart, a glider-for-two, and a couple of invitingly cushioned chaise longues. From where she stood, Savannah had a breathtaking view of the moonsilvered lake.