“He could be. I don’t know. I’ll figure it out.” Noah traced a fingertip across her jaw, into her hair. “I should have guessed you have red hair.”
“Because of my freckles? I used Ava and Ruby’s pancake theatrical makeup to cover them, but dancing with you took its toll. You put me through my paces on that dance floor.”
He threaded his fingers through her hair. “Not because of your freckles. Because of the color of your eyes.”
Phoebe could hardly breathe. It was as if being in the hidden room had returned them to the fantasy of the masquerade, to the intensity of their attraction to each other—as swashbuckler and Edwardian princess.
“Phoebe.” His voice was just above a whisper. “I’m sorry Hartley interrupted us on Friday. I’m sorry he’s in your town now. That I brought him here. You all don’t have to worry about me.” He curved his palm over her bare shoulder as he gave her one of his enigmatic smiles. “I can take care of myself.”
“You don’t have a real sword with you, do you?”
She was kidding, but he was amused. “Only at home in San Diego.”
“My guess is you don’t do much by half measures.”
He smoothed his hand down her upper arm. “Hold that thought.”
When Olivia had first told her about Noah, Phoebe hadn’t considered that he’d be this sexy, irresistible to the point that she was tingling, even burning. “I think meeting me as an Edwardian princess colored your ideas about me.”
“Nope. Meeting you hunting slugs in your scarf and shorts did.”
She gave a small laugh. “Are you making fun of me and my hometown, Noah?”
“Never.”
“Personally, I think you’re just bored.”
“Anything but bored, Phoebe.”
He slipped his arm around her waist. She didn’t protest, didn’t pull back. It was as if they were dancing again. Their musty surroundings and the hot, still attic and the Hollywood dresses, the reality of their circumstances, didn’t matter. She could almost hear the laughter of Friday night, the clinking of glasses, the music. She leaned into him more than she had then, in front of hundreds of people. He was all taut, lean muscle. That would be a surprise to most people, no doubt.
“I’m glad we danced,” she whispered. “It made the night special. Memorable.”
He said her name again, then his mouth found hers, his lips grazing hers in the lightest of kisses. Yet it had her reeling, aching. He was so controlled, so deliberate. He knew exactly what he was doing. She put a palm on his arm, felt the hard muscle. In every way, he wasn’t a man to underestimate.
“Something happened between us when we danced,” he said, kissing her again. “It’s not going away.”
She nodded. “I know.”
He looked into her eyes with an intensity she’d never experienced. “It’ll be okay, Princess Phoebe. I promise.”
“You’re more of a real swashbuckler than I am a real princess.”
“I don’t think so.” He stood straight, glanced around the small room. “Maybe this room was meant for you to discover.”
“A custodian could have dusted and vacuumed in here and not realized no one knew about it. Anyway, I need to get out to my mother’s and make sure Hartley didn’t stop in, after all. She’d probably talk him into buying a goat. It’d serve him right.” Phoebe inhaled, realized she was about to hyperventilate. “I live just down Thistle Lane. I’ll run and get my car. Did you walk?”
“I have Olivia’s car. Come on. I’ll drive you out to your mother’s place.”
Thirteen
Noah figured he could be Errol Flynn and it wouldn’t make a difference to Phoebe O’Dunn.
He could be a real-life Zorro.
A real-life musketeer.
He could be worth a trillion and she wouldn’t be intimidated.
He wondered if she knew that about herself.
Elly O’Dunn lived a few miles out of the village center, on a winding dirt road that, according to a sign, led to a state forest. Somehow Noah didn’t need Phoebe to point out that the mailbox topped with bluebirds marked her mother’s driveway. He turned into it, pulling up behind a dark brown house nestled among shade trees, stone walls, gardens and a large yard that needed mowing. As he got out of the car, he noticed a couple of small, rough-wood outbuildings, a fenced-off pen, open fields and surrounding woods, still and green in the afternoon summer sun.
“My mother’s and my sister Ava’s cars are here,” Phoebe said. “I don’t see any other cars. Maybe Hartley changed his mind.”
Noah recognized sunflowers standing tall in the late-day sun. A lot of sunflowers, he thought as Phoebe joined him on a flagstone walk.
She squinted at the flower and vegetable gardens. “It’s quite a bit for Mom to take care of on her own but she loves it.”
“Does she have help?”
“Ava and Ruby have been here this summer, and now Maggie lives in town. We all do what we can to help.”
He smiled. “I hope you like sunflowers.”
“And goats,” Phoebe added with a laugh.