She hadn’t thought it through, though. Hadn’t considered that they’d be sitting so close their bodies brushed, that she’d have the bad judgment to make a big deal of ordering him to hold the popcorn for her.
She whispered, “Um, are you sure you don’t want any popcorn?”
“Yes. I’m sure.”
“Then I guess I’ll just hold it myself.”
He leaned a fraction nearer, heat and size and maleness pressing in. “Are you certain? I am willing to serve.” His voice was low and soft and…silky.
Elli’s mouth went bone-dry. She gulped. “I…yeah. I’m certain.”
He handed her the tub, the pads of his big fingers brushing hers. A bullet of heat went shooting through her, so thrilling it was painful—from where his fingers grazed hers, straight up her arm—and right to her chest, which contracted sharply, so that she almost gasped.
They were staring at each other. The Dolby sound swelled around them and images flashed on the big screen, reflecting at them, so that Hauk’s chiseled profile gleamed alabaster in the darkness. His hair shone, not gold, not platinum, but some rare color in between.
He was the one who looked away, back at the screen. And this time she felt no triumph that he did. This time, she felt it as a tearing sensation, that he ripped something, left tattered raw edges, when he looked away.
She stared at him for several bewildered seconds, thinking what she shouldn’t be thinking: that he was so very wonderfully male. That it would be a lovely, thrilling thing to have his big hands on her, to press her mouth to his…
When they came out of the movie, it was a little after three. Hauk pushed the glass door open for her and she walked out, across the covered ticket booth area and into the bright sunlight of a beautiful afternoon. Overhead, the sky was clear and powder-blue.
And she wasn’t ready—not yet—to go back to her place and be cooped up in there with Hauk. She headed for Land Park.
Hauk saw they weren’t going where he’d assumed they’d be going. “Where are we going now?”
“To Land Park.”
“You wish to see your mother again?”
“No. Not to my mother’s house. Just into the park. I want to walk by the duck pond.” She added, turning to give him a sarcastic smile, “Is that all right with you?”
Their gazes collided. A shimmer of heat went through her. “Return to your apartment,” he said softly. “Pack your belongings. I’ll take you to the plane.”
Elli yanked her gaze back to the street in front of her. She had to be careful. She could get them in an accident. “No. Not yet.”
“This is foolish.”
And it was. She knew it. Something more than a James Bond flick had happened in the darkened movie theater. They’d emerged into the sunshine with everything changed between them—or if not changed, at least mutually acknowledged.
Looking back, it seemed that maybe there had been attraction between them almost from the very first. She’d denied it. That hadn’t been difficult. What self-respecting woman would ever willingly admit that her kidnapper made her heart go pitter-pat? Not Elli.
But time had done it, made her see it. Time and the forced closeness that they shared. She was coming to know him a little, coming to understand that though she despised the job he was doing, she didn’t—she couldn’t—despise the man himself. She knew there was goodness in him. That honor and loyalty meant more to him than life. How could she help but admire that? How could she help but let down her guard with him, at least a little?
Now it seemed terribly dangerous to imagine the night to come, should she continue to insist on remaining in Sacramento until the last possible moment her agreement with her father allowed.
She should do what Hauk kept trying to get her to do. Pack. Get on that plane.
And yet, she held back. Beyond this impossible attraction to the man her father had sent to kidnap her, she had other issues here.
The more she thought about this whole situation, the more suspicious she became of her father’s motives. What if her mother was right? Could she be walking blind into some ugly palace plot?
Her doubts ate at her. True, she was going. Hauk would make certain of that. But she saw no reason to rush headlong into the jaws of a possible trap.
Who knew what might happen in the next eighteen hours or so? It didn’t seem particularly likely, but some new and valuable piece of information just might come to light. Maybe everything would become clear, after all.
Right, whispered a knowing voice in the back of her mind. Everything might become clear. Oh, certainly. Anything might happen….
Now, that did ring true. Anything might happen, all right—between her and Hauk.
Elli tossed her head. “I don’t care. I don’t want to go yet. I’m not sure I want to go at all.”
She waited for the man beside her to tell her that she had no choice. She’d vowed to go and she would go.
He said nothing.
Land Park boasted its own outdoor amphitheater across from a children’s amusement area called Fairy-tale Town and not far from the zoo. Below the amphitheater, sparkling in the afternoon sun, lay the duck pond.
Elli parked the car above the amphitheater, to the side a little. A steep, tree-shadowed, grass-covered hill swept down to the pond. They got out and Elli took off at a run down the grassy slope. Maybe she’d leave him behind.
Yeah, right.
Elli kept running anyway, not looking back, almost tumbling head-over-heels once or twice, but somehow managing to keep her feet.
Hauk followed close behind. She could feel him there. Never once did he stumble. And she knew he wasn’t running full-out, that he effortlessly paced himself to keep a few yards back.
She reached the base of the slope, where the ground leveled out, drawing to a halt on the asphalt path that encircled the perimeter of the pond. Ducks and geese glided on the sun-sparkled surface and oaks and sweet gums grew at intervals along the bank, inviting wooden benches waiting beneath them.
Slightly breathless, she turned to Hauk. “It’s pretty, isn’t it?”
His sky-blue gaze darkened. “Beautiful.”
She knew what he meant and it wasn’t the duck pond. Her mouth was dry again. She swallowed.
He looked away from her. “What now?”
Good question. “Let’s, uh, walk.”
He started walking. Fast.
“Hey, wait up.”
He stopped where he was. She hurried and caught up.
They stood on the path, facing each other. He was looking at her again—gazing at her as if he would eat her up. And she liked it, to have him look at her that way.
He said, as if it hurt him to tell her, “You will have to go. I will have to make you go.”
“I know. But not till tomorrow. You won’t make me go…until tomorrow.”
“You enjoy this? Pushing the boundaries? Tempting the fates?”
Anger sizzled through her. “I’ll tell you what I don’t enjoy. Being kept in the dark. Knowing that if I break my word, you’ll make me keep it anyway.”
“You are jarl. High jarl. A princess.”
“Did you think I’d forgotten?”