Free All the Possibilities by Nora Roberts Page B

was that he'd lost his parents. His eyes were dark and beautiful, but they were annoyed rather than frightened. Again he went off into a peal of what she suspected was Korean, then with a very adult sigh, he held up two nickels, indicating the bird feed dispenser behind him.
    Ten cents, Shelby realized on a chuckle. He had the right amount but didn't understand the coinage. Before she could reach in her pocket, Alan held out a dime. Solemnly he went through a few simple gestures, showing that the two nickels put together made one dime. He saw the boy's eyes brighten with understanding before he plucked the dime out of Alan's hand and offered the two nickels. Alan's initial inclination to refuse the money altered quickly with a scan of the boy's face. Instead he accepted them, giving a slight bow. The boy gave another quick burst of Korean, returned Alan's bow, then dashed back to the dispenser.
    Another man, Shelby thought as she watched the child hurl the feed to the swans, would have insisted on being magnanimous
    if for no other reason than to impress the woman
    —
    he was with. But Alan had understood that children have pride. He'd made the exchange of two nickels for a dime into a man-to-man business transaction instead of an adult-tochild bit of whimsy. And all without a word. Leaning on the rail, she watched the swans race after feed, bending those slender necks, then gobbling greedily. Now and again one would honk and peck at another who edged into its territory. Alan's hands rested on me rail on either side of her. Forgetting everything but the moment, Shelby leaned back against him, letting her head find that comfortably intimate spot between his jaw and shoulder. "It's a beautiful afternoon," she murmured. Alan laid his hands over hers where they rested lightly. "The last time I was at the zoo, I was around twelve. My father had made one of his rare business trips to New York and insisted we go en masse." He brushed his cheek against her hair, enjoying the soft, intimate feel of it. "I felt obliged to pretend I was too old to enjoy looking at lions and tigers, yet my father had the best time of all. It's strange, that little patch of adulthood we go through when we're very young."
    "Mine lasted about six months," Shelby remembered. His, she knew, would never have completely dissipated. "That's about how long I called my mother by her first name."
    "How old were you?"
    "Thirteen. 'Deborah,' I would say in the cultured tones I was affecting at the time, 'I believe I'm quite old enough to have blonde streaks in my hair.' She'd say something about our discussing it very soon. Then she'd go on about how proud she was that I was mature enough to make adult decisions
    how relieved she was that I wasn't spoiled or
    —
    frivolous like so many girls my age."
    "And naturally you basked in that and forgot the streaks."
    "Naturally." With a laugh, Shelby hooked her arm through his and began to walk again.
    "I don't think I appreciated just how clever she was until I was over twenty. Grant and I weren't easy children."
    "Is he like you?"
    "Grant? Like me?" Shelby pondered it a moment. "In some ways, but he's a loner. I've never been. When Grant's with people, he observes
    absorbs, really. He tucks them all
    —
    away and takes them out again as he chooses. He can do without them for weeks or months at a time. I can't."
    "No, but you still take them out again as you choose. And I don't think you've ever let anyone
    any man at any rate," he corrected, tilting his head to study her profile, "get
    —
    too close."
    Shelby flirted with an angry retort and decided on a subtler one. "That sounds like your ego talking," she said mildly. "Just because I turned you down."
    "Put me off," Alan countered as he brought her hand to his lips. "One might point out that you are here, and so am I."
    " Mmm ." Shelby glanced around at the flood of people as a wailing baby was carried past by a frustrated parent. "And in such intimate surroundings