Free 2. Come Be My Love by Annette Broadrick

Greg."
    He accepted the cup from her and smiled briefly at the eager expression on her face. "It's rather boring, I'm afraid."
    "I don't believe that. I'm sure you've had your share of interesting cases and intriguing trials.''
    He thought of an amusing incident that had happened a few weeks before and told her about it in precise and vivid detail, catching her off guard with his keen observational skills and his ability to capture and relate the incident with humor and compassion.
    Before he fully realized what was happening, Brandi was drawing him out, asking gently probing questions about his life-style, his work and his personal life.
    "You don't seem to have much time for anyone in your life with the schedule you keep, do you?" she finally asked after they had talked for several hours.
    "You're right about that. Penny had a narrow escape."
    "You still miss her, though, don't you?"
    "I don't think so, no. I think of her occasionally, though, and wonder how my life might have changed if I had gone ahead and married."
    "I think you're lonelier than you want to admit."
    He shrugged. "Perhaps. I don't waste much time thinking about it."
    "I'm surprised that you wanted to spend your leisure time alone. It seems to me that you would have preferred to go where there were people."
    He grinned. "I'd be lying if I said I'm sorry that you've been here to share the cabin with me."
    ''You don't know how pleased I am to hear you say that. I've been feeling really guilty about crashing your party."
    He lifted a cup. "Some party."
    She smiled at him. "Well, when Tim returns I'll get out of your hair by catching a ride home with him."
    "I could take you home when you're ready to go," he offered quietly.
    She looked at him in surprise. "Why would you want to do that, Greg? You wouldn't get much skiing in around my place this late in the season."
    "Because I want to get to know you better," he admitted, as though he were a little surprised at himself.
    Brandi could feel herself growing warm. "There's really not much to know."
    "Somehow I find that a little hard to believe, Brandi. For example, the field you've chosen to work in is most unusual. What made you decide to do marquetry?"
    "When I was at school I became fascinated with the beautiful work done in woods during the Italian Renaissance, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. At that time marquetry was regarded as a worthy art, equal to the finest paintings and sculptures of the time."
    Brandi gazed into the fire as though searching for words to explain how she felt. "I was intrigued with the idea of pursuing this type of artistic expression. I wanted to see if I could help reclaim what was almost a lost art."
    "I wish I could see some of your work."
    She smiled. "I'll send you one of my more colorful boxes."
    "That's one of the things that always puzzled me. How do you get the different colors in the wood?"
    "Well, I buy wood in thin sheets. To get certain brilliant colors I dye the wood with a cloth dye by pressuring it in a pressure cooker. This causes the dye to penetrate the wood completely, which is necessary because I have to sand it."
    Greg enjoyed watching the way the firelight highlighted the delicate bone structure of her face. Brandi obviously loved what she did. Her animation while describing it was proof of that.
    "It must take a great deal of patience to work with the small pieces you'd need to form a picture," he commented.
    "I suppose, but I really enjoy it. And there are special tools that help make it easier." Brandi smiled at him, her eyes dancing. "It probably doesn't make sense to a busy lawyer why someone would devote hours to forming in wood the variegated colors found in a flower's petal."
    "On the contrary, I'm very much impressed. I noticed yesterday what a sharp eye you have for nature's beauty."
    "I've always been fascinated by the shape and color of flowers... and limbs... grasses and shrubs... a bird's wing..." She paused, shaking her head. "It's not