Free Bougainvillea by Heather Graham Page A

there,” he said.
    â€œNo, I’m not afraid,” she said. “Really, I’m anxious.”
    â€œWe’ll get there then,” he said lightly. He walked tothe door. “Sorry, hope I didn’t disturb your work. I’m going to shower and get on the computer.”
    He left her alone in her office.
    That night, she dreamed of Bougainvillea again. She was with Mary, who seemed to have been crying, but the old woman was holding her, and trying to reassure her. “Just the birds, love. They’re so loud. You can always hear those wretched creatures.”
    Then she was running on the sand, and she was trying to get away from someone. She was terrified, and she didn’t know why.
    She woke with a start again, then bit her lower lip, trying not to move. She felt David’s arm tighten around her. Instinct?
    If she had awakened him, he gave no other sign of it, and she fell uneasily back to sleep.
    * * *
    The next evening, as they walked along the lake, he spun her around to face him.
    â€œMarry me,” he said softly, dark eyes intent.
    â€œMarry…?” she murmured.
    â€œYes, you know. Become man and wife.”
    â€œI…”
    â€œI love you, you know. I mean in all honesty, I thought you were the most desirable being ever created from the moment I saw you. And it might not have been the greatest idea, seeing as how my mission was to bring you home, but sleeping with you had been at the top of my mind every moment we were together. But I never realized myself how deeply I could need you every moment, how your scent would linger or haunt me in the midst of all else. So…you see, I am madly,deeply and passionately in love with you. I want to marry you.”
    She stared at him, incredulous. The emotion in his dark eyes was so intense, so serious. So very real.
    â€œOh!” she whispered.
    â€œWell?”
    â€œUm…ditto.”
    He smiled, still the master of composure, always his own man, strong in success, and failure.
    If he ever failed.
    â€œSo—does that mean you will marry me?”
    She nodded, still stunned. “Um…what were you thinking? Here, Florida? A year, six months…what?”
    â€œNow. Tonight. We can get a plane to Vegas. And fly home from there.”
    â€œHome?”
    â€œBougainvillea.”
    â€œI still have the cat.”
    â€œHe can be best man.”
    She finally had to laugh. “This is crazy. Insane. I mean, my folks are both dead, but really, don’t you want to see your family?”
    â€œMy folks are both gone as well.”
    â€œBut you’re part of…of an enterprise, or an extended family, or something.”
    â€œActually, they’re your family,” he reminded her.
    â€œTonight?”
    â€œI want to spend the rest of my life with you,” he said. “I know it as I’ve never known anything before in my life. I believe that you feel the same way. So marry me, tonight.”
    â€œWe will need a ticket for the cat, you know,” she told him.
    He wrapped her into his arms. And it seemed the most natural thing in the world then, to fly to Las Vegas. To marry, that night.
    * * *
    Lenore let out a cry of rage.
    Michael, sipping coffee and reading the paper, nearly jumped out of his chair.
    â€œWhat?” he demanded.
    She was standing next to the phone. She gripped the receiver so tightly the veins were standing out on her hand. Her free palm covered the mouthpiece.
    She shook her head at Michael, her face dead-white. “How lovely,” she said into the phone. “We’re—well, yes, we’re stunned, but…delighted.”
    Like hell she was delighted, Michael thought, and he didn’t even know what she was talking about.
    â€œNaturally, I’ll tell Seamus right away.”
    â€œMy dear, what is it?” Michael demanded as she set the receiver down.
    Lenore spent several minutes looking as if she was about to have apoplexy. She