Free Operation Valentine by Loretta Hill Page B

his perfectly formed free earlobe, with its meaty bit of flesh ripe for pulling. Hadn’t he ever seen an attached earlobe before?
    â€˜My earlobe is just connected to my neck, that’s all,’ she explained. ‘So my lobe is slighter shorter than yours. It’s a recessive gene. I think my mother has the same sort of earlobes as well.’
    â€˜A recessive gene?’ The idea clearly troubled him. ‘That’s what I was afraid of.’
    She released her earring and clasped both hands on the table. ‘I don’t understand.’
    â€˜If your deformity is genetic then if we ever had children together they could possibly have ears like yours.’
    She gasped. ‘My ears aren’t deformed .’
    â€˜But you don’t have any earlobes.’
    â€˜Yes I do, they’re just attached to my neck.’
    He held up his hands. ‘I’m sorry, I just think it would be better for our children’s sake if we didn’t tempt fate.’
    â€˜ What? ’
    With a sigh, he hastily jumped off his chair. ‘Look, I think I’d better go. We’re not really helping matters talking about it. After all, it is what it is.’ As he walked past her chair, he patted her arm. ‘It was lovely meeting you, though.’
    â€˜But –’
    She turned around to watch him waddle swiftly towards the door. I don’t believe this.
    Â Â Â â€˜Okay, so what happened?’
    Â Â Â At the sound of Owen’s low timbre she turned to find him already seated at her table.
    Â Â Â â€˜You know, you’ve really got to stop doing that. It’s creepy.’
    Â Â Â â€˜Doing what?’ He grinned.
    Â Â Â â€˜Sitting down at my table without me even noticing. What are you, a ninja?’
    Â Â Â â€˜Well, I do like the sound of that,’ he mused, opening the menu in front of him. ‘Are you hungry? I noticed you haven’t ordered yet.’
    Â Â Â â€˜No, well,’ she threw up her hands, ‘I was going to get some pizza until my date dumped me.’
    Â Â Â Owen laughed. ‘He dumped you! What for?’
    Â Â Â â€˜Apparently my ears are deformed.’
    Â Â Â â€˜Really?’ He stretched out a hand to run a long finger around the edge of one. ‘They look all right to me.’ Liquid fire burned a path from his fingertip to her heart and she hastily pushed his hand away and lowered her eyes.
    Â Â Â â€˜Stop that. It’s just my lobes, they’re attached.’
    Â Â Â â€˜Attached to what?’
    Â Â Â â€˜My neck, of course.’ She rolled her eyes.
    Â Â Â â€˜And what a lovely neck it is.’
    Â Â Â While she was still trying to recover from his unexpected compliment, he stopped the waitress who was walking by. ‘Joanna, could you get us a couple of pepperoni, mushroom and olive pizzas? She’ll have another cranberry and lime sparkler and I’ll have a beer.’
    Â Â Â â€˜Any one in particular, Owen?’ Joanna asked.
    Â Â Â â€˜Surprise me.’
    Â Â Â â€˜Sure.’ She nodded and with a smile at Sarah departed to procure their meal.
    Â Â Â â€˜Chloe said she really enjoyed shopping with you.
    Â Â Â Relieved at the change in subject she looked up. ‘Did she? Well I had a lovely time with her too. I don’t know how you did it, Owen, but you’ve raised a sensitive, well-adjusted and confident young woman.’
    Â Â Â â€˜That sounds like a back-handed compliment.’
    Â Â Â â€˜It’s just with your lifestyle I thought she might be a little more …’ Sarah shrugged. ‘Cynical.’
    Â Â Â His mouth twisted. ‘I tend to shield her from what I do here at work and after dark. When I’m with her, I’m with her. And when I’m here, I get to have fun.’
    Â Â Â Sarah frowned and glanced away. ‘I