wondered how he’d react to that.
Saturday afternoon Ava swam with Caroline, as she had every day. They played water games and swam for over an hour. Finally Ava climbed out and sat on a chaise longue until she was dry. She watched Caroline continue to swim. At four, Ava let Rosalyn take her place while she went to bathe for the evening. Will had called to say he was running late getting home and she should go ahead and have dinner without him.
She was surprised to find herself disappointed. She ate with Rosalyn and Caroline and then left to dress. Will called once more to say he was turning in the drive and he would spend the time left with Caroline until he had to dress to go to the opera.
As she bathed and dressed, Ava thought about what she would say to him when they were together. She wanted him to make some changes, and she intended to get her way on this one.
She slipped into a dark blue dress with simple lines and a deep V neckline. Her hair was piled on her head with locks falling in the back.
By the time seven o’clock rolled around, she went to tell Caroline good-night. Gazing solemnly at Ava, Caroline held the brown teddy bear. Her dark eyes roamed over Ava, and Ava wondered what ran through Caroline’s thoughts. “Your Uncle Will and I are going to the opera. He’ll come see you before we go. Later, when we get home, we’ll check on you.”
The girl just stared her, so Ava smiled, told Rosalyn goodbye and left, going down to the front room to wait for Will. She looked at the leather-bound collection of books on the shelves and wondered whether Will had them for show or actually read them.
“I’ve looked forward to this all day,” he said, sauntering into the room.
Her heart missed a beat when she heard his voice. She turned, and the impact of the sight of him was even stronger than it had been before. Her pulse raced while she smiled at him. In his dark tux, he looked more handsome than ever—or did he seem that way because she hadn’t seen him for a while?
“You look gorgeous,” he said. “I missed you the past two weeks and I’m glad to be home. I spent about thirty minutes with Caroline and told her we would spend tomorrow together.”
“That’s good. I’m sure she likes having you here.”
“I don’t suppose anything changed with her while I was away?”
“No. There’s no change, but she seems happy enough. She likes her books, likes to swim.”
“I’m sorry I got delayed and couldn’t have dinner with you. I’ll make up for that, but there were big storms between here and Florida, and it was best not to take the chance.”
“That’s fine.”
“Don’t sound so cheerful that I couldn’t get home,” he said, and she smiled at him.
Will took her arm and they left to ride in a limousine. Will looked relaxed, confident and appealing.
“Soon now I intend to talk to Caroline about getting a puppy,” he said. “I spoke to a veterinarian, and he recommended a bichon frise—a lovable small dog.”
“That’s great. We had a dog all the years I was growing up. A cat, too.”
“We’re not getting a cat because I know nothing about them. One animal at a time for now. This is a big deal to bring a dog into the house.”
“You don’t exactly have a pet-friendly house,” she said with amusement. “She’s going to love a puppy, I feel sure. Will, while we have a chance, I want to talk to you about something I’ve noticed during the short time I’ve been here.”
“Sure. What’s that?”
“Caroline seems slightly more responsive when you’re around. She doesn’t talk or smile, but she’s less withdrawn. For the coming month, if you can possibly rearrange your schedule, I think you should travel less and try to be home more. A lot more.”
While he sat in silence, his dark gaze bore into her. “I’ll try if you think it will help.”
“I could be wrong, but I’ve spent over two weeks with her now and she’s more remote when you’re away.”
“No one has ever told me that before.”
“It’s not a real obvious thing, but that’s the way it seems to me. It’s worth it for you to make a change and see if that helps to have you around.”
“My schedule is really busy right now. I’ve got important appointments for the next three weeks and my work entails a lot of travel. After we lost Adam, I stayed home a lot that first month. Nothing I did seemed to make any difference so I picked up my life as much as I could and went on with it. I can’t just cancel everything scheduled. I’ll have to rearrange appointments and flights…but if you think this may help her, I’ll do it.”
“I know you can do this. You have people who work for you who can cover for you. You’re not trying to avoid her, are you?”
Again she got an intense stare. “No. I’ll arrange it so I’m in town. Or are you saying I should work at home?”
“Not at all. Just try to be there in the evenings. I think it’ll help, even though it may be a gradual thing. This kind of situation probably takes time to heal. I don’t know much about it, but I’m giving you my opinion from the last weeks’ observation.”
“Okay, I’ll be there more of the time,” he said, still studying her. “We’ll try that for a while and see how it goes.”
“Good,” she said, thinking it might be good for Caroline, but it wasn’t going to be better for her. Will’s presence would be temptation, and the more he was around, the more intense the situation would become. Her pulse raced now and she couldn’t get her breath around him. What would it be like to have him around constantly?
“Now if I thought you were asking to get me to be near you,” he said in a husky, deep voice, “that would be a different view of this request.”
His statement made her hot with embarrassment. To her chagrin, she felt her face flush and wished she could do something to distract him or get out of his view. Instead, he kept watching her, a flicker of amusement in the depths of his eyes.
“Maybe this will be a far more interesting week. I should have thought of this myself. A new dog. Home with you and Caroline each night. Home early if I can manage it.”
“You’re back to flirting again,” she said, looking out the window. The sun was still high. There was no merciful darkness to hide her blush. “Stop teasing me. All I had in mind was Caroline. I can go to my room and leave you two to bond.”
“Oh, no. This was your idea, and part of the deal has to be that you stay.”
“Sometimes. But part of the time it would be good if just the two of you were together. She needs you, and the more you’re together, the more she’ll bond with you.”
“How about you? The more we’re together, will it be the more we will bond?”
“That’s entirely different and you know it,” she snapped. “Stop your flirting. Get back to some impersonal level. Tell me about this opera. I can’t recall seeing a performance of this one,” she said, knowing full well she had seen it before, but not recently.
“Ah, it’s beautiful. You’ll like it,” he said, summarizing the story quickly as the limo slowed and stopped. A crowd had gathered, and she wondered if her picture would show up in a magazine with her entering the opera on Will’s arm.
The chauffeur held the door. Will climbed out and turned to help her.
While they moved through the crowd into the building, he held her arm lightly, yet with Will it was as disturbing as a caress, far from impersonal. During the performance she struggled to avoid glancing at him. After a time the music overrode her awareness of Will.
During