Gwynneth Ever After Read Online Free PDF Page B

worrying as little as possible when they’re out of my sight.”
    “Wise mother. They’re nice kids, by the way.”
    “Thank you. I think so, too.”
    “How do you think the castle-building went?”
    “I imagine it degenerated fairly fast. They were tired.” Gwyn glanced at her watch. “They’ll be asleep by now. You handled that very well, by the way. The dispute, I mean.”
    Gareth inclined his head. “Thank you. I thought I should step in before blows were exchanged. Your babysitter sure didn’t say much.”
    Her lips twitched. “Just be glad she didn’t follow through on her threat to faint.”
    Gareth looked startled. “Oh.”
    “You even had Maggie giggling, and she’s usually hiding behind any available object when she meets someone new. Do you have that effect on all women?”
    Mischief glinted in his eyes. “I don’t know,” he said. “Do I?”
    Gwyn choked on her wine. Mouth quirking at one corner, Gareth handed her his linen napkin.
    “ Madame ,” their waiter murmured beside her. Glancing up, she saw him waiting with salad plates in hand. She handed Gareth’s napkin back to him and sat back. The waiter set their salads down, bade them bon appetit , and left again.
    “You haven’t answered my question,” Gareth reminded her, his deep voice reaching across the table to send a shiver down her spine.
    Heat rose in her cheeks, but Gwyn raised her chin a notch and met his eyes square on. “And I’m not going to, either.”
    He chuckled, and then, to her immense relief, turned the conversation away from anything quite so personal, seeming determined to put her at ease. Over the course of appetizers and dinner, and then dessert and coffee, they discovered a mutual affinity for Bach and Enya, a passion for the outdoors, an abhorrence of politics, and a dozen other things in common.
    As if by some silent, mutual agreement, not once did either of them volunteer or ask for information that might cause the slightest discomfort. It was the first time a man seemed more interested in getting to know her than in the details of her failed marriage – and it was an extraordinary experience.
    The entire evening was extraordinary.
    They laughed until Gwyn’s ribs hurt, argued until one or the other of them rolled their eyes and gave in out of sheer exasperation, and shared silences that contained not a single awkward moment. Through it all, Gwyn felt herself sinking slowly into an ocean she knew better than to swim in.
    When her internal warning bells became too loud, she tried to tune them out by telling herself that it was just one evening – a single night of fantasy out of an entire lifetime of reality - and she’d more than earned it. When a part of her remained unconvinced, she simply ignored it.
    At last, Gareth consulted his watch with an air of reluctance. “I hate to call it a night, but it’s getting late, and I imagine you have to be up with your kids in the morning.”
    Gwyn glanced at her own watch, and her eyes widened in horror at the one-thirty time showing on its face. “It can’t possibly be that late,” she muttered, giving her wrist a shake.
    “I think it is,” Gareth whispered. “And I’d venture a guess that we’re not welcome to linger any longer.”
    She followed his gaze around the dining room, finding the place empty but for themselves and an employee laying out fresh linens and tableware for the next night. “I think you might be right,” she said, rising from her chair. “I can’t believe we stayed so long.”
    “I’m a little surprised myself,” he admitted. “I don’t remember the last time I enjoyed myself so much. Thank you.”
    “You bought me dinner,” she reminded him, following him from the dining room to the front door and the coat check. “I should be thanking you.”
    “Only if you enjoyed it as much as I did.” The light note in Gareth’s voice seemed to contradict the intensity of his eyes, and Gwyn felt her breath catch a little.
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