The Splendour Falls Read Online Free PDF Page A

enough that I can look most guys in the nose, if not the eyes, but my head barely reached his chin. ‘What’s her name?’
    I clenched my teeth and answered. ‘Gigi.’ He laughed and I bristled defensively. ‘It’s short for Giselle.’
    Actually, she came with the name Gigi, and I’d decided it was short for something less ridiculous. I’d gotten her from a socialite who didn’t want her when she – the dog, I mean – turned out to be inconveniently large. That is to say, too big to fit into Prada’s new ‘it’ bag.
    â€˜She’s a secondhand reject dog, and she’s quite vicious. She’ll bite you if you’re mean to me.’
    The vicious dog had propped her front paws on the bag, her ear fluff blowing in the breeze, like she was joyriding from my shoulder in her own mini sports car.
    Rhys looked us both up and down. ‘“Though she be but little, she is fierce.” ’
    Humour broadened his accent, exaggerating the roll of the r and the length of the vowels until it was almost unintelligible.
    â€˜You’re not from around here, are you?’
    â€˜What was your clue?’ he asked, smiling in profile.
    I skirted around a woman with a cell phone and hair like a helmet. ‘The accent. And insulting me with a Shakespeare quote.’
    He slanted me an unrepentant look. ‘Is “fierce” an insult on this side of the Atlantic? My apologies.’
    â€˜I meant the “little” part, if you really mean skinny.’ He didn’t answer, which I took for an affirmative. I switched the hand pulling Gigi’s suitcase and shifted the carrier to my other shoulder. ‘How do you know Paula?’
    â€˜My father and I are staying at your cousin’s place while Dad does some work in the area.’
    I wrestled with the logistics of that, since I was staying there too. ‘Is her house particularly large?’
    â€˜Large enough.’ He glanced at me. ‘We won’t be getting underfoot, if that’s your worry.’
    â€˜No.’ By which I meant yes, because the other thing in my suitcase besides clothes was books. I intended to park myself on the veranda or under a magnolia tree or whatever they had here and read until it was time to return to civilization. ‘Just worried about bathroom space.’
    My steps slowed as we reached the exit – a revolving door flanked by two sets of regular ones. Airports were transitional, an extension of the plane that got you there, and a link to the place you came from. Stepping outside and putting my feet on the ground – the real ground, not the tarmac – somehow seemed a bigger commitment than getting on the plane in New York.
    Rhys straight-armed the crossbar and held open the door, standing back to let me pass. With Gigi’s carrier over my shoulder, I had to edge through sideways. I held my breath, not because the fit was so tight, but to avoid the possibility of another head trip. Imaginingthings while I was drunk was one thing. Weird déjà vu with a stranger in the airport, on the other hand …
    I chanced a quick peek up at Rhys and found him studying my face as if there would be a pop quiz later. It was a serious expression, and when my eyes met his, he didn’t look away or apologize for staring. He merely raised his brows from their scowl of concentration, and gave me a quick, rueful smile that stopped me in the doorway.
    The sounds of the busy airport retreated. Behind him, I could see the steady spin of the revolving door, people coming and going, while I stood on the threshold with Rhys, neither in nor out. The heat and humidity bathed one half of me; the air-conditioning chilled the other. And from the guy sharing the doorway, a different sort of warmth entirely.
    â€˜Don’t look like that, love.’
    The endearment startled me, but he said it like an American guy might say ‘dear’ or