“That’s a yes,” she said.
“Good.”
Their meals arrived conveniently at that moment and there was a great show of freshly grated cheeses and tossing of the salad. The wine was poured and the bread delivered. By the time all the waiters had gone, Marabeth was ready to yell at them all to go away but she kept her mouth shut and waited patiently.
Once they were alone again, she took a big bite of her pasta, knowing she was hungry. “Oh, this is wonderful,” she said as soon as she finished the first bite. “I love this restaurant.”
“When were you here before?”
“My mother had me go out with this irritating Italian count about six months ago. He was yet another in a long line of hopefuls.” She considered that for a moment. “Why didn’t they ask you to take me out a long time ago?”
“They did.”
“They did?” she said, extremely hurt suddenly. If they’d asked, that meant he’d said no. “Well, this is delicious pasta,” she said again, looking down at her meal.
Sam realized where this was going and he put his fork down. “Marabeth, stop right there. Look at me,” he said.
She looked up and tried to hide the hurt but it must have come through on her face.
“At the time, I had one month before I was to take over a new job and all I knew about you was that you were a princess who had just lost her fiancé and you had a beautiful mother.”
She nodded and thought she understood. “So you think the same thing everyone else thought about me. That I was some spoiled little princess who needed to be married off as quickly as possible. But you took it one step further and thought I was an ugly hag, huh?”
Sam nodded his head. “Well, yes. That about sums it up.”
Marabeth wanted to feel hurt, but his honesty somehow made her feel better. “What time is my first lesson?’ she asked, changing the subject.
“Tomorrow morning. Be in the gym at five o’clock.”
“Five in the morning?” she asked, her fork clanking against her plate.
“Yes. Five in the morning. Why? Too early for you? We can call this off now.”
She pursed her lips. Now that she’d gotten a concession out of him, she wasn’t going to let him back out of it. “No. I’ll be there. But you’d better be ready to teach me something and not just patronize me. I’m strong enough to handle you.”
His eyes lit up at her suggestive comment but his only reply was, “We’ll see. Tell me what you’re doing for the hospital.”
Marabeth looked up at him, her eyes narrowing at his question. He’d never asked her anything about what she did before. She assumed that he already knew so was suspicious about why he was asking. “Why? Didn’t the details come through on the spy pages?”
“Yes. But I didn’t read them.”
That surprised her and it showed in her expression. “Why not?” she asked curiously.
“Because it didn’t pertain to your safety so I thought I’d ask you about them instead.”
She liked that answer. Could he really want to just talk to her like a normal person? Could he be slightly less domineering than she’d originally thought? It was a spark of hope, so she talked to him about the hospital’s needs and what she was doing to help them. He asked her questions and listened to her answers and it was an interesting change to the way they had conversed previously.
By the end of the evening, Marabeth realized that she didn’t dislike him quite so much. He walked her to the door of her suite and she turned shyly to him, ready to kiss him quickly on the cheek before slipping into her rooms.
Sam had other ideas though. He opened the door and closed it behind him, but didn’t go very far into the suite. In fact, he took her into his arms the moment the door was closed and leaned against it, kissing her deeply and passionately.
He didn’t let up until she moaned softly. Then he pulled his head up and smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning at five.”
Marabeth nodded, licking her lips and wishing he would kiss her again. He didn’t. He slipped out of the room and walked quickly away while Marabeth leaned weakly against the door and listened to his footsteps fade away down the marble hallway.
Six hours later, Marabeth pulled herself out of bed and hurried into some work out clothes. She ran the whole way to the gym, ignoring her mother’s dictates that rushing was unladylike. She wanted to be in the gym on time for her first lesson. Despite the early morning appointment time, she was eager to learn whatever she could from Sam.
He was waiting there already, dressed in a pair of gym shorts and a tee shirt. “Good morning,” she said and walked over to the mat.
“Good morning,” he said and walked over to stand in front of her. “Did you sleep well?” he asked.
Marabeth was almost too busy taking in the gorgeous sight of him with his muscles apparent in his arms and chest. She bit her lower lip, wishing she could keep her libido in check for just a few minutes around him. He was still waiting for an answer so she finally replied, “Yes. Very well, thank you.”
“I didn’t,” he said, practically growling at her. “Take off your shoes.”
Marabeth raised her eyebrows. “Is that my punishment for your inability to sleep well?” she asked.
“No. It is the requirement for karate,” he said and moved away from her to take the initial stance for attack.
“Oh. Well, then in that case, I’ll do it.” She quickly slipped her running shoes off her feet and placed them to the side of the large, matted area.
“So if it wasn’t to make me feel better, you wouldn’t have?”
“Nope,” she said in a sing-song voice. “If the stress of your job is too much for you, perhaps you should delegate more responsibility to others.” She came back quickly and stopped a few feet away from him, smiling up at his grumpy expression.
Obviously Sam was not going to take her perky quips without retribution. Marabeth’s only warning that she was in trouble was the spark that appeared in his steely gray eyes moments before he walked over to her and quickly flipped her on her back. Once she was down and staring up at the ceiling, he loomed over her. “That was your first lesson. Never let your enemy out of your sight and never trust them. Always be cautious,” he said.
“Ah,” she said and wondered why being flipped didn’t hurt that badly. It had looked pretty painful when she’d been watching Sam and her brother a few days ago. “Well, I guess I deserve that, although I’m not sure why.”