"Too late?" he repeated neutrally.

"Whether you like it or not, we are involved in a relationship. It may not work out for a variety of reasons, but I'll be damned if I'll let you put some arbitrary limit on it."

"There seems to be some confusion here," he said coldly. "You're accusing me of trying to specify the time and date when this thing between us ends, but I'm not the one who keeps talking about leaving Eclipse Bay in a few weeks."

She opened her mouth to argue and then closed it quickly.

Okay, he had a point.

She cleared her throat. "That's different."

"Like hell."

She glowered. "I have to be pragmatic. I've got a business to sell. That takes time and planning. And then there's the move. A person can't make those sorts of arrangements on a last-minute basis."

He put one knee on the tumbled bedding. "You're the one who's running scared here."

"That's not true."

"Hell, maybe we've both been running scared for a while." He came down on top of her, pushing her back onto the pillows. "But I think it's time we both stopped."

"You do?"

"If you want to sleep with me, lady, you're going to have to take a few chances."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

"What about you?" she managed. "Are you willing to take a few risks, too?"

His smile was slow and enigmatic in the shadows. His eyes had never been more dangerous. Or promised so much.

"I've been taking chances since the day I met you," he said. "Want to know why I didn't give you The Talk back at the beginning of this affair?"

"Yes."

"I forgot about it, that's why. Never even crossed my mind to give you The Talk." He brushed his mouth across hers. "You see? Taking chances."

"Oh."

He bent his head again and put his mouth to her throat. She felt the edge of his teeth against her skin and excitement stormed through her. She wrapped her arms around him and stopped thinking about the end of summer.

Chapter 20

Gail rushed through the door of the gallery shortly after ten-thirty the next morning. "You won't believe this."

"What's that?" Octavia came around the corner of one of the display panels and stopped, staring in amazement. "You're right. I don't believe it. Good grief, what happened? You've got Very Big Hair."

"What? Oh, yeah, my hair." Gail grimaced and put up a hand to touch the crisply starched mountain of hair on top of her head. "You owe me for this, boss. Big time."

Octavia shook her head slowly in disbelief. She could not get over her hair. "That's amazing."

"Carla wanted to color it, too, but I drew the line at that."

"Let me guess. Blonde?"

"Probably. I didn't get into a discussion of shades. I told her I needed to think about such a major move." Gail waved that aside. "But that's not important. What's important here is what I heard while I was trapped in the chair."

"Ah, yes." Octavia propped a scene of Hidden Cove at dawn against the panel. "Your undercover assignment. I almost forgot. Well?"

Gail drew herself up proudly. "Laugh if you will, but I found out something you really ought to know."

Octavia reached up to remove a picture of the marina from a panel. "Okay, Madam Spy. What did you find out at the beauty shop?"

Gail leaned against the counter and examined her nails. "Not much."

"I'm not surprised." She set the marina scene aside and hoisted the picture of Hidden Cove.

"Just two tiny little snippets of information that you might find interesting."

Octavia hung the Hidden Cove picture on the panel in the space that had been previously occupied by the painting of the marina. "And those two tiny little snippets would be?"

"Well, for starters, I found out what caused the big fight at the Total Eclipse last night."

"It was a bar brawl." Octavia stepped back to study the position of the picture she had just hung. "I have it on excellent authority that such events are random acts of nature. They don't need a cause."

"This one apparently had a very specific cause," Gail murmured dryly.

"Really?" Octavia made a tiny adjustment to the frame. "And what was it?"

"You."

Octavia's fingers stilled on the frame. "Someone said that I was the cause?"

"Actually, everyone is saying it this morning."

Octavia turned slowly. "That's very irritating."

"Irritating? Is that the best you can do? I expected a more forceful reaction."

"Well, it's also extremely annoying and a complete misrepresentation of the facts."

Gail slumped back against the counter. "I don't believe it. I am doomed to go through a Very Big Hair day and all you can say is that the information I brought back from my mission is irritating, annoying, and a misrepresentation of the facts?"

Jeremy came through the open door of the gallery. He had three cups of coffee cradled in the wedge formed by his hands.

"What's irritating, annoying, and a misrepresentation of the facts?" He stopped abruptly, staring at Gail. "Oh, jeez. I see what you mean. They really did a number on you down at the beauty shop, didn't they? I hope the information you got was worth the torture you had to go through to get it."

"Unfortunately the torture has only begun." Gail sighed in exasperation. "I have to live with this hair for the rest of the day. But for the record, the information I picked up is downright fascinating."

"I sure hope so. Any news on the Upsall?"

"Unfortunately, last night's excitement dominated the conversation. No one was talking about anything else this morning." She studied him as he came toward the counter. "Good heavens, you've got a shiner."

"I've already looked in a mirror today." Jeremy put the cups down beside her. "Tell me something I don't know."

"It's from the brawl last night, isn't it?" Gail stepped closer, concern darkening her expression. "I knew you were at the Total Eclipse with Nick, but I didn't realize you got hurt. Have you seen a doctor?"

"I don't need a doctor. I'm okay." He peeled the lids off the coffee cups. "Here you go, sugar and cream."

"Thanks." She took the cup from him without glancing at it, still studying his black eye with a troubled air. "Did you put ice on it?"

"For a while. Don't worry about it. Looks a lot worse than it is." Jeremy handed the second cup to Octavia. "Cream, right?"

"Yes. Thank you." She took the cup in both hands and stared at his bruised face. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"I'm sure." He chuckled. "You oughta see the other guy."

"What other guy?" she asked swiftly.

"Nick. I've got a hunch he looks a lot worse than I do this morning. He was in the middle of most of the action last night, as I recall. Just my bad luck to be standing around in the vicinity when it all went down. Yeah, I expect old Nick has a couple of beautiful shiners this morning."

Octavia concentrated on removing the lid from her cup. She became aware of an acute silence. When she looked up she saw that both Gail and Jeremy were watching her with rapt attention.

"Something wrong?" she asked politely.

"Uh, no." Jeremy raised his brows. "Just wondered why you weren't a little more concerned about Nick, that's all."

"He looked fine last night when I saw him outside the police station."

"I looked okay last night, too. Bruises take a while to color up. I figure he's probably a real mess today."

"He's not," she said shortly.

"You're sure?"

"I saw him earlier." Octavia dropped the lid into the trash bin.

"Earlier," Jeremy repeated. "That would be earlier this morning?"

"Yes." She took a tentative sip of the coffee. It was still a little too hot for comfort. She blew on the surface of the liquid a few times.

"Precisely how early this morning would that be?" Gail asked with great interest.

"I don't recall the exact time. Why? Is it important?"

"Could be." Gail exchanged glances with Jeremy. "Especially if it was, oh, say sometime around dawn or thereabouts."

"That would be critical," Jeremy agreed.

"And it would confirm the second tidbit of information I got this morning," Gail added smoothly.

Octavia peered at each of them in turn. "Am I missing something here?"

"You can tell us, honey," Gail answered. "We're your friends."

"Sure," Jeremy said. "You can tell us everything."

"Out with it," Gail said. "We're on pins and needles here. The suspense is killing us. Did Hardhearted Harte really spend the whole night with you last night? Was he actually there for breakfast? Did you or did you not break the curse?"

Too late Octavia recalled the second part of the Nick Harte legend. He always leaves before dawn. She felt herself turn red. "I really don't think that's any of your business."

"Oh, gosh," Gail said. "Both of the rumors I heard at the beauty shop are true. Nick got into that brawl because of you and then he spent the night with you. You've done it. You've broken the curse on Hardhearted Harte."

Octavia choked on a mouthful of coffee. She sputtered and dabbed madly at her lips. "That's what they're saying at the beauty shop?"

"Yep."

"I've never met anyone who broke a curse before," Jeremy said. "How does it feel? Do you get a little rush when it happens? Or do you have to wait for results?"

"Yes, tell us every little detail," Gail said.

"Hold it right there." Octavia slapped the coffee cup down on the counter. Drops of coffee shot over the rim and splattered the wood surface. "Let's get something straight. Apparently Nick is having fun telling people that he got into the brawl because I suggested he have a drink with you, Jeremy. Big joke. Ha ha."