Honor of a Hunter [Harlequin Intrigue Series #1028]

This was his favorite time of the day, that pause between the bustle of the workday and the final desertion into sleep. Night, with its thousands of lights, sparkled like it did on all the travel postcards he'd collected over the years.A comfortable quiet suffused the apartment, and he roamed every room, taking in the details of her--the old-fashioned ticking of a grandfather clock in the entrance, the bouquet of irises on the living room coffee table, her penchant for pillows and throws and soft-tothe-touch fabrics. He trailed a finger here, a hand there, caressing the things that were hers, appreciating her sense of tradition and home.In her bedroom, he bent to scoop up a discarded blouse. Details were her business. Would she miss the blouse if he took it? He brought the silky dove-gray material she'd worn yesterday to his face and breathed in her scent. Roses and fresh linen. And ambition. He would have to tame that trait once they were married.He folded the blouse and placed it on the chair of her vanity table. He'd have to teach her about proper housekeeping, too.He glanced at the clock at her bedside. Past ten. She would be home any minute now. But that possibility only flooded his veins with the sweet adrenaline of anticipation.He would reveal himself. Soon. But he wanted her to know the depth of his love first. When he pulled away the veil of mystery, she would say, Of course. It had to be you. Then she would smile and walk into his arms and they would tumble onto the satin sheets of her bed.They were soul mates, meant to be together forever. He closed his eyes and groaned, plunging his hands between her sheets, and imagined her nude form sliding against the blue satin, against him. From the moment he'd seen her, he'd thought of little else.She would be his. They were fated to be together. He pulled his hands away from the comfort of the cool satin and the intoxicating scent of her feminine perfume, and carefully extracted the three miniature hothouse orchids from the pocket of his jacket. Tiny blooms of pink perfections, just like her.He ambled back to the living room. One last little present to let her know he was thinking of her. Soon she would have no choice. She would have to turn to him. And he would be there, arms wide open, to receive her.The whir of the private elevator registered. Her? His heart did a quick dance. What if he stayed? What if he told her he loved her? No, she wasn't ready. Not yet.He kissed the orchids and arranged them just so. She would love them. Then he added one last touch.The key turned in the lock.He smiled.Welcome home, my love.Faith Byrne pushed open the steel-core door to her condo and let out a sigh that drained away the bottled-up tension that had made her head pound and her shoulders scream and her feet ache. She didn't have two functioning brain cells left to put a cohesive thought together, let alone a long overdue dinner. Microwave popcorn would have to do. Again.Nights like these, after an endless day, made the two million she'd spent on the twenty-second-floor penthouse seem like a bargain. Home. She was finally home.She relocked the door behind her and entered her code on the alarm pad. Shedding her four-inch Manolo heels that added needed height to her five-foot-three frame, and the charcoal suit jacket with no-nonsense lines that were supposed to add authority to the squeaky-clean face even makeup couldn't make look grown-up, she crossed the Brazilian cherry floor to those awe-inspiring views of Elliott Bay that had made her fall in love with the place.She flopped onto the club chair that wrapped around her in raspberry-colored marshmallow softness, and lost herself in the wide black swatch of the sky outside her floor-to-ceiling windows. The slow winking of stars and the festive twinkling of lights from the ships slowly drifting along the bay made her forget the crazy, busy madness of the day and believe that everyKurtz, Sylvie is the author of 'Honor of a Hunter [Harlequin Intrigue Series #1028]', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373692958 and ISBN 0373692951.