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The china was exquisite, the crystal perfect—and so, Cade insisted, was their dress
He wore the bottom half of a pair of blue cotton pajamas
Angelica wore the top
“Don’t look at h
“Look at you how?” he said, and grinned
“You kno”
Cade reached across the little table and tugged gently at a long, coppery curl that lay against her shoulder
“You look like a little girl,” he said softly
She sirl”
“I’ll bet you were the prettiest little girl in all of Texas”
Angelica made a face “Not me I hated the color of my hair, hated my freckles—”
“So you irl there,” Cade said, and smiled
Angelica laughed “You irl with the red hair, the freckles and the funny accent”
“Does your mother still live back East?”
“No She died when I was in e”
Cade looked at her “What about brothers? Or sisters?”
“There’s justfamily”
He shrugged “Well, it has its moments”
Angelica propped her chin in her hand “OK,” she said, “it’s your turn Tell me about Cade Landon”
He grinned “You already know ent…”
“And ertip to his slightly crooked nose “How’d that happen?”
Cade laughed “I wish I could tell you so roapore or soo, in a fight on an oil rig”
“A fight?”
“Yeah So orders, that the only authority I had came from the Landon name”
“And you decided to show him otherwise”
“I never got anything froht smile “Except maybe the desire to disassociateto me
“You and your father didn’t get along?” Angelica said softly
Cade laughed “The understate orders—”
“And you were good at ignoring them?”
He shrugged his shoulders “Let’s just say I didn’t like having somebody make the rules for the way I was supposed to live my life”
“No” Angelica looked at him “Nobody likes that”
“Uh-oh,” he said softly “That’s an ominous tone the lady has Is that what you think, that I’ve been trying to make rules for you to live by?”
She smiled “Well…”
“Angel, that’s not fair You’ve been sick I just—” He smiled “OK Maybe I did take over a little, but—”
“But?”
He reached across the table and slowly slipped his hand inside the pajama top
“But fro to smoke, “I’ll only take over where it counts”
Seconds later, they were locked in each other’s arms
The next , Cade sat in a chair opposite the bed He was dressed in a dark blue suit, a white shirt and a striped tie, and he was sipping a cup of coffee
Butthat the word “beautiful” didn’t really do her justice
Getting up an hour ago and leaving her warm, sweetly scented body had been difficult, but there was an important business matter that left hi important to do
He thought of the gaily wrapped boxes waiting in the sitting room He could hardly wait to see her face when she opened theht her, the silky camisoles and teddies, the soft cashreen as her eyes