Moonlight in the Morning by Jude Deveraux

“presence,” and now that she was sitting near him in the darkness, she knew what Kim meant. She could almost feel him, like an electrical charge that went from him to her.
    If she were a different kind of woman and this were a different place, she could see herself slipping onto the chaise, stretching out full length beside his body. She could imagine removing clothes, kissing, even making love. It was a titillating thought to make love with a man she’d never seen.
    She came out of her dream when he put his hand out and touched her knee. She couldn’t help it as she picked up his hand in hers. “Tristan,” she said softly.
    “Yes?”
    “I don’t know you and can’t see what you look like, so I can’t use the usual ways of judging a person. But you sound to me like someone in physical and emotional turmoil.”
    “True,” he said, his deep voice barely a whisper.
    She released his hand. “But I want to tell you that I am not the woman you’re looking for. You want someone who’s ready to . . . to start nesting. I’m still looking for a career. At the end of three months I’ll leave here and I won’t look back. I have to find myself before I can take on another human being—or two or three.”
    She waited to see how he’d take this.
    “I am warned,” he said. “And I thank you for your honesty. But that’s all right. I don’t think I can handle any more of this love business right now.”
    “You need to let your arm heal and I think you should start that now. What time is it?”
    “Well after ten.”
    Jecca stood up. “I think you should go home and get some sleep.”
    “Mind helping me up?” he asked.
    Jecca knew he could get up by himself, but she still moved her arm about until she found his hand. By now the size and shape of it almost felt familiar.
    He stood up, placing his body close to hers. “Thank you,” he said softly. “I’ve not told anyone about . . . well, what happened.”
    She knew he meant about the woman he’d almost fallen in love with. His confession had consisted of a few sentences. Had it been her, she’d have talked to Kim for hours about it. But maybe all he’d needed was the relief of saying it out loud.
    He kept holding her hand, his fingers playing along her palm. “Would you tell no one what I told you? I don’t want it all over town, as it could cause my friend’s new wife embarrassment.”
    Jecca didn’t like promising to keep a secret from Kim, but then, this little encounter in the dark would be CarkCardifficult to explain. “I won’t tell,” she said. “I promise.”
    “Shall we meet again?” he asked, his grip on her hand firm.
    Jecca couldn’t help laughing. “Like Lady Chatterley’s lover?”
    “That would make you the lady and me the baseborn gamekeeper. Is that what you want?”
    He said it in a tone as though she were elevating herself to a class above him, and she laughed more. “I do like that idea.”
    “I see it more as Cupid and Psyche, that couple who—”
    She knew the story well and had always liked it. “Cupid was the Goddess of Love’s son, while Psyche was—”
    “A very beautiful young woman. The instant he saw her, he fell in love with her,” Tris said.
    “I think he hit himself with his own arrow, but wasn’t he also fairly pretty?”
    “I do believe he was. Probably took after his mother,” Tris said as he pulled Jecca a step closer so he could hold her hand with both of his. “Too many women fell in love with his beauty and he wanted to be loved for himself. So he . . .”
    “Married her but didn’t let her see him.”
    “Then that night . . .” Tris said.
    “He slipped into her bed and made divine love to her,” she said.
    Tris stepped even closer. “And what kind of love would that be?” he whispered. “All night of hot and sweaty, or champagne and roses, or more caressing than actual sex?”
    “Yes,” Jecca whispered. His face was inches from hers now and although she couldn’t see him, she