“And you delivered.” She rubbed at the tension gnawing at the back of her neck. “It’s perfect—really, Pete. So are the doilies. I know you’re conscientious, but the theater’s going to be locked up tight. With security the way it is around here, I don’t think you have to worry about anyone making off with the props. Why don’t you go get some dinner?”

“Thinking about it.” Still he hesitated, toying with his keys.

“Is there a problem?”

“Nope. Got something to say.”

Amused, Eve nodded. “Go ahead, then.”

“You got my dander up the other day when you ordered me out of here. Yanked on me, too, and threatened to fire me.”

“I didn’t think you were pleased.”

“Guess I’d have moved a lot faster if I’d known what was going on.” He scratched his chin and looked at his shoes. “Talbot told us how you were running around the place, making sure everybody got out, when you knew there was a bomb. Seems pretty heroic to me. Stupid,” he added, looking back at her. “But heroic.”

“It wasn’t stupid or heroic. It was necessary. But thanks for the thought.”

“Like to buy you a drink.”

For a moment she was speechless. It was the closest Pete had come to a sociable concession in all the time she’d known him. “I’d like that, too. I have someone meeting me here tonight. How about tomorrow, right after rehearsals?”

“Sounds all right.” Pete scratched his chin, shifted his belt, then started down the hall. “You’re okay, Ms. Hamilton.”

“You, too,” she murmured, and felt better than she’d felt all day.

She started down the opposite way, bypassing her old office for her temporary one. Six-fifteen, she thought with a look at her watch. Alexander was late. She’d waited throughout the day, edgy and short of temper, for six o’clock. She’d just have to wait a little longer.

Why did he want to talk to her? To break things off as cleanly as possible. He had to know how deeply in love with him she was. He didn’t want to hurt her. Hadn’t he said so? He’d want to break things off now, before things became even more difficult for her.

He still wanted her. She had no doubt about that. But there was his sense of honor. He could only offer her a few hours in the night in secret. His sense of right, of fairness, wouldn’t allow him to continue for long. Wasn’t that one of the reasons she loved him?

No regrets, Eve reminded herself. She’d known things couldn’t last and had accepted that from the outset. Princes and palaces—they had no place in her life.