She looked up at him with those blue eyes he loved so much. “I’d be a liability to you. I’m messy and loud and I swear and sometimes I even tell white lies—I don’t mean to, but they sneak out before I can stop them. I’m dyslexic, infertile and my stomach runs my life. And then there’re the lovely people I come in contact with on a daily basis: drug dealers, prostitutes, murderers, rapists. There’s the whole fiasco with the Johnsons—and my ex-husband is headed for prison…”

Even though he was amused by her speech, Nick knew she was dead serious and fought back a smile. “That’s not your fault. He tried to kill us both.”

“Which will lead people to wonder what kind of woman marries a man like him. They’ll question my judgment and yours for getting involved with me. They’ll rehash Johnson and every other ugly case I’ve ever had—and there’re a lot of them. It’ll reflect poorly on you.”

“I’m not running for office, Sam. It’s being handed to me for one year, and then it’s done.”

Rolling her bottom lip between her teeth, she mulled it over. “We’d attract a lot of media attention after everything that happened this week.”

“I can handle it if you can.”

“I’d hate to be responsible for causing you trouble. I’d hate that.”

“I can deal with that, too.”

She rested her hands on his shoulders. “You want this, don’t you?”

“My life was just fine before. If I say no, it’ll be fine after.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“It’s something I never dreamed of, something I never even considered before yesterday.”

“My dad and Freddie think it’s so cool,” she said with a shy smile. “They say it would work out fine for us. My dad even thinks it could be a ‘grand adventure.’”

Her skeptical scowl amused Nick. “They’re very wise men. You should listen to them.”

Looking up at him, she said, “Can we eat? I haven’t eaten all day, and I’m starving.”

He decided not to push his luck since she seemed to be coming around to a decision in her own peculiar way. “Sure.”

“Oh!” she said on the way to the kitchen. “You got a tree!”

“I told you I was going to.”

“When did you have time?”

“I did it this morning, along with a few other things.”

“What other things?”

“A little Christmas shopping,” he said with a mysterious smile as he poured her a glass of wine. “And some real estate shopping.”

Her eyebrows knitted with confusion.

He served her the reheated shrimp fettuccine Alfredo and carried a tossed salad to the table. “You said you couldn’t live way out here in Virginia, right?”