“But it seems to me that you can’t make definitive decisions without all the facts being in.”

“Have I ever told you that your practicality arouses me to the point of madness?”

She sighed as he slipped undone the knot in her robe. “Have I ever told you that I’m a sucker for a man who brings me flowers?”

“Flowers.” He lifted his head then picked up the rosebud he’d dropped on the pillow beside them. “Darling, did you want one, too?”

With a laugh, she pulled him back to her.

Juliet decided she’d seen more of Chicago in the flight into O’Hare than during the day and a half she’d been there. Cab drives from hotel to television station, from television station to department store, from department store to bookstore and back to the hotel again weren’t exactly leisurely sight-seeing tours. Then and there she decided that when she took her vacation at the end of the month, she’d go somewhere steamy with sun and do nothing more energetic than laze by a pool from dawn to dusk.

The only hour remotely resembling fun was another shopping expedition where she watched Carlo select a plump three-pound chicken for his cacciatore.

He was to prepare his pollastro alla cacciatora from simmer to serve during a live broadcast of one of the country’s top-rated morning shows. Next to the Simpson Show in L.A., Juliet considered this her biggest coup for the tour. Let’s Discuss It was the hottest hour on daytime TV, and remained both popular and controversial after five consecutive seasons.

Despite the fact that she knew Carlo’s showmanship abilities, Juliet was nervous as a cat. The show would air live in New York. She had no doubt that everyone in her department would be watching. If Carlo was a smash, it would be his triumph. If he bombed, the bomb was all hers. Such was the rationale in public relations.

It never occurred to Carlo to be nervous. He could make cacciatore in the dark, from memory with the use of only one hand. After watching Juliet pace the little green room for the fifth time, he shook his head. “Relax, my love, it’s only chicken.”

“Don’t forget to bring up the dates we’ll be in the rest of the cities. This show reaches all of them.”

“You’ve already told me.”

“And the title of the book.”

“I won’t forget.”

“You should remember to mention you prepared this dish for the President when he visited Rome last year.”

“I’ll try to keep it in mind. Juliet, wouldn’t you like some coffee?”

She shook her head and kept pacing. What else?

“I could use some,” he decided on the spot.

She glanced toward the pot on a hot plate. “Help yourself.”