“I spoke too soon,” Mitch said.

“Hank Kendall,” Shay warned, “you go to your room, this instant!”

Kelly smoothed the skirts of her little dress. “I’m not a stupid girl,” she threw out, just loud enough for a retreating Hank to hear.

“Is she always this good?” Shay whispered once Kelly had finished her cocoa and gone off to the living room to sit quietly on the couch and thumb through a copy of a magazine.

Mitch shook his head. “I’m still a novelty,” he answered, trapping Shay neatly against the kitchen counter and bending to steal one mischievous kiss. “She’s only staying a few days, Reba and her husband are attending some conference in Seattle.” Liking the taste of the first kiss, he gave her another. “Hank’s pretty upset, isn’t he?”

Shay nodded. “I told him about Eliott.”

Mitch’s hand was in Shay’s hair, his thumb tracing the rim of her ear. “You did the right thing, princess. He’s going to need some time to come to terms with what happened, that’s all.”

“You were remarkably patient with him.”

Mitch kissed her again. “I’m a remarkably patient man.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “But I’d sure like to take you to bed right now, lady.”

Shay trembled, needing Mitch and knowing that her need would have to be denied. “I’d sure like to go,” she replied honestly.

Mitch laughed and nuzzled her neck once. “I’ll try to arrange something,” he said, and then they coaxed Hank out of his room and went to Ivy’s apartment for the evening.

Mitch called Shay at the office first thing the next morning. “Keep the weekend open,” he said. “I’m going to take you somewhere private and love you until you’re crazy.”

A hot, anticipatory shiver went through Shay. “What about the kids? Where would we—”

“Reba is picking Kelly up tomorrow night. Maybe Hank could stay with Alice.”

“Well…”

“Ask her, Shay. You’re talking to a desperate man, a man consumed with lust.”

Shay laughed. “I’ll check with Alice and call you back.”

Alice asked no questions. She simply agreed to keep Hank for the weekend and returned to the group of knitters gathered at the back of the shop.

The rest of that week crept by, even though Shay was busy day and night. She didn’t see Mitch at all, but he managed to keep her blood at an embarrassing simmer by calling her at intervals and making scandalous promises.

Finally, Friday afternoon arrived. Shay left the office early, picked Hank up at school and brought him back to Alice’s shop.

Alice immediately set him to work unpacking a new shipment of yarn. “You just go along, dear,” she whispered, half pushing Shay out through the shop’s open door and into the hallway. “Hank and I will be fine.”

Shay pulled a crumpled piece of paper from her coat pocket and handed it to Alice. “This is a telephone number, where you can reach us, er, me.”

Alice glanced at the number, which constituted the sum total of what Shay knew about where she would be that weekend, nodded her head and tucked the paper into the pocket of her apron. “Have a lovely time, dear,” she said, dismissing Shay with a wave of one hand.