Page 65 of A Spot of Tea and Sorcery: Vol. 6

Nigel was silent for a long while. “Are you happy with me?” he asked at length, his voice soft. “Now?”

“Oh!” Luna closed her eyes, but tears escaped anyway, running down her face and dripping onto his shirt. “You’ve made me happier than I ever knew was possible. Granted,” she added, sitting back to give him a stern look, “you’ve also made me cry more than anyone I’ve ever met.”

He grinned. “Every night for the last month, according to Bryony.”

“What?”

Nigel shrugged, but had the grace to look a little ashamed. “That’s what she said. She claimed you’d been keeping her up.”

Heat shot through Luna’s veins. “That pink-hairedtraitor!”she snarled.

But Nigel only smiled and pulled her close to him again, kissing her rage-fevered cheeks. “Will you believe me when I tell you I had no idea?”

“No idea what?”

“That you . . . liked me.”

“You hadn’t?”

He shook his head.

“I find that hard to believe!”

“My dear, if you’re going to marry me, you should probably know beforehand: I am remarkably dense when it comes to women.”

Luna threw back her head, sputtering a laugh right through her tears. “I was practically throwing myself at you!”

“Apparently, I missed that part.”

“That night behind the counter? On the quilts?” She narrowed her eyes. “Surely you hadsomeidea.”

“Well, I thought maybe there was a little spark in the air between us, but . . . what the hells was I supposed to do about it? Your aunt had justdied.”

She sniffed but offered a little half shrug. “Yes, well, that probably wouldn’t have been the most appropriate time to make your big romantic move.”

“I should think not.”

“But what about when I came back?”

His tone went dark: “Ward showed up.”

“Oh. Right. Ward.” Luna bit her lip. “He had a way of doing that, hadn’t he?” Nigel cleared his throat again and, when she looked at him, he had an odd expression on his face. “What is it?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, just . . .” He blew out a heavy sigh through his lips. “Ward helped me to find you, you know.”

She blinked, drawing her head back in surprise. “He did?”

“I . . .” He gritted his teeth as though what he was about to say was the worst thing he’d ever spoken in his life. “I couldn’t have done it without him.”

“Really?You two were like a . . . ateam?”

“No!”

“Associates?”

“Barely.”

“Wow.” Luna frowned, studying the side of his face quizzically. “So, where is he then?”