Page 525 of Summer Heat
“I’d really like to have him,” Louise said. “But if you like, I can take them with me and Lance can bring you around to pick him up when you’re finished.”
Tamara wavered. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Heavens, no!” She grinned at the children. “We’re going to have a fire and a story.”
“Please can I spend the whole night? I like fires!”
Tamara bit her lip. Lance wanted her to say yes, wanted to have the chance to put his hands on her, to maybe even make love, but the conflict was too deep. “I’ll take you over there when we’re done and you can see how he’s doing,” he said. “How about that?”
She gave him a grateful smile. “Okay.” She bent over and kissed Cody’s head. “Be good, now.”
He flung his arms around her neck. “Thank you, Mommy!”
As they walked away, Lance took Tamara’s hand. “Do you still want to ride the Ferris wheel? Or can we go someplace a little quieter?”
Fear flickered on her face, and Lance cursed himself for pushing. “Quieter? What do you mean?”
“Never mind,” he said with a smile. “Let’s ride.”
They climbed into the car, and settled in, a new awkwardness between them. Lance didn’t try to touch her as they moved around, stopping at intervals to allow other customers to be loaded in. At one point, the whole wheel made a low groaning. “What was that?” Tamara asked in alarm.
“Just the machinery burping,” he said, but his mechanic’s ear wasn’t quite sure. It sounded like a missed gear. When they came back around, he’d get them off. In the meantime, he didn’t plan to worry her.
“Look at that,” he said, gesturing toward the lights of the town, spread out below them, and winking in isolated hollows between the trees. “I remember when you couldn’t see anything but blackness up there on the mountain. It’s like a fungus, spreading over the earth.”
She smiled. “You’re the construction magnate,” she said.
The wheel gave a jerk and moved up one more notch, putting them a little past midway. Lance listened for, but did not hear, the odd grinding.
Tamara made a soft noise and gripped the bar in front of them as the car swung faintly. “It’s really high,” she said breathlessly. “I haven’t been on a Ferris wheel in a long time.”
“All those wild rides, and not a peep, and now the Ferris wheel scares you?” he teased.
“Those others are all enclosed, and they just go fast or upside down.”
As slowly as possible, so the car wouldn’t rock, he eased closer and put his arm around her. “You can hang on to me.”
Her body flowed into his, hip to hip. “Thanks.”
“Ah-ha—it’s a ploy, isn’t it? You want to ravish me,” he joked.
The car jerked upward, and Tamara clutched his leg with a fierce grip. This time the grinding sounded again, and Lance frowned. Definitely a skipped gear.
“What is that? I don’t think I want to stay on.”
Privately, Lance agreed. “It’s nothing. I’m the engine guy, right?”
“Yes.” The word was tight and closed, and her grip on his leg had not eased at all.
“Let me guess,” he said. “You’re afraid of heights.”
“Bingo.” She laughed. The sound was whispery. “Isn’t that ridiculous, for a woman raised in the mountains?”
“Not at all. I read somewhere that vertigo is connected to inner-ear imbalances.”
The wheel jerked again, but only moved a half a foot. This time, Tamara moaned outright. “I’m really imbalanced then.”
Lance pulled her closer, wrapping both arms around her. She buried her face in his shoulder, and he could feel a faint trembling in her body.
