Chapter 24

"I dropped them on the floor, and as I was searching, I stepped on them."

"Nearsighted, are you?"

"Quite."

Having reshaped the earpiece, Leo scrutinized the spectacles. "There." He began to give them to her and paused as he stared into her eyes, all blue, green, and gray, contained in distinct dark rims. Brilliant, warm, changeable. Like opals. Why had he never noticed them before?

Awareness chased over him, making his skin prickle as if exposed to a sudden change in temperature. She wasn't plain at all. She was beautiful, in a fine, subtle way, like winter moonlight, or the sharp linen smell of daisies. So cool and pale . . . delicious. For a moment, Leo couldn't move.

Marks was similarly still, locked with him in a moment of peculiar intimacy.

She snatched the spectacles from him and replaced them firmly on her nose. "This is a mistake," she said. "You shouldn't have let it happen."