Falling Awake (40 page)

“Don’t worry, I’ve got them handy.” He grinned. “I may need them later on tonight if you are still glowing the way you are now.”

The musicians launched into a traditional waltz and Ellis swung her into the first slow, gliding turn. The skirts of her elegant satin gown flowed out behind her in gleaming waves the color of candlelight.

She caught sight of Jack Lawson and Beth standing at the edge of the crowd. They were talking to Tamsyn and Ron Chapman. Vincent and Dave stood with a group of people from the Belvedere Center for Sleep Research. Leila and Farrell smiled from the other side of the room. Leila’s eyes glowed with the secret of her very new pregnancy.

“To think this all started because Jack Lawson sent you to recruit me for Frey-Salter,” Isabel murmured.

“That was just an excuse, as far as I was concerned. I never thought that sending you back into a lab was a good idea.”

“I got the impression that your recruitment efforts on Lawson’s behalf were somewhat halfhearted, to say the least.”

“You’re a tango dancer,” Ellis said. “You were born to be out in the world.” He tightened his hold on her waist. “With me.”

“Remember that day on the terrace outside the café when I had lunch with Ian Jarrow and he tried to talk me into returning to the center?”

“I’m not likely to forget it.” His eyes narrowed faintly. “I was worried as hell that he might try to talk you back into his bed as well as back into your old office.”

“I was never in his bed. That’s what we were discussing when you showed up, in fact. Ian had just informed me that our relationship failed because of me, not because of him. He claimed I made all sorts of excuses to avoid intimacy.” She tilted her head a little to the side, smiling. “He was right.”

Ellis raised his brows. “Not your type?”

“No,” she said. “I knew even then that I was waiting for the man of my dreams.”