Seductive Deception

Chapter 25

Sometime later in the middle of the night, Morgan came to with Allegra sprawled across him, her golden hair wild, her lips soft and her lashes long and delicate against her cheeks. She snuggled against his side, laying her head on his chest, her hair falling over him like a satin waterfall. He stroked her cheek, tucking one of her golden locks, which was as rebellious as she was as it twisted and curled in errant ways behind her ear. He traced the delicate curve of her ear with his finger, reminded of a peachy-pink shell as the faint scent of rosewater and mint drifted from her, enveloping him.

He'd pulled a blanket he found on the edge of the sofa over her legs and across her back, making sure she stayed warm.

She reminded him very much of Allegra. The woman he'd promised to find. The woman he'd, in not so many words, vowed to love.

"I'll find you."

"Do you promise?"

"Always."

His stomach plummeted to his feet as he let the wave of guilt wash over him.

He couldn't find her, he reasoned with himself. How could he love someone he couldn't find?

And yet, he loved someone whose real name he didn't even know.

He was startled when Madam Cerise mumbled in her sleep, a sweet sound that made him smile as she twisted before she slowly opened her eyes, her dark lashes fluttering.

They studied one another in the faint light, listening to the last remaining pops and clicks from the embers.

"You said you had plans," he began, tracing his finger along her shoulder, "what are those plans?"

"Plans?"

"For your life. For how you wanted things to be."

Her eyes widened, and she nodded— "I have been making plans for a long time."

"Share them with me."

"My plans?"

He nodded.

She bit her bottom lip, and he watched as her pulse throbbed in her neck.

"Well, I have a few."

She sat, tugging the blanket to her chest as she folded her legs. "I want to own a successful business."

Morgan nodded. "That doesn't seem all that unrealistic. Difficult, yes, as most men own businesses and not women, but not impossible."

She shook her head. "I have a business, but I'd like to expand it. I'd like to include other women who want to support their families."

"What kinds of goods do you sell?"

She paused, her eyes alighting, and Morgan couldn't help but be caught up in her excitement and the joy it brought her to share her life's plans.

"One of the ladies in the apartments where I live, Mary Ellen, makes beautiful quilts, but she has to sell them for such low fees she makes a pittance from each one. If I could have a small shop or somewhere ladies could view the quilts she made, I am certain she'd sell many more. Perhaps even enough to supply her with a stable income."

He tipped his head, engaged as Allegra waved her hands, lost in her daydream— "She hand designs them to match places from people's pasts. Then, if she isn't familiar with the location and hasn't been to many places, she asks them to provide her with a reference, a drawing or a picture from a book. They're remarkable. I've never seen a more beautiful work of art in material form. And she does it as a service to them, allowing them to keep a piece of that memory forever."