The Quiet One

6

Stepping into the warm restaurant, it blew Harper away by the décor. The place was a cozy mismatch of tables and chairs. The walls held photos of landscapes and architecture from all over the world. Harper recognized the Swiss Alps and the temples of the Aztecs, she let go of Regal's hand to get a better look at a picture with a waterfall and beautiful flowers studding the gray boulders.

"Mmm, you have a good eye, I took that while traveling through the Amazon," Arthur said, stepping up to talk to her, she turned her eyes on him and gasped. He was even bigger up close and her shyness took over. She cast her eyes down at the floor and trembled, Regal came over and took both her hands in his, blocking Arthur from view. He rubbed her pulse points until the hammering of her heart slowed and she could breathe normally again.

"Did I do something wrong?" Arthur wanted to know, Harper shook her head no and continued to look at the floor.

"She suffers from paralyzing shyness, you startled her and her body froze," Regal explained, Harper leaned into his body and felt like crying. There was no way he would keep this date.

"I'll go wait in the car," she whispered, trying to take her hands from his grip.

"What? Why?" he asked, stooping down to look her in the eye. Harper blinked back the tears she knew were forming at the edges of her eyes.

"You don't want to be with someone like me, I've embarrassed myself so many times already and cannot talk to your friend," she whispered, breaking eye contact with him and trying to tug her hands away again.

Regal pulled her over to one table; they had set it with a white tablecloth, a candle in the middle and one rose in a small vase.

"I don't want to let you go home, you have not embarrassed yourself in my eyes. I find you charming and wonderful, so you are shy, we can work through that. I know it is early to say this, but I like you Harper," he replied.

"How can you know?" She looked up to see nothing but kindness in his eyes.

"Because my panther never steers me wrong about people. I've also watched how you are the The Lily House girls and I know George Hartford. He sang your praises every time you found him a rare book. He wanted us to meet months ago, but I was too busy with jobs from Novak Hotels," he explained, motioning for a waiter to come over.

"We'll take a bottle of your finest merlot." The waiter nodded his head and walked away.

"My sister Heather's company was just offered a job helping design their newest hotel, they are building it on the edge of the town," Harper shared. She'd heard Heather gushing about how amazing the opportunity was for her company and she hoped she would be the head designer on the project.

"Anders is a very good businessman, he is always finding a place to build a new hotel. Each one themed to fit in with the town he is building the hotel for."

"Glad to hear it, do you know him personally?" She gave the waiter a shy smile when he came back and offered a taste of the wine for Regal to try. He tested it and handed her the glass for her to taste, she tipped it up and realized how intimate the gesture of drinking from the same glass looked. The wine hit her tongue, and she sighed, her one weakness was a good glass of wine, it didn't matter if it was white or red she did not discriminate. She let it sit on her tongue for a few seconds before swallowing. The earthy tones of the wine hit her and she sighed.

"That is delicious." She looked up and jumped at the look Regal was giving her his head cocked to the side and a lopsided smile on his face.

"We will take the bottle," he told the waiter, with a nod the waiter poured glasses for both before walking away.