“Don’t worry about it,” I said, in what I hoped was an offhand manner. “Truth to tell, Luanna, I was about to apologize to you. It must have been terrible for you . . . coming to me for help and walking into the … ah … situation you did. I’ve been thinking that I should have handled it a lot better than I did.”
“That’s so sweet of you, Skeeve,” Luanna said, stepping forward to give me a quick hug and a peck of a kiss. “You don’t know how glad I am to hear you say that.”
Not surprisingly, her brief touch did strange things to my mind . . . and metabolism. It was only the second time she had kissed me and the other time I had been in the middle of conning her out of a handkerchief so I could get Aahz out of jail. All of which is to say I was far from immune to her kisses, however casual.
“So … ah … What brings you to Possiltum?” I said, fighting to keep my reactions from showing.
“Why, you of course.”
“Me?”
Despite my feigned surprise, I felt my pulse quicken. I mean, I could have assumed that she was here to see me, but it was nice to have it confirmed that I was the sole purpose of her visit rather than a polite afterthought.
“Sure. I heard about your new position here, and figured it was too good a chance to pass up.”
That didn’t sound quite so good.
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, I’m getting it all turned around,” she said, cutely annoyed with herself. “What I’m trying to say is that I have a proposal for you.”
That was better. In fact, it was a little too good to be true. While I had been indulging my fantasies about Luanna as a possible wife, I never dared to think that she might be thinking the same thoughts about me … as a husband, I mean, not a wife.