He reached forward – "Of course, yes. Partners." - and slipped the ring on her finger.
He felt elated, but oddly resigned. She had easily outmanoeuvred him. He stood and bent to kiss her on the mouth. She froze for a moment, as if this might be too much, too soon, then she accepted the kiss.
He resumed his seat and smiled. "We"ll make a good team, I think."
"I agree." She smiled back for the first time. "We"ll make a very good team indeed." She was careful to conceal her feeling of triumph.
In spite of having lost the contest, he was mindful to hide the fact that she hadn"t fooled him in the least.
* * *
NELSON"S BOOKS AND RECORDS, in the town"s market place, was divided logically on two floors. The ground floor was devoted to books, the larger section for fiction and the smaller for
