“I know only that you’re a respectable Archeologist, not necessarily a respectable man.”
“Of my infamy in s****l matters, I plead guilty,” he replies. “Just plead guilty with me.”
“You do have wit,” I say.
“And a reasonable degree of charm,” he adds.
“Tell me why this subterfuge? Why the anonymous courtship, the stalking, the secrets? Is this the way you woo all your women into bed?”
He looks at me with his typically vacant face, his hand still combing through my hair tenderly. “No, Ellen Laurey, just you,” he says simply.
I get the feeling I’ll never know and never understand how these last few months happened, what inspiration drove him to attain me this way.
“And what name are you going to call me?” I ask. “You have so many for me.”
“I’ll call you whatever suits my need. Do
