Cavanaugh’s hand, she told him, “It’s Noelle O’Banyon.”
Duncan had nodded as if taking in the information for the first time. “You were born on Christmas?” he’d asked. He couldn’t recall hearing a woman called that name before.
“As a matter of fact—no.”
It seemed like a logical assumption from where he stood. “Oh.”
“I was born on Easter Sunday,” she deadpanned.
Duncan had stared at her for a second. He would have wondered if she was putting him on except that she looked so sincere when she’d said that. The woman had to have really out-there parents.
“You’re kidding.”
She’d laughed, dropping the ruse. “Actually, I am. It was just a name. I’m not even sure if either one of my parents picked it, or if maybe some hospital attendant suggested it.”
That had an uncanny sad ring to it. Was she pulling his leg again? He couldn’t tell. “Well, either way, it’s intriguing.”
“If you say so,” she’d said.
And so began their dance of words. Over the past six months, they’d each gained a healthy respect for the other’s skills and knowledge.
They also got as close as they could as partners given that one partner held the other at arm’s length, Duncan now thought, watching her approach.
But maybe, he concluded as Noelle slid into her seat behind the desk that faced his, that was ultimately all to the good. He’d never had a relationship with a woman that had lasted beyond a month.
Most had had a shorter lifespan. If his interaction with Noelle had gotten serious during off-duty hours, then gone sour, that would, in turn, have laid them both open to absolute months of awkwardness.
If not longer.
No, he told himself perhaps a little too firmly for what felt like the umpteenth time, what they had going on between them now was definitely the better way to go.
He ignored the little voice inside his head that whispered, Sour grapes.
“Morning, Sunshine,” Duncan quipped.
Noelle raised her eyes to meet his. Given that she had sat down a few minutes ago and she assumed that Cavanaugh had taken note of that as well as seen her enter the squad room, the greeting he’d just offered seemed a little out of place or, at the very least, rather belated.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked him.
She watched as her partner’s broad shoulders rose and fell in a careless and yet somehow oddly sensual shrug. What the hell was she doing, noticing how broad his shoulders were? What was the matter with her? The size of his shoulders wasn’t remotely important here. And yet, she couldn’t make herself look away. Couldn’t make the strange, tightening feeling in her stomach disappear.
“Nothing,” he replied, “just my small attempt to get you to, oh, I don’t know, smile maybe?”
That made no sense to her as far as she could see. “By calling me ‘Sunshine’ or by bringing my attention to the fact that it’s morning? Something, by the way, I am well aware of.”
The look he gave her was annoyingly knowing. “Get up on the wrong side of the bed again, did we?” Duncan lowered his voice. “Or is your less-than-spectacular mood due to the fact that you woke up to find that it was empty?”
After six months, she’d gotten used to him. Used to the easy, sometimes somewhat annoying banter that meant next to nothing. It was Cavanaugh’s way of dealing with boredom and she was okay with that. They all had their little gimmicks.
“It’s always empty,” she emphasized.
“Ah, well, that could be the problem right there,” her partner told her as if he’d just made a scientific breakthrough.
Her green eyes narrowed. She was not about to get sucked into discussing her private life, or worse, defending it.
“No, actually, I think the problem is right here, sitting at the desk across from me.” The last case they’d been working on had been resolved. If there was a new one in the offing, Cavanaugh would have told her that the second she’d walked in. Obviously they were in between cases. Inactivity made him antsy. “I take it that none of the good citizens of Aurora, California, have given in to the temptation of soliciting anything more lascivious than magazine subscriptions.”
Duncan frowned slightly. “Are we talking about hookers?”
“We’re talking about the fact that you’re bored and having a hard time dealing with it. Maybe one of the other departments is short on manpower. Why don’t you make a few inquiries and volunteer your services accordingly?” she suggested.
“And give up sitting across from the ray of sunshine that’s known as you?” he asked incredulously. “Not a chance, O’Banyon. Besides, some up-and-coming con artist or identity-theft ring is bound to rear its ugly head all too soon. And, as you’ve already mentioned, there’s always that dependable libido to fall back on.”
“Yours or the general public’s?” Noelle questioned wryly.
“I plead the Fifth,” Duncan said with a grin.
It was the kind of grin that women found sexy and exciting, a grin that went straight to the heart while first stirring the senses and making women—single or otherwise—dream of things that they hadn’t even realized they were missing until they had encountered tall, dark and teeth-jarringly handsome Duncan Cavanaugh.
Once upon a time when she’d still been innocent and naive, Noelle thought, that very same grin would have gotten to her at the speed of light. But after having had her heart broken into countless pieces—so many that she thought it could never be reconstructed to function properly again—and broken not once, but twice, she knew better than to even think about attempting to go that treacherous route again. That route was for others who were either more naive or stronger than her to pursue. She had her daughter, her grandmother and her career, and as far as she was now concerned, that was more than enough to fill her world and her time.
“So, how’s everything on the home front?” Duncan asked her, changing the subject after several minutes of silence had gone by.
“Peaceful,” she answered, then spared him a glance. “Which is more than I can say for here, thanks to present company,” she added pointedly.
“Yeah, the squad room is kind of noisy,” Duncan agreed, looking around the area while feigning obliviousness to her actual meaning.
He wasn’t fooling her. Cavanaugh knew exactly what she was talking about, Noelle thought.
“Now might be a very good time to catch up on all those reports that have been piling up,” Noelle mentioned.
Duncan rolled his eyes, but he didn’t bother commenting on her suggestion. Though he loved his
