“If you insist, though I prefer to remain professional in public.” She seemed deadly serious now, and Doug doubted that he would get her to change...her mind. She looked like she was braced for an argument, standing with her head held high, her shoulders back and her hands clasped behind her back. She met his eyes squarely; no give at all.Doug sighed, and shrugged.“So, you are going to be my keeper? Did you lose a bet?”“Nope. I finished my previous assignment two days ago, and I wanted to work.. The time was near two when Ellie rang Mary, asked if they were going shopping that afternoon, which she was told they were and that she had just caught them, as they were just leaving, she asked them to collect a bag of flour for Jed to deliver in the morning and thanked them before ringing off. They looked at her with interest, and she explained that “she had some flour, but she now knew that they were away all afternoon and would not be able to hear the milk parlour pump!” mother called her. Her eyes bored into him, so dark he couldn’t determine what color they were. He allowed the bottle of water to slip from his grasp. He wrapped his hands around her elbows and pulled gently, moving her toward him just an inch, ignoring the pool of water now spreading at their feet. Running a hand up one of her arms until it reached her neck, he stroked his thumb along the line of her jaw, staring into her wide, dark eyes. It couldn’t be helped. He couldn’t stop himself, even if he wanted to. It. ”“How do you know I wouldn’t understand?”He started to reply and, from somewhere, he knew not where, came the idea. “Do you really want to know?”“Yes.”“First, tell me your name.”“Sophie. What’s yours?”“Jonathan Perrine. Professor Jonathan Perrine. You may address me as ‘Professor,’ yes?”She nodded. “What are you working on, Professor?”He sighed. If he could carry this off it would set up his presentation at the next conference. If someone under four feet tall and six or so years old could.