“Why is that a problem?”

Pandora gave him a long-suffering glance. “My hair is straight and slippery and never holds a curl. Ida’s the only one who’s ever been able to arrange it and make it stay. I never expected I’d have to choose between my appalling hair and my business.”

Stepping closer to her, Gabriel nuzzled the upswept locks near her temple. “I love your hair,” he murmured. “It’s like midnight in my hands.”

She twisted away with a stifled laugh. “No, don’t be romantic in the middle of the toy department.”

“It’s not working?”

“It is, that’s the problem.”

Gabriel followed slowly as she skirted around the empty table. “What did Dr. Gibson say about your ear?”

Stopping exactly opposite him, Pandora grinned. “She says it will improve with the right treatment. No more ringing in my ear, or losing my balance, or being afraid of the dark.”

Their gazes met in a moment of shared delight and triumph. Before Pandora could move, Gabriel had reached across the table and snatched her wrist, as fast as a striking leopard. “Come around to me,” he murmured, tugging gently.

Flushing at the look in his eyes, Pandora tried to resist, her heart quickening pleasantly. “My lord,” she begged in a whisper, “not in front of all these people.”

His lips twitched. “Then find a corner where I can kiss you properly.”

Pandora found herself wandering pink-cheeked through the crowd with her husband in tow. As they paused to allow some shoppers to cross in front of them, she heard his caressing voice behind her, close to her good ear. “No matter what happens, my love, you know you’ll never have to be afraid of the dark. I’ll always be there to keep you from falling.”

As their fingers tangled together, Pandora reflected that as astute as Dr. Garrett Gibson was, she was wrong about something. There was magic in the world, and it was woven throughout each ordinary day, the same force that pulled the tides and drove the rhythm of a human heart.

Inspired by that thought, Pandora, Lady St. Vincent—a woman with admittedly poor impulse control—turned to kiss her husband right in the middle of the department store. And he—a gentleman obviously besotted by his wife—kissed her right back.