Window on Yesterday Read Online Free

steadying the glass, “I’ll take care of your registration.”
    “You’d better! I mean, it’s the least you could do!” Alycia exclaimed, smiling to soften the order. She stole a glance at her watch. “Registration ended exactly twenty-two minutes ago.” She raised her eyes to glower at him. “At the risk of inflating your ego, I must admit that I’ll be one very annoyed woman if I’m denied entrance to the lecture hall.”
    A suspicious-looking smile curved his lips. “You won’t be, I can assure you of that.”
    Alycia narrowed her eyes, wondering what he was concocting in his brilliant but apparently devious mind. Should the hall be full to capacity, she wouldn’t put it past him to seat her in a folding chair right next to his lectern! Contrarily amused and appalled by that possibility, yet somehow certain Sean Halloran would do it—if not to please her, then merely to indulge his own flair for dramatic impact—Alycia decided she needed a more definitive answer.
    “How?” she asked skeptically.
    Sean laughed outright. “Oh, come on, Alycia, surely you’re not as naive as all that?” He tilted his head arrogantly. “I’ll simply inform the powers that be that I want a seat reserved in the front row for a very special guest” The teasing glint in his eyes was so at variance with his haughty tone that Alycia had little option but to give in to the laughter tickling her throat.
    Sean’s expression changed instantly. His blue eyes darkened noticeably. Moving impatiently, he glanced around the room, as if wishing they were anywhere but in a public restaurant. Observing him closely, Alycia was amazed at the realization that she also wished them in some more private setting.
    But only to talk, Alycia was quick to assure herself, feeling oddly excited and uneasy at once. The man was an expert on the subject that interested her most. It was only natural that she should want to spend time with him—for an exchange of views and ideas, of course.
    Sure.
    Alycia refused to acknowledge the tiny voice that taunted from the edge of her mind. Giving herself an inward shake, she focused her attention on the sound of Sean’s low-pitched voice, wondering what he was saying—and when he’d begun saying it.
    “... But the series of lectures won’t begin until after spring break, and I want to talk to you now,” he went on intently. “Have dinner with me, Alycia.”
    “This evening?” Alycia asked, glancing at the snow beyond the window.
    “Of course, this evening. You’ll be leaving for Williamsburg this weekend, won’t you?”
    “Yes, but the weather ... I mean, by this evening the roads will be a mess!”
    Sean shrugged. “They were already a mess this morning.”
    “But...” she attempted to protest again; Sean refused to listen.
    “But nothing.” His smile was an outright enticement. “We have an entire war to discuss before you leave.”
    Alycia withstood his smile for all of fifteen seconds, then caved in as, inside, in a secret place, she had known all along she would.
----
Chapter 2
    “Who’s coming for dinner?”
    Laughing at the comic expression of astonishment on Karla’s face, Alycia set a large grocery bag on the table and shrugged out of her damp coat. “You heard me very well,” she replied, grinning as she draped the garment over the back of a chair and yanked the knee-high boots from her cold feet.
    “You are kidding, aren’t you?” Andrea croaked in an awed tone.
    Controlling her amusement, Alycia dropped her dripping boots on the scatter rug kept near the door for such occasions. As she turned back to the large open room, she placed her right palm over her heart and tried to look solemn. “Would I kid my two dearest friends?” she countered. She smiled at her friends, noting how warm and friendly the huge kitchen was, absently admiring the way it flowed into the living room, only a subtle arch separating the rooms.
    “But—Sean Halloran!” Andrea exclaimed, shaking