“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” Derek placed a hand on the doorknob.
Sharon nodded. “It’s not you, it’s everything else going on,” she said.
He inclined his head in understanding.
“So what brings you by?” she asked.
He narrowed his gaze. “Gabrielle, what else? I didn’t see her. I even checked the microfilm area. Is she around or did she step out to get lunch?”
Bracing her hands on the desk, Sharon rose to her feet. “Gabrielle isn’t here.”
“Isn’t she working on her book here?” he asked.
“I haven’t seen her.” She bit her lower lip.
“Not today, but yesterday? Or the day before?” he asked, a bad feeling gnawing at his gut.
She shook her head. “But I’m sure she has a good reason for telling you she was here…” Sharon trailed off.
“I’m sure she just didn’t want me to worry.” Or get angry with her, he thought. “She probably wanted you out of the loop, too. You have enough on your mind without worrying about whatever she’s up to.”
Sharon exhaled a deep breath. Wasn’t that just like Gabrielle? “Well, the least she could do was let me know she’d need a cover,” Sharon muttered.
She glanced at Derek, but he’d already turned and headed out the door. Sharon grabbed the phone to warn Gabrielle-wherever she was-but the ring went straight to voice mail.
Sharon had no doubt Derek would find her. She called one more time and this time she left a message. But it looked as if Gabrielle was on her own.
GABRIELLE SAT AT HER adopted table at the Wave where she’d been working for the past three days. When she’d stopped by to talk to Curious George, Gabrielle had learned that the Wave was more than a nightclub. It was a place where people congregated at lunch hour, too. So Gabrielle had made it her mission to set up shop at a table in the corner, where she worked on her book, while at the same time, interviewed George, his staff and many of his customers.
At first people were wary about talking to her. But it was obvious George trusted her, so by the third day, the barriers had come down and people were sharing stories. She learned more about the Corwin Curse and its effect on the people of both towns; she heard tales of older women who’d been afraid to date the males of Hank Corwin’s generation; and she began to renew friendships with people she used to know.
More important than incoming information was the fact that people in town left talking about Gabrielle and her book. People hoped they’d get their names mentioned in print. And because of their piqued interest, they were discussing Gabrielle publicly. She hoped word would make its way to Mary Perkins that Gabrielle Donovan’s newest book would reveal-and dispel-all the towns’ secrets.
Gabrielle wanted Mary to be nervous. On edge.
She wanted the mayor to feel cornered and act on impulse. She wanted to catch the mayor in wrongdoing and put an end to her reign of terror once and for all.
Her plan was going well, too. Until Derek stormed in, all his frustration aimed her way.
He walked in and braced both hands on her table, looming over her and her laptop. “Please tell me there’s a reason you’re here, making a public spectacle of yourself, that won’t have me wanting to throttle you,” he said.
“I like the food?” She gestured to the plate of sliders George had made especially for her.
He shook his head. “Try again.”
“I enjoy the company?” She pointed to George, who waved at Derek from behind the bar.
“Gabrielle,” he said, drawing out her name through clenched teeth.
“You know exactly what I’m doing here. If I’d told you what I was planning, you’d have tried to talk me out of it.”
“You’re damn right I would have-”
She stood up to face him. “And I’d have come here, anyway. Then you’d be upset, and we wouldn’t have had such fantastic, amazing sex the past few nights,” she said, her voice dropping to a husky purr.
Her body reacted to her own words; the memory of his lips on her-all of her-flooded her mind.
She cleared her throat.
His gaze darkened with sexual desire. But his scowl remained. “You lied to me to protect our sex life?” he asked, folding his arms across his chest.
“I did not lie. I told you I was going to work. I just didn’t say where.”
He curled his hands tighter around the table. His knuckles turned white. “You said you were going to the library.”
She shook her head. “As I recall, you said, ‘You’ll be at the library with Sharon?’ And I didn’t answer.”
“You led me to believe it, dammit.”
Gabrielle nodded slowly. “Well, yes. But…wait. You went to the library to find me? Is Sharon still in one piece?”
He rolled his eyes. “She’s in better shape than you’re going to be in when I’m finished with you,” he muttered. “Let’s go. We’re meeting my father and Holly for lunch.”
Gabrielle knew when to retreat. With a curt nod, she closed her laptop and gathered her things.
His cell phone rang and he grabbed it. “Hello?” he barked into the phone.
He listened.
His frown deepened, the lines in his forehead growing more pronounced. Clearly this wasn’t his day.
“What’s wrong?” she asked when he’d hung up.
“What isn’t?” he asked. “That was Hank. Seems Marlene decided to come today instead of tomorrow. She’s waiting for me at the house.” He turned and started for the exit.
With a shiver caused more by the idea of meeting Derek’s ex than by his current mood, Gabrielle followed him out the door.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
DEREK PAUSED OUTSIDE his front door, not quite ready to face his ex or to give up his daughter.
Gabrielle placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, her touch conveying more than mere words.
She’d always known him best, and even now, when his fear for her safety had caused him to lash out at her in anger and frustration, she was still by his side, still here for him when he needed her.
“Whenever you’re ready,” she said at last.
He inclined his head, drew a breath and opened the door. Holly’s voice drifted out to him, her rush of words conveying both her excitement to see her mother and the desire to catch Marlene up on her life as quickly as possible.
“And then Dad took me shopping for new flip-flops ’cause Fred chewed mine, but we had to stop at the library first ’cause you know how school’s running that program where if you read a certain number of books you get a free pan pizza at Pizza Hut?”
“Yes, I remember that program,” Marlene said, her familiar voice reaching Derek as he quietly opened the front door. “Have you been reading a lot?”
“Sort of. Anyway, so I dropped off my books and picked up some new ones and then we went for new flip-flops and that’s when I met Gabrielle Donovan. She’s really cool, Mom. You’ll like her a lot. She dresses pretty and she speaks French. Oh, and she was dad’s girlfriend back in high school, way before he ever met you, though.”
Derek decided Holly had definitely rambled enough. “Hello?” he called out, as if he’d just walked in.
“Dad!” Holly said as both she and Marlene turned toward the front door. He stepped inside, Gabrielle behind him. “Look who’s here!”
“I see. Grandpa called to tell me your mom was here a day early.” He deliberately held Marlene’s gaze a minute too long, hoping to convey that he didn’t appreciate the surprise. “How was Europe?” he asked her.
