“Tell me the truth, Gaby. Was this just an experiment? You’d certainly gone out of your way to set the scene, right down to the candle by the bed. Did you decide it was time to discover your own sexuality and pick me because I was in the neighborhood and struck you as being an adequate stud?”
Shocked by the crude assessment of what had just happened between them, she sat up in bed, clutching the sheet across her breasts. She felt embarrassed and cold and incredibly empty inside.
“I really must not have gotten it right, if you think that,” she said her voice flat. “I never said I didn’t have opportunities to hop into bed with other men. I said I’d never had these feelings before.” She glowered at him. “You inspire them. I don’t know what they mean or the full ramifications of tonight, but I wanted this to happen between us because it felt right. Now I have to wonder if it wasn’t an awful mistake.”
Paul winced as if she’d slapped him. He reached out to touch her, but she shrugged off his hand.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I should never have said that. Maybe I said it because I was feeling guilty about my own motives. God knows I’ve wanted you from the very first moment you walked into this apartment. Up until now I’ve had sense enough to keep my hands off.”
“You don’t have any reason to feel guilty for taking what I offered, only for making it seem ugly and cheap.” She allowed her point to sink in, then sighed. “Paul, I don’t regret what happened tonight.”
“That’s not what you said a minute ago.”
“I was furious at you a minute ago for trying to ruin something very special.”
The tension seemed to drain from his body at last. She saw the spark of heat flare in his eyes and recognized it. “Maybe I should try to make it up to you,” he suggested in a voice that sent fire sizzling through her veins all over again.
“Maybe you should.”
* * *
When Paul woke in the morning, he was surprised to find that he was alone in Gaby’s bed. During the night, he’d gotten accustomed to waking up and finding her nestled close beside him. Sometimes he had contented himself with just watching her sleep, filled with an overwhelming sense of possessiveness. More often, he’d needed to touch her, to feel the satin of her skin as it warmed beneath his fingers. And on more of those occasions than he’d dreamed possible, she had come awake to his touch, returning it with sleepy pleasure, until they’d wound up clinging together in passion yet again.
He stretched, got out of bed and without bothering to pick up his scattered clothes went in search of Gabrielle. He heard her before he found her, her voice low and edged with a note of nervousness he’d never heard before. He walked into the living room, where she was curled up in the corner of the sofa talking on the phone. She glanced up at him, her eyes widening as she took in his state of undress. He went over and dropped a light kiss on her forehead, then sat down across from her, feeling not one bit guilty about his blatant eavesdropping. He wanted to know what had put the tension in her voice and the frown on her forehead.
“Yes, Daddy. Of course, everything is all right. You don’t need to worry about me.”
Paul watched as she swallowed hard. A blush crept into her cheeks. “The job is going just fine.”
Startled, he simply stared at her. She refused to meet his gaze.
“Of course, I know I can count on you and Mother. If there were anything wrong, I would tell you. I have to go now, Daddy. There’s someone at the door. I’ll talk to you again next week. No, really. I’ll call. I’ll give you the phone number next time. ’Bye.”
She pushed down the button to break the connection, even before she replaced the receiver. She still didn’t look at him.
“What was that all about?”
“Just checking in with my parents. If I don’t call once a week, they get a little crazy.”
She started to get up.
“Don’t leave.”
She sat back down, looking guilty and thoroughly uncomfortable.
“You haven’t told them about your job yet, have you?”
“You were sitting right here. You know I haven’t.”
“Or about where you’re living?”
Her chin rose defiantly, then she sighed. “No.”
“Why not?”
“They’d worry.”
“It sounds to me as though they’re already worried.”
“If you knew my parents, you’d realize that it’s a perpetual state of mind.”
“Then why not tell them the truth?”
“Because they’d start pressuring me to come home. I’m not up to it.”
“Are you afraid you’d give in and go?”
“Of course not.”
“Then tell them. I could tell from the sound of your voice that the deception is beginning to take a toll on you. Get it out in the open. Let them know that you’re doing just fine, that you’re getting your life back together, making decisions about what you want to do next.”
“And how do I explain you?”
He grinned. “Now that’s an interesting question.”
“Dammit, I’m serious. If they find out I am living with a man, they won’t wait around to find out the circumstances. My father will be up here with a shotgun.”
“Is that really what you’re afraid of? You don’t seriously think your father will shoot me unless we traipse off to the nearest chapel.”
“Cathedral,” she corrected. “Senator Graham Clayton’s daughter would only get married in the fanciest cathedral around, with an entourage and trappings that would make the royal weddings in England look like they were thrown by paupers.”
“Senator Graham Clayton?” Paul repeated in a voice that was admittedly choked. The man’s name was synonymous with conservative politics and old-fashioned family values. A shotgun would probably be too good for a man who was sitting around naked chatting with
