A Waiting Game ; A Loving Arrangement by Diana Palmer

Author:Diana Palmer
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: 2018-11-30T13:50:44+00:00

CHAPTER TWO

SHE STARED AT his solemn face blankly while she tried to decide whether or not she’d misunderstood him.

“You heard me,” he said, reading the question in her eyes. “If you’re obviously living with me, he won’t dare make a pass at you. He wants this deal between us to work out too much to risk it, even for you.”

That was true enough. McCallum’s size alone was enough of a deterrent. And he was blatantly possessive about his acquisitions, especially his female ones.

“Do you think I have to actually move in?” She tried to sound her usual cool and reasonable self, but she could hear her voice faltering just a bit. “Couldn’t we just appear to be having a very obvious affair?”

He sat back down in his chair, eyeing her in that totally unnerving way of his. “Certainly a possibility,” he replied. “But tell me, Miss Summer, if Bob Dalton turned up on your doorstep late one lonely night, would you be able to keep him on the other side of that door?”

She stared back at him for a long moment, then down at her hands clasped in her lap. She gave no reply to his question, and he seemed to acknowledge that none was necessary.

“But Mr. Doppler and Jerry...and your mother and brother, what would they think?” she countered to his silence. “Everyone would know!”

“It would hardly be effective if we kept it a secret,” he reminded her with a dry smile. He stuck his hands in his pockets. “If you’re worried about sex, you needn’t be,” he said bluntly. “You must have noticed by now that my tastes run to brunettes who don’t interfere with my work. You won’t have to lock me out of your bed.”

The blush was unexpected, and it seemed to fascinate him. A faint smile touched his lips.

“Well?” he asked. “This is the twentieth century, honey,” he reminded her gently. “People are living together all over the city. And you aren’t still in pigtails.”

That hurt, but she wasn’t going to waste her breath trying to explain her feeling about such things to him. Twentieth century or not. It didn’t seem to matter to him, anyway. He was so matter-of-fact about it, as nonchalant as if he asked women to live with him every day. She studied him quietly. Perhaps he did. And he was offering her his protection, without any risk of involvement. It would keep Bob away from her, of that she was sure. Robert Dalton’s cowardice had surfaced once during their brief relationship and she did not flatter herself into thinking for one instant that he would risk losing this deal with McCallum for her sake.

Besides, she told herself, her parents wouldn’t have to know and Grey’s family would understand, she hoped. She couldn’t bear to have them think less of her for it. Their opinion mattered. Grey’s opinion mattered, and she’d only just realized it. She stared at him helplessly, wanting to put it into words that she couldn’t seem to find.

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