Sealed With a Kiss (Harlequin Kimani Arabesque) by Gwynne Forster

Author:Gwynne Forster [Forster, Gwynne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises
Published: 2012-02-29T23:00:00+00:00

An hour and a half later, Naomi sat down to a cold supper of fried chicken, baked sweet potato, and milk. She had driven Linda to her home at North Capital and P Street. Not the worst neighborhood, but close, and waited until the girl was inside her door. Had she herself been that naive fourteen years ago, looking for love in the wrong place? She thought back to the scene in the OLC lot. To leave the lot, you either went back into OLC or through the gate and into the dark alley. If Linda had gone through that gate with Rodney, there’d have been no turning back. Naomi marveled that such a gifted, intelligent girl had given no thought to the consequences. Was the need for love so powerful? Did she need Rufus like that, and did it explain her attachment to Chuck?

She answered the phone after its fourth ring. “Hello. I’m busy; may I call you back?”

“In that case, why didn’t you just let your answering machine say that for you? If my boys weren’t in bed, I’d invite myself over. Could you call a taxi and come over here? That way, I can at least be responsible for your transportation. How about it?” She thrilled at the sound of his deep, masculine voice, but she couldn’t talk with him or see him, not when she felt so raw. She’d been through the wringer once tonight, and she wasn’t going to subject herself to Rufus’s inquisition. She didn’t know how much of herself she had exposed to Linda, nor what he had heard. But Rufus was like a master agent; nothing escaped him, and he always got what he went after. She stalled.

“Well, what about it?”

“I’m eating dinner. I’m tired, and I’m going to bed. If you called about Linda, I saw her safely to her door.”

“I didn’t call about Linda; I called about you.”

She leaned her left hip against the table and contemplated the probable effect of telling him that she didn’t want to see him anymore. None, she decided. “Rufus, we’ll have to discuss me some other time. I’m going to turn in.” Don’t lie to a man, Linda. She hadn’t lied to Rufus, but she hadn’t told him the truth, either, and she felt as though she was caught in her own trap. He had wanted to protect her when they were in the OLC lot, but she couldn’t allow it. If she ever began to depend on him…

“There’s no point in trying to run from your problems, sweetheart,” he said, getting her attention. “Like the man in Samarra, when you get there, whatever’s chasing you will be waiting.”

“I don’t want to see you tonight, Rufus, and I took Philosophy 101 almost twelve years ago.”

“You told Linda to wise up. You wise up! You send a man a note and sign it, ‘Love,’ and the next time you see him, you behave as if he’s a leper.

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