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‘Please go away,’ she mumbled.
‘No. You’re upset.’ This was worse than when he’d heard her being sick this morning. This was like watching someone swallowing broken glass and not being able to stop them.
‘Jack.’ She put her fists to her face, hiding the fast- flowing tears. ‘Can’t you leave?’
He went and found a flannel, ran it under cold water, and stalked back to the sofa. She hadn’t moved. He sat right next to her and forced her hands from her face, holding the flannel to her eyes—trying to be gentle.
Her half-sobs stopped, but she kept her eyes closed.
He turned her towards him with his fingers on her chin. ‘Kelsi, please look at me.’
Colour flashed.
He drew in a sharp breath, the surge of need rising so fast, blasting all thought from his head. ‘Oh, my God.’
He dropped the flannel, framing her face with his hands as he gazed into her beautiful, bare eyes. So hungry to see them.
Leonine—gold—the most unusual pale gold. ‘Why do you hide them?’ He was so incredulous his words whispered out instead of roaring as he’d meant. He just couldn’t understand why she would. They were so unique. So beautiful. Just like the rest of her.
‘Why are you here?’ she said angrily, twisting free from his grip. ‘You’re supposed to be at that dinner.’ She sniffed and grabbed the flannel from her lap, hiding her eyes from him again.
He tried to gather his scattered wits. ‘Is it because of the baby? Is that why you’re so upset?’ He desperately wanted to know. He desperately wanted to help. He desperately wanted to gather her close and cradle her and tell her it was all going to be all right.
She shook her head. ‘I’m just tired, that’s all.’
He didn’t believe that was all it was. But he didn’t know how to fix it. She was inching away from him. Not even that subtly, moving farther and farther away.
Oh, hell. Did she feel that helplessly trapped?
God, they needed to get out of here. He could really do with some air.
He frowned. Come to think of it, she hadn’t been out once all week—aside from work. Sure, he hadn’t either, but he’d been texting his friends and caught up with a couple during the day. But Kelsi’s phone hadn’t rung once. He knew she was quiet—that was okay—but lonely wasn’t so good.
And she shouldn’t be lonely. She should have a ton of friends. She was fun company—bright, with a sharp sense of humour that appeared when you least expected it. Yeah, he got that she was a little shy—the kind of work she did told him that. She hid behind a computer screen and emailed rather than talked face-to-face. But she could get over that...
‘You should go to the function,’ she said gruffly. ‘You can’t just not show up.’
‘Why not?’ He shrugged. ‘I wasn’t going to be there originally.’
‘But they’re expecting you now. Those people have paid money or won competitions to be there.’
Yeah, he knew that, didn’t need to be made to feel worse about it. Actually it was her wanting rid of him that made him feel worse. ‘I’m not leaving you alone when you’re like this.’
She looked cross. ‘I’m not helpless, Jack. I’m fine.’
‘Prove it, then,’ he said coolly. ‘Come out with me.’
‘No.’
‘You haven’t been out all week,’ he said firmly. ‘You can’t spend your life at home.’
She was sitting very still a clear foot from him.
He leaned across and brushed her crazy hair back from her cheek. ‘I’m not going unless you go with me.’
She leapt up from the sofa as if his hand had burned like the sun. ‘I can’t. I haven’t anything appropriate to wear.’
Oh, that was a pathetic excuse.
