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“As long as it takes,” he replied, sounding as stubborn as she was. “I want answers, Page. And I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get them.”
He’d obviously intended the warning to intimidate her. She couldn’t have explained to him- why it made her rather sad, instead.
She was all too aware that there was a high cost involved in being willing to do whatever it took to reach a goal.
She’d been paying the price for two and a half years.
There were times she thought she’d sold her very soul.
4
GABE WISHED he could read Page’s expression. She’d looked so wan and ill when he’d stepped into the room that he’d found himself fighting a wave of contrition for what he’d put her through. He’d been on the verge of apologizing when she’d looked him in the eyes, lifted her chin and all but dared him to have sympathy for her.
She was still pale, but it was obvious that her strength was returning rapidly. He could almost see her mind working behind her wary expression, and he’d bet she was waiting for another chance to escape. He was chagrined at how easy he’d made it for her to do so twice before.
She wouldn’t find it so easy this time.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“I’m the one asking questions now. You’ll have your answers when I’ve gotten mine.”
She sat up very straight, crossed her arms over her chest and looked bored. He could see what the effort cost her.
“You’ll let me leave when you’ve asked your questions?” she asked, her patronizing tone annoying him all over again.
“I think you owe me that much, at least,” he returned bitterly, aware that he hadn’t exactly answered her.
She seemed to realize the same thing. She looked suspicious, but nodded curtly. “Ask your questions.” “Why did you leave me?”
“I changed my mind about wanting to be married. I hoped to avoid an ugly scene when I told you, so I took off while you were gone. It seemed the easiest way out.”
“Who called you just before you left?”
Again there was no hesitation before her answer. “A friend. A male friend.”
“That’s why you decided to leave? You went to another man?”
She didn’t blink. “Yes.”
Fury surged through him at the very thought of his wife with another man. It was all he could do to keep the emotion out of his voice when he asked, “What happened to him?”
She shrugged. “I got tired of him, too. I’m afraid I have a short attention span where men are concerned.”
He focused sharply on her face. Something was definitely fishy about the answers she was giving him. His Page had never been a very good liar—even though she’d improved quite a bit since he’d known her. “Where have you been living during the past two and a half years?”
“Here and there. Sometimes with a man, sometimes alone. I happened to be alone when your hired gun found me in Des Moines.”
He sprawled back in the chair, appearing to make himself more comfortable. He could tell that his hardwon, laid-back response to her deliberately cruel answers was beginning to get to her. A slight frown had appeared between her eyebrows, belying her nonchalant attitude.
“There’ve been lots of men since you left me, have there?” he asked, studiedly casual.
She lifted a hand and waved it in the air. “A few. I haven’t bothered to count them.”
He abruptly switched the line of questioning. “Why did you change your name?”
“There are some unhappy bill collectors looking for Page Shelby. I didn’t want to make it easy for them to find me.”
He couldn’t help but admire her quick mind. She’d yet to even pause before giving him an answer. And he’d bet everything he owned that she had yet to give him an honest one.
