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“Okay, let’s say it’s quite likely women have fallen in love with you before. Looking like you do — ” Mary scanned him from curls to toenails with interested stops in between. “Oh, yes. It’s completely and totally likely women have fallen in love with you before.”
He looked ready to proudly jam his fists onto his hips, flap his elbows and crow like a rooster.
“That’s enough of that, buster. Swelling your head is not the point of this conversation. We’re simply having a rational discussion about whether you have to be afraid I’ll try to trap you into marrying me.”
“Uhhh — ”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake. There you go again. Stop that. And stop squirming too.”
He shifted uneasily anyway and reached out to draw the sheet up over his bottom half. Well, that wasn’t too bad a reaction to what was obviously a ticklish subject. He was only half scared out of his wits by this conversation.
“As I was saying, women do have good reasons to fall in love with you. You’re rich, you’re smart, you’re successful. Okay, I’ll even admit you’re a really nice guy.”
“Thanks. I think.”
“You’re welcome. Actually, I’m quite pleased I managed to fall madly in love with a guy I like a lot too. But stop distracting me.”
“Huh?”
“Stopsidetrackingmeintodiscussingyourlikeable qualities. Whether I like you or not has nothing to do with the point I’m trying to make here. Which is all about the fact that I love you, and you’re safer that way.”
She rolled away enough that she could search his face.
“I mean, I’ve been up front and honest with you about that, haven’t I? And I’ll bet none of your other women were. I bet you’ve just been bobbing along, boffing them happily, until they suddenly sandbag youbyfallinginlove.Orsayingthey’vefalleninlove. Ofcourseyouhavetorun.Youdidn’tsignupforthat. But with you and me, I love you, and I know you don’t love me, and don’t even want to love me or anyone else. All honest and open, right here at the beginning. We just enjoy this in our own ways for as long as it lasts. See?”
Chapter Twenty-One
The AreM ath
T
HIS TIME, HE COULDN’T even say, “Uhhhh.”
He should like the sound of that. It got him off the hook, but he could still eat his cake, which might be mangling clichés, but they still said what she meant.
Van shook his head. He was confused. He didn’t like the sound of what she’d just said. Not one little bit. “What do you mean, ‘as long as it lasts?’ If you love me — ”
“Oh, I do, and that’s forever. But you’ll send me off sooner or later. So be it.”
Did she have to be so cavalier about it? Couldn’t she sound a little sad about it?
Should he admit, just to himself, that being the object of a little adoration didn’t do a man’s ego any harm? As long as it was safe. No entanglements. Nobodydependingonhim.Nobodyhehadtorescue. And she did keep saying it was safe.
It was an interesting conversation, sort of. He certainlycouldn’timaginehavingthisconversationwith anyone else. But then, Mary wasn’t at all like anyone else he’d ever known.
So, let’s try to figure this out, if she’d keep quiet long enough for a man to think this through rationally. Who was he kidding? There was nothing rational in any of this.
Still, maybe he could make some kind of sense out of this.
Okay, she loved him. He didn’t have to be afraid it would happen. It already had. And why was he usually afraid of that in a relationship? Because he hated feeling like a heel. He tried to never get close enough for any of this love stuff to come into the picture.
But he didn’t have to worry about that with Mary. He already was a heel with her. Wait. No. That’s not it.
Let’s start again. She had already fallen in love. He’d never had any say in it. He’d never had a chance to stop her. She’d gone and done it before he could have saved her from it. So, it was now and always had been out of his hands. He wasn’t a heel about it because he’d never had a chance even to decide whether to act like a heel. Wasn’t that right?
Curse the woman, he didn’t know.
He had to figure this out. Clearly, he wasn’t going to do that here. So, he had to get out of here. AnywherewithintouchingdistanceofMary,hisbrain was scrambled. He hadn’t a hope of figuring out whetheracostofonedollarandasellingpriceoftwo dollars meant a profit or a loss on the bottom line.
