Envy(109)

All this was weighing heavily on her mind. She was trying desperately to stave off a bad case of the blues. Despite the tender lovemaking last night, her relationship with Parker was still unspecified and tenuous. At any moment, she feared a geocentric shift of emotions that would plunge her headlong into despair.

She’d been made a fool of by one man. She didn’t want to repeat that particular mistake. Ever. But certainly not within the same week.

Following that first lame attempt at conversation about caffeine, neither she nor Parker had said a word. Their eye contact had been haphazard and fleeting. Parker seemed to be making a concerted effort to avoid it altogether.

Feeling awkward, she asked if he was happy with what he’d written that morning.

“It’s all right, I guess,” he mumbled into his coffee mug, keeping his head down.

This was silly. They were grown-ups, not adolescents. Up till now, he had seized every opportunity to slip a blatant sexual innuendo into their conversation. He certainly hadn’t been shy about demonstrating his attraction to her, starting with the night they met. His sudden bashfulness made no sense.

“Did Mike lecture you?”

He looked over at her. “About the foreplay?”

“I… I was going to say about seducing a married woman.”

“Is that what I did?”

“Not without a lot of encouragement.”

“Then does it count as a bona fide seduction?”

“Parker, are we going to play a game of semantics, or are you going to answer my question?”

“Mike is concerned for you.”

“Why?”

“He thinks I’m rotten to the core.”

“He thinks the sun rises and sets in you.”

“He’s afraid I’ll hurt you.”

Looking at him intently, she asked, “Will you?”

“Yes.”

Startled by his blunt reply, she sat down at the kitchen table without breaking the eye contact they had finally established. “At least you’re honest.”

“Brutally so. It puts most people off.”

“Noted. But I’m not most people.”

The hard line of his lips softened. Something sparked in his eyes, which had been so remote only seconds ago. They moved over her, alighting for a time on her mouth, her breasts, her lap. Those spots that had experienced his intimate touch began to tingle with sensual recollection.

When his gaze reconnected with hers, he said gruffly, “Noted.”

They lapsed into a long stare that went unbroken until Mike reentered the kitchen, bringing with him several pages of text. “The print was getting dim, so I had to replace the cartridge.” He handed the pages of manuscript to Maris.

“I need to get back to it,” Parker said, wheeling his chair toward the solarium. “Don’t talk about me while I’m gone.”

“We’ve got better things to talk about,” Mike retorted.

Parker slammed the door shut behind him.

Maris laughed. “You two are like quarreling siblings. Or an old married couple.”

“God forbid.”

“Were you ever married, Mike?”

“A confirmed bachelor. How does crab au gratin sound for dinner?”

“Delicious. Was Parker?”

“Married? No.”

“Women?”

He removed a package of frozen crabmeat from the freezer and set it on the countertop before turning to her. “What do you think?”

She lowered her eyes and traced the wood grain in the tabletop with her fingertip. “Of course there have been women.”

“More than a few, fewer than many. Nothing lasting. Never serious.”

She nodded. He went back to assembling the ingredients for his recipe.

“Parker shared with me how you rescued him from the pit, so to speak.”

When he turned back to her, she saw that this revelation had surprised him. But he recovered and said, “He gives me more credit than I deserve. All I did was tell him things he already knew.”

“Like?”

“I told him that he was on a sure path of self-destruction. However, I pointed out to him what a slow path he’d taken. I asked why he was dilly-dallying. I told him that if he truly wanted to be dead, he could have found a way to take himself out.”

“Good psychology.”

He shrugged modestly. “The main thing is, it worked.” He indicated the manuscript pages she had carried in with her from the guest house. “Do you like the latest installment?”

“I’ve been rereading the chapter about Mary Catherine’s miscarriage. Todd is beginning to reveal himself as the villain.”

“Interesting,” Mike murmured. “That you think of him as the villain.”

“Aren’t I supposed to?”

“I believe that’s Parker’s intention, yes.”

“Do you read everything he writes?”

“Only what he asks me to.”

“Which is?”

He grinned at her as he reached into the cabinet for a casserole dish. “Everything he writes.”

“I’m sure he values your opinion.”

Mike scoffed at that. “He thinks the only opinion that counts is his.”