Gabriel's Redemption (Gabriel's Inferno #3)(44)

Gabriel ground his teeth together. “In the first place, she is not your girl and she never was. I don’t have to justify myself to you or to anyone else. But out of respect for my wife, who seems to care about you, I’ll admit I was an ass**le. I’m not that man anymore. I never f**ked around on her, not even once, and I’m sure as hell not going to break her heart again.”

“Good.” Paul shuffled his feet. “Then let her finish her program.”

“Let her?” Gabriel’s voice dropped to a near-whisper. “Let her?”

“She might decide to give up or take time off or something. Encourage her to continue.”

Gabriel’s eyes flashed. “If you have information you want to share, Mr. Norris, I suggest you spit it out.”

“Julia feels guilty about making her grad program such a high priority.”

Gabriel scowled as the import of Paul’s words became clear.

“She told you this?”

“She also said that she doesn’t have any friends.”

“How convenient for you. Are you interested in continuing to be her friend?”

Paul grimaced. “This isn’t f**king convenient. Don’t you get it? I love her and because I love her, I have to listen to her worry about making you happy. You, the ass**le who left her.”

“I’m not exactly happy she chose to confide in you.”

“If she had friends in Cambridge, she wouldn’t need to. And anyway, my friendship with her has to end.”

Gabriel rocked on his heels, momentarily taken aback.

“Did you come to this decision yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Have you told her?”

“I wouldn’t do that to her before her lecture. That would be cruel.”

“When are you planning to tell her?”

Paul sighed deeply. “That’s the problem. I can’t say it to her face. When I get back to Vermont I’ll write to her.” He gave Gabriel a resentful look. “I’m sure that will make you happy.”

“I don’t take pleasure in her suffering, despite what you think.” Gabriel looked down at the platinum band on his left hand. “I love her.”

Paul’s dark eyes shifted to the wedding ring.

The Professor continued, “Your friendship is important to her. She’ll be hurt.”

“It’s time to move on.”

“Will you tell her that?”

“I’m not going to lie. It’s going to kill me to tell her the truth, but I will.”

“That’s very noble.” An admiring tone crept into Gabriel’s voice. “Perhaps I should persuade you to change your mind.”

“You can’t.”

A long look passed between Paul and his former professor.

“I’ve misjudged you, Paul. And for that I’m sorry.”

“I’m not doing this for you. I’m sure as hell not doing this so you’ll read my dissertation and write me a recommendation letter. I’ll tell Katherine that I spoke to you and you declined.”

Paul nodded at Gabriel and began to walk toward the college.

“Mr. Norris,” Gabriel called.

He stopped and slowly moved to face the Professor.

“I always intended to be an external reader, whether you continued your friendship with Julianne or not. Your research stands on its own merits.” He extended his hand.

Paul considered this for a moment, then strode toward him. They shook hands.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

A look passed between the two men that was reminiscent of the look that warriors gave after a battle in which both sides took heavy losses.

Paul was the first to speak.

“I’m not going to interfere in your marriage. But if I learn that you’ve broken her heart again, we’re going to have a problem.”

“If I break Julianne’s heart, I’ll deserve it.”

“Good.” Paul grinned. “Can we stop touching each other now?”

Gabriel dropped his hand as if it were on fire. “Absolutely.”

Chapter Seventeen

Later that afternoon, Julia and Gabriel checked into the Randolph Hotel. They were supposed to meet Katherine and Paul for dinner. But Paul said that he needed to speak to Professor Picton alone and, apologizing, asked the Emersons if they’d mind canceling their dinner plans. So the Emersons were left to dine alone.

After a quiet meal in the Randolph’s elegant dining room, they went upstairs to their suite.

“Are you glad the conference is over?” Gabriel held the door open for his wife.

“Very glad.” Immediately, Julia took off her suit jacket, draping it over a chair. She sat on the edge of the bed and kicked off her high heels.

She retrieved a square of chocolate from atop one of the pillows and unwrapped it, popping the sweet into her mouth. “They didn’t give us chocolates at Magdalen College.”

She gazed fondly in the direction of the en-suite. “’I’m kind of in love with the heated towel rack in the bathroom. We need one of those in Cambridge.”

Gabriel laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“But I wouldn’t trade our nights at Magdalen for anything. If we come back to Oxford, I hope we can stay there again.”