Now her devotion to Danny had forced him to reconsider. At least, he thought that was the reason for the strong attraction that had sprung up almost the moment he set eyes on her. The steady stream of pictures Mattie had sent him over the years had enabled Gabe to follow Dana’s transformation from a pretty girl into a mature, sensual woman. He would be lying to himself if he didn’t admit he’d occasionally fantasized about what it would have been like if he’d married Dana instead of Ellen. He’d had some pretty hot dreams.
But that’s all they were. And they came crashing down every time he remembered the differences that separated them—money, social position and ambition, just to name a few.
Still, desire had flared up the minute she’d walked into Marshall’s kitchen. When they’d been in the car together he’d almost had to grab the door handle to keep from touching her. If he couldn’t control himself during a short drive, how would he survive being married to her, living in the same house, being around her several hours a day for as much as two or three months?
Despite her independence and her annoying habit of arguing with nearly every word that came out of his mouth, she was vital, energetic and seductively feminine. He felt like a weak-willed idiot, a teenager being jerked around by runaway hormones, but he couldn’t stop it.
He had to get himself under control. Only the threat of losing Danny had forced Dana to consider marrying him. Only the promise he would leave her completely alone, wouldn’t do anything to hinder her divorce, had induced her even to consider such a drastic step. He would have to control his reaction to her. If she had any idea of the thoughts that went through his mind, she’d fire up that Jaguar and be on I-81 in ten minutes. He would control himself because he must to keep Danny. His feelings didn’t matter to anyone but himself.
He walked up the steps to the screened-in back porch of his house and reached for the door handle.
The door didn’t open. She had latched the door. That never happened in Iron Springs. It showed him even more clearly how much they were unalike. Feeling decidedly off balance, he banged on the door with his fist. He didn’t have a doorbell. He never needed one.
Dana peered through the kitchen window. With Danny perched on her hip, she hurried out to unlatch the screen. “What are you doing here?” she asked as he entered the porch.
“It’s my house.” He had started off on the wrong foot. He wouldn’t convince her to marry him by acting like this. “I came to see how you were doing,” he said. “Did you sleep well? Did you find something for breakfast?”
It wasn’t fair. She looked delicious this early in the morning. She wore a halter top, skimpy shorts and nothing else. Even her feet were bare. He’d never realized how sexy feet could be. Five seconds on the porch, and his temperature had started to rise. Not a good sign.
“We’ve just found our way to the kitchen,” Dana said. “Come on in.” She issued the invitation with obvious reluctance.
Dana wasn’t really ready to face Gabe, but in a way she was glad to see him. She certainly hadn’t expected him to neglect his work to come see how she was doing. But then, that wasn’t really why he came. He’d come to see if she’d agree to marry him, if she’d help him keep Danny.
“What are you fixing?” Gabe asked.
“Danny has his own cereal. I have coffee.”
“Don’t you eat real food?”
“I’m not hungry in the morning. I don’t wake up easily.”
“You look wide awake to me.”
She wasn’t certain how he meant that, but the way his gaze kept straying over her body made her wish she’d put on something that covered a little more. She wasn’t accustomed to being around a man in the morning. “You have to be, when you have a child to take care of,” she said.
“You look awake enough to eat some bacon and eggs.”
She smiled. “Good old country food.”
“Naw, this is practically fast food.” He opened the refrigerator, took things out and put them on the counter. “If we were sitting down to breakfast at my grandmother’s house, we’d have ham, sausage, maybe a pork-chop or two, probably some beef and gravy, eggs, grits, biscuits slathered in butter and dripping with jam, big glasses of milk and pots of hot coffee.”
“Stop. I feel my arteries clogging just talking about it.”
“My grandparents are still alive,” Gabe said, “and still eating the same foods.” He found a tray, laid six strips of bacon on it, covered it with a paper towel, and put it in the microwave.
“I can’t believe you actually own a microwave,” Dana said.
“Even Iron Springs is aware we’re in the twentieth century.”
She hadn’t meant it that way. While she stirred Danny’s oatmeal to cool it sufficiently for him to eat, Gabe broke several eggs into a bowl and whisked them. He found a frying pan, sprayed it to keep the eggs from sticking, put it on the burner to get hot. Meanwhile, he put bread in the toaster, set out butter and jam.
While he cooked, she set the table in between feeding Danny spoonfuls of his favorite blueberry flavored oatmeal. She usually let him feed himself, but he hadn’t learned to handle the spoon very well, or find his mouth on the first try, and she didn’t want to mess up Gabe’s kitchen.
It seemed no time at all before Gabe had breakfast on the table.
“You did that very quickly,” she said, pouring her coffee, the one thing she’d been allowed to do.
“I don’t usually eat breakfast, but I still remember how to fix it.”
She couldn’t picture Gabe in the kitchen, not even to fix toast.
“How about some scrambled eggs?” Gabe said to Danny. “You’re young enough to eat concentrated protein.”
Gabe held out some eggs on a fork, and Danny opened his mouth. The child would eat virtually anything.
“Good, isn’t it?” Gabe said. “Want some more?”
Danny nodded. Dana watched Danny wolf down eggs and tiny bits of bacon as if he hadn’t already had his usual breakfast. She buttered some toast, finally gave in and took a serving of eggs and one piece of bacon. She grinned when she took her first bite. Gabe had put cheddar cheese in the eggs. No wonder Danny was eating like a little pig. He loved cheese.
Much to her surprise, Dana realized they were fixing and eating breakfast like an old married couple. Gabe even fed Danny, something all pediatricians urged fathers to do. According to doctors, it helped cement the bond between them. If Gabe wanted to find a way to win Danny’s affections, he couldn’t have found a better way than food. Besides, the eggs and bacon were very good. She didn’t know if she could give the credit to Gabe’s cooking, but she actually had an appetite.
“If things could go this smoothly all the time, I wouldn’t mind being married to you.”
Chapter Seven
The words popped out before she even thought. The stunned look on Gabe’s face told her she’d surprised him as much as herself. “I mean it wouldn’t be so bad having to be married to you for a couple of months.”
He sighed and seemed to relax. A slow smile spread over his face. “I hoped you’d made up your mind to do it, for Danny’s sake.”
She had made it and unmade it a dozen times during the night, but she got cold feet every time she thought of it. And the smile on Gabe’s lips right now was a perfect example of the danger he posed. If he smiled at her like that very often, she didn’t know how long she could keep herself under control.
“I do have some conditions,” she forced herself to say before she could change her mind.
“Anything you want.”
“You’d better hear them first.”
“I trust you.”
That was more than she could say for herself. She wondered why a woman who didn’t want to be captivated could be completely enthralled against her will. It didn’t seem fair. It certainly didn’t seem sensible. And she’d been extremely sensible for years.
“You already mentioned separate bedrooms and my freedom to come and go as I please.”
He nodded.
“I still get to make most of the decisions concerning Danny. You don’t know him yet,” she said before he could argue. “I know you play with him on the kitchen floor and you’ve shamelessly stuffed him with eggs and bacon, but he still needs me as an anchor.”
“Then you’ve got to agree to help him shift his anchor.”
“Fair enough. I’ll start writing down all the things you need to know about him. I’m bound to forget something, so don’t hesitate to call me.”
“Wouldn’t it be quicker to ask someone here?”
“You can ask anybody you want, but you’ve got to call me. I don’t care what time it is. I’ll give you my home, work and cell phone numbers. I don’t want to come for a visit and find he’s been sick and I didn’t know about it.”
“Are you sure knowing he’s sick won’t worry you too much?”
“No, because I’ll be here in two hours.” The child would think she didn’t love him any more if he was sick, hurt, or suffering and she wasn’t with him. “I also want unlimited visits. I want to come anytime and stay as long as I can. I’ll be here every birthday, vacation and holiday. I want to know every time there’s something special, like he’s in a school play or a Christmas pageant, his first soccer game—all those things.”
“You sure you don’t want us to move to New York?”
She knew Gabe thought he was making a harmless joke, but if he had any idea how much she wanted Danny where she could see him every day, hug him, kiss him, love him, he wouldn’t say things like that.
“I want pictures at least once a week,” she added, “lots of them. You said they were important to you and your mother, so you’ll understand why they’re important to me.”
She had to stop. The lump in her throat wouldn’t allow more words to pass. She turned so she could brush away a tear without Gabe knowing. Men accused women of using tears as a weapon to get what they wanted. They couldn’t seem to understand it was also an involuntary reaction to losing something precious.
“Anything else?” Gabe asked.
“No. That’s it for me.”
“I don’t see any problem with any of that.”
“Good. What about you?”
“Until I win official custody, I need you to stay in Iron Springs as much as you can, doing everything you can to appear like a normal wife.”
“What did you think I’d do?”
“How can I tell? I don’t know how long you can stay away from your job. You don’t like Iron Springs. Your family, friends and all the things you like to do are back in New York. It would be easy to leave after the wedding and not come back.”
“I wouldn’t have agreed to any of this if I weren’t prepared to make the marriage look real,” she said, irritated he would think her so irresponsible. “I do like Iron Springs. I just don’t think the people here like me.”
“They do. They just haven’t had a chance to show it yet.”
She decided not to argue. They’d never agree. “I think it’ll be best if we don’t tell anybody why we’re getting married.”
“I won’t tell anybody but Ma.”
“Not even her.”
That upset him. “Why not?”
“Because your mother is too sweet and honest to carry this off if she knew the truth. She’d probably burst into tears every time she saw me.” She could tell by the heavy frown he didn’t like her analysis of the situation. “I’m not going to tell my parents, either.”
“I should hope not. They’d have you in a psychiatric hospital within twenty-four hours, that is if they could get here that quickly from wherever they are now.”
Dana bridled but said nothing. Her father had flown to Malaysia on business, and her mother was relaxing at a private resort in Switzerland.
“I still insist we tell no one,” Dana said.
Gabe sighed his acceptance. “Okay, but you’ll have to help me explain to Ma afterward.”
“You’ll do just fine by yourself. There’s not a woman alive you can’t twist around your fingers.”
“You.”
“You’ve talked me into marrying you. I consider that enough twisting.”
“But it’s only for a couple of months.”
“As if you’d want to be married to me for the rest of your life.”
His frozen expression confirmed her conviction he’d rather move to the center of Manhattan than cohabit with her for as much as a week. It wasn’t very flattering, but she hadn’t expected anything else. Didn’t want it. He was an unfeeling boob, even if he did manage to act human from time to time. Still, considering her lack of success with men, it would be nice to have at least one man panting after her. He wasn’t her ideal man—he’d never look right living in a Dutch Colonial in Chappaqua—though in an Iron Springs sort of way, he wasn’t a bad substitute.
“So…I guess that’s it,” she said pleasantly surprised they’d been able to settle things so quickly. She guessed relief over how well negotiations had gone accounted for her now friendly feelings toward Gabe. He could be decent when he tried, at least when he wanted something badly enough to try. Maybe that was too harsh. He didn’t understand her at all, but he had let her do pretty much what she wanted when it came to Danny.
She couldn’t deny that rankled. Just once she’d like him to do something to please her. Not Danny, not anybody else. Just her.
“We’ve got to be at the church by noon,” Gabe said. “You don’t have to wear anything fancy. There won’t be anybody there but the preacher, Marshall and Ma.”
“What are you talking about?” Only shock caused her to ask such a stupid question. He must have taken it for granted she’d marry him. He had everything already set up.
“No point in getting mad,” he said, calmly forestalling her outburst. “I could have canceled the arrangements if you refused, but if we’re going to get married by high noon, I had to get things organized in case you said yes. Marshall had things to do to get a licence and arrange for blood tests.”
That left Dana with nothing to say. His reasons were logical and justifiable. All the more reason she wanted to hit him. Where did he get off being rational when she felt she’d been living in a fifth dimension for the past month?
“I don’t want a reception,” she said, unable to think of any other way to show her anger at his making all the arrangements without consulting her.
“There won’t be one.”
“And there won’t be a honeymoon trip.”
“Naturally. I expect I’ll be tied up trying to convince that lawyer he’s come here on a wild-goose chase.”
He would convince the lawyer, not they. Just like a man to assume he would be the one to do anything important.
“What will you do about a ring?”
“We can use Ellen’s. She was kind enough to throw it at me just before she walked out.”
She’d like to throw it at him, too. “I’ll be sure to give it back.”
“You can do anything you like with it. I’d forgotten I had it.”
She didn’t believe that.
“Anything else?” he asked.
“No.” She couldn’t think of any reason to postpone this nightmare. Since she had agreed to go through with it, the sooner the better.
Gabe stood. “See you later, little fella,” he said to Danny. “I’m off to break the news to your grandmother. I hope she will have regained consciousness in time for the wedding.”
“If she’s going to object that much—”
“Don’t get your back up,” Gabe said. “She’s been trying for years to get me to remarry. She won’t be able to decide whether she’s more thrilled I’ve finally done it or surprised it happened so quickly. Either way, once she gets over the shock, she’ll be delighted. You’re about to become a saint.”
“Why, for heaven’s sake?”
“You’re the female who’s going to keep the Purvis lineage from withering on the vine.”
“What’s s
he going to say when she learns the truth?”
Gabe sobered. “I don’t know. If it weren’t for Danny, I’d never consider doing anything like this to her.”
Dana didn’t understand why that should make her feel like some sort of sleazy female. She had placed her reputation on the line, too. What had seemed only difficult and objectionable a short while ago now had become insane, impossible. Yet she had to go through with it.
Bit by bit that old feeling of panic began to tighten in her chest. It coiled around her like a giant constrictor, attempting to squeeze the life out of her. She fought it off. She was no longer a little girl—frightened and unloved—left at home with the housekeeper while her parents disappeared for months. She was no longer a young woman facing the unrelenting pressures and cutthroat competition of the business world, struggling desperately to make a place for herself. She had grown up, become successful, confident, secure. She didn’t need anyone to hold her hand, to walk by her side. She could see this through—she would see it through—and she’d go on with her life when it was over.
But she would still be alone.
Dana was going to kill Gabe Purvis. The minute she got him by himself, she would lock her fingers around his throat and choke the life out of him.
The instant she stepped through the church door, she knew the wedding wouldn’t be anything the way he’d promised. There had to be a hundred people jammed into that little church. She hadn’t known there were that many people in the whole of Iron Springs. Why couldn’t it have been a weekday? They’d all still be at work.
This wasn’t at all what she had envisioned for her wedding. She had planned to get married in a huge church filled with at least a thousand guests. A pipe organ and trumpets would accompany her down the long aisle. Her dress would look like a cloud of cream lace. Her train would extend for at least twenty feet and be carried by a half dozen little boys. An equal number of little girls, all dressed in pink, would strew baskets of rose petals for her to trod upon. Dozens of attendants would flank her groom who would be dressed in a formal morning coat.
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