“No.”
He glanced at her driveway. “Who’s here? Is it the suit who takes you out to dinner? Did he make you cry?”
Marla threw her hands out wide. “No one made me cry. It’s not your business who’s here. And what suit are you talking about? Are you talking about my dinners with Steven?”
“Guy with a big nose and thinning hair? I’ve seen you with him a couple of times.” He shifted Hoover to his other arm and reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a bottle of antacids and shook one into his mouth.
Marla straightened off the door frame. Was he jealous? No, that couldn’t be right. “Steven is just a friend. And I know you didn’t come here to talk about him.”
He shoved the medicine bottle back in his pocket. “I came to apologize.”
“For what, pray tell?” She raised an eyebrow. This ought to be good. “For telling me I was stupid, or saying that I was a worthless socialite who made no impact on the world?”
“I never said you were worthless. I’ve never even thought it.”
“Just stupid then?” Reaching out, she grabbed her dog from his arms. She spun, and with a backward flick of her foot, kicked the door closed.
He stuck his boot in the way and the door bounced off. “Come on. Let’s talk like reasonable people.”
“Now I’m unreasonable, too.”
“Sweetheart, who’s at the door?” her father called from the living room.
Gabe’s mouth twisted like he’d just sucked on a lemon. “‘Sweetheart’?”
Marla dropped her head back and stared at the ceiling. Nothing good could come of this. But she was stuck between a rock and a Gabe. “Fine. Come in if you must. But I warn you, it’s a dangerous business, Frodo, coming through this door.”
* * * *
Holding Hoover like a baby ready for a burping, Marla stamped down the hall and disappeared into her living room.
Taking that as an invitation, Gabe stepped into her house and shut the door. Maddie stood in front of him, curling one side of her upper lip. He dropped to his haunches and stared at the dog. “I guess I’m going to have to apologize to you, too, huh?”
She curled the other side of her lip, baring glistening white fangs.
“Look, I get it. For a poodle, you’re a real badass. And you’re protecting your mistress.” He slowly raised his hand, palm up, and hoped she wouldn’t bite off his fingers. “I can respect that. But we’re going to have to find a way to get along. I’m not planning on going anywhere yet.”
Maddie’s nostrils flared, and she sniffed Gabe’s hand. One side of her lips uncurled, like a ship’s mast lowering, but the chest-deep growling continued.
“I’ll get on your good side yet.” He stood and stepped around the poodle. He strode to the living room, preparing to see Marla’s ‘friend,’ Steven. The silver-haired man standing before her fireplace threw Gabe off a step.
Marla was curling herself up in the corner of her purple sofa, coiling her legs beneath her and holding Hoover on her lap. The calf-length skirt she wore had a slit in the side. It draped open to expose a hint of tan thigh. Gabe darted a glance at the man in her house, narrowing his eyes. Was that skirt for him?
Maddie trotted past Gabe and jumped up onto the sofa next to Marla. Marla rubbed her chest. “Dad, this is Gabe Moretti, a friend of mine. Gabe, Charles Popov, my father.”
The man turned fully to face Gabe just as the name registered. Her father stepped forward, hand extended, and Gabe snapped his mouth shut. Charles frickin’ Popov. American automotive royalty. Which made Marla…
He shook the man’s hand, his temperature rising. “Nice to meet you, sir.” Her dad nodded. Gabe stalked to Marla and bent down. “Your dad sells cars?” he hissed. “Are you kidding me?”
She shrugged and picked up a large book from the table next to her. “He does sell cars. Just on a bigger scale than you perhaps envisioned.”
The CEO of one of the original automakers in America crossed his arms over his chest. “I didn’t know you had plans, Marla. I was hoping to take you out to dinner.”
“I’m sorry, Dad. You should have called.”
Gabe glanced from father to daughter. He tugged at the collar of his windbreaker. “If you want me to come back…”
Marla’s smile was wide and brittle. “No need. Dad can join us for dinner if he wants. I’m cooking.”
Her father grimaced. “Maybe next time. Cooking really isn’t your strong suit.”
Her fingers whitened around the book’s spine. “What is my strong suit, Dad? We know it’s not business. You don’t want me anywhere near your company, even on the charitable side. Is that administrative assistant’s position still open? Perhaps I could make a competent secretary.”
Gabe’s stomach slid uneasily. Marla was all right angles and sharp edges on the sofa, her normally soft face a hard mask. “Uh, I’d be happy if you cook for me.” He hadn’t tasted anything from Marla’s kitchen yet, but he could shove down a charred brick if it made her happy.
If her glare was anything to go by, she hadn’t appreciated his noble gesture.
“Darling, if you want a job at the company, I’m sure we could find you something.” Her father adjusted a framed picture on her mantel and ran his index finger across the faces of a little boy and girl. “But numbers were never your thing. You have to be realistic. You weren’t a math whiz like…”
“Michael,” she finished. She smoothed her hand down a wrinkle on the cover of her book. “You’re right, Dad. Let’s forget about this conversation.”
“Wait.” Gabe scratched his jaw. “Marla is really good with numbers. She helped remodel our shelter and you should have seen her projections and spreadsheets.”
“Your shelter?” One silver eyebrow shot skyward. “Is that what you do? Work with dogs all day?”
“Gabe is a veterinarian. He has his own practice along with his work at the shelter.”
Her dad pursed his lips. “That’s not a bad profession. It’s solid. Dependable. You could do worse.”
Gabe was about to shoot off a sarcastic ‘thanks’ before he realized the man was talking to Marla. He rubbed the middle of his forehead. Should he be offended or flattered?
Charles Popov looked Gabe up and down. “How long have you been seeing my daughter?”
Gabe rocked back on his heels, blinking rapidly.
Marla rocketed off the sofa and ran to her dad’s side. She grabbed his sleeve and tugged him toward the entry. “Well, it was great seeing you, Dad. But now is not the time for an interrogation.”
“I could take you both out to dinner,” Charles said, his voice fading as he disappeared around the living room wall. “Get to know him better.”
“Thanks, but like I said, we already have plans.”
Gabe peeked around the corner. Marla held her dad’s coat open for him, and he slowly slid his arms into place. He turned and cupped Marla’s cheek. “I just want to see you happy and settled. And I want to make sure you find a man who can take care of you. You know I worry.”
Marla traced a seam on the marble floor with her big toe. “You don’t need to. I can take care of myself.”
The man laughed, the rumble coming from deep in his gut, and Marla’s face flushed red. Gabe slowly straightened. What the hell was wrong with her dad? Didn’t he see he was hurting her?
“Darling, I love you, but you’re flighty. Impetuous. It would be nice if you found someone reliable. Take Steven for example.”
Oh, hell no. Gabe stepped forward to tell the man just what he could do with his suggestions, and Maddie knocked into him, trotting to Marla’s side.
“I have two master’s degrees, Dad. I’ve been published by the Cambridge University Press.” She stroked Maddie’s ear. “I’m not a flake.”
“Master’s in make-believe languages and the fashion ch
oices of ancient Rome.” He shook his head. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
Jesus frickin’ Christ. Gabe fisted his hand. Was that what he sounded like? A complete asshole? He sat back on his heels, waiting for the show. There was no way Marla would let anyone, even her dad, demean her like that.
She opened the front door and kissed her dad’s cheek. “I’ll be sure not to do that, Dad. I’ll see you next month in Detroit for the mayor’s anniversary party.”
“Okay, sweetheart.” He paused in the doorway. “Or you could come up some weekend this month. We could take the boat out. Maybe test drive the new prototypes.”
“Maybe. I’ll let you know.” She gave a little finger-wave. “Bye, Dad,” she said and shut the door. She pressed her forehead against the wood and groaned.
“What was that?” Gabe stalked up behind her. “Why were you all meek and docile? Your dad is—”
“Careful.” She pushed off and plodded back to the living room, her shoulders rounded. “You don’t get to say what I think about my father.”
“Fair enough.” Gabe placed his hands on the back of the recliner and leaned forward. “But why didn’t you stand up for yourself?”
“I did. I do. But I’m not going to get in a fight with my dad. It’s not worth it.” She picked Hoover up and sat back down on the sofa.
Gabe paced the length of the living room. He didn’t like this. Not Marla’s acceptance of her dad’s attitude, and not the fact that Gabe used to think the very same things about Marla. But Gabe had only known Marla for a couple of months and he already knew better. Her father should know the truth better than anyone else.
He pressed his lips together. “Who’s Michael?” He glanced at the picture on the mantle. The girl was clearly a young Marla, and the boy had the same features. “Your brother?”
She nodded.
“I take it he’s next in line to be the king of Detroit?” Gabe raked a hand through his hair. He still couldn’t believe Marla was that Popov. Her family had founded one of the original car companies in the early twentieth century. It had been bought out thirty years or so ago by one of the Big Three, but as part of the deal, the Popov family retained enough stock to demand leadership roles in the company. If Gabe wasn’t mistaken, he’d seen Charles Popov’s face on the cover of Car and Driver a couple of years ago.
“He would have been.” Marla tucked her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. “That picture was taken a month before he died.”
Gabe froze. “Shit. Marla, I’m sorry.”
She twisted her mouth into the semblance of a smile. “We all are. He drowned in our pool. My dad found his body. My mom overdosed on painkillers a year later.”
“Jesus, Marla—”
“Let’s not talk about that.” She picked at a seam on a sofa cushion. “Thanks for playing along in front of my dad about us being friends, but I’d like to know why you’re here. You never explained that.”
“I came to apologize.” He lifted one shoulder. “That seems rather insignificant now.”
“Not to me,” she said. “You were a complete jerk. An apology is needed. In fact, I don’t think I was done yelling at you from last night.”
Gabe moved to the sofa, but Maddie beat him to the spot next to Marla. She sat facing him, her muzzle tilted up. Gabe shook his head and settled in the chair across from her. “You don’t yell. In fact, even with all the bullshit I’ve pulled, I haven’t heard you raise your voice once. The debutante breeding, I guess.” He smiled, trying to lighten the mood.
“I can raise my voice with the best of them.” She rubbed a finger gently over Hoover’s nose. “Perhaps I haven’t felt the need to yell at you because what you said doesn’t mean much to me. You and I were only having a brief affair, after all.”
His stomach slipped sideways, like his insides were greased with WD-40. “You don’t mean that.”
She tucked her knees closer to her body. “What are you doing here, Gabe?” She looked up at him, and her eyes hit him like a Mack truck. No recrimination, only pain. “I thought I could have a purely physical relationship with you no matter how you treated me. But I find that I can’t. I won’t be with a man who insults me at every turn. It’s—”
She broke off and turned her face down to Hoover’s. He licked her mouth, and a crazy pang of jealousy hit Gabe. “It’s what?”
She played with Hoover’s ears, and when Maddie leaned into her side, gave her some attention, as well.
There were too many damn dogs separating Gabe from Marla, and Gabe had never thought there could be too many dogs in the world. He scooted to the edge of his chair. “Marla?”
She swallowed, her long throat rippling. “You wouldn’t understand. You’re a confident man. I’m sure you’ve never gone to bed wondering if your life is worthwhile. Knowing that if you were to disappear tomorrow, nothing in the world would change for the worse, and not many people would miss you.” Her voice trembled at the end, and Gabe couldn’t take the distance any more.
Avoiding Maddie’s teeth, Gabe slid in between Marla and the arm of the sofa, prodding her over as he went. She grumbled but scooched until she was sitting half on Gabe’s thigh and half on the sofa.
“Now,” Gabe said, wrapping an arm around her, “let’s go over this again. I was pissed and lashing out when I said what I did. You have to know it meant nothing.”
“It meant something to me.” She twisted so she could face him, and he brought her bent legs over his own. “If even other people think I shouldn’t be taken seriously…”
“Meaning you think it?”
She shrugged and avoided his gaze.
He took the dog out of her arms and plopped him next to Maddie. Cupping her jaw, he raised her face. “You’re a beautiful, talented, educated woman. Why would you think that?”
“You know. Don’t be obtuse.” She slapped his hand away. “I’m only good for writing checks. With money I didn’t earn. Did I tell you I have a trust fund? I’m an indolent socialite, exactly the type of person you loathe.” She stared at her hands in her lap.
“Baby.” He ran his fingers from her shoulder up to her neck, cupping the side of it. He held her head steady as he lowered his forehead to hers. “Have you been thinking like this long?” Or had his thoughtless words brought on the streak of insecurity? If he could kick his own ass, he would.
Marla nodded, then shook her head, her forehead scraping across his. “Not really.” She sighed. “I suppose I’ve always felt that I wasn’t living up to my potential, but I’m not an unhappy person in general. I enjoy my life. I enjoy those parties and luncheons that you make fun of. I like helping out with charities. But occasionally I get knocked sideways by these feelings. Especially when my dad comes around. Or when you point out that I might have chosen obscure degrees to avoid testing myself in the real world. If I got an accounting degree but my dad still didn’t want to hire me, didn’t value me…”
She stifled a sob. Gabe pulled her as close as possible. It wasn’t close enough. “Marla—”
“Do you see this ring?” She pulled back and held up her right hand.
Gabe nodded. The thing was hard to miss. A large green stone circled with diamonds.
“My dad gave it to me when I graduated college. I earned a B.A. in English with a minor in psychology. I graduated cum laude.” She stared at the ring. “I thought for once he was proud of me. He took me out to dinner that night. He told me the stone had been given to his grandmother by her father when she’d fled Russia. That she was to sell it when she got to America because she wouldn’t be able to find any work. No one expected her to be smart enough to survive on her own.”
“But she was. She never sold it,” he pointed out.
Marla sighed. “She married the jeweler she took it to. I don’t know if that qualifies. I guess my dad wanted me to have the same protection.
He told me, someone like me needs to have something to fall back on. And then he laughed.” She stared at her hand and twirled her ring around. “Obviously I don’t. I have a trust fund to fall back on. But I think it was a talisman in my dad’s mind. An extra protection to help the daughter too incompetent to help herself.”
“I’m so sorry, Marla.” Christ, did all fathers screw up their kids? “Maybe if you talked to him. Told him—”
“No.” She drew in a wavering breath and lifted her head. She smoothed the shoulder of his shirt. “Talking with him does no good. Besides, I’m not about to pretend I’m a pathetic figure. I’m healthy, I’m financially secure.” She lifted one shoulder, the corners of her amazing mismatched eyes crinkling. “Very financially secure. To complain about my life would be the epitome of first-world self-absorption.”
“Everyone’s allowed to feel bad at times. Even healthy, wealthy, and amazing women like you.”
“This is going to sound stupid, and I hate to play into your perception of me,” she said, smiling wryly, “but I used to have dreams of changing the world. Then I ended up in Clarion Township, playing dominoes with my deda and poking my nose into the management of a dog shelter.”
“Changing the world can be done in a lot of very small steps.” Running his palm down her leg, he skimmed over silk and lace. When he brought his hand back up, it slipped under the flap of her skirt and smoothed over her satiny skin. He gripped her thigh, enjoying the feel of her warmth and strength. “You don’t have to feed millions of people to make a difference. Even small actions have meaning. I’ve never thought about the rest of the world,” Gabe said. “Never cared about helping anyone or anything but animals. I’m a selfish bastard.” A flush of adrenaline tingled through his body at the dawning realization. “You’re the first person who’s made me think about changing.”
Her eyes twinkled, the blue one deepening into turquoise, the green one softening to a creamy jade. “Hmm. Maybe that can be my mission in life. Changing stubborn men, one affair at a time.”
“Okay, that’s it.” He stood, dragging her up with him. “It’s bad form to talk of your future lovers to your current one. Can give a man a complex. Besides, there’s still a lot of work to be done with this stubborn man.” He lifted her into a modified fireman’s carry, but before he’d hit the first step to the second floor, she’d slid around into piggyback position amid an explosion of giggles.
Forever Found Page 18