by Debby Conrad
Gabe watched as Janie threw herself into Sara’s arms and cried, and then the whole family was gathered around her. “Aw, poor baby,” they all cooed, while giving him nasty looks.
Standing, Gabe said, “I’d like a word with my wife alone.”
“She doesn’t want to talk to you,” Sara said with determination.
“Janie can speak for herself,” Gabe said, moving around the group of Callahans to see Janie’s face.
It was red, wet and puffy. And he hated himself for upsetting her like that. “Janie?” he said, “Can we talk for a minute?”
She shook her head, sending her auburn curls in motion. “I have nothing to say to you, Montero. So, why don’t you go back to the townhouse and pack your things? I want you out by morning.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Yes, I do,” she said, hurrying out of the dining room, Sara at her side.
And suddenly he was angry at her for even suggesting such a thing. Then again, wasn’t that exactly what he’d told her he planned to do? That he needed some time to sort out his feelings? Was he having a change of heart already?
Doug Callahan stepped toward him. “Young man, I think it might be best if you leave.”
Gabe jerked his gaze toward Alex who refused to look back at him, before walking out of the room and out of the house.
* * * * * * * * * *
Janie didn’t return to the townhouse that night. And Gabe went to bed alone, angry and confused. She didn’t want to marry him, at least not until he’d talked her into it. So, why was she so broken up over the fact that he wanted out? She should be happy.
It’s not as if she were in love with him, because she wasn’t. She was in it for the great sex, and that was all. Okay, so maybe she was being sincere when she’d said she thought their child should have both parents around. But that wasn’t a reason to try to hold a marriage together, was it?
Eventually, she’d end up resenting him for forcing the marriage issue. And he’d rather have her hate him now than later.
Hate was such a strong, ugly word. Did Janie hate him? If so, she had good reason. He was scum. He’d pushed her into a marriage she didn’t want, and then, after a few days between the sheets, he’d told her he didn’t want her anymore. Well, that wasn’t exactly how he’d said it, but he may as well have.
Of course, she hated him. How could she not?
But thinking back to the way she’d defended him during Thanksgiving dinner, he’d swear she was talking about a man she admired, respected, and even loved. Was it possible Janie loved him? If so, she’d never told him.
Then again, you never told her either, pal.
Gabe sighed loudly and punched a fist into the mattress. He couldn’t sleep without Janie there. Without her soft, seductive body pressed tightly against his.
What the hell had he been thinking? So what if she didn’t love him? And what did it matter if she were only using him? He loved her. He wanted her. That’s all that mattered. Right now, he just wanted her back. But what if it was too late?
He got out of bed and paraded around the bedroom in the dark, thinking. He twisted his ankle on one of Janie’s discarded shoes and swore. Then stubbing his toe on the chair she’d left in the middle of the room, he swore again. It’s too dangerous to think here, he thought, and headed across the hall to the study.
Flicking on the overhead light, he went to sit in the chair behind the desk and stared at the monitor. The screensaver dog paraded back and forth, occasionally looking at him and wagging his tail.
He rattled the mouse so the dog would disappear and he could concentrate on his problems with Janie. But when the dog went away, the monitor displayed a document called ‘Character Sketches’.
The first character listed was a woman by the name of Jasmine Carlisle. Reading with interest, Gabe found Jasmine vaguely familiar. A woman who was willing to risk her reputation in order to experience passion with the man of her dreams. The next character was Gage Montana. Gabe snickered at the name and read on. ‘A bad boy’ was typed directly after the name.
While he stared at the monitor, he grew extremely curious about these two characters, and he searched the computer files to find the book Janie had been working on. Sex alamode.
What kind of title was that? he wondered and began to read from the beginning.
It didn’t take him long to figure out why Jasmine and Gage sounded so familiar.
Slowly, she lowered her head and kissed him. Then she
trailed tiny kisses over his chest and abdomen, stopping at his
navel. Gage bit his lip and sucked in a breath. And when she
kissed his--”Oh, God, Jasmine!” he moaned.
She lifted her head. “I’m new at this,” she said, her green
eyes conveying her uncertainty. “Any suggestions?”
Oh, sweet Jesus. “Just one. Be gentle.”
And she was. She left hot, moist kisses in her wake,
driving him absolutely wild with need. And when she took him
into her mouth, he was drawn to a height of passion he’d never
felt before. Hypnotized by her, he felt powerless. He used soft
words of encouragement, letting her know exactly what he wanted.
Then, just when he was coming close to a climax, she tensed,
her body going perfectly still.
“No, sweetheart, don’t stop yet,” he begged.
Jasmine’s head popped up. “I thought I heard something.”
“That was me, moaning.”
“No, I thought--”
“Jasmine?” Suzie’s voice rang out from the other side of the
door.
Before Gage could react, Jasmine scrambled off the bed
just as the door flew open. Suzie, Jasmine’s wicked step-sister,
loved to catch them in the act. And seeing Gage handcuffed to the
bed seemed to delight, rather than shock her.
Gabe read all the way to the end, then started over from the beginning. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it. Janie was writing a book about them. Detail for detail. Naked details. Personal details. Things he thought should be held sacred. And not only that, but she was turning their love life into a joke.
He’d been right. She didn’t love him. He was nothing more than story material. to her. And not only was she getting her jollies from him, but she was planning to share their escapades with the whole damn world.
“Over my dead body, Mrs. Montero!” he grumbled and stalked into the bedroom to dress. No one was going to take advantage of him like that and get away with it. Not even the woman he loved.
* * * * * * * * * *
“Honey, you have to eat something.” Sara stood over Janie, playing mother.
Janie lay her head on the kitchen table, ignoring the piece of cold toast beside her. “Go away. Go bother somebody else.”
“If you don’t eat it, I’m going to wake Mom and tell her. Then, you’ll appreciate me.”
It was barely seven o’clock. Normally, Janie would have stayed in bed until nine, but since she hadn’t slept the night before anyway, she figured, why not get up?
Sara had always been an early-bird, so Janie shouldn’t have been surprised to find her in the kitchen whipping up a batch of blueberry muffins and humming.
“Sara.” Alex’s voice was cool and calm. “Leave your sister alone. She’ll eat something later.”
Janie was about to mumble a ‘thank you’ to her brother-in-law when the doorbell rang.
“I’ll see who it is,” Alex said, and walked out of the kitchen.
“Who would be ringing our door at this hour?” Sara asked, clearly annoyed.
Janie shrugged, keeping her head on the table. She didn’t care who was at the door. All she was concerned about right now was Gabe. Had he gone back to New York? Or had he slept in their bed last night, with the intention of driving back this morning? She didn’t have to wonder v
ery long, because her husband’s voice boomed out loud and clear.
“I want to talk to my wife, and I’m not leaving until I do!”
Janie lifted her head from the table, but before she had a chance to react, Gabe was standing in the kitchen doorway, glaring at her.
“What is the meaning of this?” he asked, slapping a stack of papers onto the kitchen table. Several pages flew in different directions to the floor.
“Gabe, keep your voice down,” Sara warned. “You’re going to wake the kids and Mom and Dad.”
“I don’t care if I wake the whole damn neighborhood! I want an explanation for this from my wife!” He tapped his finger twice on the stack of papers still sitting on the table.
Sara tightened the belt to her robe and peered around Gabe’s shoulder to scan the top page. “Oh . . . my . . . God!” Her hand flew to her mouth as she stared at Janie. “You wrote about handcuffing him to the bed and--” She stopped mid-sentence, looked at the page again, and added another, “Oh, my God!”
The shock of his discovery hit Janie full force. Panic rioted through her and her palms began to sweat and tingle. “Oh, my God,” she said, parroting Sara. “You don’t think I was planning on--”
“I know exactly what you were planning to do with this,” Gabe shouted, pointing a finger at her, “and you can forget it!” He glared at her with burning, reproachful eyes. “If you think for one minute that I’ll allow you to exploit our relationship for a few laughs and a nice, fat, royalty check--”
Janie got to her feet and took a step toward him. “I would never do such a thing, Montero!”
“Like hell, you wouldn’t. To think the woman I married, the woman I fell in love with, would stoop so low as to--”
“What did you say?” Janie asked, feeling her pulse kick up.
“I said, I can’t believe you would stoop so low as to--”
“Before that,” she interrupted, closing the distance between them. He hadn’t worn a coat and his flannel shirt was buttoned unevenly, the shirttails hanging loose, as if he’d dressed in a hurry. He hadn’t bothered to shave or tame the rooster tails in his hair.
He looked at her, narrowed his eyes, and said, “I don’t remember.”
“Yes, you do. You said you fell in love with me.”
“I--” he stuttered, “That’s not the point.”
“That’s exactly the point,” she said, grabbing him by the shirt and staring up at him. “I wrote that stuff down, but I was never going to share it with anyone else. I swear to you.”
He didn’t answer, but she could tell he believed her by the way his features softened.
“Why do you want out of this marriage if you love me?”
“I--” he stuttered again. “Because I don’t want our marriage to be based solely on sex. I want you to love me.”
Janie released his shirt and stepped back. “Montero, you are dumber than a box of dirt if you think I married you without loving you first.”
Gabe blinked at her. “But--”
“Did you bother to read the inscription on your wedding ring?”
He glanced at his left hand, then back at her. “No. I’ve never taken it off my finger.”
“Take it off,” she ordered, crossing her arms in front of her. “Read it.”
Gabe stared at Janie a moment before removing the ring from his finger and checking it out.
All my love. For real. Forever. Janie.
He held it in his hand for a long while, just staring at it, not knowing what to say. Janie loved him. She had all along. Slowly, he raised his gaze to stare at her face. “Janie, I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t say anything,” she said, stepping into his arms. “Just shut up and kiss me.”
Since it sounded like a pretty good idea to him, too, Gabe did just that, ignoring the fact that Sara and Alex were watching them. One kiss led to another, and another.
He tried to block out what Alex was saying, but couldn’t.
“Gabe, I’m sorry I didn’t show up in court to be your character witness. I know you were counting on me, and I let you down. I was so angry with you at the time and . . .”
Gabe tuned his brother out, wrapped his arms tighter around Janie, and kissed her again.
“And I’m sorry for always judging you,” Sara began. “I should have listened to Janie when she--”
Both Gabe and Janie pulled away from each other and turned to glare at Sara and Alex. “Will you two shut up?” they said, and then when it was quiet, they kissed again.
This time, when Gabe pulled away, he pushed Janie’s hair away from her face and said, “I love you, and I don’t want to leave you.”
“I love you, too. Let’s get out of here.”
“But, wait,” Sara said to deaf ears.
Gabe picked up Janie and carried her to the car. “Let’s go home, Mrs. Montero.”
EPILOGUE
Gabe bounced six-month-old Chloe on his lap and waited for his wife to hang up the phone. She was talking to her agent Rona Sampson, and from the look on Janie’s face it was good news.
Janie squealed and clicked the Off button on the portable phone. “Gabe, you’re never going to believe this!”
Oh, yes he was.
“J and B publishing made an offer for my book! A huge offer!” Her smile faltered slightly. “Well, not as big as the offer you had, but--”
“That’s great, sweetheart,” he said, getting to his feet. “Did you hear that, Chloe? Mommy sold a book.” Gabe kissed Janie on the cheek. “I knew you had a winner.” He’d asked Marcy Polk, his editor at J & B, to read Janie’s first attempt at a female detective series. Marcy agreed, although she wouldn’t make any promises. She didn’t have to. Gabe had read it, and it was great.
Janie reached out and took the little red-head from his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Time for your nap, and then when you wake up we’re going to go see Travis, Livvy and Benjamin.”
Gabe followed Janie up the stairs to the nursery and waited until she tucked the baby in for her nap. In the hallway, he grabbed his wife and spun her around. “She’ll be asleep for at least two hours.” He wiggled his brows and nodded toward their bedroom. “We can go celebrate.”
Janie giggled. “I’ll race you to the bed.”
After making love twice, and a fit of the hiccups, Janie lay naked sprawled atop her husband and peered down at him. She loved this man with all her heart. And although he’d sworn he hadn’t had a thing to do with J & B’s offer, she didn’t believe him. The fact that he’d wanted to help only made her love him all the more.
She thought about the dedication page and pictured the look on Gabe’s face when he read it.
For Gabe, who taught me all I know about . . . love.