Part 3 (1/2)
”Sure thing. See ya then.”
Sam hung up, and Gil knew he'd come up with some good excuse for the phone call. Sam worked undercovera”he was great with lying. With that worry now in Sam's capable hands, Gil faced Anabel.
Keeping her back to him, Anabel wrapped her arms around herself. ”How will you get to your house if you don't take your car?”
”I'm going to drive yours.”
She jerked around. ”Mine?”
There were no tears in her eyes, thank G.o.d. In fact, that unwavering resolution still remained, contradicting the slump of her narrow shoulders.
Gil caught her wrist. She was fine-boned, soft. ”You just offered to sell yourself to me, Anabel. I'd say that makes you pretty desperate. No way in h.e.l.l am I letting you out of my sight with my daughter.”
A second ticked by, then two and three. She drew a shaky breath and looked at his hand on her wrist. ”I offered to marry you.”
”In exchange for raunchy s.e.x.”
Her gaze swept up, clas.h.i.+ng with his. She half laughed, from surprise or disbelief, he wasn't sure. ”Raunchy, sweet, hot and fast or slow and easy.” She shook her head. ”I've wanted you since I first met you. Something about you draws me, something dark and impossible to ignore. I go to sleep every night thinking about you inside me.”
Gil closed his eyes, wis.h.i.+ng like h.e.l.l that she'd shut up, that she didn't seem so determined to turn him inside out.
Her free hand touched his jaw. ”I didn't offer to have s.e.x with you as a trade to keep Nicole. I was just trying to show you how compatible we'd be. Marriage or no marriage, I'd still want you. I'm starting to think I always will.”
Sincerity rang in her tone, once again knocking Gil off-kilter. ”I don't f.u.c.king believe this.”
She smiled. ”You should know that Nicki repeats everything she hears. Good thing she's sleeping through this, huh?”
Gil let her wrist drop to tunnel both hands through his hair.
”I know it's a lot to take in, Gil. First Nicole and now me. Even if you decide against marrying me, I'd still like to have you.”
Have me? Speechless, Gil could only stare at her. He couldn't imagine a woman more outrageous than her. And d.a.m.n it, it made him want her more.
”Buta before you completely reject the idea of marriage, will you at least give me a trial run?”
”Aa?”
”Trial run.” She nodded. ”I could take care of your daughter while you're at work, and then take care of you at night, in bed.”
He squeezed his eyes shut. ”I don't think I want to hear this.” He was still hard, getting more so with every insanely s.e.xual thing she muttered.
Her words rushed out in her attempt to convince him. ”I'm sorry I have to push you like this, but we only have a few days to decide. I'm hoping that if you enjoy s.e.x with mea””
He would. He knew it down deep in his bones. He'd known it for three years, which was why he hated being around her.
”a”then maybe the idea of marriage to me won't be so repellent. Maybe you'll see that Nicki loves me and is happier with me around. Maybe you'll even see that you like me well enough to keep me.”
With very little effort, she drove him over the edge. ”You make yourself sound like a stray dog.”
”I want you. I want Nicki. I'm a woman trying to have it all.”
He began to feel desperate. ”I don't love you, Anabel. Doesn't that matter?”
World-weary cynicism shadowed her smile. ”In my position, I can't let it matter.”
Something she'd said struck him, making Gil frown. ”You mentioned that we only had a few days to decide. To decide what? And why the time limit?”
She chewed her bottom lip, then went to the diaper bag and dug through it until she found a small diary. ”I don't expect you to take my word for it. I mean, you don't even like me, so why believe anything I have to say?”
”I never said I didn't like you.” It was her effect on him, the feelings she drew from him with a mere look, that he didn't like.
”Sh.e.l.ly told me.” She said that with far too much acceptance.
”Then she lied. We never even discussed you.”
”Really?” Her brows lifted. ”Why would she?”
”I have no idea.” He accepted the book she handed to him. ”What is this?”
She swallowed hard, leveled her shoulders and her gaze. ”Sh.e.l.ly's parents want custody of Nicole.”
His jaw locked. Over his dead body.
”They're not warm people, Gil,” she added in a rush. ”They've never paid any attention to Nicki. Whenever they were in the same room with her, they ignored her.”
Glancing at his daughter, he found that hard to believe. Who could look at her and not fall instantly in love?
”They wanted Sh.e.l.ly to give her up.”
”What?” Gil felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead. If that was true, then he might not ever have known about Nicki. That thought was too awful to contemplate.
”Even when Sh.e.l.ly brought her home from the hospital, they refused to get close to her in the hopes that one day she'd change her mind and put Nicki up for adoption. They thought of her as aa a blot on their good name. They talked about her like she was nothing more than a mistake.”
On several occasions, he'd spoken with Sh.e.l.ly's parents. Not in depth, just superficial pleasantries common to business introductions. They'd seemed average enough to him. But they hadn't cared about their own grandchild?
Anabel touched his arm. ”It's all in Sh.e.l.ly's diary.”
He held the small, flat journal at his side, tapping it against his thigh. ”But now, with Sh.e.l.ly gone, they want Nicole?”
”That's what they said. I don't understand it, but I don't trust them. They didn't want me to tell you about Nicki. Theya well, they offered to pay me off.”
Gil's chest swelled with anger. ”What the h.e.l.l does that mean?”
”They're rich,” she told him. ”They offered me money to keep quiet. They said you didn't ever need to know, that Sh.e.l.ly hadn't wanted you to know and I should abide by her wishes. But I couldn't do that.”
Thank G.o.d.
She licked her lips. ”Gil, by tomorrow morning they'll know I left with Nicki and they'll a.s.sume I came here.”
Meaning they, too, would show up on his doorstep? Gil turned to stare at his precious little dark-haired daughter. By the second, things became more complicated.