Part 17 (2/2)

When the trip came to an end, Autumn said her good-byes to Luke at the airport and flew back to Seattle. It's over, she told herself. Yet she couldn't make herself stop waiting for the phone to ring, hoping Luke would call.

He didn't. Not once.

A fling, she had discovered, could be painful.

She hadn't been in love with Luke but she had believed he cared for her more than he actually did. She consoled herself with memories of two glorious high-mountain weeks and vowed not to do anything that stupid again.

So how had she wound up in bed last night with Ben?

Autumn hissed in a breath. Dear G.o.d, the man was the most eligible bachelor in Seattle. His picture was plastered all over the society pages escorting countless women. How could she have been foolish enough to go to bed with him?

But even as she thought of him, she remembered the pain in his eyes, the defeat that weighed him down like a rain-sogged coat. She just couldn't let him go home alone and agonize over his lost little girl.

Or at least that was her excuse.

The truth was that she'd wanted Ben to stay. She had wanted him to make love to her so badly she ached with it.

And she hadn't been disappointed.

Nothing in her experience had prepared her for a night in bed with Ben McKenzie.

She ignored a warm tingling at the memory of slow, heated kisses, hot bare skin and big, talented hands stroking over her body.

Autumn sighed as she slowed and pulled into the driveway of her father's gray-and-white, double-wide mobile home. It sat on five acres a few miles out of town and her dad kept it clean and the property well cared for.

Or maybe these days, Myra kept the inside clean.

Whatever the case, she was glad Max was feeling better. She had spoken to him on the phone every day since the night he had been in the hospital. His continued talk about marrying Myra bothered Autumn only a little. It was his business after all, she had finally concluded.

She wondered if the silver-blond woman would be at the house and found herself hoping she would be. Myra was a good person and a true friend to her father.

If Max married her...

Autumn remembered the tears her mother had shed, the hours waiting for Max to come home, the scent of perfume on his collar when he did.

If her dad got married again...

Autumn felt sorry for Myra.

It was seven o'clock Sat.u.r.day morning. The phone had been ringing constantly since six. As Autumn sat at the kitchen table staring down at the photo on the society page of the newspaper, she knew exactly who was calling. Each shrill note made her heart ache and her stomach roll with nausea.

The ceaseless, irritating ring began again and Autumn grit her teeth. She reread the column, which gave a nicely written account of the charity dinner held at the Broad-moor Country Club last night. There were several photos surrounding the article but one stood out above the rest.

A photo of Ben McKenzie in his tuxedo with an attractive brunette named Beverly Styles. The thing that made the picture interesting was the way the woman's arms were locked around Ben's neck. There was no doubt the photo was shot the instant before the two of them kissed.

The phone rang again, a jarring note that pushed Autumn past the hurt and betrayal. She surged to her feet, grabbed the section of the paper with Ben's photo in it, balled it into a wad and tossed it into the trash can.

Dammit, not again! There must be something wrong with her. There had to be, the way she kept believing men were different than they really were, believing she could trust even one of them.

She didn't realize she was crying until a tear rolled down her cheek. d.a.m.ning Ben McKenzie to h.e.l.l, Autumn dashed away the wetness, grabbed her purse and headed for the door.

She didn't want to be late getting to the gym, where her group was meeting for their bouldering trip.

If Ben McKenzie had the nerve to show- Well, she wasn't exactly sure what she would do if he did, but an image clicked into her head of the two of them climbing. With grim satisfaction, she imagined herself letting go of the belaying rope as Ben tumbled off the side of a cliff.

Ben was waiting near the elevators in the lobby when Autumn came up from the parking garage. He stepped in front of her.

”I need to talk to you.”

”Get out of my way, Ben.”

He released a breath. ”I guess you saw the paper.”

Autumn shoved past him and continued walking, pretending not to hear him curse.

Ben caught up with her in two long strides, took hold of her arm and turned her around to face him. Across the lobby, her students were gathered and waiting, beginning to notice their approach.

”We can play this out in front of everyone here or you can give me a minute in private so I can explain.”

”I'm not interested in anything you have to say.”

”I'm giving you a choice. What's it going to be?”

He was a big man and he was determined, but then so was she.

She looked at the group of climbers who watched with growing fascination. ”I said get out of my way.”

”I'll cart you off over my shoulder if I have to.”

He wasn't kidding. She could see it in the set of his jaw. She wasn't about to be embarra.s.sed in front of her students. Autumn grit her teeth, whirled and marched ahead of him down the hall, turning into a lower-level conference room that wasn't being used.

”Good choice,” Ben said, closing the door behind him. ”I know you're p.i.s.sed and I don't blame you. But you're going to listen to what I have to say. Once I'm finished, you can decide what you want to do. After that, we're going climbing.”

”You aren't going anywhere with me!” She started for the door but he blocked her way.

”Several weeks ago, I agree to escort Bev Styles and her father, both long-time friends, to an important event at the country club. I'd forgotten all about it until Jenn reminded me at six o'clock last night. I intended to make a short evening of it. I had no idea the paper would be covering the event and I didn't even notice when the photographer snapped that picture of me and Bev.”

”But I bet you noticed that kiss.” She started moving, but again he stepped in the way.

”I didn't kiss her-she kissed me. If I'd had a clue that was going to happen, I would have stopped her. I took her directly home a few minutes later. I didn't kiss her good-night and I didn't ask her out again-nor do I intend to.”

Autumn tried to read his expression. She saw honesty but didn't know if it was real. She raked back her hair, shoving the heavy auburn curls away from her face. ”I can't handle this, Ben. I'm not like your other women. Please, can't you just leave me alone?”

He reached out and caught her chin, his hand surprisingly gentle. ”I'd leave you alone if I could. I can't seem to make that happen. When I saw the paper this morning, I felt sick to my stomach. I knew what you would think, how you would feel. If you're worried I'll keep seeing other women, I won't. I wouldn't have gone last night if I hadn't already promised Sam.”

Autumn said nothing, but her heart was throbbing. She could tell he was upset. Maybe he was being sincere. Although it didn't change anything, it made some of the hurt go away.

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