He didn’t want just any woman. If that were the case, he could solve his problem with a single phone call.
No, he wanted this woman, this Carole, this wife he was only now becoming acquainted with. Sometimes, when he gazed into her eyes, it was as though he’d never known her before and the antagonism between them had happened to someone else. Impossible as it was to believe, he liked this Carole. Even more impossible to believe, he had fallen a little in love with her.
But he would deny it with his dying breath.
* * *
“I’m glad you came with us,” Avery said, giving Tate a tentative smile. A receptionist had seated them in Dr. Webster’s office to await their private consultation.
“It was the only decision I could make.”
The psychologist had been with Mandy for almost an hour. Waiting for his prognosis was taking its toll on them. The idle conversation was an attempt to relieve their nervous tension.
“Will Eddy stay mad at me for the rest of the trip?”
“I spoke with him before we left the hotel. He wished us luck with Mandy. I guess Mom and Dad calmed him down. Anyway, he never really gets mad.”
“That’s odd, isn’t it?”
Tate consulted his wristwatch. “How long does his session with her last, for crissake?” He looked at the door behind him as though willing it to open. “What did you say?”
“About Eddy never getting mad.”
“Oh, right.” He shrugged. “It’s just his temperament. He rarely loses control.”
“Iceman,” she murmured.
“Hmm?”
“Nothing.”
She fiddled with the strap of her handbag, weighing the advisability of pursuing the subject. Irish had advised her to learn as much as she could about these people. Her career had been built on her ability to pose pertinent questions, but to phrase them subtly. She had been adroit at squeezing information out of people who were sometimes reluctant to impart their secrets. She decided to test her talent and see if it was still intact.
“What about women?”
Tate tossed aside the magazine he had just picked up. “What women?”
“Eddy’s women.”
“I don’t know. He doesn’t discuss them with me.”
“He doesn’t discuss his sex life with his best friend? I thought all men swapped success stories.”
“Boys might. Men don’t need to. I’m not a voyeur and Eddy’s not an exhibitionist.”
“Is he heterosexual?”
Tate hit her with an icy blast of his eyes. “Why? Did he turn you down?”
“Damn you!”
The door swung open. The two of them guiltily sprang apart. The receptionist said, “The doctor is finishing up with Mandy. He’ll be in shortly.”
“Thank you.”
After she withdrew, Avery leaned forward from her chair again. “I’m only asking about Eddy because your niece is throwing herself at him, and I’m afraid she’ll get hurt.”
“My niece? Fancy?” He laughed with incredulity. “She’s after Eddy?”