His expression was baldly honest and terribly sad. “No, Alex. Never.”
“Did you ever try? Would she have?”
“I don’t think so. I never tried. At least, not very hard.”
“Why not, if you wanted her so much?”
“Because Reede would have killed us.”
Stunned, she gazed at him. “Do you really think so?”
He shrugged as his disarming smile moved into place. “Figure of speech.”
Alex wasn’t so sure. It had sounded literal when he said it.
He scooted along the seat of his Jaguar until they were sitting very close. He slid his fingers up through her hair, laid his thumb along her neck and stroked it lightly.
“That’s sure a dreary subject. Let’s change it,” he whispered, brushing an airy kiss across her mouth. “How about leaving the past for a while and thinking about the present?” His eyes wandered over her face while his fingertips touched each feature. “I want to sleep with you, Alex.”
For a moment, she was too stunned to speak. “You’re not serious?”
“Wanna bet?”
He kissed her in earnest then. At least, he tried to. Tilting his head, he rested his lips upon hers, pressed, tested, pressed harder. When she didn’t respond, he pulled back and gave her a puzzled look.
“No?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“You know without my telling you. It would be crazy. Wrong.”
“I’ve done crazier things.” He lowered his hand to the front of her sweater and fingered a patch of soft suede. “Wronger things, too.”
“Well, I haven’t.”
“We’d be good together, Alex.”
“We’ll never know.”
He ran his thumb along her lower lip, tracking its slow progress with his eyes. “Never say never.” He bent his head and kissed her again—affectionately, not passionately—then returned to the driver’s side of the car and got out.
At the door, he gave her a chaste good-night kiss, but his expression was indulgent and amused. Alex knew he thought she was just being coy and that wearing her down was only a matter of time.
She was so befuddled by his come-on that it was several minutes before she noticed that the red message light on her telephone was blinking. She called the motel’s front desk, retrieved her message, and called the specified number. Even before the doctor got on the line, she knew what he would say. Nevertheless, his words shocked her.
“Miss Gaither, I’m terribly sorry. Mrs. Graham passed away earlier this evening without ever regaining consciousness.”
Chapter 21
Alex knocked and waited until Reede called out, “Come in,” before entering his office. “Good morning. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice.”
She sat down in the chair in front of his desk. Without asking, he poured her a cup of coffee to her liking and placed it in front of her. She thanked him with a nod.
“I’m sorry about your grandmother, Alex,” he said as he resumed his seat in the creaky swivel chair.
“Thank you.”