“Richard. He said they might help me.” Turning, she looked at him in the dim light from the streets, but his face was turned away. He was staring straight ahead, as though he didn’t wan
t to look at her. “Do you understand now?”
“Yes,” he said softly. “I now understand everything.”
He didn’t say another word to her on the ride back uptown to his town house, and with every click of the cab meter, Samantha grew more depressed. She shouldn’t have told him. What was that saying? Better to allow people to think you’re a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Well, she’d opened her mouth and told Mike about her sex life. He’d said she was all show and she was. She could dress the part of a woman of the night, but she didn’t know how to act the part.
By the time they reached the house, she was planning what she’d say to Mike, that she’d move out in the morning—that is, if he didn’t want her to leave tonight—and she was sorry she’d cost him so much in time and money and inconvenience.
Very calmly Mike paid the driver, unlocked the front door, allowed her to go inside, then locked the door behind them.
“Mike,” she began, ready to recite the little speech she’d prepared, but Mike didn’t give her a chance, for he began to stalk her—stalking being the only way to describe the stealthy, predatory way he moved toward her. “Mike? Are you all right?”
“All this time I thought it was men you didn’t like. There were times when I thought the problem was me, that I turned you off, but you never turned away from me when I touched you—unless I seemed to want more.”
“Of course not.” Backing up, she moved toward the living room. “Mike, you frighten me when you look at me like that.”
“Like hell I do. I’m not sure anything frightens you. You aren’t afraid of me, not in the normal sense, anyway.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re afraid men won’t like you.”
Samantha could feel herself turning red from the tip of her toes to her hairline. Maybe in the red dress he wouldn’t notice the color of her skin. “You are the most stupid man,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant, trying to make it sound as though she were in control. “Just because I turn down your advances you start to play psychologist and decide that I think men don’t like me. Ha!”
“You don’t just turn me down, you turn down all men.”
“I’d rather be safe than—” She stopped talking because she was now up against the east wall of the living room.
Standing very close in front of her and not allowing her to get around him, Mike leaned closer. “Why did you divorce your husband?”
“I hardly think that’s any of your business.” When she tried to move away from him, he put one hand on the wall on each side of her head.
“Why, Sam?”
“It’s not—”
“Maybe it’s not any of my business, but you’re going to tell me anyway.”
“Incompatibility,” she said quickly, but was not able to meet his eyes.
“You’re a bad liar.”
“Unlike you. You can lie—”
“Why, Sam?”
“He…”
“He what?”
“He had another woman!” she flared at him.
“Then he was a fool,” Mike said softly. “Why would he want another woman when he could have you?”
She looked away from him, but there was gratitude for his words in her eyes. “I’ve told you, so please move your hands.”
“Yes, I’ll move my hands,” he answered as he grabbed her into his arms and began kissing her. Using all her strength, she tried to get away from him, but he held her to him. “What happened to you, Sam?”
“Leave me alone, please,” she whispered, not looking at him.
“Did you turn to him in the night, but he wanted nothing to do with you?” As he spoke, she still struggled against him. “The bastard. He was all worn out from someone else, wasn’t he?”