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Molly sat down across the desk from Kate, still absorbing the fact that he had not meant to have a “private” conversation with her at all. Private had merely meant without Julian present.
> The realization made her scowl at him, her blackest, angriest scowl.
She couldn’t help noticing Garrett seemed so detached today, unlike the passionate lover of that magical evening. Of course, the man had excellent control, so you never knew with him. That night, he’d sure as hell surprised her, too. Now Molly looked into his eyes but try as she might, she detected no special heat as he looked at her.
Had she completely misread him? Had he been so drunk that just…any “wench” would have done? How could he stand there, so lamplike, after he’d caught her in a dark room with Julian? Even Julian, who was known to be the cool and aloof brother, looked at her with much more… Actually, Julian’s looks set her on fire. But enough of that.
They were just different, the two men—and she had to stop comparing them.
She had to get it through her thick skull, once and for all, that those kisses with Julian last night had been pure error. She’d gotten carried away and she wasn’t even certain why she’d done something so reckless as to tempt a lion like Julian. Except maybe she knew that he would never take things too far with her.
Or would he?
Because last night in bed, she’d been so tormented and confused. The things he’d whispered, the things he’d made her feel as he’d kissed her had been the most intense she’d ever felt in her life, even more than on the night—
No. It couldn’t be.
How could anything top what she’d felt that night at the masquerade? Was it right to feel all this excitement and passion when just any guy kissed her? No. She knew it was impossible, it was too overpowering, too special.
So then what was the matter with her?
“Can you please explain to us what’s going on between you and Julian?” Garrett queried, breaking into her reflections.
Completely disbelieving his tone, Molly leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, her bangles making a clanking noise.
Wow.
She’d really made up that whole masquerade soul-mate kiss, hadn’t she?
Garrett didn’t seem jealous at all, and now her silly thoughts of marrying him were quickly being dashed. She’d thought she was luring him in with her plan and now she wondered if he was even hungry for the hook she’d tossed him. Apparently, Garrett only had a weakness for Molly in a wench costume and while he was inebriated out of his ever-loving mind.
Wow. Really. She was such a dope.
“Are you two seriously going to pretend you don’t know? Or do I need to spell it out to you?” Molly asked him, getting supremely irritated by all this. Where was the man who’d kissed her at the masquerade? Where was the hunger that awakened hers? The passion that had ignited hers? Had it all been a joke? A dream? A ruse?
When neither Kate nor Garrett answered and her masquerade man refused to make an appearance, her irritation increased tenfold. So they were going to drill her and intimidate her. Did they interrogate Julian like this, too?
“We’re together, Garrett,” Molly suddenly said, thrusting her chin out defiantly and sounding damned proud. “I moved in with him. I’m his gi—lover. And I’ve never been so happy.” The last was true. She’d always had the most fun with Jules, had loved him beyond loving anyone else, protected him beyond anyone else. They covered for each other, laughed with each other, fought with each other….
This morning they’d had breakfast together, and they’d laughed. Even after the debacle of last night. They’d laughed.
“Did you know,” Garrett said softly, his eyes kind, “this is exactly what we feared would happen all these years. My mother, Kate, Landon and I. We feared Julian and you would dive headfirst into each other and one of you, especially you, Molly, might not make it out.”
With a painful frown, Molly wondered why Garrett didn’t just drop the mask already and step into his sexy black masquerade boots. He’d had guts that night, taking what he wanted, which had clearly been her. Today? He merely seemed concerned, like a brother would be, and that had definitely not been Molly’s plan from the start. “Why would you think that about me and Julian?” she challenged, wanting to scoff at the accusation.
His dark eyes widened in surprise, as though Molly were lacking in brainpower to have overlooked something so obvious. Kate stepped in to explain, “Because when you were teens you were infatuated with each other, Molls. You cried when I told you he was like your brother. You cried for days and when I demanded to know why, you told me it was because of what I’d said. Because you wouldn’t be able to marry him now.”
Molly groaned and rolled her eyes. “I must have been ten, Kate.”
“You never cry, Molly. Never. The only times I’ve seen you cry in your life have been all about Jules.”
“Because they sent him away and it sucked!”
“There you go,” Garrett said.
She scowled. “I just don’t see how our relationship concerns any of you. We’ve had a bond since the beginning.”
In fact, Molly knew the story by heart, for it had been related to her not only by Eleanor Gage, his mother, but later by Landon, Kate, Garrett, even Julian himself.
