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“No one was going to fire you.”
Patience stopped her fussing. “Okay, pity me then.”
Stepping away from the door, Stuart walked to the opposite side of the bed. The queen-size space suddenly felt too small a buffer zone. The rumpled sheets did nothing but remind her what it felt like to be under the covers with his arms wrapped around her.
“No one was going to pity you, either,” he said. “Ana knew from the very beginning. Well, not the specifics, but she knew you lied your way into the job.”
“How?” She wasn’t sure she should believe him.
“Apparently you’re not that good an actress.”
What did he say the other day? Body language always gives people away. Here she thought she was fooling everyone, when in reality the only fool was her.
She sank to the bed, her back to him. “If Ana knew...why did she hire me?”
“You know Ana and her thing for strays.”
Yeah, she did. Ana believed all creatures deserved a good home. Obviously, she’d believed Patience did, too. A lump rose in her throat, bringing tears. Ana was a greater gift in her life than Patience ever realized.
Suddenly, she felt like the world’s biggest jerk. “You’re right. I owed her a better goodbye. I’ll call her.”
“Better yet, why not come back?”
“You know I can’t do that.”
“Why not? I told you, she doesn’t care. I don’t care.”
Behind her, she heard his soft cough. “Look, Ana’s not the reason I came. I came to apologize for the way I overreacted the other day. I was a jerk. I should have trusted that you had a good reason for not telling me about the arrest.”
“You hired an investigator.”
“Yes, I did,” he said. “When I first got to town and was worried about Ana. But that was before I got to know you.”
“Stop.” Next, he’d start saying how much he’d come to like and admire her or some other meaningless sweet talk. Her heart was hurting enough as it was. “I get it. Really, I do. Shame on me for not expecting it.”
“Excuse me?”
He came around the foot of the bed until he stood by her knees. Patience immediately fought the urge to scoot backward, to where their personal spaces couldn’t merge.
With a swipe of her hair, she gave her best imitation of disinterest. “In a way, the timing couldn’t have been better. I mean, we both know we were ending things soon. This way we got the messy part over with.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Do you really need me to spell it out for you?” She had to give him credit—he actually sounded incredulous. “A millionaire and an ex-stripper who cleans toilets? Hardly a fairy tale. I knew from the beginning it was temporary.”
He met her attitude with one of his own. Arms folded, he scowled down at her with eyes that pinned her to the spot. “Wow, you’ve got everything all worked out, don’t you?”
“I’m a realist. I know how the world works.”
“And how would you know what I was thinking? You didn’t stick around long enough to find out. Hell, you would have walked out the night of the dinner dance if I hadn’t pressed you for an explanation.”
He leaned into her face, bringing his eyes and lips dangerously close. “You know,” he said, his voice low, “you keep talking about me not trusting you, but I’m not the only one with trust issues. You were so certain you knew what I was thinking, you didn’t give me the chance to give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe, if you’d told me about your arrest. Let me in...”
“I let you in as much as I dared,” she told him. “If I told you every lousy thing that’s happened in my life, you’d...”
“What? Be disgusted. Throw you out?”
“Yes.”
“Bull. You only let me in when circumstances pressured you. If Chablis hadn’t crossed our paths, I’d never have found out about Feathers. Trust works both ways, babe.” Taking a deep breath, he stepped away.
Patience hugged her midsection. Without Stuart’s presence to warm it, the air became cold and empty feeling. “Big words coming from a guy who was still investigating me after we started sleeping together,” she murmured.
Her words hit their mark, and he winced. A small consolation. “That was a mistake,” he said. “I meant to call Bob off.”
“Of course, you did.” He simply forgot, right? “Let me guess, the voice in your head telling you I wasn’t good enough wouldn’t let you. A woman with her background—no way she could be any good,” she whispered, mimicking.
