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"No," she said soundlessly, still shaking her head.
"Before I could say anything, you sat up and addressed me as Hal."
"I don't believe you."
"Then how do I know how it happened? You reached for me. There were tears on your face. I could see them reflected in the light before I closed the door. I'll admit I should have identified myself the moment you called me Hal, but I didn't. I didn't want to then and I'm damn glad now that I didn't."
"I don't want to hear." She covered her ears with her hands.
Unperturbed, he went on. "I knew you were suffering, Jenny. You were hurt and needed comforting. Frankly, I didn't think Hal would give you what you needed."
"But you would," she hissed accusingly.
"I did." He came off the bed and walked toward her. "You asked me to hold you, Jenny."
"I asked Hal!"
"But Hal wasn't there, was he?" Cage shouted, his own ire rising. "He was downstairs talking about visions and callings and causes, when he should have been ministering to his own fiancée."
"I made love with Hal!" she cried in one last frantic attempt to deny what he was telling her.
"You were upset. You had been crying. Hal and I were close enough in build for you to mistake me for him. We were dressed alike in jeans and shirts. I didn't say anything so you couldn't distinguish my voice."
"But I would know the difference."
"Who could you compare me to? You'd had no other lover."
She tried to forget how anxiously she had enticed that "lover" to hold her and kiss her, just as she tried to forget the sleeping pills she had taken that night. Hadn't she been sedated, her mind foggy? Hadn't she thought afterward that it almost could have been her imagination? Hadn't it all seemed dreamlike?
"You weren't looking for me," Cage said. "You were looking for Hal. It simply never occurred to you that it could be anyone else."
"Which is as good as admitting what a deceitful creep you are."
His eyes narrowed perceptibly. "You didn't seem to think I was a creep that night. You didn't seem to mind me at all."
"Stop it. Don't—"
"You lapped me up like a bear does honey."
"Shut up."
"Admit it, Jenny, you'd never been kissed like that before. Hal never kissed you like that, did he?"
"I—"
"Admit it!"
"I'll do no such thing!"
"Well, you can deny it to yourself all you want, but you know I'm right. I touched you and we both went off like rockets."
Jenny squeezed her eyes shut. "I didn't know it was you."
"It wouldn't have mattered."
Her eyes popped open. "That's a lie!"
"No, it's not, and what's more, you know it's not."
