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Mabel displayed the two grocery bags on her arms. “Too late for supper?”
“How about if I cook you breakfast?”
She laughed. “Sounds promising. I’ll put these away and see you upstairs.” She glanced at Dominic and Alfred. “Nice to see you both.”
Dominic and Alfred mumbled something appropriate, watching Mabel as she walked down the hall and disappeared. Alfred’s cell phone buzzed, announcing his driver, and within seconds Alfred was also gone.
Dominic said good-night and he, too, left. But on the way to his car, he realized something so important that he sat without saying a word while his driver took him home.
Ed was a player. He had time. He had money. He could do what he wanted when he wanted. With whom he wanted. But with a baby to raise and a business to run, that option had gone for Dominic.
Alfred was miserable. Married to a woman who probably didn’t work and had too much time on her hands, who wanted Alfred to entertain her. Just as Dominic’s parents had been before his dad had retired to Florida.
But Tom was happy. He and Mabel—a lawyer every bit as busy as Tom—were a perfect combination. Neither one of them had time to commit to a marriage any more than they had time to continually jet around, looking for love, sex or even amusement. They were equals. Equally independent, equally busy, equally successful, they clicked sexually…and had no time for a family.
Dominic suddenly saw that he was made for a relationship like Tom and Mabel’s. And even though Audra was the woman who currently haunted his dreams and made him want to stay home on a night he should have been dying to go out, she wasn’t the woman to have that kind of relationship with him. One guy had already hurt her. And she was falling for Dominic. He needed to get his head on straight and do the right thing—leave her alone.
And maybe the way to do that would be to find his own Mabel Fortune?
“Where were you?”
Audra pounced on Dominic the minute he stepped into his foyer. For two seconds he wondered why it had saddened him that he had to stay away from her. Then he looked into her soft blue eyes, saw her ever-present smile and realized she hadn’t pounced, he’d simply interpreted it as her hounding him because he didn’t want her to be so nice that he fell in love with her.
He shrugged out of his jacket. “I went to a friend’s house to watch the game. I’m sorry. I should have told you.”
“I probably should scold you, but watching a game with friends sounds like fun.”
“Once again it was business.”
“I’m sorry.”
He snorted a laugh, heading down the hall to the den for a few minutes of privacy before he went to bed. “Once again it’s not your fault.”
Unfortunately, speaking as he walked encouraged her to follow him.
“No, but you know I don’t mind talking about it.”
At the last dinner they’d had together she’d seemed determined to point out how different their lives were. He supposed this was an extension of that conversation. Talking about their lives to make sure they both realized they weren’t a good match. But they didn’t need to continue it. He knew they were worlds apart. He’d made a plan to keep himself from getting too close to her. It wasn’t something he could tell her, but it was a done deal. She was safe.
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“We could start with why you’re sullen when an afternoon with friends should have made you chatty.”
Stepping into the den furnished in the same dark brown leather furniture that had been there since he was a child, he burst out laughing. “Men don’t get chatty.” He strode to a discreet armoire, opened a door revealing the bar and reached for the Scotch. “My dad would have a real field day with you.”
She grimaced. “I’m sure he has some redeeming qualities.”
“Oh, yeah. He’s a peach.” He displayed the bottle of Scotch and she declined a drink with a shake of her head. Before she could ask him another question about his life or continue a conversation he didn’t care to get into, he said, “So what else do you do at Wedding Belles?”
Not even a bit thrown off by the change of subject, she shrugged. “I told you, all I do is add and subtract and make budgets and forecasts. I’d really like to talk about you.”
“No kidding.”
“Seriously. I know your life has been hard these past few weeks, and I’m here. Why not talk?”
He drew a breath. Because he didn’t want to. Because there was no point. Because every time he talked to her they got a little closer and that was wrong. Because he didn’t want to hurt her.
