Page 52 of Taking The Virgin

Chapter19

The next day,while Owen and Dr. Earl work in the Gregory Medical Innovations office uptown, I hang out with Rachel Earl at the Met so we can ooo and ah together over the paintings, sculptures, and artifacts that we both love. Then, before we attend a Broadway matinee musical, we lunch at a trendy, bright restaurant that caters to her vegetarian lifestyle.

All the while she entertains me with her sparkling personality, telling me about her life as a budding theater actress before she met her husband. We share our adoration of music and the arts, but when she asks me how Owen and I met, I dance around the subject, hoping she doesn’t notice.

She doesn’t look suspicious about what I really am—Owen’s elite escort—and on the following day, when she and I have breakfast together before her and her husband’s afternoon flight, I’m not sure she would care even if she did find out the truth.

Of course, I’m not about to enlighten her, and after our driver takes us back to her hotel where she’s dropped off, we promise to keep in touch.

I’m humming a song from the musical we went to see yesterday when I enter Owen’s mansion. Nat quietly interceptsme.

“If you’re headed for the den, Miss Hope,” she says, “Dr. Gregory is already in there.”

“Heis?”

My heart shimmies. Whenever Owen comes home early, it’s because he can’t wait to see me. But he’s here much earlier than ever before. What does thatmean?

Has he finally realized that he can’t live withoutme?

I can only cross my fingers.

I start off toward the den again with a smile over my shoulder for Nat. “By the way, it’s Juliet, remember? You’re always so formal with the ‘Miss Hope’ thing!”

“Juliet!”

Her voice startles me, and I turn all the way around because of her apparent urgency. I didn’t pick up on this initially, but…

Is Nat nervous about something?

She fidgets with her dark skirt. “You should know that Dr. Gregory came home this morning from the office after receiving some…news.”

This sounds ominous. “Okay.”

“He’s…in a mood,” Nat continues, lowering hertone.

“Why? What happened?”

She peers around as if there are ears in the walls. Is she frightened?

Did Owen get angry with her about something?

“Nat,” I say, walking back to her, “what’s goingon?”

“I can’t tell you very much.” She shakes her head and corrects herself. “I shouldn’t tell you anything. But there are issues…”

She keeps trailing off like that, and I grip my purse. I think about Owen’s behavior some nights, plus the dark clouds that take over his gaze every so often.

“Nat, do these issues have anything to do with Owen’s nightmares?”

She presses her lips together as if that will keep her from spilling everything tome.

“Because I know about those bad dreams,” I say. “And when I see him wake up as if he’s choking or fighting something off, I ask him what’s wrong. Can you tell me what itis?”

“He wouldn’t want me to say anything,” she whispers.

I feel as if I’m closer than ever to finding out Owen’s secrets, and I’m not about to give up. “Please, Nat. Maybe there’s something I can do forhim.”

She shakes her head sadly. “I’m afraid not. This is how it’s always been with him, Juliet. He’s overcome so much since he was young, but his family…”

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