Page 96 of Purchase Power
Chapter 29
Their quarantine officially ended one week after their arrival, when Candace helped herself into the room with their lunch instead of leaving it outside the door on disposable plates. This time, she held a silver serving tray and their servings of soup and salad in ceramic bowls.
“Mr. Gabriel requests that you meet with him for dinner tonight,” she said to Lucy, while placing the dishes on the table by the window. “At six. I think you’ll know where.”
His room, huh?Lucy already dreaded it, but what Candace said next changed her focus.
“Ms. Gabriel has requested to meetyoufor dinner,” she said to Lacey, who was more confused than anyone else. “Her brother has allowed it, as long as I fill you in on a few things.”
“Uh, sure.” Lacey shrugged. “Finally. Something new to do.”
“I trust your accommodations here have been comfortable?” That was Candace’s passive-aggressive way of saying,“Oh, no. Quarantine in a mansion. However did you survive?”
Lucy dodged every question her sister hurled at her in the hours leading up to dinner with Noah. “It’s probably about our stay here and how long we’ll hang around,” she said, when Lacey asked what Noah wanted. “Maybe he’ll give us jobs while we’re here.” When Lacey asked what the man looked like, Lucy merely said, “He’s thirty and good looking. There’s not much more to it than that.” Lacey could hardly believe that a man like Noah Gabriel was only thirty. To be fair, Lucy hardly believed it herself.
She didn’t dress in anything special. Jeans and a decent blouse ensured he wouldn’t have easy access to any of her tender body parts in case she had a severe moment of weakness. Her hair was combed, but the roots were so thick with black now that she was hardly the same exact woman he had met almost two months ago. She left on minimal makeup and merely shrugged at her sister when Lacey suggested a pair of cute sandals from the closet. Lacey had more fun decking Lucy out in accessories than she did getting ready for her own dinner with Stacey. When Lucy asked about what her sister anticipated, Lacey said, “She seems like a sweet girl. Not all there, but you know I love kids, so… this shouldn’t be too different?”
“If you say so.” Lucy would learn the supposed truth about Stacey soon enough. If Lacey was happy to go have dinner with her, so be it.
Lucy didn’t need an escort to her own dinner with Noah. She knew how to get there, since it was a straight shot down the long, straight hallway from her guest suite to his master abode on the other side of the large manor house. Along the way she passed an opened door that led into a short, narrow passage that looked like a transport into Narnia, complete with fake wardrobe door hinges and a sign pointing the way.
No point in lingering. Lucy kept walking, a chill in her spine and an itch on her scalp. Only then did she wonder if she should style her hair again. Not for Noah – not for any man, no – but because she hated this lazy transition her hair was currently trapped in. Did it want to be blond? Black? She should cut off the remaining bleached hairs and remind Noah what she really looked like beneath the face paint and professional haircuts.
Except she wouldn’t get her hair done between the grand staircase and his room, where Noah had left the door unlocked and sat by the window leading to his balcony. The evening was too cold to sit outside, but that didn’t stop him from inviting the sunset into his chambers.
“Good evening.” Noah didn’t look away from the view. “Punctual. I daresay more punctual than you were before.”
She pried her eyes off his dress shirt, the top three buttons undone. The comfortable slacks and loafers suggested he didn’t have any video calls that day, but Noah Gabriel was a man who got dressed for work even if that work took place in an office somewhere else in his large home. The closer she stepped toward him, however, the more she smelled his powerful aftershave. The same kind he wore whenever her nose was nuzzled against him, taking his love and converting it into misery.
“There isn’t much else going on in this house right now.”
“That’s not true.” Noah finally looked at her. Right over his shoulder, as if she were a curious intruder instead of the woman he loved. “I hear your sister is having dinner with mine.”
Lucy sat down at the table with him. Their dinner was already served. Strips of spiced beef lay on a bed of fried rice and was garnished with cilantro and cherry tomatoes cut into half. Far from the usual fanciful fare she was used to having with Noah, but knowing Bernard, it still melted on the tongue and tasted like Heaven.
“Your sister,” she said. “Why didn’t you tell me about her?”
Noah turned his whole body toward his dinner – and toward her. The wine was already poured, and he didn’t offer a toast. “This is one of my sister’s favorite dishes. I thought she should choose what Bernard made for dinner tonight. Sometimes, it’s the simple foods that comfort you the most.” He glanced up at Lucy. “My sister needs constant comfort.”
“You’re not answering the question.”
He pulled his cloth napkin into his lap. “I am a private man, as you know. It’s who I have always been. My father liked to make a few waves with his affairs and gambling. It taught me to mind myself and my behavior. The only reason you couldn’t find out more about him was because I had it scrubbed from the internet years ago.”
“Yes. I had to dig quite a bit. I finally hit paydirt back in New York when I thought to access the library archives.”
“Ah. Yes. Harder to kill what’s physically available as opposed to digitally. I have to admit, though, I was rather irked that you thought I was married to my own sister. I can’t think of anything more boorish. Sounds like something the real Mr. Rochester would do.”
“So you finished reading it, huh?”
“I had some time on my hands. Besides, you kept comparing me to that bastard, so I thought I should see it for myself.”
“Well?” Lucy asked. “Do you agree with my assessment?”
“About my direct character? I suppose not. About my supposed actions? You couldn’t be further from the truth.”
“How about you set me straight, then?”
Noah took a bite of his food, chewing contemplatively. “What I have to tell you might shock you. I know you’re a woman with a hard stomach, though. I trust you won’t be too ill if I tell you while we eat. You see, it’s all very matter of fact for me. Sometimes I forget that to normal people, it’s vile enough to make them vomit. Sometimes I wonder what came first. Was I beaten into private solitude? Or was I born this way? It’s a question for nature versus nurture and can’t be answered over our dinner, but I wonder it anyway.”
