Page 260 of Her Reluctant Hero
“Within reason.”
“Why do you go back? After what you saw on Angel Ridge, after what almost happened to us, how can you go back? Why do you want to go up there today?”
“Same reason I don’t think about what will happen when I can’t do this anymore.” He dug under the bed for his socks. “Because it’s bad luck.”
“Worse luck than almost getting toasted?”
He didn’t want to think about how close they’d come to cashing in less than forty-eight hours ago, how close he’d come to losing her. The pain of the realization stunned him for a minute, and he had to bring himself back to reality. “Hey, we were pulled out of there.”
“By our singed bootstraps. Don’t give me anymore of those flippant answers, Cooper. I really want to know this.”
Too close to the bone here. He needed to push her back from this topic she’d latched onto and he could think of only one way. “Because of what happened to Dan?”
She whipped her head up. He actually watched her drag herself together before she answered. “I already told you that was the reason I was doing these articles.”
He shifted toward her, intent to hear her answer, sick that he hadn’t seen it before. Just like Jen, she didn’t see the real him. “But is it the reason you’re sleeping with me? Am I a replacement for your dead husband, Peyton?”
“Gabe—” She sat on her heels and gazed at him imploringly, but once spoken, the idea was too strong in his mind. How could she love him after only a few days? He had to be right about this.
“Do you think about him when you’re with me? What about when I make love to you? Are you making love to him?”
When she didn’t answer, only opening and closing her mouth, he sat and started pulling on his socks with brutal efficiency. “You told me you love me. I should have known. Damn it, I should have known better.”
“What?” She grabbed his boots and holding them out of his reach.
He tried to reach for them, then gave up. “It isn’t me you love. How could you? You’ve only known me a few days.” And if Jen hadn’t been able to love him after four years...
Now she leaned forward, her eyes dark with pain. He glanced away from it. His pain was too strong. He couldn’t deal with hers. He rolled away to get his pack together.
“Do you really think I’m so shallow, I’d just replace one man with another?” she demanded.
He couldn’t look at her. “I think you’re hurt and lonely. Isn’t that why you’re out here, why you’re doing these articles?” He gestured jerkily toward the door. “To fill the place Dan left behind? What better way than with a man who reminds you of him?” He reached for his boots. This time she didn’t fight him. Stopping at the door, he looked back at her.
“It’s really too bad, Peyton. We could have been something. If it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll go to the Fire Depot on my own.”
He walked out, his throat tight, his eyes burning. His heart broken.
