A Billionaire's Redemption - By Cindy Dees Page 0,41
take personally anything she said, right? She looked completely whacked-out on amphetamines or better.”
“You think?” Willa asked hopefully.
“I know.”
“How?”
“An ex-girlfriend with a drug habit.”
She replied lightly, “Why, Gabe Dawson. I don’t know whether to be more surprised that you dated a druggie or that you actually stuck around long enough with any one woman to consider her a girlfriend.”
“What the hell do the GCBs of Vengeance say about me?” he exclaimed.
“GCBs?”
“Good Christian, uhh, Belles,” he answered sourly.
She smiled. “Well, they say you’re quite a lover. But that you refuse to talk about marriage, and get thoroughly surly if the subject even comes up. Common wisdom is that you never got over your wife dumping you and that you still carry a torch for her.”
Gabe said nothing.
“Comments? Rebuttals?” Willa asked lightly.
“No comment.”
Rats. She’d really love to know how he actually felt about Melinda Grayson. Did he still have a thing for his ex-wife? It would explain a lot about him. Like why he’d hightailed it back to Vengeance when the police told him Melinda had gone missing, and why he’d never remarried. Was she tilting at windmills to even fantasize about a relationship between the two of them? Would she want way more from him than he could ever give her?
“Aww, c’mon, Gabe. Give me something, here,” she cajoled teasingly. “I was straight with you.”
“Fine.” He sighed. “I am an excellent lover.”
She laughed, not only in amusement, but also to hide the way her stomach was suddenly jumping with nervous anticipation. What she wouldn’t give to see for herself. “What about your ex-wife? Do you still have feelings for her?”
“Melinda was—is—a force of nature. You either get sucked into her orbit or she chews you up and spits you out. Making it to the inner circle of her universe was a big accomplishment for me back then. But I couldn’t honestly tell you if I ever got to know the real woman or not. The one I was married to was impressive in just about every way. But she didn’t go much for feelings. We never talked about things like love or insecurity or need.”
Wow. That sounded cold and, frankly, unappealing.
Gabe continued, “Do I have feelings regarding her? Of course. Worry. A sense of unresolved differences. Abandonment. She bailed on me before, and as selfish as it might seem, I feel like she has bailed out on me again.” He added in a rush, “I know the police think she was kidnapped, and this disappearance isn’t her fault. And I feel as guilty as hell for feeling like she’s left me again. So the answer to your question is yes. I still have plenty of feelings toward my ex-wife.”
Complicated ones. That might or might not include romantic feelings like love and desire to reunite. He’d neatly avoided talking about those in his outburst.
“What do the police know about her kidnapping?”
“Shockingly little. Her housekeeper arrived one morning, and Melinda was just gone. There were no signs of a struggle in her house or office. Her car was still parked in the garage, her keys and briefcase and laptop sitting on the kitchen counter. Her syllabus and lecture notes for the semester were on her desk.”
Willa shuddered. It sounded a lot like her father’s murder—a life interrupted completely without warning.
Gabe continued, “The only unusual thing the police found was a grocery list in Melinda’s handwriting. It stopped in the middle of a word. Maybe the phone rang or someone came to the door, or someone snuck up on her from behind and grabbed her. It’s a mystery.”
“And there were no witnesses or anyone with any more information?” she asked.
“No one legitimate has come forward in spite of the hundred-thousand-dollar reward I put up, and there have been no ransom demands.”
“Is there a chance—” Willa broke off. “No, never mind.”
“Go ahead. Say it.”
Willa winced. “Is there a chance she was murdered, too? She did disappear right about the same time my father and those other men were killed.”
Gabe went very still. “I would be lying if I said it wasn’t possible. But I can’t think that way.” His voice gathered force. “I won’t think that way. She’s alive. I’m standing by that until I have positive proof to the contrary.”
Willa felt like he’d just stuck a knife in her gut. He did still love his ex-wife. But she couldn’t exactly blame him for revealing it. After all, she was the one who’d brought up the subject of Melinda’s possible murder. And in all fairness,