A Billionaire's Redemption - By Cindy Dees Page 0,42
if she’d been kidnapped and was alone and terrified, she’d be desperate for her family and friends to continue fighting to find her, to continue believing she was alive, to continue their efforts to rescue her.
“Is there anything I can do to help find her?” Willa asked soberly.
Gabe looked over at her in genuine surprise. “No, but thanks for the offer. That’s kind of you.”
Willa frowned. “You say that like you thought I was wishing Melinda would turn up dead.”
His answer was surprisingly bitter. “Let’s just say neither she nor I were ever embraced by the scions of Southern society in this corner of the world.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
They were stopped at a red light, and Gabe stared across the vehicle at her in open shock. “You do realize that you are as blue-blooded an insider to the halls of old-school power in Texas as they come, don’t you?”
She blinked at him, uncomprehending.
“You’re the daughter of one of the richest and most powerful men in Texas for the past thirty years or so. And you’re beautiful and single, to boot. There have to have been young men falling all over themselves to marry you since you got out of school.”
“If there have, they’ve been invisible,” she retorted. Not for lack of her father constantly throwing her at every son of some powerful, old-money family or another from Dallas. It was just that none of the boys had ever called back. It was as if they’d taken her out as a favor to her father. But once they’d met her, they’d moved on quickly to greener pastures. Heck, her father had set up the date with James Ward.
The light turned green, and Gabe accelerated before demanding, “Tell me you’re lying.”
“I’m serious, Gabe. My social life has hovered between life support and dead pretty much forever.”
“That’s not possible,” he announced. “A woman as beautiful and intelligent and charming as you?”
How embarrassing was this, having to confess that no one had ever wanted to date the shy, awkward daughter of a scary man? “It’s not like I’ve ever run around looking like this before. And after the reaction I got tonight, I’m not going to try it again any time soon.”
Her own mother had called her a whore and a slut, for goodness’ sake. Tears welled up in her eyes to recall it. She’d thought this dress was beautiful, and for once in her life, she’d felt pretty. And the way Gabe’s eyes had lit up when she’d opened the front door—she’d thought that maybe he’d found her pretty, too.
Speaking of Gabe, she risked a sideways glance at him. His jaw was set, and if she wasn’t mistaken, muscles in his neck were tensed in irritation. Was he mad she wasn’t the social catch he’d thought she was? Had he expected that with her on his arm, people wouldn’t treat him like dirt for once? She sincerely wished she’d been able to give him the social acceptability he seemed to crave beneath his I-don’t-care attitude. But instead of lifting him up, apparently, she’d succeeded in dragging them both down.
How could a simple charity ball have gone so horribly wrong?
The Escalade turned into a driveway she didn’t recognize. It led to a garage behind a small craftsman bungalow near Darby College. “Is this your place?” she asked. She’d known his childhood home was somewhere in this neighborhood, but she’d never seen it before.
“Yup.” He got out of the Cadillac and came around to open her door for her in grim silence. Grim enough that she decided not to ask just now why he’d brought her here. She followed him up the wide steps to a gracious porch and waited while he unlocked the front door.
“Don’t call the place cute,” he growled as he stepped inside. “I despise cute.”
She stepped into a living room as masculine as any room she’d ever seen. Flagstone floors, cedar paneling, oversize leather furniture and a massive fieldstone fireplace dominated the space. “There’s nothing remotely cute about this room,” she assured him. “I’d call it rustic or comfortable or perfect for its owner. Or I might even say that Ralph Lauren would approve. But I would not call it cute.”
He grunted in what she thought might be thanks as he moved swiftly through the room and disappeared down a hall. At a loss, she waited inside the front door, unsure of what to do with herself. Lights went on in other parts of the house.