Mad Enough to Marry - By Christie Ridgway Page 0,64

sUd back a foot. "Damn you. You really believe that, don't you?"

He stalked toward her, but she stood her ground and held her voice to a cool, methodical tone. "Why wouldn't I? Why wouldn't I think of my father and then every other male who has disappointed me— which would be all of them, by the way—^and stay single and celibate?"

'^Because you haven't?" he bit out. **In case I need to remind you, you aren't single and cehbate."

She decided to ignore the cehbate part. *'There isn't a ring on my finger," she said. ''There never has been, there never will be."

"You're trying to make me angry again."

The lines of his face had hardened and he didn't look anything like the charming, everybody-loves-him Logan that she was most familiar with. She turned away. "I don't know what you mean."

He grabbed her shoulder and turned her back. "You're not single, you're not celibate, Elena. You're with me,''

She shook her head. "Don't," she said. "Don't."

"Don't what?" He tightened his fingers and gave her a Httle shake. "Don't make you say it?"

"I won't."

He jerked his hand away from her as if she burned him, or as if he was afraid of what he might do if he still touched her. "You're with me, Elena. We're together."

No! With him, together with Logan, would only lead to more heartache. She waved her hand. "It's a proximity thing, you know that. Under the same roof, past history, that's all."

"It's more than that."

"No." But she'd rather brave Gabby's bad mood than get further into this with Logan. Stomping over to her purse and tote bag, she slung them over her shoulder.

"We fell in love eleven years ago." Logan's eyes

were narrowed and his words clipped. "What if that happened again?"

"I'll never fall in love again,'* she said automatically. Instinctively. "I won't."

Logan froze, giving the temper in his voice an icy edge. "You won't, won't you?" he said slowly. "I can care about your day, your sister, I can care about you. I can take you to bed and make you mindless, but you'll never give your heart."

"Fool me once, shame on you," Elena retorted flippantly as she pivoted to leave the room. * 'Fool me twice—"

"No." He reached out to stay her movement and his fingers curled around the handles of the tote bag. It slid down her arm to catch at her elbow. "I'm an easygoing man," he ground out. "I like—"

"Things to be simple and uncomplicated," she finished for him. "So let's simplify things right now. I'm going upstairs." Ignoring the hand that still held her bag, she hurried forward.

"Damn it, Elena." He pulled back on the fabric handles to halt her movement.

She refused to look at him. "Let me go."

"I can't. I can't, damn it, because I'm in love with you."

Elena's head jerked up. Her gaze met his and he looked as stunned as she was—and still angry. "No," she said.

He was breathing hard, as if he'd run a very long way. "Yes. Yes. I'm in love with you and I think you're in love with me."

Shocked by his...his arrogance, she gaped at him. **rm not in love with you. Never. Not in this Ufetime. Not for a miUion dollars. Not in a million years." Realizing it was overkill as refusals went, she shut her mouth.

His jaw tightened and his voice was rough. '*God, Elena, I just bared my soul here. I know you're scared, but the least you could do is give me the truth."

Now her temper flared. The truth? He wanted the truth? How about the truth that she never wanted to be hurt again? How about the truth that hurt was the only thing that could ever come of a man like Logan * ^loving" a woman like her? He would never truly love her—^love her enough to stay.

But after years of practice, she found herself reaching for calm, for control. "The truth is, love makes a person weak and I won't be weak like that again." Grabbing the handles of her tote bag herself, she tried pulUng them free of his hold. "The truth is, Logan, love doesn't last."

At that, his grasp loosened. The bag pitched, the contents slid forward, spilled. As the shoebox that was on top tumbled, it opened and Fred and Wilma executed a short free fall then smashed on the floor.

Both she and Logan stared at the mess. Then he shook his head, his anger still apparent in the harsh lines of his face and the hoarse sound