A Good Yarn Page 0,87

made love just once - the night after their excursion into the mountains - and when it was over, they'd both cried, holding each other in the aftermath of passion. Their first sexual reunion had been a combination of excitement, embarrassment, fear and anticipation. They'd felt awkward with each other, but they'd also experienced tenderness and joy. They'd spent most nights together since then, simply holding each other close. After sleeping alone all these years, Elise hadn't thought it possible to bring a man to her bed, a single bed at that. Anyone seeing them cramped against the wall would've found the sight comical, she was sure. She fell asleep in his embrace and then in the early hours of the morning, Maverick slipped back into the boys' room.

No one was the wiser. At least, not as far as she knew. She suspected David and Aurora had guessed, but neither mentioned it. Elise pretended her daughter was oblivious to the late-night shuffle between Maverick's room and hers.

"This is silly, you know," Maverick murmured, pulling back the sheet so they could get into bed together. He let her go first and then followed.

"What's silly, our being together?" He was right, but she found it alarming that he'd admit it.

"Our being together is the only thing right about this situation," Maverick insisted in a husky whisper. "What's wrong is sneaking around in the middle of the night. Good grief, Elise, I'm sixty-six years old. The last time I did this, I was a teenager."

"Stop!" she said, giggling.

"Don't tell me you're accustomed to this."

"Of course I'm not!"

"Then let me make an honest woman of you."

Elise slid under the sheets until she was down far enough to rest her head against Maverick's shoulder. "Are you suggesting we...get married? Again?" While it might sound appealing, she wasn't convinced that was really the solution.

"Do you want to live in sin?"

"I...I don't know." She'd had her freedom for the past thirty years. "Can I think about it?"

"Yes." He rubbed his leg against hers. "I love you, Elise. I've always loved you."

She believed Maverick did love her, but that didn't mean she could trust him. If she was a gambling woman, she would've bet that, given the opportunity, he'd be back at the gaming tables.

Maverick kissed the top of her head. "I talked to the real estate agent about the apartment complex this afternoon," he whispered.

He'd left the house after lunch and been gone almost four hours. He never told her where he went, but this wasn't the first time he'd mysteriously disappeared. Elise had her suspicions, but didn't press him for details. Some things it was better not to know.

But it was too hard not to say something, not to ask for even a hint. "You were away for a long time," she murmured.

"I know. You're worried, aren't you?"

"Should I be?"

"I wasn't gambling."

Elise closed her eyes. She struggled, once again, to take him at his word. Too often, she'd looked the other way rather than confront the truth. It distressed her to realize that nothing had really changed about him - or her - in all these years.

"I swear to you I wasn't," he reiterated.

"Okay." She placed her arm around his middle. He'd been her one folly in life. She knew what he was when she'd married him the first time. Her love hadn't changed him then and it probably wouldn't now.

"The deal went through on the condo."

"Oh."

"I'm moving in next week."

She didn't know how to respond, unwilling to reveal her disappointment or her sudden feeling of loss.

"I've stayed longer than I should have," he whispered. "I never intended to intrude on Aurora and David for more than a couple of weeks."

He didn't want to overstay his welcome any more than Elise wanted to burden her daughter and family. But there was nowhere else for her to go. She was beginning to think she might never get her money back. The courts moved so slowly that by the time the case was settled, she'd be dead and buried, she thought cynically.

"I'd like you to move in with me," he said, his voice a throaty whisper.

"I'm...not sure." The temptation to give in was stronger than anything she'd felt in years.

"We don't need to remarry if you don't want."

"Do you?" she asked.

"More than you'll ever know." He tightened his hold on her. She lay there quietly, comforted by his arms around her, and eventually realized he was asleep.

It was a long time before Elise managed to doze off. In