Damn. Elissa had probably seen him with Bess and drawn all the wrong conclusions. He was going to have to do some fast talking to smooth over this misunderstanding. He could only imagine how much her conscience was smarting over what they’d done together. Vividly remembering, he went hot all over.
Almost two hours later, he caught up with Elissa while she was waiting to board her flight.
She looked up, her broken heart cracking all over again at the sight of him, ruggedly jean clad and visibly impatient. The image almost shocked her into smiling, but the pain was still too sharp. She didn’t get up. She sat there, her dark glasses in place, and looked at him as if he were some insect.
He sat down beside her, glancing at the flight attendants who were just entering the walkway to the plane. “I have to talk to you,” he said curtly.
“We’ve talked,” she said calmly.
“What you saw wasn’t what you think,” he began.
“Your private life is none of my business,” she said simply. “I’m not interested.”
“Will you listen,” he gritted. “We’ve only got a few seconds.”
“Then you’d better make your speech short,” she replied.
He drew in a steadying breath, gripping his temper tightly to keep it from exploding all over again. All in all, his patience was being sorely tried. He seized upon the first thing that came to mind. “If you won’t marry me, fine. But if you find yourself pregnant, I want to know immediately,” he told her. “Promise me this minute that you’ll get in touch with me, or so help me, I’ll phone your parents and tell them the whole sordid mess.”
Sordid. So that’s how he thought of it. Perhaps it was sordid. A little back-alley overnight affair that he’d forget soon enough when he and Bess were married. Her heart was breaking. She had only a little pride left, and it was in tatters. He knew that she loved him, and that hurt most of all.
“I’ll get in touch if anything happens,” she said finally, the words dragged from her. “And in case you’re afraid I’ll be eating my heart out over you, save your pity. Whatever I felt for you, it certainly wasn’t love.”
He stiffened and felt himself going cold. “That’s a lie,” he said, his voice quiet and deep.
“Love isn’t part of sordid affairs,” she said, her voice starting to break. “That’s all it was, just a...a cheap little roll in the hay!”
“No,” he said softly, his eyes fierce. “Never that.”
She turned away, clutching her bag. They were calling the first-class passengers aboard. She was next. She got to her feet. “I have to go.”
He caught her arm, but she moved away and wouldn’t look at him. “Elissa, damn it...”
“I have to go,” she repeated. “So long, cowboy.”
“For God’s sake, will you listen to me?” he demanded, oblivious to the curious stares they were getting as they faced each other.
“No.” She laced the single word with mocking contempt, and her blue eyes dared him to make her change her mind.
He let go of his temper with a word that turned her ears red, and she walked away without looking back. He took off his hat and slammed it to the floor, damned it to hell, damned her with it and stomped back down the concourse. Let her go. What did he care? She didn’t love him—she’d said so. It was just a “cheap little roll in the hay.” His dark eyes got darker, and his pride felt lacerated at her careless reference to the most beautiful experience of his entire life.
Still cursing, he came home hatless and ran head-on into Margaret, who looked like an entire invading army about to launch an attack. “So you ran her off, did you?” Margaret glared at him. “Congratulations. The first woman who ever cared anything about you and not your money, and you get rid of her. I don’t know what’s come over you. And here’s Bobby’s wife, and—”
“Shut up!” King threw at her, his eyes dangerous.
“Jackass!” she tossed off. “You don’t cow me! Maybe Bess is scared stiff of you, but I ain’t!”
He glared back at her. “What do you mean, scared stiff of me?”
“She took off upstairs the minute she saw you walk in the door. And she never once opened her mouth at the breakfast table when you and Elissa got into it.” She harrumphed. “That poor little thing’s got no spirit at all. Not like Elissa. You’d have Bess crawling in a month’s