A Silken Thread - Brenda Jackson [114]
He heard the sound of music when he made it to the door and couldn’t resist the temptation of looking through the open curtains. His breath almost caught when he saw April sitting at the table in the kitchen with her reading glasses on and a book in her hand. She seemed totally absorbed in what she was reading. Now that he’d found her he was more determined than ever to make her tell him what he wanted to know.
With that single-minded resolution, he raised his hand to knock on her door.
April was so absorbed in the book she had purchased online a few days ago, Forbidden World of Incest, that she hardly heard the knock at the door. She reluctantly closed the book but not before inserting her bookmark to pick up where she’d left off later.
Now she was wondering if she was normal. All it should take was the realization that Griffin was her brother to stop her heart from being filled with so much love for him. No such luck. She had just finished reading the story of a couple who had married only to discover they were twins who’d been separated at birth. They had to have the marriage annulled. It was heartbreaking to read about and she could just imagine how the two must have felt once they found out. At least she had found out the truth, even if Griffin didn’t have a clue.
As she made it toward the door she wondered who could be calling on her and hoped to God it wasn’t her neighbor again. The woman was determined to be her new best friend and April just wasn’t feeling it.
“I’m coming. I’m coming,” she yelled out when the knock at her door became even more persistent.
She snatched open the door. “Look, lady, I—”
Any other words she was about to say died on her lips when she looked into Griffin’s face. She blinked, certain she was seeing things. When the image of him didn’t go away she tried to jump back and slam the door shut. But it was too late. He reached out to stop the door from slamming on him and quickly moved inside.
“I didn’t invite you in, Griffin,” she snarled out at him. She couldn’t help it. It was either be angry at him or throw herself into his arms and she knew there was no way she could do the latter. She knew then that she should have gone through with her first plan to fly to England and make him think she had picked up her affair with Green. The tabloids would have had a field day with that and she would have accomplished just what she wanted by putting an end to her relationship with Griffin. There was no way he would ever forgive her if he thought she was sleeping with him and another man. But a part of her just couldn’t hurt him that way. Now she wished she had if it had kept him from tracking her down this way.
“Doesn’t matter if you invited me or not, April. I want to know what’s wrong, baby.”
“Don’t call me that. I am not your baby,” she almost screamed. Then a voice inside her said, I’m your sister. I am your friggin’ sister who is still feelings things for you that she shouldn’t.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked, looking at her like she’d lost her mind.
“Nothing is wrong with me. Now please leave.”
“Why do you want me to leave? I love you, baby. Let’s talk this out.”
“But you don’t understand,” she said in a choked tone, fighting back tears and anger as well as monumental heartbreak.
“Then make me understand why you don’t want me anymore. Why you are willing to throw away everything. And you can’t convince me that you don’t love me because deep in my heart I believe you do. You’ve convinced me over the past six weeks that you do.”
“But don’t you see that I can’t?” she said, with tears starting to stream down her face. “I can’t.”
“Why do you think you can’t?”
She drew in a sob. Why wouldn’t he just take her words at face value and be done with it? Why was he breaking down her defenses, her common sense, tenderness and kindness? She wiped tears from her eyes. “Because we can’t.”
“You’re not making any sense, April.”
She knew the only way to get through to him would be to tell him the truth,