A Silken Thread - Brenda Jackson [65]
Jaye smiled, realizing that Karen, his mother’s cousin, would flip if what he was thinking was true. And the more he studied the couple, the more he was convinced that it was. He might not have been able to dig up anything on Karen’s future son-in-law, but it seemed Erica’s future mother-in-law was another matter.
He leaned back in his chair thinking things were getting rather interesting.
“Will you please just listen to what I have to say, Rita?”
She drew a sigh and shook her head. He could tell she was fighting emotions the same way he was doing. They had enjoyed a meal and had tried talking about topics other than the one they were here to discuss. The conversation had been strained and he regretted that, but more than anything he regretted what she was doing to herself. Guilt was taking a toll on her and it should not have been.
She pursed her lips. “It won’t change anything.”
“If it doesn’t, I will try to accept it.”
He paused and took a sip of his scotch. She had preferred coffee and each time she took a sip his stomach knotted in desire. As much as he didn’t want to, he wanted her again.
“First, I need to give you a bit of history on Hattersville, Ohio.” He told her about the founding families and their pact to join by marriage in order to keep all the wealth in the same families. “So in other words, it was decided that Karen and I would eventually marry even before we were born.”
“An arranged marriage?” she asked with disbelief.
“Yes. We’d always known it and accepted it, but at no time did we think we loved each other. It was more like a business arrangement. We treated each other with respect, but after Erica was born our relationship began to change.”
She lifted a brow. “In what way?”
“She felt her duty to me was over and that there was no reason for us to continue to sleep together.”
Her expression was one of disbelief. “You’re joking, right?”
He met her gaze and held it. “Trust me. I would never joke about anything as personal as that.”
He took another sip of his drink. “At one time she even suggested that I take a lover, said she could care less as long as I was discreet. But I never did.”
She placed her coffee cup in the saucer. “Are you saying that…”
“Yes, that night I made love to you was the first time I’d had sex in over twenty years.”
From the shocked look on her face he was fairly certain that she’d been rendered speechless. She opened her mouth to say something and then immediately closed it. She then narrowed her eyes while searching his face for some sign what he’d just told her was a bald-faced lie. But there must have been something in his features that compelled her to believe him.
“How did you survive? Men have needs.”
A smile touched his lips. He figured now was not the time to counter that women had needs, as well. “Yes, but I’d convinced myself that I could live without fulfilling those needs. I threw myself into my work, my hobbies and my daughter. And I hoped and prayed that she would never find herself in the kind of loveless marriage her parents are in.”
“What about Karen?”
He took another sip of his scotch. “I truly believe she doesn’t enjoy the intimacy of marriage. She actually detests being touched.”
Rita’s eyebrows knitted together and he waited for her to say something, and when she didn’t he continued. “I want you to believe that I tried making a go of my marriage, and once or twice I have come close to asking for a divorce, but the love I have for Erica stopped me. I didn’t want her to grow up with divorced parents.”
“Do you think she knows that you and her mother…aren’t close?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me. God knows Karen isn’t the easiest person to get along with, for me or for Erica.”
Wilson smiled. “But meeting you, Rita, was good for me. I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but like I told you that night on the phone, you made me know how it is to be a man with feelings, emotions, wants and desires.”
She lifted a brow. “Did I create a monster?”
He saw her lips quirk and knew her question was a teaser. “Not a monster but a