A Silken Thread - Brenda Jackson [74]
She looked forward to planning their weekly schedules so they could spend time together during their business travels. So far things had worked out wonderfully for them. Together they had visited the Great Wall of China, attended a polo match in Great Britain and picked coffee beans in Peru. But nothing could surpass her greatest adventures, which were the nights spent in his arms.
Wilson looked down at her and smiled. “What are you thinking about?”
She couldn’t help returning his smile and simultaneously she felt a yearning in the pit of her stomach. “How happy I’ve been these last five weeks.”
“Have you really been happy, Rita?”
She nodded. “Considering everything, yes.”
And she didn’t want to consider everything, had pushed the thought of doing so to the back of her mind. All she’d done was take what was offered and give what she felt was truly deserved.
“What about you, Wilson?”
He chuckled. “Sweetheart, if I can get any happier, I’d burst. And it hasn’t been about the sex. Although, I have to admit that’s been great, too. Hell, I never knew that there was still so much life in the bedroom after fifty. But it’s been about sharing things with you. It’s been an awakening for me. One that I didn’t expect and I’m so damn grateful for.”
He paused and then said, “I know you don’t want to talk about it but we need to, Rita.”
“Talk about what?”
“My divorce from Karen.”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t want you to do that, Wilson.”
“After spending time with you, loving you the way I do, how can I not?”
She blinked. Her look was one of astonishment. “You love me?”
He threw his head back. “Yes, I love you. You taught me how to love. You gave me love. How else can I feel?”
“Gratitude.”
“No, it’s not gratitude. It’s love. For the first time in my life, months shy of turning sixty, I know how it feels to love a woman. And I don’t know how many more years I have left on this earth, Rita. I can’t imagine spending any of them without you.”
She reached out and pressed her hand to his lips. “No, I won’t let you leave your wife for me.”
“My marriage was over long ago. After Erica’s wedding I’m going to ask Karen for the divorce I should have asked her for years ago.”
She eased out of his arms and walked across the room. Over the past five weeks they had shared a bed, true enough, but they’d also shared something else. A friendship. With him she had shared her innermost thoughts and feelings and he’d done likewise with her. A part of her would always love Patrick, but in her heart she knew she loved Wilson, as well. But considering the people they would eventually hurt in the long run, would they ever truly be happy knowing their happiness would cause others pain?
“Rita?”
She turned back to him. “Yes?”
“You do love me, too, don’t you?”
She could lie and tell him that, no, she didn’t love him, that it was nothing more than needing sex after a fifteen-year drought, and that would be it. But she couldn’t hurt him like that, nor could she lie about her feelings for him. “Yes, I do love you, too.”
The smile that spread across his face at that moment was priceless and he quickly crossed the room and pulled her into his arms, kissed her deeply. When he finally released her mouth, he whispered against her lips. “It will all work out and in the end, we will be together.”
Somehow she believed him. She didn’t want to think about all the obstacles they would face. Possibly the loss of love and respect from their children. And the torment of a woman who may not give up her husband so easily.
Rita heard her cell phone ring and glanced around for it, then remembered it had fallen under the bed earlier that day during one of her and Wilson’s heated moments. She quickly pulled herself from his arms and scurried across the room to get it. The only two people who’d ever called her while she was on one of her trips were Lori or Brian, and a call from either of them could be important.
“Hello?”
“Mom, where are you?”
She heard the frantic tone in Brian’s voice and glanced