Silver Falls - Anne Stuart [59]
In fact, it was just four days ago that he’d come to her room, but apparently he was going with selective memory, and the least she could do was match it. “I’d like that.”
And then realized, with absolute horror, that that was the third lie she’d told him today.
12
Rachel was curled up in the oversized armchair in the family room, watching television while Sophie worked on calculus. CSI was on, but she wasn’t in the mood for graphic crime scenes, particularly when they had one not five miles away, still cordoned off by the police and now the FBI. They’d TiVo’d Lost—castaways on a mystical island worked well enough to distract her—right now reality was highly overrated.
David was in his study, working. He’d barely touched his wine and the tomato-and-cheese casserole, but his lingering glance when he excused himself made it clear he hadn’t forgotten his plan for that night.
She could easily count the number of times they’d made love. She’d simply assumed that David hadn’t much of a sex drive, and that was a good match for her. She had no particular interest in grand passion or long, energetic nights of sex, particularly when it seemed more like exercise than anything else.
It had been different with Jared, but then, she’d been so damned young. Sixteen, and in love, and even his glance could send erotic shivers down her spine. She’d gotten over that quickly enough when her parents kicked her out of the house and they’d lived together. She’d enjoyed the sex, even if Jared was too fast and totally uninterested in cuddling afterward. But in truth, she hadn’t missed it once he abandoned her and his baby.
So why did David suddenly decide he wanted to make love when he’d barely touched her the last two months? Was it to make up for the debacle four nights ago, the one they were going to pretend hadn’t happened? Was it to prove something to her or himself? Or did it have something to do with the greatest threat to his sense of manhood, Caleb, coming back to town?
It didn’t matter. She just knew it had nothing to do with actual affection or desire, and she had no idea how she was going to derail him without hurting his feelings. She could always make up some excuse with Sophie, and he’d go along with it, asking no questions, but it was bad enough she was lying like a felon. She didn’t want to drag her daughter into it as well. Especially when it had to do with avoiding sex.
She heard the commotion at the front door, and for a moment she didn’t move. Sophie lifted her head. “You want me to go see who’s here, Ma?”
“David can answer it. I’m sure it’s for him.” There would be nobody to visit her. In the few months she’d been in town she’d been singularly unable to make friends. Everyone was either old or younger, and uniformly conventional. Even though Rachel tried her best, the young women of Silver Falls could see through it. Maggie Bannister was the closest thing she had to a friend, and she wasn’t the type to just drop in for a cup of coffee. Not at this hour.
A deep voice carried to the family room at the back of the house, and Sophie made a comical face of despair. “It’s Stephen Henry.” And then she perked up, as another voice followed. “And Caleb.” She jumped up from her seat on the floor, shoving her hair behind her ears, the silver barrettes from India beginning to slip.
Rachel wisely kept her mouth shut, just in case David heard the words she really felt like using. She didn’t want to move—with luck they’d just go into the living room with David and she could pretend the television was too loud to hear anyone arrive.
No such luck. “My father and brother are here, darling,” David said, putting his head in the door. “Why don’t you two come join us?”
Sophie used every excuse under the sun to keep away from the Old Goat, as she called Stephen Henry, so Rachel readied her excuse. “Sophie’s got a lot of homework.”
“That’s all right, Ma,” her daughter said with surprisingly good cheer. “I was just finishing up anyway.” She