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In the cab, Jo was squashed between Chad and the window. He had arranged it so that no other man was close to her. He’d been deft about it. He’d always done that. He could shift her quite discreetly from one side of him to the other depending on who was crowding her.
He was possessive.
Not anymore. They’d been divorced for almost four years. He’d allowed her to leave quite thoughtfully. He’d said, You’ll be back when you’ve had a taste of being on your own for a while. You like being married!
He’d been wrong.
It was probably the only time, in all the while she’d known Chad, that he’d ever been wrong. Well, any person was entitled to one mistake in his life.
She had been his.
Sitting forward in the cab on the edge of the back seat, with Chad pressed against her hip and the noisy shadows of other people packed in the small enclosure, Jo’s body was afire with ants of desire. How foolish of her sex to react again and so violently to Chad.
She was going to be circumspect and aloof. She was going to show Chad that she did not miss him. That she did not want to be married to him again. And that she was free.
So…he’d been good in bed. She remembered that. Her body remembered it, too. She acknowledged it. She was not really susceptible to Chad. She was not!
There were undoubtedly other men who could do sex as well as Chad Wilkins. All men had the same equipment, and it was traditionally done in various ways that were pleasurable to women. And—
He’d been really, really good at it.
But that was all. And it was only sex, after all. He had not been a companion or a friend or a helpmate.
He’d been good in bed…on the floor…against the wall. She could admit that, but otherwise he’d been gone.
There were all those meetings with students in his department, meetings with lagging students, meetings with those who were exceptional and those engrossed in projects. There were faculty meetings, the faculty senate and other occasions that were formal, which had included the wives.
Chad had never been around when she had needed him. Of course, her problem was that it had only been his companionship she had wanted. It hadn’t been as important to him. Just being together and talking, or not, hadn’t been urgent. It could be postponed. Forever.
They’d reached the hotel. She got out first, and it was familiar to wait as he settled up the fares and tips. With the tips given, the cabdriver probably quit for the day.
The January weather in Fort Worth was glorious. It was warm. The TEXAS sun was assuringly benevolent, showing the non-TEXANs that the world could indeed be perfect. The ski equipped, reluctant guests were beginning to perk up and look around for entertainment. They would have a stimulating time and probably end up swimming outside.
Among the stranded strangers, there was the couple who was meeting for the first time since their divorce. So. It was no big deal. They were as ships which pass on the ocean. They would pass with a courteous greeting and some pleasant conversation and…separate…to go their ways?
He probably had papers to read. He always had a student who needed extra help. Jo hadn’t needed anything. She’d never had any problems. So she’d needed no special attention from her husband.
Or so he had thought.
His meals had been on time…or held…or stored away. The house was always clean. His shirts were pristine and the buttons were all sewn on. His clothes came back from the cleaner on time.
She’d slept in his bed and had been available. Hungrily available. She’d sought him. His laugh had been so intimate. So pleased. His sounds were so basic.
He had been a superior lover. It was quite probable that he still was.
Jo wondered who…who all had been sharing his bed. He wouldn’t even have to ask. He’d probably have to post a list for day and time. It was a wonder he looked so well, so cared for. Who was taking care of him now? He looked so rested.
Of course, he’d been away from campus. He’d been to a seminar to read a paper. No, not a newspaper. One of his. On…what all. Some subject that was so dim and distant that few others would find it interesting. He was such a niggler. He was the type whose concentration was intense. He sorted and sought and paced as he thought.
In her ear, he said, “Let me carry that.”
She lifted her brows in question.
“Your bag.”
She replied in a dismissing manner, “It’s quite comfortable, and I’m used to it. No problem.”
He was serious and his lower lip was being obvious. “It seems crass for you to have to carry your things.”
She slid her eyes over to give him a narrow, sophisticated understanding of his wiles, but he was frowning at her bag. “When did you get so thin? Are you okay?”
“I’ve lost five pounds since our divorce almost four years ago.”
He flinched. “Don’t say the word. I’ve rejected it.”
Jo lowered her eyelids and looked at him with some snide understanding. “Just recently?”
He replied like a stubborn man who hasn’t adjusted to reality. “No. Ever since you walked out on me.”
They’d stopped at the hotel’s desk to register. He said to her, “Wait here.”
She told him firmly, “I need to pay half.”
“No.”
She replied in an adult manner, “I have a credit card for my expense account.”
“No.”
Come to think of it, he’d always been that way. His way. That’s what was wrong with him, everything had to be his way. Even when he was being darling, he wanted it his way.
Jo said with her being-patient-with-a-client voice, “I pay half or I walk.”
“You’ve become a prostitute?”
She gasped in indignation.
“You were always terrific and so body-hungry that it doesn’t surprise me at all. I’ve spent a lot of time wondering who you were savoring.”
Through her teeth she spaced the three words. “I have not!”
He frowned at her and appeared censoring. “Then I feel sorry for the men around you. What do they do?”
Somewhat prissily, she retorted, “Not all men are like you, thank goodness.”
He put on an instant lecturing facade. “Goodness has nothing—”
“Be quiet!”
He grinned from ear to ear and said, “There’s my Jo. I thought I’d lost her, you’ve been so polite.”
She’d been rude? She frowned and considered. “When haven’t I been polite?”
“I haven’t had tabs on you in much too long,” he informed her as if she hadn’t realized such a simple fact. “Do you know I dream about you? Hot dreams.” He scowled at her. “Are you living with somebody else?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Well, I’d hate for some irritated guy to come bursting into our room and act upset.”
Her “lover” would…act…upset if he found her with another man? “Is that how you would have been? If I’d had an affair, would you have been.upset?”
Mildly he replied, “I’d have ripped out his jugular vein, unkindly.”
“Is there a kind way?” She looked at him in shock.
“Not where you’re concerned.”
She was indignant. “We’re divorced!”
“I’ve missed you.”
Exasperated, she demanded, “When did you have the time to notice I was gone? How long was it before you realized I wasn’t around anymore? You ran out of dishes or shirts? What caught your attention?”
“Every damned empty day.” He looked up from the registry and added, “Every lousy, empty night.”
“It’s been almost four years.”
“It’s not yet four but it seems like twenty-five.”
“I don’t believe this.”
And he had the gall to inquire, “Why haven’t you found another husband?”
“How do you know I haven’t?”
“No ring.”
Along with supercilious eyebrows, she lifted her hand. “I always remove it when I travel. Don’t you?”
He went back to filling out the hotel information. But he said, “I’ve looked around, but nobody else is you.”
His eyes were on the page he was filling out. He had marvelous eyelashes. She couldn’t believe he’d actually said the words, that, instead, she’d heard what she wanted him to say.
He finished writing and handed the page to the person at the registration desk. “Two keys.”
“Yes, sir.” And she handed him the keys.
He picked up his bags and said, “I talk to your father and he has told me you are not married.”
“Mistakenly told you? I wonder why he lied. He probably felt you would be upset.”
“I’m never upset.” Chad was firm. “I can handle most things. You being away so long has bothered me.”
“It’s taken you almost four years to notice? You probably saw me in the air terminal and thought I looked familiar. Then you’d searched your mind as to which of your classes I’d been in. And finding I wasn’t a student, you sorted me out.”
“Come back to Indy with me.” He punched the button for the elevator. Then he stood and looked at her as the elevator doors opened. He followed her inside the cage and punched the button for the sixth floor. No one else was right there, so the doors closed. They were alone in the elevator.
“Why should I go home with you? You didn’t want me. Why should you care about someone else wanting me?”
“I love you.”
That ticked her off. “You really irritate me. No wonder I left you. How could you possibly—”
She stopped speaking as the elevator came to a quiet stop. The doors slid open silently. The hall’s carpet was discreet and elegant. It was nicely insulated and therefore silent.
On the wall opposite the elevator, they saw the numbers that indicated they were to go to the left. The room was right there. That’s why it was still available. It was next to the elevator shaft.
Guests would gather by the elevator and talk. Their voices would be heard in the room. Baggage carts were rolled from the elevator. They too would be heard, even though it was a discreet hotel. So the rooms closest to the elevator were used only in necessity.
Jo got out her key card and put it into the door’s lock. She was immediately aware her action startled Chad. He had always opened the doors. She’d usurped his move.
He kept her from entering by dropping his luggage in the hall. One bag clunked heavily. And he bent and picked her up!
“What—?”
He explained casually, “We’re going to sleep together. I always carry women into hotel rooms when I intend on sleeping with them.”
She gasped indignantly. “Just how many—”
But he kissed her quite skillfully and set the maulable mass that was Josephine Morris over out of the way. He then retrieved his abandoned luggage with perfect coordination.
How had he managed to be functional after that kiss?
How vulgar he was. He had to be very easy with the act of seduction—the preliminaries and the actual act. He planned to…sleep…with her. And he always kissed the women he slept with in hotel rooms.
She inquired with casual coolness, “What’s your score total so far?”
“I’ll check it out and let you know. The figures aren’t at my fingertips this minute. I’ll have to consult my computer files.”
That sobered her considerably. Chad hadn’t missed her at all. He’d been keeping statistics on other women, all of whom he’d carried through hotel room doors and seduced on the beds there.
Jo was crushed. No wonder he’d never contacted her. He hadn’t had the time to remember her. How had he even remembered who she was at the airport? He must have caught a glimpse of her and known he’d seen her…somewhere.
Think of having to sort through a wheatfield of women to discover which one she’d been!
He’d probably had to go to the airport’s computer base to contact his home computer bank and search out which one she was.
She said, “If you’ve been traveling much, you must be exhausted.”
