Behind Closed Doors by Debbi Rawlins Page B

by genre and artist. It was quite a collection. Along with a selection of DVDs...a whole bunch of them. A lot were old films, some black-and-white, but the musical classics were a surprise. She wouldn’t have guessed they were Nathan’s. They must have belonged to his wife.
    Beth turned around and studied the room. The Roman shades, designer furniture, art pieces...even the lamps had a different feel from the way Nathan’s office was decorated. All this was his wife’s work. Beth would bet anything that nothing had been changed or moved in three years.
    Now she understood why she’d had trouble reading Nathan earlier. Having her here in his wife’s domain probably felt awkward for him.
    “Finding anything you like?” he called from the kitchen.
    She spun back to the CD selection. “Bob Seger, if that’s okay with you.”
    “Sounds good.”
    It was the first name Beth saw. She started the CD, and relaxed at the deep, raspy voice. Too late, she realized she could’ve loaded more than one CD, then was distracted by the floor-to-ceiling shelves to the left of the fireplace where a framed photo caught her attention.
    The beautiful woman with the blue eyes and upswept auburn hair had to be his wife. Beth ducked to get a closer look without handling the intricate silver frame. Boy, did the camera love her. With her flawless skin and perfect bow lips, she could’ve been a model.
    Beth switched her gaze to the next photo. It was the same woman, only this photo was candid, a full body shot, and she was really petite. Probably no more than five feet. So much for a modeling career. She was still beautiful, and clearly the type of woman Nathan preferred. It shouldn’t have mattered to Beth. And it didn’t. As long as the sex was good, that was all she cared about....
    “Here’s your wine.”
    At the sound of his voice directly behind her, she nearly jumped into the next decade.
    “I called from the kitchen. I guess you didn’t hear me over the music. You okay?”
    She gave a jerky nod, realized her hand had flown to her throat and lowered it to take the glass from him. “Thanks. I was just checking out your books.” Beth sighed. “And the photos.”
    Nathan smiled. “Yes,” he said, not looking the least upset.
    “Yes?” she echoed, not knowing what he meant.
    “Those two photos are of Anne. My late wife. I’m sure you’re curious, and I wanted you to know it’s all right to ask.”
    Beth glanced back at the other framed photographs scattered along three shelves. She hadn’t paid attention to them, but something he’d said made her look more closely. The rest of the pictures had to be of Nathan’s family—the resemblances were too strong not to be. There were no more shots of Anne, just the two. And not a single one of Nathan and Anne together.
    “Are those your brothers?” Beth asked, hoping he wouldn’t think she’d fixated on his dead wife.
    He picked up a photo of two teenagers wearing football jerseys and big grins. They were holding up a trophy, or more aptly, playing a game of tug-of-war with it. Nathan grinned. “How could you tell?”
    Smiling back, she relaxed. “When was it taken?”
    “They were still in high school.” He studied the photograph, the fondness in his eyes tinged with sadness. Then he blinked and it was gone. “About thirteen years ago.”
    “So they’re both younger than you.”
    “Clint is two years behind me,” he said, returning the photo to the shelf. “Seth is the baby.”
    “I’m sure he loves you referring to him exactly like that.”
    “Hell, he had a few names for me I wasn’t too fond of.”
    “Care to share?”
    A faint smile curving his mouth, he took her glass from her.
    “Hey...I’ve only had two sips.”
    He set their glasses next to the CD player and turned the volume down a bit.
    She knew what he was going to do and beat him to it by sliding her arms around his neck. “I thought we were going to eat.”
    “This is the appetizer.” His