Come Fly with Me by Sherryl Woods Page B

miserable time at all. She was enjoying being with Mark all too much. She was beginning to count on their long talks, on his gentle teasing, the increasingly more demanding touches that had suddenly abated, leaving her yearning for their resumption. She was beginning to want himin her life and that terrified her. Even though she was starting to understand why she’d always kept men at arm’s length, it didn’t mean she could change it overnight.
    â€œI’m not here to have a good time. I’m here to get you to read the damned contract and sign it.”
    â€œYou work too hard.”
    â€œHow would you know?”
    â€œI can tell. If you could have seen yourself Friday night...” He shook his head disapprovingly. “You looked like an exhausted, woebegone little waif.”
    â€œIf I looked that lousy, I’m surprised you were so hot to take me in.”
    â€œThat’s exactly why I was so determined to take you in. I wanted to see some sparkle in those beautiful green eyes of yours.”
    Lindsay gave him her most beguiling smile. “You should just see the sparkle when I get a signed contract in my hands.”
    â€œI never promised I’d sign it,” he reminded her. “Only that I’d read it.”
    â€œWhen?”
    â€œWhen the time is right.”
    â€œDamn it, Mark! When will that be? Ican’t stay here forever,” she said desperately. “I have other work to do.”
    â€œIf you ask me, you’re running away.”
    â€œFrom what?”
    His gaze caught hers and she could see the knowledge that lit those black eyes until they burned with an exciting flame of passion.
    â€œOnly you can answer that one. Think about it,” he suggested, as he calmly pulled on a jacket and went outside for a walk, Shadow bounding along beside him.
    While he was gone, Lindsay did think, though not about Mark’s taunting question. She already knew the answer to that: she was running from him. What puzzled her more was his ability to turn any conversation away from himself and back to her. While she had revealed so much last night, allowed herself to become increasingly vulnerable, he had remained a charming enigma. No amount of sensitive probing had revealed the reason for his brooding silences, the distant stares. It bothered her that even as she was growing to trust him, perhaps even to fall a little in love, if she were to admit the whole truth, he didn’t seem to trust her at all. If for no reason other than that, it was time to retreat to the safetyof her own environment, where she could regroup her defenses.
    Even more than wanting to escape from an emotional situation she wasn’t prepared to handle, though, she’d come to realize that these last few days had been a fantasy in other ways as well. She’d hardly noticed being virtually stranded in the middle of nowhere because Mark was constantly showering attention on her...talking to her, skiing with her, playing backgammon, simply sitting by her side while they were both engrossed in their own reading or thoughts.
    But that closeness and attentiveness wouldn’t last forever. It couldn’t be sustained day in and day out over a lifetime, even if two people were madly in love. For one thing, sooner or later Mark would have to go back to writing, shutting her out for hours on end. What would she do then? She’d never be able to bear the loneliness. Perhaps one of the greatest paradoxes in her life was that while she was pushing people away to avoid commitment and loss, she was at the same time terrified of being alone.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    L indsay didn’t have to wait long to find out what living in the middle of nowhere with Mark would really be like on any kind of permanent basis. Not that he’d exactly asked her to stay forever, she reminded herself. He had, however, given her plenty of indications over the last few days that he wasn’t in any hurry for her to