One Touch of Moondust by Sherryl Woods

my life. I haveoccasionally used a blow torch to melt paint off certain things.”
    She frowned. “I don’t think that would be good for the tables.”
    â€œProbably not,” he agreed with a wry expression.
    â€œOkay. That’s a little bit of a problem, but it’s certainly not insurmountable. How hard can this be? There are directions on the cans.”
    â€œGaby, I love your enthusiasm, but we can’t do this now. I have work to do downstairs. I want to get another apartment rented by the first of the month.”
    â€œCan’t you leave it just for tonight?” she said, unable to hide her disappointment. “You worked all day. What kind of boss do you have?”
    She watched in astonishment as he burst into laughter. “The best, actually. I work for myself.”
    â€œWell, I know you’re a carpenter, for heaven’s sake. And you paint. And who knows what all, but you do take jobs.”
    â€œOf course,” he said. “That’s where I was all day. I’m in the middle of the renovations on a house in Brooklyn Heights.”
    She absorbed that news. It didn’t conflict dramatically with anything she’d said. “Then this is a second job?”
    â€œThis?”
    â€œHere. Managing this building and fixing it up.”
    He shook his head and said with the sort of patience usually reserved for overly inquisitive children, “No, Gaby. I own this building.”
    She stared at him blankly, trying to absorb the implications. “But…”
    â€œBut what?”
    â€œI thought you were just a…” Now that she knew differently, she couldn’t bring herself to say exactly what she had thought.
    â€œDon’t blame me, if you jumped to a conclusion.”
    â€œYou let me do it,” she accused, feeling a curious mixture of betrayal and pleased astonishment. “You let me go on thinking that you were just some sort of common laborer.”
    The words slipped out before she had time to censor them. She recognized the mistake the instant she looked into Paul’s eyes. The blue sparked with fury.
    â€œI beg your pardon,” he said with an icinessthat froze her straight to the marrow in her bones. “There is nothing common about giving a good day’s work for a good day’s wages, no matter how lowly some people might consider the task.”
    â€œI didn’t mean that,” she said miserably.
    â€œI can’t see any other interpretation. When you thought I was no more than a common laborer ,” he said, apparently determined to humiliate her by throwing her own illconsidered words back in her face, “was that what kept you out of my bed? Does everything change now that you know I own property and have a bank account that doesn’t provide for frills, but keeps a roof over my head? Does it, Gaby?”
    She stood up and met his furious glare evenly. “I’m sorry. I’m sure it must seem that I’m the worst sort of snob, but you’re deliberately misunderstanding.”
    His gaze was unrelenting. “Am I really? What’s held you back then?”
    â€œBecause we’re not right for each other,” she said, knowing the argument sounded weak. There were literally hundreds of reasons twopeople might not be right for each other. She hadn’t given him one of them.
    â€œI’m not good enough, isn’t that what you mean?”
    â€œNo,” she protested, but deep inside she knew that was exactly what she’d thought.
    He ran his hand through his hair. “For God’s sake, Gaby, don’t lie about it. What’s the point?”
    The point was that she didn’t want him to know how shallow she was capable of being. Unfortunately it seemed he already knew it. “You knew what I thought all along, didn’t you?” she said finally. When he didn’t answer, she raised her voice, needing to share the anger and the blame.