Free Magnificent Folly by Iris Johansen

relationship, so you chose to go to Henry.”
    She nodded jerkily. “Don’t you understand? I had to have someone. I couldn’t eat or sleep. I was so alone. I loved children, and I thought—” She broke off, and then continued fiercely. “I’m a good mother. I went to three doctors, and they all said I should give myself a few years before I made a decision, but I couldn’t wait.”
    “No, I know you couldn’t.”
    “I
needed
someone. If I’d been alone any longer I don’t know if I could have survived.” She stopped, and then said shakily, “Henry understood.”
    “Henry’s a very understanding man.”
    “You’re talking to me as soothingly as those doctors who turned me down. It was the right decision, dammit.”
    “I’m not arguing. It was the only decision atthe time that would have assured your survival. You’ve made a good life for yourself and Cassie, and there’s no question of your devotion to her.” He reached out and covered her hand with his own. “You even ran the risk of the press’s digging up that old scandal, when you allowed Cassie to go on tour.”
    “She deserved the chance to see if she wanted the life of the performer.” She withdrew her hand from his. “Well, are you satisfied now? Do you enjoy playing father confessor?”
    “Lord, no.” An age-old weariness weighed in his voice. “It hurts me. It always hurts me.”
    “Always? You speak as if you’re a priest, or something.” She rose abruptly to her feet. “Well, now that you’re finished with your interrogation, I believe I’ll bid you good-bye.”
    “Lily, it was necessary. We had to get everything out in the open. I could have done it another way, but I wouldn’t do that to you.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I damn well don’t like your digging into my past.”Lily turned away and ducked from beneath the rocky overhang of the cliff. “Back off, Andrew.”
    “It had to be open and clear, so that you’d realize what happened in the past with Baldor simply cannot happen with me.”
    “You bet it can’t.”
    “For God’s sake, Lily, I’m no con man trying to hurt you.”
    “How do I know? Tait was a hell of a lot less mysterious than you. You work for a corporation located conveniently in a foreign country. You supposedly have all the time in the world at your disposal.” She paused. “And, when I come to think about it, the way you’ve played me bears a remarkable resemblance to stalking.”
    “Yes, it does,” Andrew admitted. “So does that mean you’re going to cut me out of your life and not see me again?”
    Pain shot through Lily with a force that startled her. Not see Andrew again? Andrew was youth and radiance, sexuality and sensitivity. How could she give him up? She hadn’t realized until that moment how totally he had captured her,both mentally and physically. “No,” she said as she started across the sand. “Why should I care why you want to see me? You said I should take what I wanted from you, and that’s what I’m doing.”
    “Lily.”
    She stopped and looked over her shoulder.
    “I’m bringing Quenby and Gunner to meet you tomorrow, if that’s all right.”
    “I thought you wanted to wait a while.”
    “Things have changed.”
    She nodded jerkily. She, too, was aware that their relationship had changed in some significant manner that night. Andrew’s probing had brought back too much pain, had opened wounds she had thought long since healed. And by identifying himself with her pain Andrew had drawn closer to her emotionally than he had by making love to her. She would never again remember that horrible episode with Baldor without recalling the moonlit night when she told Andrew about the pain and betrayal. He had made himself part of it and brought them to a greater level of intimacythan Lily ever would have thought possible. Had he been perceptive enough to realize that this closeness could blossom from anger and pain? The ease with which