Read Duplicity for Free Online Page B

face, the questions in her eyes, and he knew it was the scar.
Damn
. Short of explaining the scar, which he could not do, the only way to make her forget was to make her mad. He grinned as he reached for his belt buckle and began unfastening it.
    "I think the arrangements here are great." He pushed open the bathroom door and finished goading her over the sound of running water. "Don't worry, darling," he called. "I thanked Uncle Vester properly."
    His ploy worked.
    "You knew before you came upstairs? That's why you were grinning like a cat eating persimmons."
     She marched into the bathroom, intent on making it perfectly clear what she thought of the arrangements.
    Dirk was standing beside the tub in his shorts. "Did you decide to join me, my darling?"
    She threw a bar of soap at him. He ducked and it landed with a plop in the water. Dr. Ellen Stanford propped her hands on her hips and glared at the outrageous man.
    "My aunt and uncle may be a couple of old romantics, but I'm not. I'm completely uninterested in anything except my career. Your being here is a result of temporary insanity on my part, so don't be getting any ideas."
    He hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his shorts and grinned at her. "I'm not. Are you?"
    She whirled and left the bathroom. Putting her hands to her hot face, she stood in the middle of the bedroom in a moment of indecision. In a burst of guilty hindsight she realized she had reacted like a blushing teenager instead of a worldly-wise adult. He must think she was out here panting for that mouth-watering body.
Well
, she'd show him that he was nothing more than a business arrangement.
    Thrusting out her chin, she marched back into the bathroom. Droplets of water dotted the black hairs on his chest and arms and glistened on his bronzed skin. For a moment she forgot why she had come. When her tongue finally unglued itself from the roof of her dry mouth, she spoke.
     "This is my charade, Dirk, and we'll do it my way. If you get out of line just once. I’ll let Gigi have you." Satisfied that she was again in charge, she started to the bathroom door. Then she added, "Well take turns using the bed. Tonight's my night."
    She was limp with relief when she reentered the bedroom. "You forgot to scrub my back," he called through the open door.
    She replied by slamming the door shut so hard, it vibrated on its hinges.
     o0o
     
    Ellen considered it a small miracle that they made it down the stairs to supper before she killed him. Not only had he shown no modesty in getting dressed, but he had acted as if he enjoyed the whole thing.
    Her own bath had been a nightmare. He had tootled in and out of the bathroom, whistling and retrieving first his shaving kit and then his shaving cream, remarking that she was better- looking than any roommate he ever had in the Army, but that personally he preferred women with bigger breasts.
    She was breathless and flushed when they entered the formal dining room. Seeing her, Aunt Lollie stopped tossing the salad and beamed.
    "My, my," she said. "There's nothing like a cozy afternoon to put color into a girl's cheeks."
    Dirk wrapped his arm around Ellen and kissed her on the nape of the neck. "That's just what I told my darling before we left the bathtub."
    Ellen jabbed his ribs. "I napped while he bathed. Just couldn't hold my eyes open after that long drive."
    "Well, boy," Uncle Vester said, "sit down and tell us about yourself."
    "I'm just dying to know how you two met," Aunt Lollie added.
    "It was at a concert," Ellen said.
    "It was at a football game," Dirk said at the same time.
    "Well, which was it?" Uncle Vester asked.
    Ellen smiled at him over the vegetable soup. "To tell you the truth I was so stunned the first time I met him, I don't remember what we were doing."
    "But you remember later, don't you, darling?" Dirk asked. "The moonlight, the wine, the hayloft."
    He knew she was equal to the occasion, otherwise he would have found another way to protect himself.