Genuine Lies by Nora Roberts Page B

wrapped her fingers around his wrist, needing badly to feel that strong pump of life from his pulse. “You and I will curl up by the fire and read it to each other.”
    “Why bring it all back, Eve?”
    “Because it’s time. It wasn’t all bad. In fact”—she laughed and pressed her cheek to his —“since I decided to do it, it’s made me think, remember, reevaluate. I’ve realized how much pleasure there is in just living.”
    He captured her hands to bring them to his lips. “Nothing in my life has given me more than you. I’ll always wish—”
    “No.” Shaking her head, she cut him off. Julia could see the glint of tears in Eve’s eyes. “Don’t wish. We’ve had what we’ve had. I wouldn’t change it.”
    “Not even the drunken brawls?”
    She laughed. “Not one. In fact, sometimes it pisses me off that you let Betty Ford dry you out. You were the sexiest drunk I’ve ever known.”
    “Remember the time I stole Gene Kelly’s car?”
    “It was Spencer Tracy’s, God love him.”
    “Ah, well, we’re all Irishmen. You and I drove to Vegas and called him.”
    “It was more to the point what he called us.” She pressed close, absorbing the scents that were part of him. Tobacco,peppermint, and the piney aftershave he’d used for decades. “Such good times, Victor.”
    “That they were.” He pulled away from her, searching her face, finding it fascinating, as always. Was he the only one, he wondered, who knew her weaknesses, those soft spots she hid from a hungry world? “I don’t want you hurt, Eve. What you’re doing will make a lot of people—a lot of spiteful people—unhappy.”
    He saw the glitter in her eyes as she smiled. “You were the only one who ever called me a tough old broad and got away with it. Have you forgotten?”
    “No.” His voice roughened. “But you’re
my
tough old broad, Eve.”
    “Trust me.”
    “You, yes. But this writer is a different story.”
    “You’d like her.” She leaned against him, shutting her eyes. “She’s got class and integrity shouting from her pores. She’s the right choice, Vic. Strong enough to finish what she starts, proud enough to do a good job of it. I believe I will like seeing my life through her eyes.”
    He ran his hand up and down her back and felt the embers start to glow. With her, desire had never aged or paled. “I know better than to try to talk you out of anything once you’ve made up your mind. Christ knows I gave it my best shot before you married Rory Winthrop.”
    Her laugh was soft, seductive, as were the fingers she trailed over the back of his neck. “And you’re still jealous that I tried to tell myself I could love him the way I love you.”
    He felt the pang, but it was only part jealousy. “I had no right to hold you back, Eve. Then or now.”
    “You never held me back.” She gripped what she’d always wanted and could never completely have. “That’s why no one’s ever mattered but you.”
    His mouth took hers as it had thousands of times, with a lightness and a passion and a quiet despair. “God, I love you, Eve.” He laughed when he felt himself harden like iron. “Even ten years ago I’d have had you on your back here and now. These days I need a bed.”
    “Then come to mine.” Hand in hand they hurried off together.
    Julia stayed in the shadows for a long time. It wasn’t embarrassment she felt, nor was it the tingle of learning a secret. There were tears on her cheeks, the kind that fell when she listened to a particularly beautiful piece of music, or watched a perfect sunset.
    That had been love. Enduring, fulfilling, generous. And she realized what she felt beyond the beauty was envy. There was no one to walk in a moonlit garden with her. No one to make her voice take on that musky edge. No one.
    Alone, she walked back to the house to spend a restless night in an empty bed.

The corner booth at Denny’s was a far cry from a power breakfast spot, but at least Drake was sure he