Time Enough for Love by Suzanne Brockmann Page A

ever been searching for. But Chuck had only found that he’d made a mistake.
    As he carefully hung the dress on a hanger, the fabric glistened in the dim light, an odd spot of elegance in the shabby room.
    “Why bother?” she asked. Her voice sounded harsh in the stillness.
    He turned to look at her, and she held his gaze pointedly, almost aggressively, as if daring him to look away from her.
    He didn’t look away, but his eyes revealed nothing of what he was feeling. “Why bother hanging this up?” he asked.
    “Yeah. I’m not going to be able to go to the party tomorrow night—no,
tonight.
The party’s tonight.” Everything was happening so fast. Maggie took a deep breath. “If the guys in Wizard-9 are so smart, it won’t be long before they notice that my name is on the guest list—”
    “I’m sure they already know,” Chuck told her. “And you’re right. The party’s no longer an option. But you can still wear the dress. I just have to figureout an alternative time and place for you and Charles to meet.”
    He spoke so quietly, so matter-of-factly, as if nothing about this insanity affected him personally. Well, shoot, maybe it didn’t.
He
wasn’t the one who was going to have to get all dressed up in a ludicrous attempt to catch the attention of a man she knew damn well wasn’t interested—the seven-years-younger version of a man who had told her their kisses had been a mistake.
    “I don’t know how you think I’m ever going to be able to talk Charles into something as huge as changing his career.” Her voice shook, but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t care, anyway. She had every right to be upset, dammit. She’d been shot at and dragged halfway across the state and back all in one night. She’d found everything she’d ever wanted, only to realize she hadn’t found anything at all. Because the kind of love she wanted was a love that was returned.
    “Just be yourself. He won’t be able to resist you.”
    She rose to her feet as her temper blazed. “Resist what? What exactly is it you want me to do, Chuck?”
    But he wasn’t going to let her fight with him. He turned away, pulling back the covers of his bed. “Let’s just go to sleep. It’s been a long night.”
    He was so calm, so cool. Maggie wanted to see beneath his facade. She wanted to get a rise out ofhim. She wanted to see
something
in him besides this grim determination. “You want me to sleep with him, right? Okay. You win. I’ll do it. But I have to warn you. If I have sex with Charles, you’ll have a memory of it too.”
    He stood quietly, expressionlessly. “Maggie, this isn’t about sex.”
    “If it wasn’t about sex, you wouldn’t’ve cared if I wore a potato sack the next time I met Charles,” she countered hotly, gesturing toward the dress hanging in the corner. “And
that’s
no potato sack.”
    “You’re right. It’s about sex.” His lack of emotion was driving her crazy. “But not entirely. It’s more complicated than that.”
    “Complicated is putting it mildly.” Her voice cracked. “I don’t know why you think I have the power to make Charles change his entire life. You tell me he won’t be able to resist me. But, hey!
You
have no problem resisting me. All you do is push me away—”
    Chuck turned away with a forceful exhale of air halfway between laughter and a sob. And just like that, he wasn’t standing still anymore. He was moving, using one hand to rake back his unruly hair as he paced toward the sink.
    Maggie met his gaze in the mirror, and she knew from the blaze of heat in his eyes that something she’d said had managed to put a crack in his control.If he were ever going to open up and talk to her, it was now or never.
    “Okay,” she said as he turned to face her. “Okay. You said it’s complicated. More complicated than just sex. Tell me what you mean. Make me understand!”
    Chuck took several steps toward her, but then stopped, turning away and running both hands up his