Her first night home, she climbed into bed and called him before falling asleep.
The phone rang and rang. She was about to hang up when she heard his voice. “Hey, there,” she said.
“Hi, yourself.” His voice sounded huskier than usual.
“Did I wake you?” she asked.
“Not really.”
Gabrielle grinned. He never used to admit she’d woken him in the past, either. “I’ll take that as a yes. I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to go to bed without hearing your voice,” she said honestly.
“I’m glad you called.”
She curled on her side and snuggled into her pillow, the phone cradled against her ear. “And why’s that?”
“Your voice will be the last thing I hear before I go to sleep.” His deep tone rumbled through her.
Closing her eyes, she let herself imagine him lying in his bed, wearing nothing but the boxers he favored. She could almost feel her fingertips gliding through the coarse hair on his chest.
“Gabby?”
His voice brought her back to reality. “Hmm?”
“I asked how your parents are doing. Are you falling asleep on me?”
She licked her dry lips. “Not a chance,” she murmured. “My mother is fine. We had a nice breakfast. And we talked about you.”
He let out a groan. “I can only imagine how she feels about me these days.”
“She remembers you as a nice boy. I assured her that hadn’t changed. And my father is doing well, too. He loves teaching and I think he finds the summer even more challenging because the classes are smaller and his students really want to learn.”
Derek chuckled. “I do remember him trying to engage me in academic debates. I wasn’t much good against him.”
“Don’t feel bad. Nobody is. Anyway, they both said to say hi,” she said, fudging the truth.
In reality both of her parents were wary about her getting involved again with the man who’d broken her heart years ago. It didn’t help that he now had a child. An eleven-year-old child who only reinforced their opinion that he’d moved on and she hadn’t. Since Gabrielle wasn’t about to get into personal issues-or curses-with her academic-oriented parents, she decided to let it go. They’d been critical of the beliefs most of the people in town had even back when they’d lived in Stewart. She wasn’t about to assume their feelings had changed.
She’d just have to let time and Derek prove them wrong. Or so she hoped.
“Tell them I say hello, too.”
“I will.”
“When are you coming back?” he asked.
A touch of longing sounded in his tone. It matched the way she felt, too. She missed him. His laugh, his smile. His touch.
“Tomorrow. I’d like to conduct some interviews for my book.” And she hoped by stirring the pot, she’d smoke out whoever was after her.
He cleared his throat. “With whom?” he asked gruffly.
She curled her hand into a tight fist as she answered, knowing he wouldn’t like her reply. “I called Mary Perkins’s office today to make an appointment. Her granddaughter, Elizabeth, answered the phone. She said the mayor was out of the office and she didn’t have access to her appointment book.” But Gabrielle didn’t believe it for a minute. Elizabeth was totally anal, Gabrielle doubted the mayor could breathe without the younger woman knowing about it. Gabrielle knew she was being stonewalled and she’d decided to just show up tomorrow and wait until the mayor made the time to speak with her.
Derek expelled a harsh breath. “Why would you bother with her? She’s an old, bitter woman with an unreasonable hatred for my family and an unbelievable need for power.”
“That’s exactly why. She masquerades as a politician who wants the best for her town and constituents, but the more people I talk to, the more I learn that she’s almost universally disliked. She uses her family name to manipulate people. It’s part of the ramifications of believing in curses. I want to get into her psyche,” Gabrielle said.
“What you’re going to end up doing is upsetting whatever nutcase ransacked your room.” His voice rose in frustration.
“Shh! You’re going to wake Holly,” she said, hoping to calm him.
She pulled herself into a half-sitting position in bed, leaning against the headboard and pillows. “You knew I was going to interview people affected by the curse. I can handle myself. I promise.”
“I’m not sure I can handle you,” he muttered.
She smiled, knowing he’d given in. He might not like her choices, but his tone indicated he wasn’t going to fight them.
More relaxed, she eased back down into the bed. “I think you can handle me just fine.”
More important, he obviously still wanted to.
“How’s Holly?” she asked.
“Fine. I kept her busy planning her birthday party. Since her school friends are in New York, it’ll mostly be family, but she seems happy with it.”
“When is her mother coming back?”
“Two weeks.”
Gabrielle nodded. She understood how important this summer with his daughter was for Derek. “I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks. I’m pretty happy myself, considering things were so different this time last year.”
“Tell Holly I haven’t forgotten about our shopping trip.”
“Even if you had, she wouldn’t hesitate to remind you,” he said, chuckling.
Unable to control herself, Gabrielle let out a yawn. Her eyes were growing heavier with each passing minute.
“You should go get some sleep,” he said.
“No. I’m fine.” She wasn’t ready to let go of him just yet.
“Call me when you get to town tomorrow, okay?”
“’Kay,” she said sleepily.
“And remember if you have any problems, call my cousin Mike. You have the number I gave you?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“Gabby?”
“Hmm?”
“Remember when we used to talk like this back in high school?”
She smiled at the memory. “We’d argue over who was more tired. Neither of us wanted to hang up first.”
She always used to fall asleep thinking that she loved him but couldn’t ever say so. He feared the word as much as the men in his family feared the curse. But she hadn’t had to say it. In her heart, she believed Derek had known she loved him back then.
Just as she loved him now…
GABRIELLE AWOKE WITH A start as the first rays of sunlight flowed through her bedroom window. She stretched and rolled over, her hip hitting a hard object.
She reached down to move…the telephone.
She’d fallen asleep while still on the phone with Derek last night, just as she’d done so often in the past. Smiling, she climbed out of bed, showered, put on her makeup and was getting dressed when her cell phone rang.
She dug her phone out from her purse and answered. “Hello?”
“Hi. It’s Sharon.”
“Where are you? I haven’t heard from you since you left for the conference. You librarians must be heavy-duty partiers,” Gabrielle said, laughing.
Sharon didn’t laugh. “I’m not at a conference.”
“Just where are you, then?”
“At the moment? I’m about half an hour from Stewart. My car broke down at the motel I’m staying at and I need you to come get me. I’ll explain when you get here.”
Gabrielle grabbed a pen and a pad she kept next to her kitchen telephone. “Give me the address. I’ll be right there.”
Sharon repeated the name of the motel and then, reluctantly, gave Gabrielle the address-which just happened to be in the same town she and Derek had found Sharon’s ex, Tony.
Gabrielle expelled a long breath, holding back from chastising her friend until she could do it in person. “Sit tight. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“I knew I could count on you,” Sharon said.
Almost an hour later thanks to traffic and a miscalculated exit, Gabrielle pulled into the motel parking lot where Sharon’s car had died. Sure enough, Sharon’s sedan was in one of the parking spots.