LITMIR.BIZ

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through his cabinets looking for something to tempt his appetite. He finally settled on a bowl of cold cereal. He had no appetite at all. Too many questions were plaguing him.

       Chapter 2

      Tom’s opinion of the new Elysia underwent a series of changes in the following few weeks. There was still plenty of gossip about her in Jacobsville, and he heard it all in bits and pieces of conversation when Elysia’s comings and goings were noticed by local citizens. One acquaintance thought she’d only married Fred Nash for his money, and that it was this inherited wealth that had made her exclusive fashion boutique possible. It was known that their union was one of friendship, not passion, and that there was a great age difference. And that Fred had been very, very rich.

      He didn’t believe the unpleasant remarks at first, but it was impossible not to notice how prosperous she was. She’d bought into her brother’s cattle farm and held half ownership of it. She also had investments of several kinds, including some very expensive oil stock. She had her daughter enrolled in a very well-known girls’ school in Houston for the fall term, and she drove a Mercedes convertible. Poor, she wasn’t.

      With her investments and the nearest counseling office in Victoria, it was inevitable that Luke was going to suggest that she bring her portfolio to Tom.

      “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she told her brother after supper that night.

      “Why not?” Luke asked. “He’s a whiz. Ask the Ballenger brothers.”

      “I know he’s good at picking stocks that increase in value,” Elysia replied calmly. “But he’s an intelligent man and he isn’t blind. I don’t want him around Crissy.”

      Luke sat back with a soft sigh, his blue eyes sympathetic. “She’s almost six years old,” he said pointedly. “She’s already in kindergarten. Don’t you think it’s time he knew he was a father?”

      She grimaced, leaning forward with her forearms crossed over her knees. “I don’t know how he’d react,” she said. “He was…less than encouraging when I left the office for good. I think he was relieved that I went away.” She shrugged. “I don’t think he’s lacked female company.”

      “Then isn’t it interesting that he doesn’t date?” he asked shrewdly. “That was the case in Houston, too. And since I haven’t heard any gossip about Mr. Walker liking men, I gather that he’s amazingly selective about his dates. One woman in over six years, I believe…?”

      She flushed red. “He was drinking. I told you.”

      He leaned forward, too, his face serious. “Jacob Cade and I became fairly good friends over the years. He never came right out and said anything, but he intimated that his wife and Tom had a very brutal childhood. Their father had a brain tumor and went stark-raving mad before he died. He attacked Kate physically because she just smiled at a young man.”

      “Wh…what?”

      He nodded. “That’s right. In his distorted mind, he equated sex with evil and made his kids believe it. Neither of them had anything to do with the opposite sex, even after he died. He warped them, Ellie. Now imagine how it would be, to have a parent who browbeat you into repressing your sexuality for years and years. And then imagine how it would be if you grew older with no experience whatsoever with the opposite sex? Do you think a man, especially, would find it easy to become involved with a woman?”

      She was barely breathing. “You aren’t going to tell me that you think Tom is a…a…”

      He nodded. “That’s exactly what I think. He and Kate were very close. When she married Jacob, Tom had nobody. He was totally alone. Probably getting a snootful of liquor was the only way he could let go of those repressed desires.”

      She sat back with a rough sigh. It actually made sense. She felt her heart beating wildly in her chest as she recalled how it had been with Tom. At the office, he’d avoided the female staff. He and Elysia had become close because she didn’t make eyes at him. She wasn’t aggressive, as some of the women were. She was shy and reserved, and she must have been the least threatening female he knew. He’d opened up with her, just a little. And then right after Kate had married, he’d had too much to drink and Elysia had been nearby. Perhaps he’d given in to feelings he couldn’t express, and then been ashamed of what he’d done, because of his childhood teachings.

      The thought made her heart race. Could it be possible that she was Tom Walker’s first, only, woman in that way? Her lips parted.

      “Do you think it’s possible?” she asked hesitantly.

      “That it was his first time?” He nodded. “He’s no rounder. Nobody would accuse him of being a playboy. He’s courteous to women, but there’s an icy tone to his dealings with them. He’s polite, but nothing more.” He smiled. “He was very impressed with Crissy. You’ve never seen his sister Kate, have you?”

      “No.”

      He chuckled softly. “Well, I have. Crissy could be her daughter. I’m sure the resemblance didn’t escape Tom, even if he hasn’t quite recognized it yet.”

      “What should I do, Luke?” she asked.

      “Why don’t you go and talk to him honestly?”

      “It would be hard.”

      “Of course. Doing the right thing usually is.”

      “I can’t go today. I’m meeting with a European buyer to open a new market.”

      “There’s always tomorrow.”

      She sighed. “I guess I always knew that I’d have to tell him one day. He won’t like it.”

      “He will.”

      She smiled. “You’re a nice brother. Why don’t you get married?”

      “Bite your tongue, woman,” he said. “I’m not putting my neck in that particular noose. There are too many pretty girls around who like to party,” he chuckled, rising.

      “One day, you’ll run head-on into someone who doesn’t.”

      “I’ll pity the poor girl, whoever she is,” he said with a grin.

      “You’re hopeless.”

      “At least I’m honest,” he said pointedly. “A confirmed bachelor has to protect himself any way he can against you devious females!”

      She threw a small sofa pillow at him.

      She’d planned to stop by Tom’s office the next day, but an unexpected meeting early that morning had unfortunate consequences.

      She’d just seen her European buyer off, very early that morning, from her shop in the middle of town. He was a determined would-be suitor who had to be convinced that a young widow didn’t need a man. She’d pushed him away with a cold smile right there on the sidewalk and wished him a pleasant trip.

      “Pleasant, ha!” the handsome Frenchman had called. “Without you in my bed, I shall be very lonely, cherie. I hope that the business I send you will compensate you for my loss. After all, Elysia, to you, money is much more important than a mere lover, n’est pas?”

      Sadly for Elysia, this bitter remark, loudly made by her angry rejected suitor, reached Tom Walker’s ears. He was less than ten feet away and heard every word.

      Before Elysia could reply angrily to the Frenchman, he climbed into his sports car and roared away. She could have the business she wanted overseas, but the cost was too high. She wasn’t going to accept the merger. Better to rest on her American sales record than have to deal with a man like that!

      “Is that how you get clients?” Tom asked, pausing beside her, his dark green eyes furious in that lean, dark face. “By sleeping with them?”

      She looked at him blankly. “I get clients by providing quality service.”

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