Page 19 of Inescapable Gravity

The world, it seemed, was conspiring against her.

Once he'd locked the door, Marius turned back to her and tried to hide the smile on his face. "Is she... always like that?"

She lowered her gaze to the side. "Like what?"

Now it was his turn to look at her with a quizzical stare. "You didn't use to pretend like this."

"No?" She tried to put an air of nonchalance in her voice.

"No." His tone was certain. Straightforward. "With me, you were always refreshingly open. Honest."

"Honest." She didn't expect that word on her lips. She certainly hadn't anticipated the cold bite in her voice. "How do you know that I was honest? Ever?"

She didn't know what she expected from him in an answer. She just wanted to distract him enough to get her hand freed from his grasp.

"How?"

His tone had a hard edge to it and it brought her to a standstill as she waited to see what he'd say next. She certainly didn't have an idea what he was about to say.

"Because I knew you. Because I loved you."

"Knew." The word fell limp from her lips. "Loved." She drew in a deep breath and let it out again. "Both past tense."

When she turned around, her hand pulled from his and she made her way out onto the patio.

She was in her seat before he could come around to her side of the table.

It was a miracle of its own, she pondered. If he'd pulled out her chair and played the gentleman for her, it would only be that much harder to keep him at arm's length.

He ate with her. Both of them savoring the meal.

But neither of them talked.

For the rest of the night.

CHAPTER FOUR

It had taken days to settle into the strange impasse between them.

Nix would spend her days practicing pieces of music, working herself until she was exhausted. She would take breaks to run around the walled garden on the property or do yoga in the center of the same space.

It was all new to him.

When they were younger, she hated to run. One of her friends would say that the only time she expected to see Heather run was if she was being chased.

And yoga?

He knew the merits of the exercise. He'd even seen soldiers make a habit of the practice, but he'd never seen anyone look so graceful in its pursuit.

The supple curves of her body and the nimble transfer of weight and balance created beauty as well as displaying the fit form of her body to his hungry eyes.

He would watch and she would ignore him for hours. He was watching and waiting for the time when Bart removed her from his care and found someone new.

That's when he got the call.

"Marius?"

"Yes, sir."

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