As the week wore on, Christy tried to forget the scene with Curt. What she couldn’t forget, however, was the feeling of his hand against her face. Even while she made sketches of Debbie’s wedding gown, Christy kept losing her concentration. So lost was she in thoughts of Curt that Christy nearly jumped out of her skin when someone knocked on the front door. Knowing she had no morning appointments, Christy steadied her nerves and wondered if it might be Curt.
Opening the door, she was greatly disappointed to find Grant Burks filling her doorway. His dark black hair had been combed straight back, and with the dark sunglasses he wore, Christy thought he looked a bit sinister.
“What do you want?”
“I came to talk,” he said, pushing his way into the house. “You look wonderful in that dress, Christy. You really should wear tight-fitting clothes more often.”
“You have a wife, remember?” she asked snidely.
“Of course, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate beauty. You and I could have a very special relationship, Christy. No one would have to know, and no one would have to get hurt. Candy’s dying, after all,” he said, stepping toward her.
“What would you tell your mistress?” Christy suddenly snapped back. She obtained the effect she wanted when Grant paled and stopped moving. With a smug look of satisfaction, Christy crossed her arms. “Does Candy know about her? I imagine she’d like to.”
Grant shrugged. “I don’t think you’ll hurt her like that. She can either die peacefully or in grief. If you choose to abuse her with tall tales about my exploits, I can’t be bothered. But, please, don’t tell me how compassionate you are and how indifferent I am when you share the news with her. Don’t tell me how much you love her when you take away the only dream she’s ever known.”
“You’re a hideous excuse for a human being,” Christy said, unable to think of anything vile enough to call him.
Grant smiled in a slow leering way that made Christy’s skin crawl. He reached out his hand and touched her arm. “You really ought to be nicer to me.”
Christy couldn’t contain the shudder that rippled through her body. “Take your hands off me. I’m not going to tell Candy anything. I could never hurt her the way you have. Do you really imagine she’s that stupid? She may only be nineteen, but she was always an observant person, even as a child. My guess is that Candy already knows about your other woman, or women.”
Grant let his hand trail up Christy’s arm until it came to rest against the back of her neck and his body was nearly touching hers. “We could have a lot of fun together. You ought to think about it.”
“Get out of here,” Christy demanded. “Get out and leave me alone. If you never come to see Candy again, it will be fine by me.” Grant backed off, surprising Christy, who was fully ready to fight him for all she was worth.
“You let the hospital know today that you’re responsible for her bills,” Grant said, sliding his sunglasses back on. “I don’t want any more of their questions about how I intend to meet the cost of Candy’s hospital stay.”
“I’ll tell them; just leave her alone.”
“Don’t order me around, Christy. We need to work real close on this one,” Grant said with a smile. “Real close.” He opened the front door and walked out.
Christy slammed the door as hard as she could, hoping that it made her point clear. She was so shaken that she had to sit down for a mo-ment in order to regain her composure. Grant Burks frightened her in a way she couldn’t begin to express.
Curt was just pulling onto Christy’s street, when he saw the black Porsche pull out of the driveway. The driver didn’t so much as glance Curt’s way, and when he passed, Curt quickly made note of the tag number and wrote it down to check out later.
Parking the car, he made his way to the front door of Christy’s house and knocked. For several moments he waited, without even a sound being heard from the house to indicate someone was home. But Christy’s car was in the drive, and Curt was certain that she was inside. Knocking again, this time a little harder, Curt was almost ready to bust down the door when Christy opened it.
The look on her face was one he had not seen before, and if Curt hadn’t known better, he’d have thought she was frightened. The look vanished with recognition and was quickly replaced by anger.
“What do you want?”
“To apologize,” Curt replied honestly. “I upset you the other day, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. I even told Debbie about it.”
“I don’t care,” Christy said and started to close the door, but Curt put his hand firmly on the frame.
“I’m not going until we talk.”
Christy stepped back in exasperation. “Then come inside. I’m getting cold standing here.”
Curt needed no further invitation. He stepped into the house and closed the door behind him, then turned to follow Christy, who was already making her way to the sitting room he’d shared with her before.
“How’s your sister?” he asked.
“Weaker. The doctors want to give the baby as much time as they can, but the pregnancy is draining Candy of her strength.”
“If they take the baby now, will Candy pull through and live a while longer?” Curt asked, tossing his coat to one side.
Christy shook her head and walked to the fireplace mantel where a high school graduation picture of Candy sat. “I don’t think anything will help,” she whispered.
Curt watched her for several moments. She was far and away the most attractive woman he had ever seen, and the blue dress she wore showed off her shapely figure to perfection. Thinking of that, Curt re-membered something in his coat pocket. Pulling out a magazine, Curt held it up.
“I found this,” he said proudly.
Christy turned and saw the outdated fashion magazine. A glossy photograph of her in a black miniskirt and white and black polka-dot tank top stared back at her. Beside her in the picture were two Dalma-tians and a red fire hydrant.
“You must have looked very hard to find a relic like that,” she re-plied and took a seat on the sofa.
“Relic? If this thing weren’t dated, I would have thought it was just done. You haven’t aged a bit in six years.”
Christy winced. “Six years? Is that how old that thing is?”
Curt laughed and gave the magazine a toss to where Christy sat. “Look for yourself.”
Christy did, and it confirmed his statement. “I can’t believe it was that long ago. I was barely nineteen,” she said and then added sadly, “the same age Candy is now.”
Curt came to where she sat and, in spite of the frown she gave him, sat down beside her. “I didn’t mean to make you sad. I thought it pretty neat that I could find something like this and even better that I knew the gorgeous model on the front of a popular fashion magazine.”
Christy rolled her eyes. “Did Debbie like it?”
“Debbie?”
“Yes, you remember Debbie, don’t you? The woman you’re supposed to marry and all that wedding stuff?”
“Debbie thought you looked fantastic. She remembered your covers from before, while I didn’t have much experience with women’s fashion magazines. In fact, I probably had my head in the clouds, literally, when you were posing for those pictures.”
“I don’t understand.” Christy shifted to put a little more distance between herself and Curt. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m a pilot. I used to fly a lot,” Curt answered, realizing that he shouldn’t say too much. Hoping to change the direction of the conversation, Curt moved the subject back to his visit several days earlier. “Look, I really did come here to apologize. Somehow I gave you the wrong impression the other day, and I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry.”
“How gallant of you,” Christy murmured sarcastically.
“I try,” Curt replied, refusing to be insulted. “I can’t help it.”
“Huh?” Christy’s confusion was evident.
“When I’m around you, I just kind of forget myself. I’ve never met anyone quite like you, Christy Connors. You aren’t mad at me anymore, are you?” Curt asked softly.
Christy sat stiffly, refusing to look at him. “I would never be mad at a client for getting lost in my house while looking for the bathroom.”
Curt realized her game. “What about when the client made the mistake of touching you? Would you be mad at him then?” He reached his hand out and turned her face to meet his.
Christy’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I’m not mad,” she breathed the words.
“Then what’s wrong?”
“You. Me,” Christy managed to say. “This whole thing between us. It’s inappropriate. You’re a client, and to let you become anything more places my business at risk.”
Curt smiled. “You falling in love with me, Christy?”
Christy’s breath caught in her throat. Curt watched her closely, hardly daring to believe what he saw in her eyes. The realization that he may well have touched on the truth was just starting to register when the telephone rang. Christy jumped up so quickly that he could only stare after her in surprise.
“Hello?” Christy answered the phone rather breathlessly. “Yes, I’ll be right there.” She hung up the phone and turned with a look of complete hopelessness to Curt.
“I’ll drive you to the hospital,” he said simply.