Diamonds and Dreams (10 page)

He
made himself comfortable in a gold armchair, but she remained near the
doorway.
 
“I don’t feel good about this,
Brant.”

“You
were at ease with me earlier.
 
Why not now?”

“You
know why.”

“Close
the door and relax, Lindsay.
 
We can’t do
anything about your car until morning and we can’t stop the rivers and creeks
from overflowing, so relax and accept our present circumstances.”

This is
never going to work,
Lindsay kept warning herself as she listened to him
call room service and order two dinners since they arrived too late to eat at
the awards banquet.
 
If only I’d stayed home tonight, I wouldn’t be in this predicament!

“Someone
will deliver our meals in about twenty minutes,” Brant said, switching on the
radio.

“You’ve
tuned in to WQXL,” she said, finally sitting down on the edge of the double bed
at the center of the room.
 
“Shame on you.
 
Where’s your loyalty?”

“It
pays to check out the competition often in order to stay on top of it.
 
Besides, this slow, mellow music soothes me
as much as being near you does.”

She
laughed.
 
“How can you say that and mean
it?
 
When we’re together, we usually
disagree on about everything.”

“Perhaps,
but there’s never a dull moment, is there?”

“No,”
she admitted, “yet there are times, especially at work, when I wish we could
settle our differences peacefully instead of provoking
each
others’
tempers.”

“If
I’m too hard on you at the station, I hope you’ll be patient with me.”
 
He surprised her by his change in
attitude.
 
“I sometimes feel like I’m
under so much pressure to be a perfect radio host who, according to
Desi
, isn’t permitted to make any mistakes, at least not
publicly.
 
As much as I love the job I
do, I wish I could sail away in a hot air balloon and forget about work
sometimes.”

“We
all need to get away from time to time.
 
Here in Columbus, the city grows at such a rapid pace that there’s more
pressure and stress than ever.
 
I jog and
exercise often to release my anxieties.”

There
came a tap at the door and a waiter delivered their meals.
 
Brant opened the door as the young man
wheeled a service cart into the room, and then handed him a crisp bill for his
tip.

“Thank
you, sir!”
 
The happy waiter smiled
before he made his exit.

Brant
moved two chairs around the cart and sat across from Lindsay.
 
She unfolded her napkin over her lap as he
lifted the lids off their plates.
 
“The
sole is delicious,” she commented after swallowing a few bites, “and so is the
white wine.
 
I like the way it tastes
smooth with a whisper of sweetness.”

“1969
was a good year.
 
I ordered the best wine
in the house to impress you, but that was foolish of me, wasn’t it?”

“Sort
of, but I’m flattered you wanted to please me.”

“I
was right in the first place about you.
 
It takes more than wealth, position and sophistication for a man to
capture your interest, doesn’t it?”

She
nodded.
 
“Much more.”

He
didn’t take his eyes off her as he slowly chewed his food.
 
Finally he asked, “Just what kind of a man
would you want to fall in love with?”

His
question struck her as being an unusual one, but she answered anyway.
 
“I want a man who’ll love me for myself, one
who’ll accept my shortcomings rather than expecting me to be perfect.
 
Someone I can respect as well as love, a man
who is compassionate and understanding.
 
One who’s willing to stand up for his convictions and be loyal to
them.
”

He
chuckled.
 
“You’re like my mother.
 
She used to tell me that she wanted the woman
I’d marry someday to possess those same qualities.”

“You
were close to your mom, weren’t you?”

“Yes.
 
To be honest, Lindsay, since we were
competitors, I tried not to like you when we first met.
 
In some ways, though, you remind me so much
of the woman Mom always hoped I’d meet someday.
 
It was impossible for me to not want to take a deeper look at you.”

“I’m
glad you feel that way.”

Very
glad,
she thought,
but why?
 
Why did it make her so happy that she tingled
inside just to hear him say these things?

As
he started to eat his slice of cherry cheesecake, she glanced at him,
then
stared dreamily down at her own plate.
 
If her parents became acquainted with Brant,
what would they think of him?
 
Surely
they’d like him as she did and probably also appreciate his forth-right manner
along with his generosity toward others.

“Finished?”
he asked after she cleaned her plate.

“Yes.
 
Dinner was wonderful.”

“And
so are you.”
 
He stood and helped her out
of her chair before he pushed the cart to one side of the room.
 
“I noticed earlier that there’s a
recreational area open day and night.
 
Want
to play some table tennis?”

“Sure.
 
What harm can a little more competition
between us do?”

He
laughed, slipping his arm around her waist as they headed toward the door.
 
“I couldn’t wish for a nicer opponent.”

After
beating Brant four out of five games, Lindsay grinned when he finally laid down
his paddle and waved his hands in defeat.
 
“You give up too easily,” she told him.

“Only on inconsequential things.
 
When there’s something I can’t bear to lose
or live without, I’d travel to the ends of the earth to have it.”

Catching
him looking at her rather oddly, she wondered if his words contained a personal
meaning.
 
She couldn’t prevent herself
from hoping they did.

When
Lindsay and Brant returned to their hotel room, he paused after closing the
door.
 
Gently he took her hand and led
her toward the bed.
 
“It’s late.
 
Now comes the time I’ve waited for all
evening.”

“I’m
not sleeping with you!” she blurted out, disappointed that she suddenly felt in
an awkward position with him again.

“Why?
 
Do you find me unattractive?” he asked in a
hurt tone, releasing her hand.

“Not at all.”

“You
don’t want to become intimate with a man unless you’re in love with him?”

“Right.
 
A long time ago I made up my mind that casual sex would never be for
me.”

She
expected him to laugh, yet he didn’t.
 
“The man you decide to love will be a very lucky fellow.
 
After my college graduation, I searched
nearly everywhere for a woman who’d be that loyal to her man, but I never found
one—until I met you.”

“You
mean you agree with my views on love?
 
Then why did you--?”

She
left the sentence unfinished, but he answered the question that he guessed she
wanted to ask.
 
“Since I left Louisiana,
I dated many women, but I’m ashamed to say I never loved any of them.
 
Deep in my heart, I always wanted more than
any of them offered me.
 
Many people
labeled me a ‘swinging single,’ but the truth is I’ve been close to only one
woman.
 
She deceived me before we went
through with our wedding plans.”

“You
should be thankful you discovered she was the wrong woman before you made the
mistake of taking her as your wife.”

“Yes,
for that I’m grateful.
 
Since then, it’s
been hard for me to believe in the integrity of any woman.
 
You’re different, though.
 
Despite the fact that we probably should
consider ourselves rivals, I feel as if I could trust you with my life.
 
Don’t you sense a special closeness between
us, too?”

“Yes,”
she admitted, “but I fear what I’m starting to feel for you is stronger than
mere physical attraction or friendship.
 
Much stronger.”

What
was she getting herself into?
 
She
scolded herself for replying so bluntly.

“Good.
 
I’m falling in love with you, Lindsay.
 
That’s why I suggested we share the bed.
 
I want us to become as close as two people
can get.”

“We
still don’t know each other as well as we should.
 
I want proof that a relationship between us
would work before I plunge into it.”

“But
there are never any guarantees in this life.
 
Do you think there’s even the slightest chance for us to become a couple
in the future?”

“While
I care a lot about you, we need to not rush things.
 
At the present, you and I are different in
too many ways.”

“You’re
right, but if we both make an effort to understand each other better and
concentrate on our common
goals,
don’t you think
building a closer relationship is at least worth a try?”

“We’ll
see.”

He
seemed content with her answer and strode across the room to pause at the
window and gaze at the twinkling neon lights of the city.
 
When she knew he couldn’t see her, she let
her eyes rest on his profile and thought how he had a nearly perfect body like
an athlete’s besides his strikingly handsome face.
 
Probably there were hordes of women who would
have taken advantage of the situation in which she and Brant found themselves
embroiled tonight.
 
She wasn’t one of
them.
 
Determined to settle for only the
best out of life, she refused to surrender her inner feelings of desire until
she was satisfied with every aspect of her relationship with Brant.

Turning,
he pulled back the green and gold floral print bedspread and yanked away one of
the sheets, then picked up a pillow.
 
“I’ll sleep on the floor.”
 
He
spread the sheet over the plush carpet.
 
“You can have the bed.”

“Thanks.”

As
soon as he settled beside her on the floor, she switched off the lamp, climbed on
the bed, but left on her clothes.
 
The
sheets felt cool against her neck and
bare
arms; the
pillow case smelled pleasantly of lavender.
 
She heard the floor creak as Brant tossed and turned.

“Is
it terribly uncomfortable down there, Brant?
 
If you like, I’ll give you my pillow.”

“Keep
it.
 
I’m fine, despite the fact that we
spent the entire evening alone in the room and I haven’t kissed you once.”

The
flashing lights outside allowed her to see that he now knelt beside the bed and
was just inches away from her face.
 
“Lindsay?” he asked in a voice that was almost a whisper.

“Yes?”

“May
I at least kiss you good night?”

For
a moment she suspected that he had intentions of trying to seduce her although
he seemed understanding earlier.
 
No, that won’t happen.
 
Brant respects me,
she assured herself,
raising the top half of her body and leaning toward him.

He
proved that he did by placing his lips tenderly over her mouth, then patting
her cheek before he dropped down onto the floor again.
 
When she told him they wouldn’t both sleep in
the bed, he expected that he’d spend part of the night taking cold
showers.
 
Strangely, he experienced a
deep sense of satisfaction just to be near her.
 
He loved touching her, kissing her, but these gestures couldn’t begin to
compare with his rising emotions.
 
Not
since before he witnessed Dan’s accident had he relaxed as much as when he was
with Lindsay.
 
He closed his eyes and was
lulled to sleep by the humming sound of traffic outside.

Brant
was gone the next morning when Lindsay awakened.
 
He left a note, informing her that he
arranged with the garage for someone to repair her car and deliver it to her
home.
 
He also scribbled the message that
they could cross the bridge around noon.
 
She stretched and glanced at her wristwatch.
 
It was almost noon now.