‘If I did and you didn’t mind, then I’m afraid you’re just too gothic for me. You’ll have to leave. Just don’t sell my story to The Enquirer.’
‘Nothing short of the News of the World, I promise. What the hell are you talking about?’
She cracked an eye open. ‘It’s my usual party trick. Why else did you think I was so frantic?’
‘You turn into… whoa, that is out there.’
‘The fact that you seem surprised is a good thing.’ She rose up on her own elbow to face him. ‘So if it wasn’t that -and I thank all the powers of the universe that it wasn’t -what is it?’
Danny stopped making eye contact. Dee felt that loss right in her solar plexus where all her dread lived.
‘What?’ she demanded. ‘Your wife needs you? Your gay lover needs you? Your bishop needs you? What?’
‘I’m, uh, not who you think I am.’
That brought her all the way to a sitting position. ‘I really think this demands an explanation.’
Danny reached for one of her hands. She slapped him away.
‘You said it yourself,’ he defended himself. ‘You can’t bear the notoriety. To have people think they have the right to you. That they know you. I, uh, I guess I’m here under an assumed name.’
‘You’re not Danny James.’
‘I am. Daniel James Mark-’
He never got the rest out. The figurative light went on in a blinding flash, and Dee shoved him ass first off the bed. They should have heard the thud across town. Dee found she didn’t care. She leaned over the side to see him sprawled naked on her hardwood floor, his dignity in serious disarray. It would have been easier if he didn’t look as if he were posing for a portrait titled The Male Animal Recumbent.
Dee swung her feet off the side of the bed, oblivious to her nudity. Danny wisely scooted beyond immediate range.
‘You are not going to tell me that you’re really billionaire, world-famous author Mark Delaney,’ she snarled.
He tried to smile his crime away. ‘He’s not such a bad guy.’
She climbed off the bed and stalked over to pick up her clothes. When Danny or Mark or whoever tried to rise and follow her, she planted her foot in his solar plexus to dissuade him. He went down with a faint ‘oof!’
‘I hope you know that this is one of my favorite fantasies.’
Dee glared him into submission. She was not going to allow him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. ‘So, what was this?’ she demanded, struggling into her sweat suit. ‘A joke? A bet? Are things so boring in Chicago that you have to go all the way to Salem’s Fork for a little fraternity humor?’
‘Actually, not Chicago, either’
‘Shut up.’
With a nervous glance to make sure she wasn’t in striking position, Danny climbed to his feet. ‘I was perfectly serious. I just mostly do my own research. And I call myself Danny James so I can avoid the hoopla. When I still did research as Mark Delaney, the only thing I could accomplish was finding new places on teenage girls where they wanted me to sign my name. I couldn’t tell you.’
‘Oh, I imagine you could have. Any time during the four times last night you had my legs spread, for instance. Or sometime around that marriage proposal… or is that part of the joke, too? See how the poor chick responds to an honorable but poverty-stricken invitation to marriage. Did I score high? Will you at least spell my name right in the book?’
He yanked his jeans on. ‘All right, I admit it. I was afraid.’ Dee laughed out loud. ‘Of course you were. After all, I’m so fierce.’
‘Actually,’ he said with a wry grin, ‘you are.’
She sucked in a calming breath and squeezed her eyes shut. ‘Snap your jeans. You look like a cheesy Chippendales poster’
He ducked into his shirt, too. It didn’t make Dee feel any better. ‘Dee, listen to me.’
She threw out a hand. ‘From across the room.’
She was backed against her wall, where she could see the only art she’d thought to put up, school paintings from her sisters. A pony with big brown eyes from Liz and Lydia from Beetle Juice from Mare, all sharp angles and lots of black. It was good to remind herself sometimes just who she could trust. And here she’d been worried about shape-shifting.
Danny speared his hands through his hair. Dee held her position instead of hurrying over to smooth it back down, like she wanted to.
‘This has just been a bit overwhelming, ya know.’ He wasn’t telling her anything. ‘I came here on a mission. I wanted to blow the whistle on self-serving hucksters who took advantage of people in pain. I wanted you to give up your parents. The only thing I knew about you was from your aunt. And I have to admit-’ He shook his head. ‘She doesn’t know you as well as she thinks. To be honest, Dee, I didn’t think past getting my proof. I told you. What happened to my mother shouldn’t happen to anybody.’
‘I agree. Get to the part where you think it’s a good idea to help me dispense with my virginity under false pretenses.’
‘What false pretenses? I love you. I meant it. Thursday I didn’t know you. Now I can’t imagine spending my life with anyone else. The false identity thing was an oversight.’
‘Not telling me you knew Aunt Xan could be termed an oversight. Having sex under an assumed name is fraud.’ She stalked up to him and poked him right in the chest. And I know fraud. My parents were convicted for it.’
Danny grabbed her hands and held them to his heart, which Dee could feel was beating far too fast. It hurt her, because she knew that he was serious. He really was afraid.
‘I know,’ he said quietly, holding too tightly for her to pull away. ‘And I’m sorry. I really am. It’s just that the world is different when you’re famous. Everybody thinks they know you. I wanted you to fall in love with the real Danny Delaney. Not the hype on a dust jacket. I thought you’d understand.’
She was weakening, and he didn’t deserve it. Not yet.
‘What did I tell you about how I feel about liars? I don’t even know where you really live.’
‘The person you know is the real me,’ he said, sincerity radiating from every pore. ‘No pretense.’
‘Where do you live? Is it really Seattle, like the book jackets say?’
He had a great line in chagrined. ‘Actually, Detroit.’ She flinched. ‘I hate Detroit. We spent three very bad years there.’
‘We’ll move.’
She shook her head. ‘You really think it’s that easy?’
‘We really can travel. You can paint whatever or wherever you want. I’ll hold your paint box. And think about it. I’m the perfect person to show you how to share your art without paying for it.’ He leaned so close she could almost taste the perspiration that beaded on his upper lip. ‘Dee, I can take care of your sisters. You never have to worry about them again.’
She just shook her head, beyond words. ‘You said you loved me,’ he said.
Oh, why did he have to sound so uncertain? He didn’t deserve to be forgiven yet. But she couldn’t bear to hear that vulnerability.
‘I love you so much that for the first time in my life I made love to a man as me,’ she said. ‘Then it shouldn’t matter.’
That brought Dee’s eyes open again. ‘It does.’ It was all she could do to stay strong. ‘I can’t be in a relationship without honesty. I can’t give everything and then get my lover in considered bits and pieces.’
‘Your husband’s.’
‘You’re not paying attention. I think you should leave now, and think about what you want from us. I know what I want. I want it all. I want all of you. I won’t settle for less.’
‘You’ll have it!’
‘Don’t make promises you haven’t figured out how to keep.’ This time when she pulled, he let her go. ‘I’d rather you weren’t here when I try and explain this to my sisters.’
She could just hear Mare’s reaction. You threw him out because you found out he’s richer than God? Oh, yeah. That’s thinking.
Danny cupped her face in his hands. ‘Promise you’ll be here when I get back.’