Dawn in Eclipse Bay

hair. “Madisons are known for doing things the hard way.”
    “True.” He stroked the curve of her head. “There’s just one point I want to make before we get up in a few hours and fix breakfast.”
    “And your point is?”
    “Tonight does not qualify as my sixth date.”
    For an instant, she did not understand. Then the meaning of his words shot through her brain, charring the semi–dream state she had been enjoying.
    She sat bolt upright. His arm slid down to her hips. Aware that she was nude, she grabbed the sheets and held them to her breasts.
    “I’ve got news for you,” she said, “we had dinner and sex. If that doesn’t qualify as a date in your book, I’d like to know what does. It’s certainly a heck of a lot more than any of my other dates have involved in a very long time.”
    “You came over here tonight because you felt sorry for me, remember? Being neighborly doesn’t qualify as a date.”
    Anger, pain, and outrage slammed through her without warning. She found herself teetering on an invisible emotional cliff that she had not even noticed a few seconds ago.
    “I certainly didn’t sleep with you just to jolly you out of your brooding mood.”
    “It worked, though.” He closed his palm around her hip, squeezing gently. “I’m feeling a lot more cheerful than I did earlier.”
    “Damn it, Gabe, don’t you dare imply that having sex was no different than…than playing gin rummy together. One is a game. The other is not.”
    There was a short silence. Was he actually having to think about her comment? She went cold. Maybe he didn’t believe that there was any major difference between sex and gin rummy. Maybe to him they both ranked as nothing more than casual pastimes.
    Maybe she had been a complete fool.
    “One is a game, the other is not,” Gabe repeated very deliberately. “This is a test, right?”
    “Yes,” she said through her teeth. “And if you get it wrong, you’re a doomed man.”
    “Okay, okay, just give me a minute.” He sounded as serious and intent as a game show contestant who had a hundred thousand dollars riding on the outcome. “One is a game. The other is not. One is a game. The other—”
    “Gabe, so help me—”
    “I’m thinking, I’m thinking.”
    There was an odd ringing in her ears now. Surely she could not have been dumb enough to go to bed with a man who treated sex as entertainment for a rainy night in a small town where there was very little in the way of nightlife. She could not have misjudged Gabe Madison so badly. She was a professional matchmaker, for heaven’s sake.
    He moved his warm palm up over her hip, along the curve of her waist, and pulled her down across his chest. One of her legs lodged between his thighs. She felt a familiar pressure and knew that he was getting hard again.
    He cupped her buttock in one hand. “I’m ready.”
    The sensual laughter in his voice jolted her back to reality. He was teasing her. She was overreacting. Time to get a grip. Act mature and sophisticated.
    With an act of will she forced herself to step back from the invisible emotional precipice. Her ears stopped ringing. She took a deep breath and managed a cool smile.
    “I’m waiting for your answer,” she said.
    “Gin rummy is the game, right?”
    “Congratulations. Right answer.”
    He slipped his fingertips along the rim of the cleavage that divided her derrière. Without warning, he rolled her onto her back and came down on top of her.
    “What do you think you’re doing?” she whispered.
    “Collecting my prize.”

    A long time later she stirred again and leaned over him.
    “You know,” she said, “there was another reason I decided to stay tonight.”
    He smiled in the darkness. His hand moved in her hair.
    “What was that?” he asked.
    “I was curious to see what you do with the peanut butter.”
    “I’ll show you.”
    “Now?”
    “This is as good a time as any. I seem to have worked up an appetite.”

chapter 8
    The sound of a heavy engine lumbering down the drive toward the house woke him. He opened his eyes. The gray light of a rainy morning illuminated the window. Beside him, Lillian did not stir.
    What he wanted most in the world at that moment, he thought, was to stay right where he was with Lillian’s beautifully curved bottom nestled against his midsection. But the rumble outside made that a non-option.
    With deep regret, he eased himself cautiously away from her warmth. She wriggled a little, as though in