Private Scandals

here for some follow-up questions, I wouldn’t have known about the break-in, or that you’d interviewed Dan Gardner and that hotel maid. I wouldn’t have known anything.”
    “No, and you might have gotten a few nights’ sleep.”
    “You lied,” she repeated, refusing to see past that. “And don’t tell me keeping the truth from me is different than lying. It’s the same. I won’t continue in a relationship that isn’t honest.”
    “You want honest. That’s fine.” He turned, shut the door with a quiet click. A final click. “I’ll do anything and everything in my power to protect you. That’s a fact.” Eyes steady, he walked back to her. “You’re not walking out on me, Deanna. That’s a fact. And you’re not using some bullshit about rights and trust as your escape hatch. If you want out, then at least be honest.”
    “All right.” She shifted so that he couldn’t see the way her hands shook as she packed. “I made a mistake when I agreed to marry you, and I’ve had time to think it through. I need to concentrate on my career, on my own life. I can’t do that if I’m trying to make a marriage work, if I’m starting a family. I talked myself into thinking I could do it all, but I was wrong.” The diamonds on her finger winked mockingly at her. She couldn’t quite bring herself to take the ring off. Not yet. “I don’t want to marry you, Finn, and it’s not fairto either of us to continue this way. My priority right now is my work, and getting it back on track.”
    “Look at me, Deanna. I said look at me.” With his hands firm on her shoulders, he turned her to face him. The sensation of panic faded into steely confidence. “You’re lying.”
    “I know you don’t want to believe—”
    “Jesus Christ, Deanna, don’t you know that I can see it in your face. You could never lie worth a damn. Why are you doing this?”
    “I don’t want to hurt you any more than necessary, Finn.” She held herself rigid in his arms, stared over his shoulder. “Let me go.”
    “Not a chance in hell.”
    “I don’t want you.” Her voice cracked. “I don’t want this. Is that clear enough?”
    “No.” He jerked her forward, covered her mouth with his. She trembled immediately, her body shuddering against his, her lips heating. “But that is.”
    “It’s not the answer.” But her body yearned for his, for the warmth, the strength.
    “You want me to apologize again?” Gently now, he stroked a hand over her hair. “Fine. I’m sorry, and I’d do exactly the same thing. If you want to call it lying to you, then I’d lie. I’d do whatever I had to do to keep you safe.”
    “I don’t want to be protected.” She broke away, curled her hands into impotent fists. “I don’t need to be protected. Can’t you see? Don’t you understand? He used me to kill her. He used me. He isn’t going to hurt me; I don’t need to be protected. But God knows who else he might hurt because of me.”
    “Me,” he said quietly, furiously. “That’s what this is all about. You think he might try for me. The best way to prevent that is to dump me, right? To make sure everyone knows you’ve broken it off.”
    Her lips trembled before she pressed them together. “I’m not going to argue with you, Finn.”
    “You’re absolutely right about that.” He picked up her case and upended the contents. “Don’t ever try that with meagain. Don’t ever use my feelings on me like that again.”
    “He’ll try to kill you,” she said dully. “I know he will.”
    “So you lied, to try to protect me.” When she opened her mouth, shut it again, he smiled. “Quid pro quo, Deanna. We’ll call it even. So you don’t want to be protected—neither do I. What do you want?”
    She lifted her fisted hands to her cheeks, then let them fall. “I want you to stop watching me as though I were going to fall apart.”
    “Done. What else?”
    “I want you to swear you won’t keep anything from me, no matter how much you think it’ll upset me.”
    “Deal, and same goes.”
    She nodded slowly, watching him. “You’re still angry.”
    “Yeah, I’m still angry. It’s a residual effect when the woman I love cuts me in half.”
    “You still want me.”
    “God, yes, I still want you.”
    “You haven’t made love with me since this happened. Whenever I’d turn to you, you’d soothe and you’d cuddle, but you haven’t touched me.”
    “No, I haven’t.” He felt the blood begin to swim in his