Public Secrets

me.”
Now he couldn’t speak. In defense, he picked up her cold coffee and downed it. A dove flew by the terrace, soft gray wings flapping. “You’ve only known him for a few weeks, that means you don’t know enough about him.”
“He plays a guitar for a living,” she pointed out. “You’d sound ridiculous criticizing that.”
“The last thing I want for you is to see you involved with someone in the business. For Christ’s sake, Emma, you know what it can do to people. The demands, the pressures, the egos. I don’t know any more about this kid than that he’s ambitious and talented.”
“I know all I need to know.”

“Listen to yourself. You sound like some bubble-brain. Like it or not, you’re not in a position to trust a man just because he has a pretty face and says he loves you. You’ve got too much money, and too much power.”
“Power?”
“There’s no one who knows me who would doubt I’d do anything for you. Anything you’d ask me.”
It took her a minute, but the words slowly sank in. Angry tears blurred her vision as she stepped toward him. “So that’s it? You think Drew is interested in me because I have money, because he thinks I could sway you to help him in his career? It’s impossible, isn’t it, that he or any man might be attracted to me, might fall in love with me? Just me.”
“Of course not, but—”
“No, that’s just what you think. After all, how could anyone look at me and not see you?” She spun around, pressed her palms against the rail. The sun glinted off a lens in the garden below. She didn’t give a damn. Let them take their pictures.
“Oh, it’s happened before. Yes, it has. Emma, how about dinner Friday—and by the way, can you get my cousin tickets and a backstage pass to your father’s concert in Chicago?”
“Emma, I’m sorry.” He reached out, but she jerked away.
“What for? You really can’t help it, can you? And I learned to live with that, even to be amused by it. But this, this time I’ve found someone who cares about me, who’s interested in my feelings and my thoughts. Who hasn’t asked me for anything but to be with him, and you want to spoil it.”
“I don’t want to spoil it. I don’t want to see you hurt.”
“You’ve already hurt me.” Her eyes were dry when she looked at him. “Leave me alone, Da. And leave Drew alone. If you interfere with this, I’ll never forgive you. I swear it.”
“I’m not going to interfere. I only want to help you. I don’t want to see you make a mistake.”
“It’ll be my mistake. You’ve made your own, God knows. For years I’ve watched you do whatever you wanted, with whomever you wanted. You ran away from your happiness, Da. I won’t run away from mine.”
“You know how to twist the knife,” he said quietly. “I hadn’t realized.” He walked out of the sunlight and left her alone.

D REW SLIPPED AN arm over Emma’s shoulders. They were standing on another terrace, in another city. The old-world graciousness of the Ritz Madrid was lost on Emma. She could hear the tinkle of the fountains, smell the lush garden below, but she might have been anywhere. Still, she found Drew’s arm comforting and rubbed her cheek against it.
“I hate to see you sad, Emma.”
“I’m not. Maybe a little tired, but not sad.”
“You’ve been upset for weeks, ever since you and Brian argued. Over me.” He removed his arm and moved aside. “The last thing I wanted to do was cause you trouble.”
“It has nothing to do with you.” He turned, and in the moonlight his eyes gleamed dark. “It doesn’t really. He would have had the same reaction no matter whom I was seeing. Da’s always been overprotective. A lot of it comes … because of what happened to my brother.”
He kissed her, gently, on the temple. “I know it must have been rough for you, and for him, but it happened a long time ago.”
“Some things you don’t ever forget.” She shivered, suddenly cold in the warm summer night. “It’s because I understand how he feels that it’s so difficult for me. He’s done everything for me, not just materially, but in every way.”
“He adores you. You can see it every time he looks at you.” Smiling again, he brushed a hand over her cheek. “I know just how he feels.”
“I love him, too. Still, I know that I can’t go on living my life to please him. I’ve known that for a long time.”
“He doesn’t trust me.” His lighter flared, followed by the sharp sting of