The Ties That Bind

with suspicious blandness. "We just knew you'd approve."
    He felt uncomfortable, convinced he was being set up and not sure how to handle it. There was a dangerous glitter in Shannon's eyes. "I do approve," he said simply. "As a matter of fact, I've just asked Shannon to marry me."
    "That's wonderful!" Annie's eyes went quickly from Garth's face to that of her friend and then she reached over to hug a stiff Shannon. "The end of the weekend affair, Shannon," she murmured.
    "Not quite," Shannon said loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear. "Garth's thinking of substituting a weekend marriage for the affair."
    There was an embarrassed hush during which Garth was shocked to realize that he was flushing. A woman hadn't succeeded in embarrassing him this much since he was fourteen years old. In that moment he could cheerfully have bound and gagged Shannon and carried her bodily out of the restaurant. Annie O'Connor grinned knowingly.
    "A weekend marriage will never work, Garth. You'll have to make some major modifications in your life-style, I'm afraid. Marriage is a very serious matter. It's not something you can conduct on the weekends. What good is a weekend husband?"
    Garth knew he had just been repaid for the comments he had made that first night he'd been invited to dinner at Shannon's cottage. A sense of fair play made him acknowledge Annie's victory. "You have a point, Annie. I'll have to think about it. If you've finished gnawing on that corn bread, Shannon, we can be on our way." He paid the check without waiting to see if she was going to come along willingly. Sometimes you had to assume obedience in order to get it. It was a risk, but under the circumstances Garth couldn't think of anything else to do. He wanted to take Shannon home and make love to her. He definitely did not want to sit here and let her use Annie's and Dan's presence to bait him.
    Garth got to his feet, hiding his inner fear that Shannon might simply continue to sit and chat with Annie and ignore him altogether. To his relief she reluctantly stood and said her good-nights. Garth hastened her out of the restaurant and into the waiting Porsche.
    "That fog is rolling in late tonight," he said, trying for a neutral note in the conversation as he started the car. When he switched on the headlights the beams bounced back off a misty, swirling bank of fog. He lowered them and slowly edged the Porsche out onto the narrow road that would take them back to the cottage.
    "Where are you going to stay, Garth?" Shannon asked calmly.
    The question threw him. "Are you going to fight me down to the wire, honey?"
    "That depends. Are you attacking?"
    His fingers tightened on the wheel. "What do you think?"
    She sighed and slumped back against the seat. "I don't know what to think Garth. I need some time."
    "I'll give you time."
    "Will you?"
    The skepticism in her voice annoyed him. "You sound as if you don't trust me, Shannon. What have I ever done to make you distrust me?"
    There was a short silence from the other seat. "Nothing," Shannon said at last. "You've been very honest with me right from the start."
    "I'll always be honest with you, Shannon."
    "I believe you."
    "Then trust me enough to let me stay with you tonight," he urged. He didn't dare let her send him away, Garth thought. The situation was too fragile. It would be so easy for her to convince herself that she was better off without him. There was still too much uncertainty and wariness in her. Garth could feel the tangled, volatile emotions radiating from her.
    "You can stay the night, Garth, mainly because I doubt if you'll be able to find a motel room at this hour without driving several miles. God knows you shouldn't be traveling far in this pea soup."
    Garth sucked in his breath, hoping she didn't hear the relief in his voice. "You see how easy it is to slip into a protective role, Shannon? Now you're doing it yourself."
    "I'm not being protective, I'm being practical. By the way, if you do stay the night, you'll have to use the spare bed in my studio."
    He heard the determination in her voice and stifled a short, blunt curse. "Anything you say, honey." One step at a time, Garth told himself. It was clearly going to take a while to lure her back into the protection of his arms, but he could do it. She loved him, he thought. All she needed was a little time to remember that fact.
    Sometimes, Garth knew, it took a while to get things into perspective. He had been learning that lesson himself