He gestured to the fire. “Come warm yourself.”
She made as if to sit on the carpet in front of the fire, but his hand shot out to stop her. He forced a smile.
“Please. Sit on my lap. Or the ottoman or the sofa.”
He still doesn’t like me on the floor, Julia thought. She hadn’t objected to the idea of sitting at the hearth. But the mere idea more than offended him. Not willing to argue over such a trivial thing, she eschewed his lap for the ottoman and sat quietly, gazing at the blue and orange flames. He was no longer The Professor in her mind; he was Gabriel, her professor, her beloved.
Gabriel shifted in his chair, wondering why she wanted to be so far away from him. Because she knows what you are now and she’s afraid.
“Why don’t you like me on my knees?” she asked, breaking the silence.
“Perhaps in light of tonight’s conversation, you can divine the reason. A reason multiplied and strengthened by what you told me at your apartment.” He paused and looked at her pointedly. “You’re far too humble as it is, and people take advantage of your sweet nature.”
“Graduate students have to pay their dues. Everyone knows that.”
“Being a student has nothing to do with it.”
“You will always be the gifted professor, and I will always be your student,” she remarked quietly.
“You forget that I met you long before you were a student and I was a professor. And you won’t be a student forever. I shall sit in the front row when you deliver your first lecture. As for your prejudice against professors, if you prick us, do we not bleed?”
“And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?” Julia countered.
Gabriel sat back in his chair and indulged himself in an appreciative smile. “See? Who is the teacher now, Professor Mitchell? I only claim the advantages of age and experience.”
“Age doesn’t necessarily make you wiser.”
“Of course not. You’re young, but you’re industrious and bright and at the very beginning of what promises to be a long and brilliant career. Perhaps I haven’t done enough to show my admiration for your mind.”
She fell silent, pretending to be mesmerized by the dancing, licking flames.
He cleared his throat. “Ann didn’t hurt me, Julianne. I hardly think of her, and when I do, it’s with regret. She left no scars.”
Julia turned her troubled eyes to look into his. They were a lively, earnest navy. “Not all scars mark the skin. Why did you choose her, of all people?”
He shrugged, turning away to peer at the fire. “Why do human beings do anything? Because they’re searching for happiness. She promised raw, intense pleasure, and I needed the diversion.”
“You let her hurt you because you were bored?” Julia felt instantly ill.
Gabriel’s features hardened. “I don’t expect you to understand. But at the time, I needed a distraction. It was either pain or alcohol, and I was not about to do anything that might get back to Richard and Grace. I tried…interacting with women, but my liaisons quickly lost their luster. Perpetually available but mindless orgasms can become tiresome, Julianne.”
I’ll remember that, she thought.
“The way Professor Singer was with you at the lecture…then at dinner…she doesn’t behave like a woman scorned.”
“She despises weakness. And she can’t accept failure. It was a harsh blow to her reputation and her massive ego when she tried to control me and failed. She isn’t about to advertize her failure.”
“Did you care for her at all?”
“Hardly. She’s a soulless, heartless succubus.”
Julia looked back at the fire and pursed her lips.
“I was not about to jump into something with Ann without testing it. And we never got beyond the test. In other words, although we…interacted, I was not involved with her in the strict sense.”
“You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t own the specific vocabulary that would allow me to understand what you’re trying to say.”
“I’m trying to explain this to you without tainting more of your innocence than is absolutely necessary. Do not require me to be explicit.” His tone was suddenly cold.
“Do you still want what she offers?”
“No. It was a disaster.”
“With someone else?”
“No.”
“But what about the next time the darkness comes? What will you do?”
Gabriel stared at her. “I thought I’d made myself clear. You dispel the darkness, Beatrice.” He cleared his throat. “Julianne.”
“Tell me she isn’t in one of your photographs.”
“Absolutely not. Those pictures were of women I actually liked.”
“Why were you thrown out of her house?”
He gritted his teeth. “I did something that in her world is absolutely unacceptable. And I won’t lie and say that I didn’t enjoy the look on her face when I gave her a taste of her own medicine. Even though I broke one of my most sacred rules in doing so.”
Julia shuddered. “Then why is she still after you?”