I hadn’t been, because he said he’d handle it. “Thank you. I’ll need to go in tomorrow. I’m going to see if I can get hold of Trey, Cary’s boyfriend. Maybe he can stop in while I’m at work.”
“Let me know if you need any help with that.” Gideon glanced at his watch. “You’ll want to stay here again tonight?”
“Yes, if that’s possible. Until Cary comes home.”
He took my face in his hands and pressed his lips to mine. “All right. I have a lot of work to catch up on. Charge your cell so I can reach you.”
I heard a faint buzzing. Gideon backed away and reached into an inner jacket pocket to withdraw his phone. He read the screen, then said, “I have to get this. I’ll talk to you later.”
Then he was gone, striding down the hallway as quickly as he’d arrived.
“He’s going to marry you,” my mother said, coming up to stand beside me. “You know that, don’t you?”
I didn’t, no. I still felt a little flare of gratitude every morning when I woke up and realized that we were still together. “What makes you say that?”
My mother looked at me with her baby blue eyes. It was one of the rare physical traits we didn’t share. “He’s completely taken you over and assumed control of everything.”
“That’s just his nature.”
“That’s the nature of all powerful men,” she said, reaching up to fuss with my no-nonsense ponytail. “And he’ll indulge you, because he’s making an investment in you. You’re an asset to him. You’re beautiful, well bred and well connected, and independently wealthy. You’re also in love with him and he can’t take his eyes off you. I bet he can’t keep his hands off you, either.”
“Mother, please.” I was so not in the mood for one of her lectures on the fine points of catching and marrying a rich man.
“Eva Lauren,” she scolded, facing me directly. “I don’t care if you listen to me because I’m your mother and you have to—or because you love him and don’t want to lose him, but you will listen.”
“Like I have a choice,” I muttered.
“You’re an asset now,” she repeated. “See that your life choices don’t make you a liability.”
“Are you talking about Cary?” Anger sharpened my voice.
“I’m talking about the bruise on Gideon’s jaw! Tell me that has nothing to do with you.”
I flushed.
She tsked. “I knew it. Yes, he’s your lover and you see an intimate side to him that few see, but don’t ever forget that he’s also Gideon Cross. You’ve got everything you need to be the perfect wife for a man of his stature, but you’re still replaceable, Eva. What he’s built is not. You jeopardize his empire and he’ll leave you.”
My jaw tightened. “Are you done?”
She ran her fingertips over my brows, her gaze shrewd and assessing. I knew she was giving me a mini-makeover in her mind, thinking of ways to improve what she’d given me from birth. “You think I’m a coldhearted gold digger, but my concern is maternal, believe it or not. I want very desperately for you to be with a man who has the money and wherewithal to guard you with everything he has, so I’ll know you’re safe. And I want you to be with a man you love.”
“I’ve found him.”
“And I can’t tell you how thrilled I am. I’m thrilled he’s young and still open to taking risks, so he’s more forgiving and understanding of your . . . quirks. And he knows,” she whispered, her gaze softening and growing liquid. “Just be careful. That’s all I’m trying to say. Don’t give him any reason to turn away from you.”
“If he did, that wouldn’t be love.”
Her lips curved wryly and she pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Come now. You’re my daughter. You can’t be that na?ve.”
“Eva!”