Working helped, and she buried herself in it so as not to daydream about what Roarke might be doing. A few days into his trip, she was busily working out a timetable for some renovation work when Roarke's grandfather called.
'Where's that grandson of mine got to?' Stephen Adams's voice demanded down the telephone line. 'His secretary tells me he's abroad.'
Naturally, Ginny blinked, surprised by the question. He had to know where Roarke was. He had sent him there. She couldn't help wondering if his memory was getting a little rusty with age. 'He's in New York, Mr Adams,' she reminded him politely, aiming to jog his memory. His response startled her.
'What's he doing there?' the elderly gentleman asked in astonishment.
She frowned at the receiver, more than a little alarmed by this depth of forgetfulness. 'He's doing whatever it was you sent him to do, Mr Adams,' she enlarged, unable to help more because she was in the dark too.
'My dear Ginny, I may be old but I am not yet senile. I never sent Roarke to New York. Why would I do that? He's supposed to be playing golf with me tomorrow,' Stephen Adams challenged, sounding amused, but Ginny froze, her stomach knotting.
What was going on here? She wasn't mistaken about what Roarke had said, and yet his grandfather was saying he knew nothing about it. Licking her lips, she sought confirmation. 'Roarke told me he had something to do for you. Are you saying that's not the case?'
'I most certainly am, young Ginny,' Roarke's grandfather confirmed, and she closed her eyes as she realised he had lied to her.
Ginny pressed her fingers to where an ache had started up between her eyes. 'I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood what he said,' she apologised. 'Roarke is in New York, though.' At least she thought he was ringing from America. For all she knew, he could be in Timbuktu. It gave her a queasy feeling to realise she had no real idea where he was.
'When's he coming back?'
'I don't know when he's due back. He couldn't say.' Couldn't or wouldn't?
Stephen Adams harrumphed down the line, not best pleased. 'I'll have something to say to that young man when he gets back. This is our Saturday grudge match. We haven't missed one in ages.'
Ginny sympathised and they exchanged a few more words, then Stephen Adams rang off and Ginny sank back into her chair, feeling chilled to the bone.
What was going on? She knew full well what Roarke had said, and she would have gone on believing it if his grandfather hadn't called. Why had Roarke found it necessary to lie to her? It hurt incredibly to know that he had. The only answer she could come up with was that he didn't want her to know what he was doing. That made her angry as well. He could have just told her it was private. He hadn't had to lie like that. Anger fuelled by hurt seethed in her for the rest of the day. By the time she headed home she had made up her mind that he was going to have some explaining to do that night.
That evening she was a bundle of nervous energy as she waited for the telephone to ring. Unable to sit still, she prowled around her flat like a big cat in a cage. When the call finally came, she took a deep breath and lifted the receiver.
'Hello?'
'Ginny?' Roarke queried in some surprise. 'Are you all right?' Obviously, though she had tried to sound normal, he must have picked something up. In which case, she wasn't going to put on a pretence of being happy when she was far from it.
Folding her arm across her waist, Ginny paced away as far as the flex would allow. 'Do I sound OK?' she challenged, that seething mix of anger and hurt growing inside her.
There was a brief pause before Roarke answered. 'You sound … odd.'
Her eyes narrowed. 'That's funny. I thought I sounded angry,' she retorted, pacing back to the sofa.
'What's wrong, Ginny?' Roarke asked shortly, and she smiled to herself, choosing to ignore the question.
'How's New York?' she asked instead, with false brightness.
'New York is fine. What's wrong?' His tone was more abrupt, and she could sense his growing unease.
'You are in New York, aren't you?' she queried next, and felt the tension coming down the line to her.
Roarke took a steadying breath. 'I told you I was. Ginny … ' he began patiently but she interrupted him.
'Your grandfather called today,' she informed him tersely, and the silence which followed the words was palpably fraught. 'He was just checking that your golf match was still on for tomorrow. It was careless of you to forget about that when you lied to me.'
'I didn't lie to you, Ginny,' Roarke said carefully, and she could sense his frustration that this conversation was taking place over the phone and not where he could see her.
Ginny laughed harshly. 'Of course you didn't lie, you were just being economical with the truth! That's what they say these days, isn't it?'
'This is impossible!' he declared in exasperation. 'I can't explain to you over the phone.'
'Just tell me why you had to lie,' she commanded, feeling the sting of angry tears behind her eyes.
'I lied because I couldn't tell you the truth.'
'Gee whizz, Roarke, I never would have worked that out for myself!' she shot back scathingly. What kind of an answer was that to give an angry woman?
'Sweetheart, I can't explain over the phone, it's too complicated. Will you please stop getting upset?' he urged down the line.
A single tear trailed hotly down her cheek and she brushed it away. 'I'm not upset. I'm furious!' she corrected, and again there was a pregnant silence.
'You feel that strongly about it, do you?' Roarke asked searchingly.
'I want to murder you!' she added.
'Why?' he asked simply.
'Why what?' Ginny launched back, prowling to the window.
'Why are you furious, Ginny?' Roarke spelt it out for her. There was an expectant edge to his voice, as if the answer was really important to him.
She held the receiver away from her ear for a moment and glared at it. 'Why am I furious? You lied to me, that's why!'
'Have you any idea what you sound like?' Roarke asked in the wake of her explosion, and to Ginny he almost sounded amused. It had the effect of stoking the angry fire inside her.
'I don't care what I sound like!' she snapped, and he laughed. He actually had the gall to laugh.
'Well, I do care, and to me you sound like a woman who feels she's been betrayed,' Roarke told her with a certain amount of satisfaction.
Adding that to everything else, it was no wonder Ginny's temper hit the roof. 'You're darn right I feel betrayed! I thought I could trust you. You had no right to lie to me for whatever reason! There are no good reasons for doing what you did! It hurt, damn it!'
'Why?' he asked softly.
'Because I love you, you horrible man!' she exclaimed wrathfully, then went into total shock when she realised what she had said. Her hand went to her mouth as she stared at the receiver as if it were a snake. 'Oh, God!' she whispered, then slammed the receiver back down.
Almost immediately, it rang again but, knowing who it must be, Ginny jiggled the receiver to cut off the call and then set it down beside the phone. She sank slowly on to the sofa, pressing her hands to scalding cheeks. What had she done? How on earth could she have just told Roarke she loved him?
The answer was simple. She had said it because it was the truth. She had fallen in love with him. Only being in love with him would explain why she felt betrayed by his lying to her. Having finally admitted it, she now realised she had loved him for a long time. Maybe even from the beginning.
As she sat there, the shock began to subside and she fully appreciated the discovery she had made. She loved Roarke Adams with a depth and breadth she hadn't thought possible. He was everything she wanted, she told herself, then her shoulders slumped as she grimaced. He was also the one person she couldn't have. Because Roarke didn't want to love or be loved. He had been more than clear about it.
And, just minutes ago, she had told him what he least wanted to hear. She hadn't meant to. He had made her so angry, the words had just slipped out. She groaned helplessly. If only she hadn't said it. They could have gone on the way they were, with her being the only one who knew, but now … He wouldn't like it.
What was she going to do if he wanted to end the relationship? What could she do? She uttered another heartfelt groan. Lord, what a fool she was. Trust her to deal a knockout blow to the one thing that really mattered in her life! It was over. It had to be. They wanted different things from life.
Ginny went from the heights of elation in realising how much she loved him, to plumb the depths of defeat. She called herself all the names she could think of for being so stupid, but in the end it changed nothing. She loved him, he wouldn't love her … and no doubt when he came back he would tell her it was all over. Well, she wasn't going to weep all over him. She had her pride. It wasn't his fault she had fallen in love with him. She'd managed to make that mistake all on her own.