Jackson lets Gabrielle kiss him, but he doesn't kiss her back. His indifference makes her bold: she runs her fingers through his hair, strokes his back, and licks his lips with her tongue. His eyes remain wide open and cold as ice. Finally, she pulls away from him, panting for breath.
"Oh, is that all?" Jackson asks calmly.
"I thought you wanted me to please you with my mouth," Gabrielle says with fake innocence.
Jackson rolls his eyes and asks, "Is that what you thought I meant?"
"What else could you have meant?" Gabrielle asked, taking her hands off his face.
Jaxon grabs her hands and presses them over her head. He leans down and kisses her deeply, forcing her mouth open and dueling her tongue with his own. His hips bucked against her, and she moans without meaning too.
Evan paces anxiously back and forth in his study. Avery still refuses to talk to him, and he's beginning to lose patience. He knows it was wrong of him to shoot Charles, but Avery refuses to believe that Charles was drugging her. Such a stubborn woman, Evan thinks. I know that two wrongs don't make a right, but what was I supposed to do? Did she want me to sit idly by while Charles drugged her?
Evan sits down and then jumps back to his feet and starts pacing again. He wonders if Charles' hormone is what changed Avery's personality, making her stubborn and difficult to deal with. He even asked Dr. Walters to investigate the matter secretly. Dr. Walters said that the change was probably caused by the shock to her system when she jumped into the sea, but Evan isn't sure he believes that.
"When and where does Andrew want to meet?" Evan asks Robert.
"Mr. Clifford has asked that we meet tomorrow night, but he said that we could choose the place," Robert says.
"Tomorrow night?" Evan asks, chewing his lip.
If Avery doesn't forgive me, and soon, Andrew is going to see just how strained our relationship is, Evan thinks. The thought makes his skin crawl. Andrew will do anything to press an advantage, and Evan wants Andrew to think that his relationship with Avery is as strong as ever.
"Mrs. Howel has just returned to the bedroom, and she's locked the door again," Robert announces. "She's refusing to let anyone in."
Evan grabs a glass paperweight from the desk and chucks it across the room. The sound of the shattering glass gives him an immediate sense of relief. But then he remembers Avery's fierce, stubborn look in the entryway, and he feels his anger rise again. In the past, I could try to seduce her, he thinks. That usually worked. But now, with her pregnancy, I can't. Damn it! How can one little woman be so difficult? How can she bring me to my knees like this?
"Mr. Howel, I've got an idea, but I'm not sure it'll work," Robert says.
"What is it?" Evan asks immediately.
"Well, Mrs. Howel is acting angry with you, but I think she still cares about you deep down," Robert says. "If she thought you were in some sort of trouble, she might let go of her anger and start to worry about you."
"Nonsense," Evan says.
"I could tell Mrs. Howel you're very sick," Robert says.
"You want me to play sick?" Evan asks, raising his eyebrows.
"Well, can you think of a better way?" Robert asks with unusual boldness.
Avery is relaxing barefoot in the bed, listening to a Mozart piano concerto, and reading a book. She knows that the fetus is probably still too young to benefit from the music, but she's read that it's good to expose the fetus to music. Besides, it's calling for her. Someone knocks at the door, and she turns the music up. The knocking turns into hammering, and she sighs.
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"Who is it?" she asks irritably. "I thought I made it clear—I want to be alone."
"Mrs. Howel, it's me, Robert," Robert says. "I have important news."
"What is it?" Avery asks.
"Mr. Howel is sick," Robert says.
"And? What do you want me to do about it?" Avery asks. "I'm not a doctor. Go find David Walter."
"Mr. Howel always seems to feel better when he sees you," Robert says after a long pause.
"I'm sure he'll be fine without me," Avery says slowly. "Tell him I'm listening to music with the baby, and I don't want him to bother me."
Avery leans back in her head and turns the music up as she tries to take deep breaths to calm herself. She returns to her book but is interrupted by a loud crashing sound. She looks over in time to see Evan getting up from a pile of broken, stained glass. The jewel-like shards crunch and snap under his polished black shoes as he climbs through the broken window.
"Why won't you talk to me?" Evan asks.
His face is twisted with godlike anger, and he paces around the room as if he's looking for something. He throws open the dressing room door, checks behind curtains, and even gets down on all fours to look under the bed. Avery bites her tongue to keep from asking him what he's doing.
"So, where is he?" Evan asks. "Where is the man you've got up here?"
The man? What man? Avery thinks. Where on earth could he have gotten the idea that I have a man up here? Unless—no way, he couldn't be that stupidly jealous, could he? He could. He must have heard Robert say that I was with my baby, and he assumed I was talking about a man. How stupid can he be?
Avery presses her lips together and crosses the room to the door, careful to avoid the shards of glass Evan has tracked all over the carpet. Evan suddenly pushes her back into the door and slides his arms around her waist.
"Why won't you speak?" he asks. "Do you want me to kiss the words out of you?"
He tilts her head back and stares deep into her eyes. She stares back as coldly as she can, trying to make her face into a mask of indifference. Her heart thuds in her chest, and she hopes it won't give her away. He lowers his head, so his lips are less than an inch from hers.
"If there's time for you to force me like this, there's time for you to work on the way to save Charles," Avery snaps, jerking her head to the side.
"I said I'd do what I can, but I didn't promise anything," Evan says, in an equally cold tone. "I never promised I'd get Charles' heart back from Andrew."
"Don't you have a meeting with Andrew tomorrow?" Avery asks. "What's the point of that if you're not even going to try?"
"I never said I wouldn't try," Evan says. "Besides, tomorrow, I just plan to learn Andrew's thoughts on the matter."
Avery closes her eyes and sighs. She knows only one thing will convince Andrew, and Evan will never agree to it. She feels Evan's fingers on her cheek, and she tries to pull her head away.
"Trust me, Avery," Evan says. "Charles isn't the man you think he is."