And that, she thought, was the biggest lie she had told him yet. Of course there had been a specific incident that had upset her today. Hearing Mari say that Geoff had been involved in a motorcycle accident had shaken Cecilia all the way to the core.
She had managed to control her emotions while she’d completed her workday, even smiling and speaking cheerfully during the prolonged but uneventful delivery of the Claussen baby boy. And then, after tapping the hospital grapevine to discover that Geoff had already been released from the emergency room, she had come home and pretty much fallen apart.
Just remembering that period of secret anxiety between watching Mari rush away and hearing that Geoff’s injuries had only been minor ones made Cecilia’s chest start to ache again. Finding that she simply couldn’t sit still any longer, she pushed her chair back abruptly and sprang to her feet. “I need some more lemonade. Can I get you anything while I’m up?”
She waited barely long enough for him to decline the offer before she rushed into the kitchen. Maybe if she had just another few minutes to collect herself…
Geoff didn’t give her those minutes. He followed her into the kitchen, then stood blocking the door, his arms crossed, his expression grimly determined.
“I’ve tried to be patient,” he said, his voice quiet but firm. “I thought you would eventually get around to telling me what’s bothering you this evening. But it isn’t working. You’re not giving me any clues. What’s going on, Cecilia?”
“I told you, I’m just—”
“Tired,” he finished in unison with her. “But that doesn’t cut it. It’s more than that.”
She reached for a paper towel and wiped at an imaginary spot on the countertop, just to give her unsteady hands something to do. “I don’t—”
“Cecilia.” He had moved to stand very close behind her. “If it isn’t your work that’s upsetting you, it must be me. And the only thing I’ve done today is get involved in a minor motorcycle accident.”
Saying nothing, she crumpled the paper towel in her hand.
“Are you annoyed that I didn’t call you? Or have someone else call you? I explained why I didn’t. And besides, when I mentioned that someone should let you know what happened, Mari told me you were with her when the emergency room nurse called her—without my knowledge, I might add. Mari told me she had let you know it wasn’t a serious accident.”
“Yes, she said she thought you would be fine.”
“So you weren’t worried about me.”
“Not worried?” Feeling something snap inside her, she threw the paper towel on the counter and whirled to face him. “Not worried? Are you joking?”
He looked surprised by her vehemence. “You mean, you were worried? Even though Mari told you—”
“Mari told me—as she left her office at a run—that her brother had been in a motorcycle accident and while she thought he would be okay, she was obviously frantic to fi
nd out for herself. That was the last I heard until a few hours later when I finally managed to find out that you had been treated and released.”
Now he looked defensive. “I told you I thought you’d been kept informed.”
“Right. You told me.”
“Look, I didn’t realize you would be so concerned. And while I appreciate that you were worried about me, I—”
She glared at him, wondering if he could really be so obtuse. “I just knew that motorcycle was an accident waiting to happen.”
That made his eyes narrow. “Now you sound like my father and my sister. Both of them spent a couple of hours yelling at me this afternoon about the bike. Telling me how reckless and irresponsible it is for me to even own the thing, much less take it for an occasional ride.”
She lifted her chin. “Maybe I agree with them.”
He scowled. “Great.”
Though she tried to hold them back, the words spilled from her, anyway. “Well, you do have responsibilities—to your family, who love you and depend on you—and to Bingham Enterprises, where you serve a very important role.”
“And to you, of course,” he added. “Were you afraid I’d broken my neck before I fulfilled my bargain to you?”
That made her jaw drop. “That is not what I was concerned about!”
He lifted his left hand to the back of his neck, grimaced, then dropped the arm to his side again. She had already noticed that he had been favoring his left side all evening. Heaven only knew what sort of scrapes and bruises he was hiding beneath his long-sleeved blue shirt.
When he spoke, his tone wasn’t as cutting, but it was still aggrieved. “I really didn’t expect you to lecture me about obligations and responsibilities. I thought you, at least, understood me better than that.”