Who Loves Them? (Who--? Series) (11 page)

Gordon scratched his head and stared at her intently
.  “You need to keep trying.  When you fail, you try again.  I know you can beat me if you set your mind to it.”

Chris nodded and suddenly their marriage popped into her head
.  She knew it would only work if she tried, just like she would only beat Gordon if she kept trying.  Gordon seemed to read her mind.

“
Our grandparents thought they could beat us with arranging this marriage, but they can never kill our king.” He stared at her intently with a quizzical gaze.

Chris smiled
.  “I bet they thought they were good chess players.”

“I bet they did.”

Gordon looked at her strangely, and then abruptly stood up.  “I have work to do.  Keep practicing.”

Chris nodded obediently
.  She would beat him.  She knew she would.

****

It went on like that for two more days.  She and Jacqueline went out and explored, and Christina even rode one of the horses around for an hour or two, while he stayed in and pretended to work, but instead he paced the library and tried to think of how to break through the barrier she seemed to have put up between the two of them.  They had drinks every evening and went to dinner, and every night she retired early, leaving Jacqueline to make her excuses as well and leave Gordon staring into the fire, frustrated and lonely.  He tried to make conversation with her.  What books was she reading?  Had she taken a liking to any particular horse?  Did she want her own?  But Christina answered curtly, and left Gordon wondering if he had offended her, or had said something wrong.

On Monday night, he approached her in the stables alone
.  She was brushing down one of the chestnut horses and he strolled up to her confidently.

“Grooming your future husband?”

Christina didn’t turn around to answer him.  “I haven’t gotten around to that yet.  I was not expecting you for another hour.”

Gordon frowned and leaned against the pillar
.  “You look like you belong here.  But I don’t think they’d accept you as one of them.  They’re not broomsticks, you know.”

“You are implying I’m an old witch?”

Gordon nodded.  “An old, smelly, hag.  You have no prospects.  Marrying me is the best thing you’ll do in your life.”

Christina
rolled her eyes.  “If you must know, I was planning on going to the university before you came along.”

Gordon was surprised by that
.  “Only ugly women go to the university.  The ones who cannot get husbands.”

“Oh, you mean independent women who don’t need men?”
Christina began brushing down the other side of the horse.

“Is that what you think you are
?  An independent woman?  Don’t you forget that without me you’d be nothing!”

Christina
put down the brush and walked to stand in front of Gordon, hands on her hips.

“Now you listen here
.  I don’t want to marry you.  I have never wanted to marry you.  And even if someone held a gun to my head, I still wouldn’t want to marry you.  I am going to find a way out of this, and get rid of you altogether.  So you just shut your mouth and go along with things, just like the good little boy that you are.”

Gordon was taken aback, but his face remained impassive
.  Finally, he smirked.  “A woman’s rights activist as well, I see?  How touching!”

He flashed a toothy grin and walked out, leaving
Christina staring at the chestnut horse in bewildered silence.

****

Gordon got up early on Tuesday, the fourth day since they’d been at the cabin, but Chris was already out jogging.  He went for his morning swim, and by the time he had come back, dried off and gotten dressed, Jacqueline and Chris had already left.  Jacqueline had left a plate of pancakes on the counter with a cheery note:
Sorry we missed you!

He poured himself a cup of coffee and settled down at the table with a groan, trying to put
Chris out of his mind.  She was going to drive him mad.  Apparently she was better at avoiding than he was at chasing.  So far, his plan to seduce her was not working.  He had to try harder.

The day went smoothly until lunch
.  Chris had made a cashew salad to go along with Jacqueline’s pepper steak, but Gordon refused to eat any of it.

“Oh, didn’t I tell you, I
despise
pepper steak.”

Jacqueline looked up from her meal
.  “Since when?  Now you’re just being childish.”

Christina
smirked.  “And you’re supposed to be older than me.”

Gordon huffed in annoyance
.  “You just shut your mouth,
Chris.”

“Watch your language, young man,” Jacqueline reprimanded
.  “Seriously Gordon, you have never been so rude to a woman before.”

“
Chris is not a woman--she’s a child!  Look at her.  There’s nothing womanly about her.  How do you expect me to be nice to my future bride if she’s not even a woman?”

Christina
’s cheeks flared in anger.  “How dare you call me a child?  You are acting like a baby.  I have no idea how you seduced so many women in the first place.  They must have all been stupid or unconscious!” She smiled at Jacqueline.  “I, for one, love pepper steak.”

Jacqueline smiled nervously
.  “Thank you, dear.”

“Look,
can’t you just be nice to someone?” Christina asked.

Gordon sneered at her
.  “Is that how you get your way?  You just flutter your eyelashes like the little
girl
that you are?  What a clever tactic.  I wish I had thought of it sooner.”

Christina
ignored the comment and finished off her steak.  After she had cleaned her plate, she sat in the living room, reading a magazine.  Gordon joined her on the couch, much to her dismay, and stared at the pages.

“You know, you’ll never be like them,” he said, resting his chin on her shoulder
.  “You’re too boyish and ugly.”

Christina
looked at him from the corner of her eye and shrugged her shoulder, but Gordon refused to move.  “At least I actually read the articles.”

Gordon laughed
.  “It’s true, men don’t read the articles.  But that’s because they’re too busy looking at women with bodies you’ll never have.”

“I see.”
Christina sighed.  All of Gordon’s harsh words stung her, even if she pretended they didn’t.  “Is that why you have the IQ of a five-year-old?’

Gordon
nodded.  “Evidently.” He sat up and leaned back on the lounge.  “You know, the reason you’re ugly is because you don’t know how to be beautiful.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.  You’re ugly because you’re repulsive.”

“I see.”

Christina knew he was just trying to stir her up, but it was not working.  Gordon was all bite and no sting.

“
I bet that’s why you cry at night,” he added.

Christina
blushed.  “I cry at night because I cannot think of a way to get out of spending eternity with you.”

“Hmmm….”
Gordon smiled and poked her in the cheek.  “I think it’s because you’re a lost little girl who doesn’t want to get married to the big bad man who will help your family.”

Christina
stared at him and frowned.  “Is that what you think?”

“Yep.” Gordon seemed pleased with himself, and as much as she hated to admit it, he was right
.  However, Christina wouldn’t let him have the satisfaction.

“You’re just upset because I’m not going to let you have dozens of mistresses.”

Gordon seemed surprised.  “Oh?  And what will you do?  Lock me up in your dungeon, witch?”

Christina
smiled.  “No.  As a matter of fact, I’ll tell everyone that you have some form of venereal disease.”

Gordon paled
.  “You cannot say that.  And in any case, no one will believe you!  And what about the women I’ve slept with before?  I’m sure they’d notice.”

“All those women are
socialite jezebels who wouldn’t notice who they’re sleeping with in the first place.  They could have caught the disease from anyone.” Christina smirked.  “I’m not as stupid as I look.  I can ruin you if I want to.”

Gordon
laughed.  “In your dreams.  You couldn’t ruin me with a bulldozer.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure
.  I’m a good driver!”

The evening went as usual, except tonight after dinner,
Chris stayed in the living room with them, accepting the glass of sherry Jacqueline offered her, curling up on the couch, still studiously avoiding Gordon’s gaze.

He tried to engage her in
nicer conversation, so Jacqueline would think they were getting along.  “So, is jogging what you usually do for exercise?”

She glanced over at him
.  “That, and yoga.  And of course horse riding.  It takes a lot of energy out of you.  I like being outside, though.  I actually like the summer in New Orleans best because I can go out early, and it’s so quiet, like I’m the only person on earth.”

He looked at her, startled a little by her frankness after so many days of ignoring him
and being rude to him.  “I would think you would hate solitude,” he observed.  “Isn’t that how you girls are raised, to be social butterflies?” He was truly a little confused.

“Just because I was raised that way doesn’t mean it’s what I like,” she replied coolly, taking a sip of her sherry
.  “I prefer to be left alone, really, except for the few people I choose to be friends with.  I don’t like vapid people, and I don’t like people who pretend to understand me even though they’ve only known me for a short time.  I think that is why I prefer horses.  They don’t ask too many questions.”

He was quiet for a moment, surprised by her cool response
.  She finished the last of her sherry and set the glass down on the table.  “I think I’m going to go to the library for a while.  Good night Jacqueline. Gordon.”

Jacqueline smiled
.  “Good night, Chris.” Gordon watched her carry her glass into the kitchen and walk into the library, shutting the door behind her.

“Well, then,” Gordon said grimly
.  “I think it’s easy to ascertain what her opinion of me is.” He was really surprised by how much it bothered him.  Of course, they had bickered on and off, but he always thought she secretly liked him.  Perhaps he was wrong.

Jacqueline smirked
, enjoying his discomfort.  “You haven’t done much to sway it now, have you, Gordon?”

He sighed
.  “What exactly am I supposed to do, woo her with flowers and poetry?  I don’t want to be her knight in shining armour.  What I want is a way out of this disaster.  I just want her to be nice to me, to talk to me, to at least smile.  That is not too hard, is it?”

“There is no way out, Gordon
.  And you don’t have to be a knight; I think our Chris is perfectly capable of saving herself.  In fact, I think it’s the helplessness of the situation that is upsetting her as much as it is you.  I think she just doesn’t want you to hate her for something that isn’t her fault.  You don’t have to love her, Gordon, but you could be her friend.  You two have been awfully rude to each other.  Maybe you could try being a little more courteous.”

Gordon looked toward
the closed door of the library.  “Maybe I’ll go talk to her.”

Jacqueline smiled
.  “You do that.  I’m going to bed.” She stood up, stretched, and padded down the hall, leaving Gordon to face Chris on his own.

****

Gordon knocked on the library door, and was met with a terse, “Come in.” He hesitantly opened the door and stepped inside.

Chris
had started a fire, and it crackled merrily in the background.  She was curled up on the leather armchair with the ottoman, a copy of Dante’s
Inferno
in her hands.  He was momentarily taken aback by her choice of literature; he had expected Danielle Steele or some other nonsense. 
Maybe you’ve underestimated her, Gordon
, he thought.  She looked up from the book.  “Is there something you needed,
betrothed
?”

He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other
.  “Look, Chris, I’m not very good at this.  I just wanted to say…I’ve treated you badly.  I’m angry at the situation that we’re in, and I don’t like being manipulated.  I’ve taken that anger out on you, and I’m coming to see that you don’t deserve it.  You’ve been forced into this just as I have.  I know I’ve been an ass, but if you can forgive me, maybe we could at least be friends?”

Christina
frowned.  “What is this?  Some kind of trap?  Do you think you can be horrid to me one day and be nice the next?”