"Yes," she barely whispered. "But not this way. I can't accept something like this. I can't understand why you would do it."

Somehow their weekend seemed tarnished now. Why would it inspire him to gifts like this? At the same time it was too much, it was too little.

"Bethany, look at me."

She didn't want to, not with unshed tears in her eyes, but he turned her to face him. The softness in his expression when he saw her reaction convinced her that this was just another reckless thing he'd rushed into before considering the consequences. He'd had no underhanded motives.

He cupped her face with one hand, caressing her jaw tenderly. "You're my baby. You're mine and I'm yours. Everything I have is yours, OK? I know how much you love this place, and how you felt about giving somebody else control of it.

This way you can do anything you want. I thought it'd make you happy. You're under no obligation this way. It's all yours."

When she couldn't speak, he added, "I couldn't stand to see you miserable, sweetness. Not without doing anything to change it. Can you understand?"

She did understand, but she didn't know how she could survive if he got tired of playing house and she had to come here each weekday to face what she'd gotten in exchange for his love.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

With no idea how much stuff Bethany had, yet knowing his car wouldn't have enough room for much of anything, Rod rented a small moving truck after he left the salon.

To tell the truth, he was in something of a fog. He'd thought the renovation would grant him another "I love you" instead of "How could you?"

Never before had a woman almost refused his gift because she hadn't worked for it. Maybe she just wasn't used to men giving her gifts. Well, that would change.

He'd give her everything she'd ever wanted and deserved.

Armed with her keys and the list of things that were hers in the apartment, he walked up the stairs to her floor, hoping her brother had gone out for any reason at all. Rod was used to being liked by everybody he met, but Randy Briggs wanted to take him apart, albeit in the quietest manner possible. Trying to defend himself against a guy so huge was certain suicide. On the other hand, Rod wasn't a wimp and he hadn't done anything he had to justify himself for. If spending a weekend isolated with the woman he loved had become a crime in Wisconsin, he'd move somewhere else.

The weekend had been everything he wanted forever. Bethany there with him, always within reach, always ready to love him, always ready to be loved.

He'd found the woman his lifetime had been calling out for, and he wouldn't lose her now to a muscle-bound, overprotective giant of a brother.

Unlocking the door, he went inside and heard music. Goliath was present and accounted for.

Randy turned from looking out a living room window with a coffee mug in his hand when Rod entered the living room. No surprise came into the big guy's gray eyes.

"Hey," Rod said in a friendly tone that revealed none of his caution. "I'm here to get Bethany's stuff."

As seemed to be his custom, Randy said nothing, only nodded in a way that told Rod he'd been expected and probably dreaded.

Randy had already begun packing his own things, based on the couple boxes scattered around the living room.

Pursuing a conversation was pointless. Both of them had already squared off to separate corners anyway.

In Bethany's closet, Rod found the boxes of books on her list and took them down to the truck two at a time. It took two trips, and then he brought up the empty boxes he'd bought at the truck rental place.

He filled two boxes with the drawers of lingerie she had and four of the upright garment boxes with all her clothes from her closet.

Going back and forth between the bedroom and the front door where he stacked the boxes, he'd brought another load to the door when Randy finally said something. "You're treating my sister like a common wh.o.r.e. I don't like it."

Rod's first reaction was hurt. Then he thought their trip to Phillips wasn't the only thing Randy meant. He wanted to know what the difference between how Rod treated Bethany to other his other women was, because he couldn't see any difference. Finally, it bothered him that Randy would even suggest anything so vulgar about his own sister. "Bethany's as far away from being a wh.o.r.e as the North Pole is from the South Pole. Being with me doesn't change that, and you know it."

"I do know that," Randy said, offended.

"Well, you've only seen the outside then, cuz you don't know anything about what's inside me. I love her."

It wasn't the first time he'd been sentenced without a trial, but for some reason this time hurt more than the others. Bethany cared about what her brother thought, and he didn't like knowing he wasn't up to the standards. He wanted Bethany to be proud to be with him, not ashamed she'd fallen for a loser.

Turning away, he went to get the last box from the bathroom. He carried all the boxes he'd stacked near the front door down to the truck without seeing Randy. When he came back the last time, to make sure he hadn't missed anything, Randy was there with another box. "These are Bethie's CD's and movies."

Rod took the box, looking at his list instead of at her brother when he said, "You're a man. You should know that the right woman doesn't always announce herself immediately, the way Bethany did when I met her. I never wanted to settle for second best, and now I don't have to."

Randy's face reflected his feelings, and he said, "I'm sorry. I'm not usually so judgmental."

Holding a grudge had never been Rod's strong point. He waved it away easily. "It's Bethany. You want the best for your sister, and you want her to be happy. I want the same things for her. Just like I want the same things for my own sister. I understand."

After a few seconds, Randy smiled sheepishly.

"I'll take good care of her," Rod promised. "So you can stop worrying. Now, you want some help carrying anything?"

Despite the good first year of business Bethany had had, she couldn't remember a day more hectic.

Olivia and Kimberly came in at eight, as usual, and both were racing each other in their questions. Had she said yes to the investor without telling them?

It was the only thing they could fathom when the construction crew showed up Friday morning. Bethany told them another "investor" had done all of this, and she was keeping control of her salon.

The next question had to do with her weekend with Rod. They'd guessed she went away with Rod. Olivia made the same comment Randy had. It wasn't like her.

Kimberly added that she must really be in love.

Bethany was saved from having to comment when the first rush of clients came in, all walk-ins using the coupons Rod mentioned.

Shortly after that, someone came in wanting to apply for the position advertised in the newspaper. It had been so long since Bethany interviewed she wasn't even sure she had any applications on hand. She found a single one in her files, and had to run across the street to make copies of it.

By noon, five copies weren't enough, and she sent Kimberly to make more while she divided her time between her clients and answering the nonstop ringing phone, making appointments.

She received a copy of a deposit slip in the mail that day and discovered the excessive amount Rod had deposited in her account just before they'd left for their weekend.

The humiliation was worse this time, since Rod wasn't there to remove the sting with sweet words. What did it make her if she accepted this kind of generosity? Did it mean she was some kind of prost.i.tute?

In the mail, she also received a legal doc.u.ment signed by Rod that, after reading four times, she realized meant if things didn't work out for them he had no claim on her business.

So, she was set for life, no matter what. Maybe she should have felt that way, but she knew she couldn't keep any of this if she didn't have Rod. She wasn't set for life. She had more worries than ever.

Just after 4:30, she started to feel crampy. The timing couldn't have been worse. What if Rod got mad at her for getting her period the day she was moving in with him? When Kimberly got hers, she frequently complained about it because some of her boyfriends "got mad" at her for it. If Rod was upset and threw her out of his house because she couldn't make love with him, she had nowhere to go.

Rod came to pick her up a few minutes before five, carrying flowers again.

He kissed her right in front of Olivia and Kimberly, then turned to grin at them. "So, how'd it go today?"

Kimberly removed a four-inch heel. "Do these blisters tell you anything?

I've had my aerobic activity for the next month."

"Thank G.o.d I have tomorrow off," Olivia said, and then saw the stricken look of reminder on Bethany's face. She couldn't possibly make it through another day like today minus one employee. "I can come in tomorrow, sweetie, but I hope you've hired more help by next Tuesday."

"Thank you, Olivia." Bethany squeezed her arm, then watched her overworked employees limp out the door.

"Did anyone apply?" Rod asked her as she pulled on her coat.

"Does the state of Wisconsin const.i.tute as anyone? I didn't know there were so many certified cosmetologists in Stevens Point."

"They're probably all from the chain down the street."

She managed a smile, despite how terrible she felt. What she needed were some pills and sleep. She'd be fine then.

After locking up she walked with him to his car. He told her all about his day. Getting her stuff from her apartment, helping her brother move, getting groceries. . .

"You look pale. You OK, sweetness?" He'd helped her into the pa.s.senger side and leaned in to look at her closely.

How could she lie when it was unnatural for her to, and when she couldn't hide how sick she felt?

"Did you work too hard?"

Bethany shook her head. "It's just. . .a woman thing." She was too ill to even hide that.

After a few seconds, it was clear Rod understood and her obvious pain distressed him. "Are you OK? Does it hurt? What can I do?"

"Can we go to your house?"

He was so sweet, her worries of being tossed out were banished. Once they got to his house, he carried her into the house and laid her on the couch.

Cameron stayed with her while Rod ran out of the room without explanation. The time drifted as she did in and out of sleep.

He came back to get her, this time taking her upstairs where he sat her on a bed in the room they'd spent last night in. "Where did you get this bed?" she asked as he unb.u.t.toned her blazer.

"It was supposed to be a surprise." He was undressing her as if she was a child, and she didn't mind at all. "It's as close to your bed in the apartment as I could get. I wanted it to be like the bed we first made love in."

The bed was beautiful, with intricate wood posts, carvings, and a mattress so comfortable she wanted to snuggle down into it.

"I hope you don't mind I picked it out instead of us doing it together. I didn't want you to have to sleep on the floor your first night officially living here."

She shook her head, lifting her arms so he could put a nightie on her.

"It's beautiful. I love it."

"The sheets and blankets are old. . ." he apologized, covering her once she was under the blanket. "I wanted you to pick those out for us. When you're better."

Keeping her eyes open was a struggle, but she did, watching him pick up the bottle of pills she needed. "You wanna take some of these? I remembered what box I put them in, thankfully."

She nodded, and he helped her take two of them with water.

"I'll let you sleep--"

Grabbing his arm to prevent him from leaving, she whispered, "Stay. Stay with me."

"Are you sure? I don't wanna do anything to hurt you."

"You won't. I want you to stay with me." She wanted to be held by him, but it was too much to ask since she was denying him her body.

Instead of sitting next to her, the only thing she thought she could hope for, he pulled off his boots and slid under the covers with her. She curled into his arms, feeling happy, satisfied and needy. "I'm sorry we can't. . .make love on our first official day of living together."

He looked down at her, his expression offended. "Don't you dare apologize for something like that. There's more between us than that. Don't you know how much I love cuddling with you, sweetness?"

Not caring how much it hurt to move, she pulled herself up and kissed him.

When she'd first seen the evidence that she had her period today, she'd been relieved she wasn't pregnant. Now she wished she was. Maybe she wasn't on shaky ground at all. If Rod believed there was more than s.e.x between them and based on the love he'd told her he had for children, getting pregnant wouldn't be a mistake. Maybe they'd last.

She fell asleep in his arms, and he was still there when she woke up feeling better a few hours later. Glancing up at him sleepily, she saw he was wide awake. He'd held her contentedly for hours. The words she'd wanted to speak desperately over the weekend were on the tip of her tongue.

"How do you feel?" he asked gently, brushing his lips over her forehead.

"You don't have a fever anymore."

The thought of him kissing her forehead, discovering that she had a fever while she slept, made her smile. "Did I? I'm fine now. Just hungry."

"So am I."

He tucked her hair away from her face when she started her offer to make them something.

"No way. I'll get it. I just want you to know beforehand that I've never cooked anything in my life. I think I can read directions though."

After he went out, she got up to go to the bathroom. Rod came back for a few minutes and hooked up a TV and VCR, then gave her what had to be a movie wrapped in pink. It was a Disney Cla.s.sic.

"I noticed you collect these, so I thought you'd like this one."

"I love them, but how did you get this one? It's isn't available anymore."

Rod grinned a little sheepishly. "They like to punish people for being procrastinators. A friend of mine sold me this."

They kissed, and he put the movie in the VCR, saying he'd be back in a few minutes with food.

With guilty pleasure, Bethany watched the first ten minutes of the movie before Rod came in with a huge tray he set on the end of the bed. He'd made soup and sandwiches. She was so hungry, if his cooking skills weren't up to par she wouldn't have noticed. They ate with the tray straddling their laps.