“So far as I remember, we never did establish your marital status,” she replied. “Besides, I told you I’m an incorrigible flirt. Marital status isn’t the first thought that enters my mind when I meet an attractive man.”
He had no business being so pleased that she thought he was attractive. “Since you’re already involved with someone, why should you care?”
“I’m just trying to figure you out…like you are with me. So,” she asked again, “are you?”
He wondered what she would do if he told her the truth. That, to the endless frustration of his family, the thought of marriage always left him feeling claustrophobic. His life was crowded enough as it was. While the relatives of other undercover cops worried incessantly over their safety, his five brothers and his sister were terrified he’d never settle down. In this case, at least, Antonio’s truth was also Michael’s truth.
“Do I look like I’m married?”
Her smile grew broader. “Trust me. I know a lot of married men who neither look nor act married.”
He’d just bet she did. “I see.”
“I’ll try one more time. Are you married, Michael?”
He was Michael Corsi, he reminded himself. It was about time he remembered it and acted accordingly.
“Hardly,” he said, injecting as much disdain as he could into the word.
She tilted her head and eyed him carefully. “You got something against marriage?”
He spread his arms in a devil-may-care manner. “Nothing, except it would cramp my style.”
“What is your style? Love ’em and leave ’em?”
“Some people have said that.”
“Interesting,” Ruby commented.
“What?”
“Obviously you see nothing wrong in being a love-’em-and-leave-’em kind of guy, but you definitely find something wrong with my being an incorrigible flirt. Does anyone but me see a double standard at work here?”
She had a point, Antonio conceded. However, he could hardly tell her that he was the one who objected to her moral code, not Michael. Nor could he tell her that the only reason she knew of his disapproval was because she had managed to pull him out of character at least a thousand times since they met.
“The question is,” he heard her say, “why are you a love-’em-and-leave-’em kind of guy?”
He suddenly found himself feeling wary, although he couldn’t identify the source of his reluctance. It was probably nothing more than his desire to remain in character and not blow it by saying something stupid. The way he had earlier.
He was Michael Corsi, he reminded himself yet again. He had to handle this question the way Michael would.
“Does there have to be a reason?”
“There’s always a reason,” Ruby stated. “In your case, my guess is that you have commitment issues.”
He felt his eyebrows climb. “Commitment issues?”
She nodded. “You were probably burned by love in the past, and now you don’t want to give your heart to any woman. You don’t want to risk the pain. Either that or you hate women. But something tells me that isn’t the case.”
Relief filled him, and his wariness fled. She was so far from both the cover story he’d created for Michael and the truth of his own life he almost laughed out loud.
“I hate to burst your bubble, but I haven’t been burned by love. And I don’t hate women. I just happen to like things the way they are. Variety is the spice of life, you know.”
In truth, he had never been in love. As a youth, he’d been too busy sowing his wild oats to commit to one relationship. As an adult, the demands of working undercover prevented him from being with a woman long enough to fall in love. Of course, he couldn’t tell Ruby that.
“Since we’re analyzing each other’s supposed issues,” he said, “maybe you’ll answer the question I asked you on Saturday. Why are you an incorrigible flirt?”
“Are you really interested? Or are you trying to make me squirm, the way you were then?”
He bit back a smile. Leave it to Ruby not to let that one go by unchallenged. “I’m really interested.” To his surprise it was true.
“It’s not because I want to push people away, like you thought,” she said.
“Then why is it?” he countered.
“Because of my past. My father was not a demonstrative man. My need for constant male appreciation stems from that lack.”
“I guess I’m not that self-aware,” Antonio said.
“Don’t knock it till you try it. Who was it who wrote that the unexamined life isn’t worth living?”
He stared at her. “You’ve read Socrates?”
There it was again, the sudden blankness of expression that hid her thoughts from him.
“Who’s Socrates?”
“An ancient Greek philosopher,” he answered automatically. “I suppose you heard that quote on a game show, right?”
“I suppose so.”
Antonio knew he’d get nothing further from her in that regard. “Do incorrigible flirts get married?”
“To the right man,” Ruby replied.
“Meaning a man with gobs of money. A man like Joseph.”
“Of course. Some women aspire to be homemakers. Others aspire to a career. I aspire to marrying a millionaire.”
“What about love?” he asked.
“What about it?” she said. “It doesn’t seem to come very high on your list.”
“But you’re a woman. It’s supposed to come high on yours.”
She spared him a disgusted look. “That is, quite possibly, the most sexist thing any man has ever said to me. I think I need to make a phone call to your sister.”
He grinned triumphantly at her, and understanding bloomed in her eyes.
“You’re paying me back for my map remark, aren’t you?”
“Perhaps,” he acknowledged. “Seriously, though. You really want a man to take care of you?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“What’s wrong with being independent, of having a mind of your own? What’s wrong with taking care of yourself? You have a good job. You can afford it.”
His sister must have rubbed off on him more than he’d realized, Antonio reflected. Kate would be thrilled.
“I’ve gone as far as I can in my line of work,” Ruby said. “I have expensive tastes. I need a man to provide them.”
“You’d just be a trophy wife, you know,” he felt compelled to point out.
She used her straw to stir her milkshake. “That’s one way of looking at it.”
“What happens when you grow older and your looks fade? What happens when Joseph, or another man just like him, trades you in on a newer model?”
“They call it a property settlement, Michael.”
She really was the most infuriating woman. Didn’t she want to better herself? Why was she wasting her potential on Joseph Merrill, and who knew how many other men just like him that she’d been with? Was the reason as simple as the one she’d stated?