Forbidden Temptation

“Okay. I can leave here around five-thirty, but I’ll have to run home and change.”

“Good. Paige bought some frozen quiches, and we can make a salad. See you later.”

Ruby hadn’t been in the apartment Pearl shared with Paige more than half an hour when Luther walked in with containers of paint, two rollers and some paintbrushes. She stared at her sister. “Why didn’t you tell me he’d be here?”

Her face the picture of innocence, Pearl merely shrugged. “He who? You can’t be talking about Luther. Anything wrong with you two?”

“Of course not,” Ruby said, so quickly that Paige’s eyebrows shot up. “I mean, what could possibly be wrong with Luther and me?”

“Nothing,” Paige said. “The two of you left Opal’s reception when it was still going strong, and my tongue almost dropped out. Arm in arm is what I saw with my own two eyes.”

“You’re imagining things,” Ruby said.

“Maybe she was, but I wasn’t,” Pearl said. “I also didn’t imagine all that champagne you drank. I know you were happy for Opal, but you didn’t have to drown yourself in it.”

“Now, look here. I—Oh, hello, Luther.”

Pearl and Paige stared at Ruby. “Did you two have a fight?” Pearl asked without looking directly at either of them.

“If we did, I don’t remember it,” Luther said, his gaze piercing Ruby with an unmistakable and unspoken accusation. “Why do you ask?”

“’Cause you’re acting like you just met,” Paige said.

“Where do you want me to put this stuff?” Luther asked Pearl. “If I’d known you planned to paint this evening, I’d have worn something appropriate. If you can hold off till Saturday, I could do most of it myself.”

He went to the refrigerator, opened it and poured a glass of orange juice. “I love orange juice,” he said. “If I thought I could tolerate the local politics, I’d move to Florida.”

“Thank God you can’t tolerate them,” Pearl said. “I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

“You’d manage,” he said. Suddenly, Ruby realized that both Pearl and Paige were staring at her. Wasn’t she the Lockhart who was closest to Luther? Yet she hadn’t reacted to his suggestion that he preferred Florida to Detroit. Her second slipup. The first was not hugging him when he walked in.

Luther seemed preoccupied and in a hurry. “I’ll just set this stuff in the pantry, Pearl. If you need me to help you with it, give me a ring.”

“You going?” Pearl asked him, obviously astonished.

“Yeah. Call me if you need me.”

“Something’s gone wrong,” Pearl said to Ruby after Luther left. “You two are always like two peas in a pod. Did he give you a hard time about drinking all that champagne and playing up to him at Opal’s reception?”

“I didn’t play up to him,” Ruby said.

Paige rolled her eyes. “Girl, if you think you didn’t, then you really did have too much to drink.”

“Right,” Pearl said. “And if you don’t ever get kissed again, he sure laid one on you when you led him out to that little anteroom. Darned if I would have thought he had it in him.”

A frown distorted Ruby’s face. “I don’t believe a word of that, and if you two don’t stop putting me on, I’m going home.”

“My advice to you is lay off the drinks,” Paige said. “If you don’t remember that, you don’t know what you did after you left there.”

“Your imagination is getting out of hand, Pearl,” Ruby said, wondering why she hadn’t stayed home. She didn’t even like quiche. “Get off my case, or I’m leaving.”

“I haven’t said a thing,” Paige said. “It didn’t used to be so easy to yank your chain, Ruby.”

“Leave her alone,” Pearl said. “When I wake up tomorrow, I don’t want to see anything yellow. Let’s get started.”

Ruby wrapped her hair in a hand towel, grabbed a pair of rubber gloves, a roller and a can of paint, and went to the bathroom to begin painting. Luther had hardly acknowledged her presence. Would a man be so cool if he thought you were good in bed? She doubted it. And especially not Luther who, for almost as long as she could remember, had encouraged her in everything she did. Maybe she hadn’t satisfied him. She couldn’t remember how he’d reacted in the end. She only knew that he’d made love to her as if she were the queen of his heart, and she had seemed to float on a cloud, and then go higher and higher until she exploded in relief.

A tear fell on her hand. How could I do that? I’m so ashamed. He doesn’t want to be around me. I drank so much champagne I don’t know what I did to…Why did Luther make love to me?

“What about Wade?” Ruby heard Paige ask her sister, interrupting Ruby’s thoughts. “Maybe he won’t like the gray you’re putting in the bathroom.”

“You can’t get more conservative than gray,” Pearl said, “and you know how conservative Wade is, bless his heart. Gray walls, silver shower curtain, silver frames on the posters, gray carpet and gray and green paisley towels. That’ll be cool, right?”

“Works for me,” Paige said. “By the way, let’s see if we can get Ruby into something other than black and navy blue for your wedding reception.”

“You have to admit that the royal blue she had on on Saturday night was an improvement. I’m going shopping with her tomorrow. I’ll find her something to wear.”

“We’ve almost finished here,” Paige said. “Let’s put the quiches in the microwave, and you start on the salad.”

“Maybe we should call Luther and ask him if he wants to have supper with us. We certainly have plenty.”

“Okay,” Pearl said. “He was so nice to pick up all this stuff for me.”

Ruby put the paint roller on the tray and sat down on the closed commode. Did her family think her dull? She didn’t have anything against bright, fashionable colors. She’d simply been so busy since their mother died trying to be a role model for her sisters that she hadn’t given much thought to being fashionable and to making a life with a man of her dreams. No wonder she hadn’t been able to please Luther. But she had no intention of withering like a rootless plant in the hot sun. She would always be grateful to Luther for teaching her her sexual potential, but now that she knew what she was capable of, she wasn’t going to be timid about exploring it.

Ruby pulled off the rubber gloves and brought the paint and roller to the kitchen. “Where do you want me to put—” She broke off when she saw her sister on the phone. “Who’re you calling? Are you talking to Luther?”

“Just a minute, Luther,” Pearl said. “I think Ruby wants to speak with you.”

“I do not. I didn’t say I wanted to—” Pearl shoved the phone to her face. “Uh…hello, Luther. Actually I didn’t tell Pearl I wanted to speak with you. I asked her if she was speaking with you.”

“So I heard. I never did find out why she called. Let me speak with her.” Ruby listened for a few seconds, long enough to realize that he wouldn’t say anything else, and handed the phone back to Pearl, who, with her mouth agape, nearly dropped it.

“I’m going to skip the quiche,” Ruby told Paige, since Pearl was still speaking with Luther. “I’d rather shower than eat. Tell Pearl I’ll meet her at Saks tomorrow at five.”

She couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

After Pearl’s wedding she told herself she’d take a nice long vacation. That would make it impossible for her sisters and their cousin Paige to pester her about her behavior during and after Opal’s wedding reception. Frankly, she was sick of hearing about it, because she was sure she hadn’t done anything dishonorable. She’d always heard it said that a person wouldn’t do anything when inebriated that she wouldn’t do sober. “I’m definitely counting on that,” she said to herself and walked into her house. Actually, it was the family home, and she’d give anything if her sisters would agree to sell it and share the proceeds. But no, they wanted to gather there on holidays and special occasions with her substituting for their parents. She didn’t mind, because she loved her sisters.

The phone rang as she walked in. She didn’t have to look at the caller ID; she knew she’d hear Pearl’s voice.

“Hi, Pearl,” she said. “What’s up?”

“Hi, Ruby. This isn’t Pearl. This is Trevor Johns. Pearl and Wade sent me an invitation to their wedding, and I…uh…would you allow me to accompany you?”

Well, maybe her life was about to become interesting. “Why, yes. I’d enjoy your company,” she said, seeing an opportunity to show Luther that he had nothing to fear from her, that she didn’t expect anything of him more than usual. “But I have to be there a little early,” she added.

“That doesn’t matter,” he said. “Just tell me what time to come for you.”