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in places I had shown no boy nor man before. I felt like I was trying to hold back a deluge. Wave after wave of excitement washed over me until I was drowning in my own thundering flood of passion. I lost my final desire to resist and felt my thighs and my back relax as he moved with

determination to enter me. I cried. I felt my head spin and a delightful dizziness send me reeling back into the echo of my own soft moans. The explosions within me, surprised, frightened, and then pleased me. Finally, his climax came fast, hot, and furious. I felt him shudder and then come to a peaceful stillness, his lips still pressed against my cheek, his breathing still heavy and hard.

"Oh, Ruby," he moaned, "Ruby, you're beautiful, wonderful."

The realization of what had happened, what I had permitted swept over me. I pushed on his shoulders.

"Let me up, Beau. Please," I cried. He sat back and I seized my garments and began putting them on quickly. "You're not mad at me, are you?" he asked.

"I'm mad at myself," I said.

"Why? Wasn't it wonderful for you, too?"

I buried my foam in my hands and began to cry. I couldn't help it. He tried to soothe me, comfort me.

"Ruby, it's all right. Really. Don't cry."

"It's not all right, Beau. It's not. I was hoping I was different," I said.

"Different? From what? From Gisselle?"

"No. From. . ." I couldn't say it. I couldn't tell him I was hoping I wasn't a Landry because he didn't know who my real mother was, but that's what I meant. The blood that ran through my veins was just as hot as the blood that had run through my mother's and had gotten her in trouble with Paul's father and later, with Daddy.

"I don't understand," Beau said. He started to put on his clothes.

"It doesn't matter," I said, regaining control of myself. I turned to him. "I'm not blaming you for anything, Beau. You didn't make me do anything I didn't want to do myself in the end."

"I really care for you, Ruby," he said. "I think I care for you more than I've cared for any other girl."

"Do you, Beau? You didn't just say those things?"

"Of course not. I. . ."

We heard footsteps in the corridor outside my studio. I hurried to finish dressing and he stuffed his shirt into his pants just as someone tried the door. Instantly, there was a pounding. It was Daphne.

"Open this door immediately!" she cried.

I ran to it and unlocked it. She stood there, staring in at us, looking me over with so much disapproval, I couldn't help but tremble.

"What are you doing?" she demanded. "Why was this door locked?"

"We were just studying our play lines and didn't want to be disturbed," I said quickly. My heart was pounding. I was sure my hair was messed and my clothes looked hurriedly put on. She ran her eyes over me again as if I were a slave on an auction block in the antebellum South and then quickly shifted her gaze to Beau. His weak smile reinforced her suspicions.

"Where are your play scripts?" she demanded with a scowl.

"Right here," Beau said, and picked them up to show them to her.

"Hmm," she said, and then flicked her stony eyes at me. "I can't wait to see the result of all this dedicated rehearsal." She pulled herself up into an even straighter, firmer posture. "We're having some dinner guests tonight. Dress more formally," she ordered in a cold, commanding tone. "And fix your hair. Where's your sister?"

"I don't know," I said. "She left earlier and hasn't returned."

"Should she somehow get past me before dinner, inform her of my instructions," she said. She glanced at Beau again, her frown deepening, and then returned her gaze to me and fired her words like bullets. "I don't like locked doors in my house. When people lock doors, they usually have something to hide or they're doing something they don't want anyone else to know," she snapped, and then pivoted and left. It was as if a cold wind had just blown through the room. I let out a breath and so did Beau.

"You better be going, Beau," I said. He nodded.

"I'll pick you up for school tomorrow," he said. "Ruby. . ."

"I hope you really meant what you said, Beau. I hope you really do care for me."