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He wanted to deny it, but the words wouldn’t come out. Some things were too painful to articulate.
A heartbreaking “Oh, Nic,” was all she said as she reached up, stood on her toes, and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. Her softness yielded to the hardness inside him. He gently pried her off. He had to be tough for both of them. He saw the confusion in her eyes.
“It was a long time ago,” he said, dismissing the matter and by doing so, trivializing the sympathy she was giving him.
She lowered her lids, but not before he saw the hurt in their hazel depths.
He took her hand firmly. “Let’s get out of here.”
Avoiding eye contact, Nic wove their way through groups of people until they reached the foyer. His mobile rang and reaching into his coat, he simultaneously realized Tansy still had it at the same time a man beside him answered his device. They both had the same ring tone.
“Bloody hell,” he muttered under his breath.
Lexie looked at him, startled by his expletive.
“I left my phone inside,” he explained. “Just wait for me here.” He glanced at the marbled foyer where a few people were milling around. “Just pretend to talk on your mobile so nobody will bother you.”
As his eyes scanned the room to make sure the bodyguards were present before leaving her on her own, he noticed Tansy and Butler making their way to them. He intercepted the couple before they got near Lexie.
“Your forgot your phone.” A strangely subdued Tansy handed him his mobile while Butler looked on. She wouldn’t meet his eyes. Nic didn’t trust the sly, gloating expression on the patron’s face.
“See you around, Nic,” Butler said, an odd gleam in his pale eyes. His glance briefly flicked behind him to where Nic knew Lexie was standing, waiting for him. A ghost of a smile played on his thin lips before he turned around, heading for the party once more. Tansy scurried after him nervously.
Nic tracked their retreating figures thoughtfully until they walked through the French doors leading to the lawn. He expected Butler to be furious after their encounter. Something definitely didn’t add up.
* * *
Nic was in a grim mood on the drive back to the mansion. Lexie could see it in the tight set of his jaw. He did not speak to her at all. It allowed her some time to think about their relationship − the one he was bent on avoiding and she was determined on having.
Lexie had three days left to convince him they were meant to be together. Now that she knew that he had been scarred by Melissa, she knew that she had to prove to Nic that she wasn’t that kind of woman.
She deeply regretted walking out that morning in his hotel room in Vegas, but she knew in her heart if she could only convince Nic she was in for the long haul, he would let down his guard enough for him to see that they would be good for each other. He brought her to the front door, carefully avoiding any kind of contact.
“Won’t you come in?”
“I can’t,” he said starkly, his hands deep in his pockets.
“Why not?” She felt like a petulant child, but she didn’t really care. All she cared about was he stay. Stay so that she could chip at his defenses and sneak into his heart.
“Everything is just pretend, Lexie, and on my part, it still is.”
She heard the words but she didn’t believe him. Wouldn’t believe him. As a child, she found out that a wound only hurt once you saw it was there.
“I don’t think I’m the one who is pretending now, Nic. I can’t anymore. Not with you.” She stared into his heart-stoppingly beautiful blue eyes, willing him to take a chance.
His eyes were stormy, and his hand shot out in front of him as if to ward off her words. “Don’t say it, Lexie.”
But she wasn’t good at heeding him. “I’m yours, Nic.”
“You are not mine,” he ground out each word harshly. “You are engaged to Walkden. You were never mine.”
So he knew. It didn’t matter. She would make him believe. “I broke it off.”
She was standing on the highest step leading to the front door, and it made her face level with his. He remained quiet, but Lexie knew he wasn’t unaffected as he tried to appear. He raked an unsteady hand through his dark, wavy hair. “All my life I’ve tried to be a proper princess, to fit the mold I was supposed to fit. It was not much of a sacrifice compared to what other people had to live with. I thought I was being so noble, being the martyr,” she gave a derisive laugh, “but that was just self-deception. The truth was I really had nothing I wanted to be improper for. There was nothing worth risking everything for. That is, until I met you.”
