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“I just asked you to marry me,” she said and she was staring directly at him, not blinking, looking like she meant it.
“You’re not serious?”
“Of course I’m serious. Why wouldn’t I be? I...” A shadow fell across her face and her confident air suddenly vanished. “I thought you liked me.”
Reed almost groaned. Now how was he to answer that one? Of course he liked her. In fact, what he was feeling for her was a whole lot more than liking. But what good would it do to tell her that? All it would do was hurt her even more.
When he didn’t answer she reached for him again and at the touch of her delicate hand his heart sank, knowing the hurt that was to come.
“You don’t...want to marry me, then?”
Her voice was faint with hopelessness and distress and he felt his heart wrench inside his chest. There was nothing he could do but be honest.
“I can’t,” he said, his voice low and bitter. “I’m already married to someone else.”
***
Golden felt the blood rush from her head. Suddenly she felt faint. Blinking, she put a hand to her forehead and fell back against the couch. She felt like the air had been punched out of her lungs.
She couldn’t move, she couldn’t speak, she could not even breathe. She’d been thrown into a nightmare that was worse than any she could have imagined. The man she loved was already taken. He’d already given his heart to someone else.
And then it hit her. He’d been misleading her the whole time she’d known him. Reed Davidoff had been leading her on.
And in the midst of her devastation, red-hot rage began to rise in her breast. She turned toward him, angry heat blazing in her face. “How could you? You made me think you were interested in me. You made me think you were free.” She dropped her gaze to his left hand. “You’re not even wearing a wedding ring.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Then what did you mean to do?” she spat and shot up from the seat. She could not bear to sit by him one minute longer. “You kissed me, you made me want you, you made me fall in love-” She broke off, suddenly realizing she was saying too much.
Clenching her fists by her side, her body rigid with rage, she glared down at him. “I hate you, Reed Davidoff. I hope I never set eyes on you again.”
Before the last word left her lips she spun around and flew to the door.
“Golden.”
The sound of Reed’s shout filled her ears but she did not stop. Golden ran, not even stopping to get the elevator. She flew toward the stairs and ran down, down, until she got to her floor.
Finally, weak from shock and weary from her flight, she dragged herself to her door, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Reed Davidoff had hurt her like she’d never been hurt before. She didn’t think she would ever get over it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Golden didn’t know how she survived the flight back to England in the same plane as Reed, in the same plane as his team. She’d had to pretend that everything was fine, laughing at their jokes, joining in their conversations from time to time. She’d pasted a smile on her face for the entire flight when all she wanted to do was hide herself inside a hole and cry.
When the plane landed in London and their papers had been checked Golden made a quick exit, not wanting to prolong her torture one minute longer than necessary. Reed called after her but she ignored him, sighing with relief only when she was safely ensconced within the four walls of her car.
It was when she was driving home that she gave free flow to her emotions, her shoulders shaking with sobs as she slowly drove home. When the flood of tears threatened to blind her she pulled over to the side of the road, switched off the engine and hugged the steering wheel to her chest. Then she cried like she would never stop.
Thank God when she got home everybody was out. She didn’t have the strength to face anyone right then. She dragged herself up to her room and locked the door, grateful for the solitude and the solace of her bed.
Next day Golden woke at six in the morning as she always did but this time she did not hop out of bed and rush off to prepare for work. For a long time she just lay there staring at the ceiling, wondering if she would ever feel normal again.
Seven o’clock came and she was still lying there. Eight o’clock came and she still hadn’t moved. There were no more tears. She’d shed them all the night before. Now, though, there was a numbness that made her feel like a shell filled with lead.
She jumped when she heard a pounding at her door.
“Golden, aren’t you going to work today?”
At the sound of her mother’s voice she groaned then pressed her cheek into the pillow. “No, mother,” she said loudly, forcing a hint of life into her voice. “No work today.”
“Oh.” Eugenia sounded surprised. “All right, then. Get some rest. I imagine you’re tired from your trip.” Then her footsteps sounded, padding away from the door and down the hallway.
Golden was not disturbed again until nine o’clock when her cell phone rang, exactly thirty minutes after she should have reported to work. She didn’t even have to look at the screen to know who it was. She did not pick up the phone and she did not answer.
Golden closed her eyes and she did not open them again until almost ten o’clock when her tummy began to growl. She sighed. No matter that her emotional world had just disintegrated her physical being still demanded attention. She rolled out of the bed and headed for the bathroom.
She dragged on sweat pants and an old T-shirt and went downstairs to make herself a quick breakfast. A glance around told her there was no-one in the kitchen. Grateful, she dashed in and filled a bowl with cereal and almond milk then she grabbed a spoon and beat a fast retreat back to her room.
She’d finished eating and had returned to the refuge of her bed when she heard a car pull up to the house. Darn. She knew that sound. It was her stepfather’s car that had just purred to a stop in front of the house. Golden’s heart sank. She’d hoped he’d be out for the day. She was not looking forward to being in the same house with him for the next several hours.
She was so intent on avoiding her stepfather that she didn’t even return her empty bowl to the kitchen. Instead, she rinsed both bowl and spoon in her bathroom sink then laid them out on top of her chest of drawers. Now what? She looked around the room and her eyes landed on a book she’d bought weeks earlier but hadn’t had time to finish. And it was a good read, too. Now would be the perfect time to lose herself in the pages of a romantic story set in the time of the Vikings. Maybe it would take her away from her own troubles.
She was all the way up to chapter ten, in the middle of a scene where the noble Viking had just kidnapped the daughter of his nemesis, when her cell phone began to buzz. This time she did pick it up and when she glanced at the screen she saw that it was exactly who she thought it would be. Well, Reed Davidoff could call all he wanted. She would never give him the satisfaction of an answer.
She dropped the phone on the bed, picked up her book and flipped to the next page, intent on submerging herself in a story she knew would have a happy ending. She would not let Reed spoil her day.
Golden was in the middle of chapter fifteen when there was another disturbance and she was forced to pause. Someone was ringing the doorbell. Once, twice, three times it rang. Golden frowned. Where was her mother? Where was Manchester? Why didn’t someone answer the door?
Breathing a heavy sigh she marked her page and headed out the door. She hoped it wasn’t one of those awful door-to-door salesmen pushing carpet cleaning services or lawn care. She wasn’t in the mood.
Golden swung the door open, the prepared arguments already forming in her mind. They had hard wood and stone floors and they had a gardener. Whatever they were selling, she didn’t need it.
She didn’t get a chance to use either one. She found herself staring up into Reed’s steely-blue eyes. “Reed,” she gasped then snapped her mouth shut. Then she remembered to glare at him. “What do you want?”
He took a step closer, his frame filling up the front door, forcing her to take a step backward. “Why didn’t you show up at work today?”
Tilting her face up, she met his stare. “I’m not coming back. I quit.”
His frown deepened. “You can’t just walk off the job like that. Your employment contract says you need to give two weeks’ notice.”
“Under the circumstances,” she countered, her tone biting, “no notice is necessary. I cannot work for a man I don’t trust.”
The blue in Reed’s eyes grew dark, his pupils dilating in anger. His lips parted as if he were about to speak and that was when she heard the voices drifting in from the back of the house. It sounded like her mother and Manchester had just opened the garden door and were entering the house, deep in conversation.
