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Hunter’s footfalls disappeared, and the silence seemed to boom off the walls. Firelight flickered on Jack’s hard profile, shimmering in his hair, sparking the depths of his slate gray eyes.
He reached for the cognac bottle and poured himself a drink.
“You said you wanted to talk?” she prompted.
He straightened and drew a deep breath. “I really need you to understand.”
“Oh, I do understand,” she said.
It wasn’t so tough to figure out. She was a distant second to Osland International. Understandable, even logical, but hurtful all the same.
He swirled the cognac in the depths of his glass, watching the amber liquid. “It should have been so simple,” he sighed.
“Simple?”
He looked up. “I thought we’d be divorced by now. I thought you’d…I expected…”
She put an edge to her voice. “I’m sorry I disappointed you.”
He took a step closer. “That’s not my point.”
“What is your point?”
“My point…” He gazed into her eyes, searching. “Do you have any idea how much I want you right now?”
Kristy’s stomach hollowed, while her chest tightened with undeniable desire. “That’s an interesting point,” she managed.
“You know what I mean.”
“It’s over, Jack.”
“Really? Because it doesn’t feel over.”
It had to be over. She’d found the strength to walk away last night, and she had to stay away, no matter what.
“Sleep with me tonight,” he rasped. “We don’t have to make love—”
“I can’t.” Her voice caught, emotions raw in her chest. It would kill her to sleep with him one more time.
And, if it didn’t, it would kill her to walk away again.
His voice went thick with emotion. “We had something, Kristy.”
No they didn’t, they couldn’t.
“This week,” he continued. “Last week. Back there in Vegas, we seriously had something.”
“What we had, Jack, started with a lie, and then we lived another lie. You wanted to save your grandfather, and I wanted to win a contest. We used each other. I’m not very proud of that, are you?”
“I’m not proud,” he said. “I’m a lot of things at the moment, but proud isn’t one of them.” The defeat in his voice leeched the fight right out of her.
“I’m just tired,” she confessed.
Compassion turned his eyes to pewter.
He nodded and polished off the drink.
Then he set the glass down on the table. “And you need to go to bed. So, let me just say…” He drew a deep breath. “Goodbye, Kristy.”
She gave him a shaky nod, fighting an instinct that urged her to throw herself into his arms, hang on tight and to never let go. Her throat clogged. She could barely get the words out. “Goodbye, Jack.”
They stared at each other for a frozen moment. But then he glanced away, focusing on the fire behind her, and it was well and truly over.
Twelve
Three days into the London trip, and Kristy could still see the haunted expression on Jack’s face.
“Twelve pounds, ma’am,” said the cabdriver, rousing her from her daydream. She realized they’d arrived at the Claymore Diamond Hotel.
She handed the man the fare and what she hoped was an appropriate tip and hopped out of the traditional black car.
Then she stared at the stone facade of the hotel, its lights already burning bright under the gloomy afternoon sky. She’d wandered aimlessly through a couple of museums, burning up time. This afternoon was the dress rehearsal in the convention center connected to the hotel. Tomorrow night was the big event.
She knew she should be feeling some sense of anticipation, certainly the other contestants she’d met were getting more nervous by the hour. But, she still hadn’t emotionally engaged in the Irene collection.
And, besides, she couldn’t seem to get her thoughts off Jack.
Was he still in Vermont? At the mansion with Cleveland and Dee Dee? Had he flown back to L.A., or to New York?
Did he miss her? Did he think about her? Had he figured out what was between them?
Because she hadn’t. And, worst of all, would she regret not sharing her last night with him in his bed after all?
Jack was getting into the limo to head for the airport, when Hunter’s bellow stopped him in his tracks.
“You’d better get your butt up here,” Hunter called from one of the workshop windows.
“I’ll only be a minute,” Jack told the uniformed driver.
“Take your time, sir.”
“Can you call Simon and give him an update?”
