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He turned around, never feeling so cold and emotionless in his entire life. “Enjoy your self-exploration, Diana. I hope you get your answers.”
He walked out of the conference room and away from the closure he’d wanted so desperately. If it added another complication to his already convoluted life? So be it. That had been far, far more satisfying than what he’d walked in there to do.
CHAPTER FOUR
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, he wouldn’t sign?”
Her father’s enraged voice boomed in Diana’s ear, intensifying the dull throb in her temples. She put down her spoon and pushed her half-eaten bowl of soup away as the ache in her head mixed with the uneasy sensation in her stomach to inspire a distinctly unwell feeling.
“He said he needed more time.” She fixed her gaze on Wilbur Taylor’s flinty, gray-eyed one and the expression he reserved solely for conversations about her ex-husband.
“More time for what?” her father huffed. “So he can add another socialite to his list of fame?”
Her mouth tightened. “I have no idea, and frankly I’m over it. I’m leaving on Friday. It can wait until he sees reason.”
Her father waved a hand at her. “Never mind. I’ll sic David Price on it.”
She put her spoon down, her blood pressure rising. “Jerry is perfectly capable of taking care of it. It’s my business, Father. Stay out of it.”
“Jerry Simmons is a fine lawyer, but he isn’t a pit bull like David. David will have you divorced in minutes.”
“No.” She cut the idea off at the pass. Although she couldn’t say she didn’t have her doubts about Jerry’s ability to handle Coburn after her husband had walked all over him two weeks ago in that conference room, this was her decision to make, and she didn’t want her father anywhere near it.
“Fine.” Her father shrugged his broad shoulders. “But I don’t think you’re handling this very well. You shouldn’t be giving him any choice.”
Diana picked up her wine and took a sip. What did he think she handled well, beyond her patients? She’d spent her life trying to live up to her world-renowned orthopedic surgeon of a father, who overshadowed everything in his wake with his big personality and impossible standards. But measuring up had become a fruitless pursuit she’d finally abandoned for her own sanity.
“Your father is only considering what’s best for you, Diana.” Her mother, ever the peacekeeper, attempted to smooth the waters.
And pursuing his own witch hunt of her husband... Her father had never liked Coburn from the minute he’d laid eyes on him. She’d always wondered if it was because he saw too much of himself in Coburn—a man who viewed the world as his oyster and took his pick of it as if it was his divine right. That was what her father had done in marrying her mother, his secretary at the time, then carrying on a five-year-long affair with a brilliant fellow doctor whose brain apparently turned him on more than his society wife.
At least Coburn had never cheated on her. She sat back as the maid came to clear her soup bowl. He’d waited until they’d ended their marriage to drink his fill. Which satisfied his code of honor. As long as he was in a relationship, he never strayed, even if, as Rory had joked to her about his friend’s philandering ways when they’d first met, it was only one night. Not once during their turbulent union had he ever indicated interest in another woman, despite the way they’d shamelessly thrown themselves at him.
It should have quieted her insecurities, but they’d been far too deeply ingrained to elude.
Her mother scrunched up her angularly attractive face. “I don’t like the idea of you over there in that wild country, Diana. Anything could happen to you and we are so far away. I wish you’d reconsider.”
“I am needed there.” She gave her mother a pained look. “We’ve been over this.”
“The situation was never this bad,” her father broke in, a bullish look on his face. “Yes, the city is more stable now, but the rebels have still been conducting raids, and conditions could deteriorate overnight.”
Diana was well aware of the situation she was walking into. She’d come to terms with the danger when she’d made the decision to commit. And although her nerves were growing every day at the thought of what she was about to face—a mental and physical challenge that would surely change her life—she was determined to follow through.
