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Addie nodded, though she couldn’t think beyond the next few minutes.
They stepped onto the cold London street, right into a flurry of late-night snow. Guy stared down at Addie but neither spoke. Addie wanted to, yet she couldn’t find any words. Instead, she watched and waited to see how he would react.
“Why did that woman call you Adeline?”
Her heart dropped. She hadn’t expected a direct question. Then again, how had she thought he would react?
“Ava?” He demanded sharply, when she didn’t answer.
Addie’s stomach swirled in knots.
“Tell me what the damned hell is going on.”
Addie nodded urgently. “I’m… Guy… I…”
His eyes narrowed. “Is there a reason you have been using the wrong name?” His eyes were speculative. “And why you didn’t tell me you are a cleaner?”
Was she imagining the derision in his voice? The disparagement of such a menial job?
Hell, Guillem Rodriguez had cleaners, he didn’t date them.
She shook her head quickly. “I didn’t mean… I wasn’t trying to lie to you,” she said quickly.
“Then your name is really Ava and you are a theatrical actress?”
She fanned her eyes shut, and shook her head slowly. “But I can explain…”
“Explain?” He demanded
harshly, his tone rich with disbelief. “Somehow I doubt that. But by all means, Ava, try.” He was visibly withdrawing from her, pulling back, distancing himself from the intimacy that had sucked them both in during the month they’d spent together.
“Adeline. My name is Adeline,” she whispered. Now that he knew her name, he might as well use it.
He jerked his head, as if rejecting her entreaty. “Why have you been lying to me?”
Addie sucked in a shaking breath, reaching a hand for his chest, seeking comfort, needing touch.
“I didn’t … I didn’t mean to. I never meant to lie.”
“But you have been.” The words were scathing. He puffed his chest, his eyes homing in on her with a ruthlessness she had never thought him capable of. At least, not towards her. “You disgust me. You, and women like you. God, I thought you were different! But you’re just the same as all the others. What did you want? Money? Fame? Do you want me to finance a film with you at the centre of it? I must say, you are a truly brilliant actress, to have been able to fool me for this long.”
She shook her head but the truth – the truth was such a huge ball to unravel, she had no idea where to start. Only she had to try. “Please, let me explain…”
“Explain what, Ava? That I’ve been sleeping with a stranger? That you’ve been using me? That you’ve been lying to me?”
She nodded, then shook her head. “It was just a game, Guy. I didn’t think I’d meet anyone like you and… when I did, I tried to end it, remember? You pursued me…”
“I thought you were different!” He shouted the accusation and then swore softly, looking around at the passers by whose attention he’d attracted.
“I am,” she promised, and then bit down on her lip. “Let’s go back to your place, to talk about this…”
“No.” His look was one of ice. “I am not a man to be lied to. I am not a man to forgive.”
“Guy,” she felt the sting of tears on her eyes. “This isn’t… black and white. You have to believe me!”
“Believe you?” He took a step backwards and she felt the distance like a physical pain. “I will never believe you again. Not in a thousand years. I know what you are now. You are the worst kind of person; you are dead to me.”
CHAPTER SIX
