AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She was numb. Her body was shaking. Her heart was smashing. “I actually … even though I’ve spent all day preparing for this … I still can’t believe it. This feels like a horrible, cruel joke.” She was shaking, and she couldn’t stop.
His face was implacable. There was neither softness nor concern there. “Have I given you the impression at one time or another that I would joke about something like this? I have always been honest with you. I love having sex with you. You’re gorgeous. You’re easy to spend time with. That’s enough for me.”
She was slipping into unconsciousness. Or she wished she were. Her fingers pressed into her palm and she tried not to let him see how hard it was to keep upright.
“I see.” She didn’t. How could he not feel it? Magic like this didn’t just work one way.
“So? Are you staying or going, Seraphina? Let me know quickly so that I can make plans either way.”
That was it. That’s what it boiled down to for him. Convenience. Plans. Scheduling. What kind of plans did he intend to make in the middle of the night, anyway?
Her heart was in a thousand tiny pieces and she knew she would never rally them together again. “I’m going.” Her voice was low. A dull, pleading ache. “I’m going right now.” She looked around helplessly. It was an abrupt end to a relationship that should have never been.
She dragged the suitcase behind her easily enough.
“I’ll call my driver.” He said, moving to take the bag from her. But she almost growled at him, her emotions were so taut.
“No,” she shook her head. “Please don’t. Just leave me alone.”
The walk from the lounge to the apartment door took several long seconds, and she was sure he would stop her. She waited, and listened, but there was nothing. When she reached the door and put her hand on it, she was too proud to look back and see what he was doing.
If she had, it would have grieved her more greatly. For Caradoc Moore had turned back to the windows and was studying the view with apparently as little emotional regard as ever.
And that, then, was it.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Anton Fuller was her third Substitute Caradoc. At six feet two inches, he was
tall and built like a bodyguard. He was rich too, from an old aristocratic family, and his looks were excellent. He was, if anything, too good looking, with sandy blonde hair, dimples in both cheeks, and glistening blue eyes. His mouth was full, his lips pink and his skin permanently bronzed. He lacked the cynicism and hardness that had been so instrumental in Caradoc’s character.
She’d met him a fortnight earlier at an art gallery opening. Her heart had fluttered with the hope that he could be the one.
Not the one she was destined to love for the rest of her life.
The one who would help her forget that, for a time, she’d had the love of her life; and then she’d lost him. Distraction was key. She understood now how Caradoc had become obsessed with the notion of distraction. In the ten weeks since leaving the states, Finn had become an expert in keeping busy. More often than not, it was with men like Anton.
None though had succeeded in driving Caradoc from her mind, nor in tempting her into their bed.
Yet that didn’t stop her from trying.
She’d never noticed it before, because she’d never cared to, but London was an absolute hunting ground for wealthy, spoiled businessmen. It wasn’t the money that she was seeking though, so much as the sense of power and entitlement that came along with it.
Having loved and left Caradoc, she wondered now if she was destined to spend the rest of her life seeking his counterfeit. Hunting down men who embodied some, if not all, of what she’d loved about him. Of course, his best qualities, those that had made her lose her mind with longing, were also his worst, in some respects.
Anton was nice enough. He was royalty; tenth or eleventh in line to the throne. One of the cousins? She hadn’t been paying proper attention. He’d made his own name in the finance industry, and yet he had a diffident kindness about him that Finn was impatient with.
“I’m sorry, Seraphina,” Anton appeared by her side with two glasses of champagne. “The bar was packed.”
Caradoc would have been served immediately, regardless of how many people were waiting and how long they’d been there.
“Thanks,” she murmured, her eyes unknowingly sensual as they glowed up at his. The champagne was excellent. Cool and crisp. “There are so many people here for such a bleak night.”
His grin was pure Hollywood dishevelment. “Free food. Open bar. The chance of getting snapped in the society pages. That’d draw even the most anti-social from the woodwork.”
“I don’t know if it can be called free when the tickets cost an arm and a leg,” she pointed out, slanting a gaze through the room. Though he’d certainly been right about the photography. There were paparazzi outside, and several photojournalists inside. She’d been speaking to one earlier who worked at Hello! magazine.
“Oh, that all happens behind the scenes. It’s free if no money changes hands on the night.” And speaking of hands, he took that opportunity to put one of his around her waist. His fingers on her side were strong, but they didn’t send the pulse of awareness throbbing through her as a single touch from Caradoc had.
