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She could not face collecting her gorgeous coat, and she could not imagine going back into the ballroom to find Abe.
There was no point anyway because at the entrance doors to the ballroom she saw the flash of red of Candice’s dress. She was talking to Abe and running a hand along the lapel of his jacket and all Naomi could think in that second was how stunning they looked together.
And she did the only thing instinct told her to, and she fled.
Past the gorgeous people all effortlessly chatting.
And past the doorman, who called her back.
‘Do you have a coat, madam...?’
It was like her first day in the city but without all the excitement, without all the hope, because all hope had gone.
She just fled down the stairs and out into the freezing night, losing not just a shoe but her hairstyle too, because her carefully pinned hair all came tumbling down.
And Abe saw her leave.
He had been standing at the doors, shaking hands with a guest while looking out for Naomi, when he’d seen Felicia. ‘Where’s Naomi?’
‘I was just...’ Felicia had clearly lost track of her. ‘She went to the restroom.’
It was then that he saw Candice making a beeline for him.
She wasn’t on the guest list but, of course, he didn’t keep the party planners in the loop as to the status of his love life, and this late at night, things must have slacked off. It would seem that Candice had slipped in.
Of course she had. He had been a fool to think she would go quietly.
‘Hey.’ She smiled and came over.
‘What are you doing here, Candice?’ he clipped.
‘I come every year,’ she pointed out. ‘Well, I have for the last three. You’re looking very smart...’ She ran a possessive hand down his jacket and looked right into his eyes.
He should never have attempted to play this nice. The one time he’d tried to the right thing it had backfired spectacularly because as he looked out of the ballroom it was just in time to see Naomi running off.
‘What the hell did...?’ He didn’t even bother asking the rest of the question, he didn’t need to hear from Candice what had been said. All he knew was that Naomi was hurting. He pushed past the crowds and the doorman didn’t see him coming because he’d gone after Naomi and was retrieving her shoe and trying to call her back, but Naomi had continued to run.
‘She’s distressed, sir,’ he said as Abe approached.
He could see that.
And she was cold.
Freezing, in fact.
And the cars were all a blur as she crossed the road.
‘Naomi!’ She heard him shouting and she cared not if she was making a scene, she just wanted to get as far away from Abe Devereux as her legs would allow.
Somewhere private where she could cry out loud, as she hadn’t been able to on the day she’d first found out what an utter pig he was.
She made it to the edge of the park before he caught up.
‘Leave me alone!’ she shouted.
‘Come back inside.’
‘Never! I’m not going back there. They’re all—’
