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‘It’s gorgeous,’ he said quietly. ‘I never even gave this much thought. I knew that Venice was a group of islands but I didn’t realise quite how many. Or how different they all are.’
The ship had moved on, passing the island where Murano glass was made and moving past one with that was used mainly as a cemetery. He turned his head a little to face Lara. There was a tear gently rolling down her cheek.
‘Hey.’ Reuben caught her shoulders and turned her to face him. ‘What’s wrong? Isn’t this the trip of a lifetime? The one you always dreamed of?’
Was this because of him? His teasing earlier about the sleeping arrangements? Lara had always seemed able to play him at his own game, but maybe he’d just stepped too far.
She gave a little nod of her head. ‘It is. I know it is. It’s just...different from what I expected.’
‘How?’ Now he could feel his insides curling up.
She gave the tiniest shake of her head and sighed, wiping away another tear. ‘I expected to be really excited to be here. To love every minute. But the last few weeks and all the trouble with Josh have just...taken the gloss off things for me. I spent so much time thinking about where we would be going, what we would see.’
She gave the wryest smile he’d seen. ‘Now I’m standing here, watching Venice glide past, I’m just realising I’ve been dumped in the most horrible way. He wasn’t even sorry. He didn’t really care that I’d caught them. Then to throw away all my things, knowing how that would upset me, and that I wouldn’t be able to replace them.’ She gave her head a little shake.
‘I know it’s silly to get upset over an old book.’ She pressed her hand against her heart. ‘But it meant something to me. I guess things have just hit me all at once. I’ve been treated like I’m not good enough by a man who is lower than the belly of snake. It doesn’t really say that much for me, does it?’
There was an instant burn inside him. He recognised it well. Rage. Fury. The kind of feelings usually channelled into his business dealings. It helped when dealing with some of the volatile sports stars. Not the kind of rage he used in everyday life.
Not since that night with Caleb.
‘Garbage.’ He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards a set of steps, ushering her up towards one of the exclusive bars.
‘Where are we going?’
He pointed to one of the bar stools that gave a view out of the full-length glass windows and gestured to the barman, pointing to a bottle of pink champagne.
The barman didn’t hesitate. He produced two champagne glasses, an ice bucket and popped the cork quickly.
Reuben took the champagne and poured it into glasses, the froth and bubbles almost spilling over the edges of the glasses. ‘Here.’ He handed her one.
‘What are we doing?’ Her brow was furrowed.
‘We’re toasting the end of a bad relationship. We’re celebrating the fact that Josh didn’t manage to ruin your dream. We’re saying goodbye to feeling like rubbish and raising our glasses to a new future and a new adventure. No negative thoughts allowed. From here on, it’s fun, fun, fun.’
He clinked his glass against hers. He wasn’t usually so gung-ho. So nice really. But there it was again. That weird thing about being around Lara and her sad face doing strange things to his insides. He seemed to have a low threshold for her being down.
When he’d first met her two weeks ago she’d been fiery—and still quite angry. And even though she still joked with him it was almost as if uncertainty was taking her over. She’d obviously had too much time to think about all this—too much time to let her confidence falter.
He looked around. In his opinion Lara Callaway was the best-looking woman around here. And apart from being funny, she was quirky and she had a good heart. She had passion. She said she loved looking after Tristan and after a few false starts in life obviously thrived in the job she was currently doing. Maybe if she’d been working the last two weeks she might have been too distracted to get down. Now he was feeling guilty for not being around much, contract negotiations and temperamental clients having filled up most of his days and evenings in London.
But the next two weeks would be entirely different. The next two weeks he’d be around her morning, noon and night. And where might that lead?
Maybe Lara would consider a fling? Some fun on the cruise? Because that’s all it could be. He wouldn’t be able to offer the Caleb and Addison lifestyle. The happy-ever-after and for ever. He wasn’t that kind of guy. He didn’t come from that kind of family. But two weeks to try and build a beautiful girl’s self-confidence? He could do that.
